The harder you hit something, the bigger the impact, right? That is probably what’s going through your mind as you tee off on a golf course, peering down the fairway at the white pole that marks your little ball’s destination: You’re going to have to hit that ball pretty hard. And hitting it hard means swinging as fast as possible, doesn’t it? Well, it turns out that a faster golf swing does not actually equate to greater ball distance.
There are two stages to life as a golf ball on a tee. There is the moment before the club makes contact with the ball, and then there are those glorious seconds of freedom afterwards as it flies through the air. The distance it travels in this second stage of its life is its acceleration. Now acceleration (A) is defined by Force (F) and Mass (M) via the equation A = F/M. Since the mass of the ball is a known quantity, we must now determine amount of force applied.
To find that out, we need to look at the first stage of the process – the hitting part - as it is here that the Force is generated. Force is the product of Mass and Acceleration, or F = MA. In this case, the mass is the weight of the club, but it’s crucial not to mistake speed for acceleration. Ultimately, swinging ferociously does nothing to accentuate the acceleration at the point of impact with the ball. That comes down to technique.
Technique in a golf swing is about controlling the tempo of your swing. The shape and design of the club actually plays the bigger role. Ideally, the backswing and the start of the downward arc of the golf club should be at a relatively slow speed. The speed of the swing should be incrementally increased as the club moves downward with wrists locked and hands cocked.
At the moment the club is parallel with the ground, two actions should take place. First, the wrists should unlock as the shoulders turn to face forward. At the same time, the one’s weight should be shifted towards the front leg. When this action is performed correctly, it causes the club head (which is already tilted back slightly) to slingshot forward at the impact with the ball. This effect is amplified by the shift in body weight. This process maximises the rate of acceleration applied to the ball at the first stage of teeing off, which in turn increases the amount of force applied to the ball. Since the force applied to the ball is greater, so too will its rate of acceleration and, thus, distance travelled.
Naturally, this entire action is affected by the technique employed to strike the ball flush against the face of the club, including the positioning and movement of one’s shoulders and feet. That said, don’t waste anymore energy on a fast swing
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There seems to be something wrong here.
The club head velocity at the point of impact is absolutely vital. The acceleration of the club head isn't.
The reason that accelerating your swing is important is because it flexes the club shaft, which will only stay flexed while you accelerate the swing, and then deliver it's stored energy on impact.
The description of the swing here seems quite good, but shaft flex aside, the best way to hit further is to have higher club head velocity at impact - that gives it a greater momentum to share with the ball.