In golf, one important piece to improving your overall score is to be able to drive the ball greater distances; your drives should be straight and as long as possible. Individual golfers should focus their attention to improving the distance of their drives, and in so doing, will dramatically improve their score.

Take a look at the benefits of longer and more accurate drives. First, you can more easily manage to avoid the particular hazards of the hole. Things such as sand traps, and water traps. In addition, one can get to the green in fewer strokes, and, if they excel at their short-game, really manage to shave at least 1 or 2 strokes just with a decent drive.

Yet, so many golfers have not taken the necessary time, nor devoted the required attention on developing a greater drive. For particular individuals seeking to improve the distance of their drives, here are a few tips.

Look at your swing

Having a correct swing, one that is technically precise leads to a more consistent hit on the ball. Like any skill, the more one practices, the better one gets. However, your practice must be concise and focused. If you just haphazardly go out and swing away, without any thought to you’re the form of your swing, you won’t get any better.

Focus on deliberately improving your swing. Even if it means going slower, being more deliberate about your technique from the address to the follow-thru.

Warm Up

Most golfers wouldn’t believe it , but there should be a little bit of a warm-up to a round of golf. Much like most sports, golf requires a great deal of physical exertion. It may not be as much as the NFL or NBA, but there is a lot of power and torque involved in golf, especially as it relates to drives.

By doing a little warm up and some stretching prior to your round of golf, you will loosen up your body, better prepare it for the tasks ahead, as well as mitigate and reduce your risk to physical injury, such as a pull muscle or back spasm.

Tee it Up

Believe it or not, but one of the most effective tips for improving your drive distance has actually nothing to do with your swing, or the club, or even the ball. Instead, take a look at the tee. Some golfers find that by adjusting the tee, rather than their swing, makes all the difference.

Go out and experiment what works for you. If you tend to swing over-the-top, maybe raising the tee up a bit may be more efficient for you than trying to adjust the mechanics of your swing.

Flex Your Shaft

Another element that you may want to consider, is the flexibility of the club you are using. Choosing a driver with more flex in its shaft will help you gain more distance. Seek to avoid the stubborn, stiff clubs, unless you’ve got a quick fast swing. It will depend individual to individual, but for most amateur and golfers seeking to break 90 or break 80, most will likely have an adequate swing that will best be complemented by a more flexible shaft.

Shorten Your Stick

Just like kids in youth baseball, golfers tend to think that the bigger the club will allow them to more easily put distance on their drivers. Not so. For most, a shorter stick will actually do the trick because this then forces the golfer to pay more attention to form, reduced the margin for error, and increases the likelihood that the ball will be struck on spot.

Golfers should look to use a club around the 45 inch mark or less. Again, it’s going to depend on the individual golfer, but for most, the 45 inch mark is going to be the rule.

Golf is a fun, and complex game. There are many facets that can be developed and improved in order to excel. Golfers should look at the periodization model for growth and improvement. That’s a big ol’ fancy word to mean, take a chunk of time, say a month, and work on your drives. Then move on, say the following month, and focus on improving your short game, or some other aspect of your overall game.

Put these tips to use right now, and see if you can’t add 50 – 75 yards to your drives in a month or two.

Good luck!