Golf World: How to create more speed in your swing

Good or bad, courses are getting longer and longer and we must hit it further if we are to keep getting better.

On the PGA Tour, if you hit it between 275 yards and 285 yards you are considered a short hitter. It seems that the golf course architects are building the courses for the professionals and not for you, the amateur.

The average golfer is kind of caught behind the 8 ball. How can he create more distance and keep up with the trend for building longer courses?

Since we must try to hit it longer, let's see how we can create more distance.

The obvious answer is create more speed in your swing. So how do you do that at your age and your swing? Here are some ideas for you to consider:

-- TRAIN FOR SPEED: For example, if you want to swing faster you must train for that. A good drill would be for you to swing a club upside down. Do this with both hands at first and then do it with each arm and hand separately. Try to hear that swoosh at the bottom of your swing. Do this 50 times each day.

-- RELAX YOUR GRIP: A tense grip creates tense muscles. Tense muscles will slow the speed at the bottom.

-- INCREASE THE ARC OF YOUR SWING: Make a bigger shoulder and hip turn. A short swing will create short shots. Try getting your right elbow further away from your side on the backswing to increase your arc.

-- COCK YOUR WRISTS AND FOLD RIGHT ELBOW: Fold it completely at the top of your swing. Incomplete wrist cock and right elbow folding will limit your club head speed. Swing a club with your right arm only to feel this.

-- TURN YOUR BODY AT THE HOLE ON THE DOWNSWING: If you stop your body turn on your downswing you will slow down your club head speed. The faster you can rotate your body through the ball, the faster the club head will go.

-- RELEASE THE HANDS AND ARMS THROUGH THE HITTING AREA: Don't hang onto the club and steer the club head as this will greatly reduce your ability to create speed at the bottom of your swing. If you are a senior player, your hands can be your friend as speed producers. Go ahead and use them.

-- MAKE A FINISH TO YOUR SWING: Relax your elbows at the finish. Tense arms at the finish mean tense arms in the impact area, and, thus, slowed club head speed.

There is probably not one of you out there who couldn't increase your club head speed some five to 10 miles per hour if your tension level was reduced and you allowed yourself to make your most natural swing.

More club head speed, if squarely applied, will translate into more distance.

(Dr. Jim Suttie, the 2000 PGA Teacher of the Year, is director of instruction at The Club at TwinEagles in North Naples, Fla. and at Cog Hill Golf Club in Lemont, Ill. Dr. Suttie is a Golf Magazine Top 100 Teacher, Golf Digest Top 20 Teacher, and coaches the Florida Gulf Coast University golf team. E-mail him at jmsuttie@aol.com or go online to www.jimsuttie.com.)

(Golf World is a feature of the Naples Daily News in Florida at XX(at)xxx.com.)