The key to powerful shots is knowing where and, more importantly, when to create pressure in your swing.
I have an easy way to explain both by using a homemade training aid (a streamer wrapped around the hosel of my driver) to explain.
At the start, the takeaway, the clubhead moves back, away from the target, and by the end of the backswing, it has traveled back toward the target. The secret to applying pressure to create power is moving your pressure with the clubhead. So, as you take the club back, away from your target, your pressure (or, if you prefer, your weight) should do likewise.
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In the photo above, you can see (with the help of the streamer) that the club is moving away from the target and that I’ve matched this move by shifting my pressure away from the target, into my trail leg.
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As soon as your club reaches parallel to the ground in your backswing, however, the clubhead actually starts its journey toward the target, culminating at the top of your backswing. So it’s at this point — the first time the club gets parallel to the ground — when you need to begin shifting forward.
This might be earlier than you’ve ever imagined. Timing this pressure shift (from back to front) turns on the jets on your down-swing. Bombs away!
Dom DiJulia is director of instruction at Jericho National GC in New Hope, Pa.