In the game of golf there are short hitters and long hitters. There are great putters and bad putters. There are accurate players and inaccurate players.
One of the keys to golf is understanding your own strengths.
And then of course playing to those strengths.
And then keep building on those strengths.
Oftentimes, a golfer will assess his or her game and then spend time trying to get better at their area of weakness and soon enough their strength is now too mediocre.
The bottom line is to build a strategy around your strengths and keep working on those strengths to maintain the advantage you have when you step onto a golf course
Golf Strategy For Long Hitters (5 Tips)
- Hit it long off the tee
- Become a great player from 100 yards and in
- Practice shots out of the rough
- Know your yardages
- Continue to train for speed
Tip #1: Hit It Long Off the Tee
If your strength is to hit it long off the tee, make sure you do this as frequently as possible. Too often the golfer that hits it long, might feel they would be better off hitting it shorter and in the fairway. Well, the analytics are clear and if there is wide enough room on the hole to hit the driver, pull the driver and let it fly.
The best golfers will know the distance from the right edge of the hole to the left edge of the hole and if it is more than 60 yards wide at that point, they will hit the driver without hesitation. We need to capitalize on your distance and take advantage of your length. The last thing you want to do is give that advantage up by playing back and hitting something less of the tee.
Of course, if you come to a hole with water cutting across the hole or a really narrow hole, then you have to adjust. But overall, remain aggressive and hit the driver whenever possible!
Keep your strength, your strength and play to your advantages! The goal is to leave a short approach shot into the green!
Tip #2: Become a Great Player from 100 yards and in
If you are a long driver of the golf ball, you are going to be left with plenty of approach shots at 100 yards or less. Did you know that the average proximity to the pin from 100 yards on the PGA Tour is approximately 18 feet? What is your proximity to the pin from this range? Make sure you go ahead and track this over your next 3-5 rounds and have an idea.
As a longer hitter, you will want to train to continue to hit it long and then spend time working on hitting those wedge shots from 100 yards and in. I would highly recommend building a distance chart with each wedge that you have.
For example, you should probably carry a pitching wedge (48 degrees), gap wedge (52 degrees), sand wedge (56 degrees) and lob wedge (60 degrees. Understand how far you hit each club at a 70%, 80%, 90% and 100% swing. Reference this chart during your round and select the shot you want to hit. You will have practiced these shots and will be prepared to hit the shot that is less than 100%.
Tip #3: Practice shots out of the rough
As a longer hitter, you might not hit the ball in the fairway as often as the shorter hitter and this is just fine. The key is to ensure you are practicing different shots out of the rough and from different types of lies. The goal is to understand how the ball will respond out of different lies.
We want to be able to continue to hit the driver and capitalize on the extra distance. We understand this comes with several more shots ending up in the rough and we must build our game around this reality.
This method of hitting the driver long and far and then gauging it out of the rough onto the green was made popular by Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh. Now golfers like Bryson DeChambeua use this same approach and have all done so with succes.
How to hit irons out of the rough!
Tip #4: Know your yardages
The best golfers know how far they hit each club in their bag. Above, we did discuss creating a shot chart on the distance you hit each wedge. This is a great idea across the entire bag.
I would highly recommend each golfer create a distance chart like the sample below:
| Club | Carry Distance (100%) | 90% | 80% |
| 2 Utility Iron | 210 | ||
| 4 iron | 190 | ||
| 5 iron | 181 | ||
| 6 iron | 171 | ||
| 7 iron | 163 | ||
| 8 iron | 153 | ||
| 9 iron | 143 | ||
| P Club | 130 | 123 | 115 |
| Pitching Wedge | 118 | 110 | 102 |
| SW Club | 105 | 97 | 91 |
| LW Club | 90 | 82 | 74 |
This might be the most important information you can use to help you play quality golf. I have heard so many stories and have seen it first hand where golfers completely over estimate how far they hit each iron.
They hit one 7 iron 165 yards one time and think this is their carry distance. So they step up to a 165 yard shot, hit the 7 iron and end up in a bunker. They blade it out of the bunker and are looking at a double bogey as their reality. Instead, if they had the right club and hit the 6 iron, their chance of hitting the middle of the green would increase greatly!
How can I improve my distance control in golf?
How can you create your own chart?
Best Option: I would highly recommend a launch monitor!
These portable devices can be used at the driving range, golf course or set up in your home net or golf simulator. These devices are game changers not only on being able to map your bag and know your distances, but they also provide quality feedback after on every shot and provide the following information:
- Carry Distance
- Spin Rate
- Launch Angle
- Spin Axis
- Total Distance
- Ball Speed
This information will help you map your bag, decide on which clubs are best for your game, develop a stock shot and much more. I love using my SkyTrak 365 days a year in my golf simulator setup.
The process for mapping your bag can looking something like this:
- Hit 5 shots with each club in your bag.
- Log the carry distance and total distance for each shot.
- Eliminate any outlier numbers (poor hits or low spin rates).
- Take the average and create a map of your bag.
If you visit any PGA Tour event you will see plenty of golfers utilizing their launch monitors. While most can’t afford a Trackman, there are some very affordable options in the 500-2000 dollar range. I own the SkyTrak and think the world of it.
Here are the top 3 options to check out:
Tip #5: Continue to train for speed
Make sure to keep your strength your strength and possibly add even more distance. Could you imagine your game with another 10-20 yards?
I spent many years wondering how I can increase my swing speed. Regardless of your current speed levels, there are always new barriers to break!
When I was playing junior golf, we weren’t fortunate enough to have some of the training aids and knowledge that is now available. Smart people have studied the golf swing and have created training aids and protocols to help all golfers increase their distance!
At around the same time, the statistics from the PGA Tour have become more clear and the importance of speed is acknowledged by many to be a key to being the best on the PGA Tour.
Within the past several years, there have been several products hit the market to make speed gains possible. While many people for many years waited for the latest driver to come out to gain an additional 5-10 yards, you can now do this even with your current clubs.
Did you know that with the SuperSpeed Training System you can gain 5-8% increase in swing speed as early as the first training session? This would allow you to gain somewhere between 10 and 30 yards depending on your current swing speed.
SuperSpeed Golf – Use Discount Code Golfjourney365 for some savings!
The SuperSpeed Training System is based on three different swing speed sticks all weighing at different weights. There is a green club that is 10% lighter than the average driver, the blue club which is 5% lighter and the red club which is actually 5% heavier!
Following their prescribed protocols the golfer completes the training every other day. The total time to complete most of their protocols is between 10-15 minutes. Most people can find the time to make this happen. The golfer will also need a swing radar to measure their progress.
The science behind the SuperSpeed Training System is based on overspeed training. Overspeed training has been around for several decades now and has been used by olympic athletics in the sport of Track and Field.
The science behind this overspeed training is based on the premise that your brain will only allow your body to move as fast as it feels it can stop safely! So, you get to work and swing the clubs as fast as possible, retraining your brain to allow you to swing your driver faster.
For more permanent results, the golfer should continue these training protocols for several months. The initial 5-8% is great and can become more permanent with the right length of training. The golfer can expect to continue to break down barriers every several months at a 1-2% increase.
My own experience has been an increase of 7-10 miles per hour on average from between 98-101 all the way up to 106-109. My goal is to hit the PGA Tour average of 113 mph in the coming months. I will continue to train every other day and watch in amazement as I am hitting drivers longer now than ever before!
Phil Mickelson (a senior golfer now) has been known to increase his swing speed in the past year or so and is close to 120 miles per hour in his swing speed. There are potential results for golfers of all ability levels and age!
Check the current price on SuperSpeed Golf System, here!
| Original Swing Speed | After 4-6 Weeks | New Carry Distance | Total Distance |
| 95 | 102 | 245 | 265 |
| 100 | 108 | 259 | 279 |
| 105 | 113 | 271 | 291 |
| 110 | 118 | 283 | 303 |
My Secret To Golf Improvement
Let’s face it, in order to get really good at golf, we must practice frequently. About four years ago, I made the leap and invested in a golf simulator build for my garage. I went with a SkyTrak Launch Monitor and the TGC software and can now play over 100,000 courses including Augusta, Pebble Beach, Bethpage Black, Whistling Straits. St. Andrews and many other of the top 100 courses in the world.
This golf simulator setup, which is more affordable that you might imagine, has been a game changer. I can now play golf everyday of the year regardless of rain, snow, cold weather or time of day. I can practice or play rounds of golf. I can stand in the 11th fairway at Augusta and with the auto-rewind feature I am able to practice my approach shots from various differences.
It is worth checking out through Rain or Shine Golf as they offer some incredible packages along with financing offers that are difficult to beat.
Some direct links to Rain or Shine Golf for pricing and financing:
Take Action – What You Can Do Today to Get Better
What does this mean for you? I believe in the following recipe to get better:
1 – Improve your motion in the golf swing by identifying a golf instructor. Here are some options:
Here is a list of golf instructors that we have reviewed:
2 – Train to swing faster and improve your swing speed. Here are some options:
Looking to gain more Speed and Distance in your swing. Two Options:
3 – Understand course strategy and work to break through your next barrier. Here is a series on breaking through:
We have provided guides on how to break 100, 90, 80 and 70. Check out more below, if interested.
4 – Practice Frequently
Did you know that I build a golf simulator in my garage and have played over 500 rounds of golf on my SkyTrak system? It has been a game changer and one worth checking out. Here are some of my other posts on golf simulators frequently asked questions:
- Is a Golf Simulator Worth It?
- How to Build a Golf Simulator?
- What is the Best Golf Simulator?
- Golf Simulator Accessories?
- How to Build a Golf Simulator for under $7000
- Top 11 Reasons to Buy a SkyTrak
- How to Build a Golf Simulator for Under $1000
- Why Build A Golf Simulator?
- What Space is Needed?
- Can A Golf Simulator Improve My Game?
- How Much Does A Golf Simulator Cost?
- Don’t Forget to Check out our 15 best golf swings of all time.