There’s no doubt Golf can be a confusing sport, it’s full of unique terminologies that are hard for an outsider to understand, one of which is Golf driving distance. Does driving distance include roll? You are about to find out.
The PGA Tour measures driving distance to the point where the ball comes to rest, which includes roll. Total is the straight-line distance to the golf ball’s expected resting point whilst carry is the distance the ball flies through the air.
It’s confusing but in this article, I will explain how the PGA measures distance, and how to drive further read on to find out.
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What Is Carry And Roll In Golf?
Carry is the distance a ball travels in the air, the roll is how far the ball rolls or bounces upon landing, and total distance is a combination of both.
It wouldn’t make sense if driving distance did not include roll. If you hit a 250-yard drive but it rolled 20 yards, you didn’t hit a 230-yard drive, you hit a 250 it doesn’t matter if the ball rolled those extra 20 yards.
Knowing the carry and roll distances of all your clubs is important. You need to know if the carry distance will be enough to fly over obstacles such as bunkers or water hazards.
If you know your 7 iron can hit 150 yards, of which 130 is carry and 20 is roll this means a 150 shot into a green which has a big bunker is unlikely to be a good shot as you will miss short of the bunker and roll sadly into the sand.
Knowing your yardage from the hole and the carry distance of each club is key to selecting the right clubs for the right moment. Easily determine yardage with a golf rangefinder.
Do golf rules confuse you? For a complete guide to making golf rules easy to understand look no further than my post.
How Do You Hit A Driver Over 200 Yards?
You Must Hit The Ball Correctly
Have you heard of the angle of attack?
The attack angle is the vertical(up-down) angle at which the clubhead moves at impact, positive means hitting up on the ball, whilst negative means hitting down on the ball. How down you hit depends on how vertical your swing is.
Every club is different but the Driver is the only club that you should connect within a neutral or positive angle towards the ball, data from launch monitors have shown how important these angles are for driving the ball further.
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See this graph from Trackman, it is insane how much distance you could gain by moving from a negative to a positive angle of attack with your Driver.
A player with a 95mph swing could go from carrying the ball 207 yards all the way to 256 by changing the angle of attack from -5 to 5 crazy right? Something so small has a huge difference to your swing.
Whilst some say changing the angle of attack could make you lose accuracy, the fact is if you want to hit a driver further without swinging like mad or buying an expensive driver, this is the way to do it.
Hit With The Center Of Your Driver
Instead of increasing your distance by increasing club head speed, think of hitting the ball in the sweet spot, the center of your clubhead. How important is hitting in the center? VERY important.
Assume your average drive is 180 yards off the tee, a one-inch off-center hit translates to roughly 12% loss of distance! If that person hit the ball in the center he/she would immediately gain 20-25 yards just by changing this simple thing.
How To Hit The Ball In The Center Of The Clubface
Practice the ideal driver set up with your feet at shoulder width and take practice swings before swinging and finish in a good position. Most off-centered Golf shots are a result of losing position.
Ensuring proper setup and finishing positions, is how we keep consistency in our Golf swings, and more importantly, striking the ball at the center of the club face.
Are all your Golf grips the same? To see why it matters check my post here.
Hit The Ball With A Square Clubface
Do you slice the Golf ball? You are not alone as slicing the ball is the most common problem amateur Golfers face, due to an open clubface at impact.
One mistake you might be making is not having a strong grip, a strong grip allows the proper release of the clubface to increase distance.
The best way to control your clubface is to ensure your hands are placed in a powerful position on the club. Make sure you can see between the 2-3 knuckles of the left hand at address, this puts you into a powerful position.
To see how to get the best Golf grip possible, check out this video here.
When does a Golf swing finish? If your like some amateur Golfers you might think it’s the point of contact with the ball but you would be wrong, it happens contact! Look at most PGA players and you see they finish a Drive with the club high over their left shoulder.
The most simple drill for hitting the ball square is shown in the above YouTube video by Paul Wilson, whilst holding the club loose, start off at the top of your backswing and feel the club fully hinged at the wrists, and stretch the arms around 2 foot after the ball with irons and 3 feet with woods.
If you follow all the tips mentioned I guarantee you will hit the ball straighter and further than ever before!
