8 Effective Ways to Get More Power in the Golf Swing

Britt Olizarowicz

Apr 18, 2024 . 10 mins read

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Do you ever take great golf swings and feel like you just aren’t getting the distance you should?

Lack of power is a major problem for many amateur golfers. Most just assume their swing speed is not high enough to generate power.

I can tell you that this is not always the case. We’ve put together the best ways to get more power in the golf swing and some drills to help you get it done.

Key Takeaways

If you don’t have time to read the entire guide on how to get more power in the golf swing, here are the most important takeaways.

• The ground is your friend; ground forces have revolutionized the way golfers get power; don’t just stand on the ground, push against it.
• The proper grip, typically a neutral interlock grip, can give you a little extra clubhead speed when you need more power.
• Wrist action and wrist control will give you more power; measuring your wrist angles and then tweaking them is a hidden power secret many golfers are underutilizing.
• Like anything else requiring more power, you must do a physical strength test to ensure you are capable of creating more power.

8 Ways to Getting More Power in the Golf Swing

These 8 ways to get more power in the golf swing will help the majority of golfers take their game to the next level. I’ll warn you that when you first start creating more power, you have to adjust the distances of your clubs.

Get ready to start hitting the ball better, but have a few inconsistent rounds of golf. In the end, the changes will be well worth it.

1. Use the Ground

Ground forces are incredibly helpful when it comes to creating power.

For so many years, golfers stood on the ground and tried to stay balanced and controlled. Times have changed!

We now know that the best players in the world are actually pushing down and into the ground as they swing the club back, through impact, and to the follow-through position. This movement is much different than just trying to stay balanced.

You will really feel this motion as you are coming into the impact position. Instead of just turning through the ball, feel as though your trail leg is actually pushing off the ground while your lead leg does the same.

The feeling is entirely different for many players, but it works well.

One of my best tips here is to get a golf shoe with a slightly wider base that has a great traction pattern. Having this stability and support can help you feel the best ways to utilize ground forces.

Eric Cognoro has a drill called the Rainbow Drill that you can use to learn how to utilize the ground and gain more power.

2. Get a Grip

The best golf grip for power is the interlock.

I’m not saying you need to change your entire foundation in the game. However, if you feel as though you are struggling with power in any way, it could be because you are not gripping the club correctly to begin with.

The neutral interlock grip gives you just a little more contact with the grip, and it holds the hands in place through impact.

Here’s our guide on how to get the perfect grip, including some tour player data we have collected. Some of the most powerful golfers in the game (Tiger Woods, Brooks, Bryson) all use the interlock golf grip.

3. Flexed Wrist Position at Impact

After analyzing more than 1,000,000 golf swings, we’ve learned quite a bit about the proper wrist positions in the game of golf.

One of the things that is universal throughout the entire group is a slightly flexed wrist position at impact.

The lead wrist can either be extended, neutral, or flexed at impact. When the lead wrist is flexed, the clubface is generally square, and the golf club is headed on a downward angle of descent through the golf ball.

A flexed position at impact is easiest to achieve when you are at a slightly flexed or flat position at the top of the backswing.

Some golfers worry that this flexed position will lower the ball’s flight, but that’s not how it works.

Wear your HackMotion sensor and hit about 20 golf balls. Take a look at how flexed your lead wrist position is at impact. For most golfers, the lead wrist is extended, causing somewhat of a flip type shot and a golf ball that travels inconsistent distances with a loss of power.

4. Widen Your Stance

Golfers have always gone with this concept of shoulder width apart for all golf clubs in the bag.

However, if you look at the professionals, you can see that they are moving to a slightly wider stance when they need power.

Now, before you head out to the range and start standing with your feet as far apart as you can. I have to remind you of the fact that small adjustments are always better in golf.

First, you have to get your feet about shoulder width apart, and then you will increase that only slightly. The problem with too wide of a stance is that you can slow your turn down or even restrict the amount of turn. Some golfers have slower legs, and this makes it hard to achieve power with the wider turn.

I would suggest working with this in pieces, increasing the width of your stance by just a half inch to start and going from there. When you have gotten the stance too wide, expect to start losing shots to the right; the ball will trail off and move away from the target. When this happens, just bring it back in a little.

This video from Kerrod Gray gives you some actionable tips for a wider and more powerful golf shot.

5. Create Lag

Lag is that feeling you get when your body and hands have turned through the golf ball, but the club is still dragging behind.

The lag you create in your golf swing is powerful, and it’s going to help you hit the golf ball further. Most players stay hyper-focused on the mechanics of their swing, and they forget the importance of lag.

The drill shown below, “Wide, Wide, Narrow, Wide” from Clay Ballard Golf, gives you the visual concept and feeling of what this lag will feel like.

I find it easiest to learn how to create lag with the longer golf clubs in the bag. Something about the extra length in the club that makes it easier to feel it dragging behind you.

Start with your driver and fairway woods and work your way down into your short irons. Although there is more to it than this, sometimes feeling a little like the club “lags” behind will be a great mindset to help you move forward.

6. Flexed Wrist Position at the Top with More Body Rotation

At the top of your backswing, the wrist position for your lead wrist will either be flat, flexed, or extended.

With the data we have collected from HackMotion through the years, we know that the golfers with the more flexed wrist position at the top of their backswing are those who have an easier time generating power through impact.

If you need a perfect example of this, take a look at Dustin Johnson. At the top of Dustin’s backswing, we see that his lead wrist is moved into a state of flexion (you could also say it’s bowed).

From this position, his clubface is square to slightly closed, and all he has to do is fire his hips through the ball and rotate as fast as he can through impact.

Why is this different?

Most amateur golfers are not in a position that looks anything like this. Therefore, as they swing through the impact position, they are working on trying to move the clubface from an open position to a square position.

This extra movement and manipulation of the club require you to slow down your body, whether you realize it or not.

Alistair Davies shows us the movement of the wrists at the top, combined with the proper position, in order to get your wrists into a place that makes sense for developing power.

7. Increase Physical Strength

Physical strength is important. You don’t have to be the strongest person in the world to play great golf, but the better your physical condition is, the easier it is to create power.

When you are in good golf shape, you can improve the interaction you have with the ground, increase speed, hit sharper shots, and feel less fatigued as you come down the 18th hole.

Golfers in better shape get more power.

If you sometimes make the turn and start to slow down or make mistakes, it could simply be that your body is getting tired. Here are a few of the basics you can start on to help gain some more power.

• Start walking at least every day to build up stamina.
• Try to walk at a brisk pace when off the golf course to increase overall leg strength.
• Find a fitness instructor or program that understands how to strengthen specific golf muscles.
• Always remember to stretch and work on mobility as a way to increase your power.

8. Better Shoulder Turn

Shoulder turn in golf is often underutilized when it comes to the amateur golf game. If you want to gain more power in your game, get a full shoulder turn.

Work on this by taking your lead shoulder and ensuring that as you swing back, it is making its way fully under your chin.

Again, I would work on this with the driver, as it feels more natural with a longer golf club. Your wedge shots may not need quite as much of the shoulder turn in order to feel powerful, but with the driver, it’s essential.

This video from Athletic Motion Golf goes through the importance of this larger and more powerful shoulder turn used to increase power.

Final Thoughts

At this point, you should feel more confident about your ability to gain some power in your golf swing. Clubhead speed is important, and some golfers just move immediately, trying to swing the club harder. Don’t fall into this trap.

Instead, work on getting your body and your golf club into the proper positions. When you do this, there isn’t much work to do, but you will notice the increase in power almost immediately.

Use HackMotion to help you analyze your wrist angles at the top of your swing and then again at impact. Moving toward flexion is going to be a more powerful option.