I am often asked how we make more power and as a result more distance when we swing the golf club and I am surprised by how people perceive this is achieved. Most people imagine that if they swing harder and faster and make greater use of their hands to hit the ball they will create more speed and therefore, more distance. Whilst this may be true to some extent, it is not the whole story and as always a little bit of knowledge can be misleading.
During the golf swing, power (speed) is made by a number of elements and they are;
Position - the arc of the swing (width),
Movement - the coiling action of the body (torsion),
Mechanics - the angle between the arm and the wrist (leverage)
Force – the transfer of weight (motion)
A combination of all of the above elements will create a powerful,
rhythmical, smooth controlled swing that will generate a great deal of clubhead speed (energy) which can be transferred through the hands to the club and ultimately to the ball. The hands are merely the way in which the energy (created by the elements) is transferred to the ball. This is why the way that we place our hands on the club is so important. At impact they are reacting to what has happened before and it is very difficult to change them whilst they are travelling so fast.
In my opinion by far the most important of all the elements is the shifting of the weight during the swing. This creates force and motion and also encourages the other elements to take their part in the swing and aids the creation of the energy and speed that we need.
In a study of 750 golfers it was shown that Elite golfers transfer 90% of their body weight in the backswing and transfer a force of 110% on to the front leg on the throughswing. Amateur golfers however, transfer only 50% of their weight on the backswing and transfer a force of only 65% on to the front leg on the throughswing. Maybe this is the reason why most elite players now have an average driving distance of over 300 yards.