How To Hit Your Longest (And Straightest) Drive With These Top Tips From A Two-Time Tour Winner

Like it or not, golf is now very much a power game. Getting it out there a good distance from the tee is seen as a very significant advantage by nearly all analysts. Yes, you’ve still got to have great touch and sound putting to compete at the highest level, but if you’re hitting shorter clubs in more often, you’re likely to miss fewer greens and hit it closer.

In this article, two-time DP World Tour winner, Jordan Smith, explains how to hit a driver and get the most out of your performance with this club from the tee by offering some of his favorite driving tips and drills.

HOW TO HIT LONG DRIVES

Jordan Smith

A former Walker Cup player, England's Jordan Smith topped the Challenge Tour Rankings in 2016 and has won twice on the DP World Tour - the European Open and Portugal Masters. He has represented Great Britain & Ireland in 2023 and 2025 at the Team Cup.

1. Set-up adjustments

For me, power tends to come from getting my lower body firing as fast as I can, from the top of the swing all the way through. I like to keep things quite simple in terms of any adjustments when I’m looking to hit it further. In terms of my driver set-up, I’ll have the ball a bit further up in the stance to encourage me to hit it more on the up and away to the left. This helps to launch it a bit higher, and crucially also keeps the spin down, which is the combination I need to carry it further. I’ll also widen my stance a fraction to give myself a more powerful base.

These adjustments work well in calm conditions and downwind when I’m looking to get it out there. But into the wind, I tend to peg it down and hit down on top of it more to get it going lower.

2. Know your numbers

Knowing your numbers is crucial in helping you find the right set-up to optimise distance. I work on TrackMan distances with every club at the start of the week, because you’ve got different conditions, different grasses, different air temperatures and altitude to factor in.

On a typical week, I’ll be looking for driver spin to be anywhere from 1,800 to 2,200rpm and my launch to be around 13-14˚ to give me that high-launch, low-spin flight that leads to the long ball. Most guys on tour are looking for that flight, but for you it may be something a little different to help you optimise distance, so a custom fitting or chat with your pro is a good idea as it could point you to the right gear to help you.

3. Width is key

Lag in the golf swing used to be a real power buzzword not so long ago, and I remember when I first took up golf I used to get really ‘laggy’. But that meant I had to be very good with my hands to make my swing work well. There’s not too much focus on lag now as I’m more concerned with retaining the width in my swing, which is pretty much the opposite. We’re working on keeping it wide, and if I can just turn from there, that’s where the real power comes from.

Of course, when you’re focusing on width, the danger can be that you start swaying off the ball too much in the driver backswing to get as wide as possible, and that has been a tendency of mine at times. Now, I work very hard with my coach standing in front of me with an alignment stick on my head to make sure I’m not swaying off the ball. If you haven’t got a coach or friend who can help you with this, practice in front of a mirror, either at the range or even at home without a club. Any excess swaying will rob you of power.

4. Timing

Timing and getting everything moving in the correct driver swing sequence is absolutely vital for generating power. At club level, nearly every golfer will have memories of that day they really timed their swings and how much difference it made to the distance they hit the ball.

The problem is that when they try to hit it hard, it tends to go all over the place because it throws the timing out, with things not working in the correct sequence in the downswing. They tend to get short and snappy, rather than staying wide and keeping that rhythm that helps you time everything correctly. You find it with pro golfers, too – they try to hit it harder, but it goes shorter as it just spins and goes all over the place.

A drill I sometimes do is get to the top and then really focus on getting my knees, legs and then hips moving first, with the hips turning out of the way. The upper body then follows with the arms coming down naturally. The most common bad sequence is where the shoulders go first and then all the power is gone. You need to be leaving the club behind you to store the power and then deliver it to the ball.