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Welcome to the Distance Factor Podcast, where we, Anna and Janine, share our journeys as professional long drive athletes with unique backgrounds.

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Join us as we provide expert tips, proven research, and personal insights on how to add distance to your golf game and enhance your overall experience on the course.

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So we have a really good topic for you guys today.

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Basically let's just deep dive into why distance, why is it important? What impact will it have on your game? If you work on specifically adding that 10, 15, 20 extra yards off the tee box.

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So we're going to kind of add a little bit of insight into what's happening on PGA Tour, the LPGA Tour, as well as just amateur golf in general, because obviously 99 percent of us can relate to amateur golf, not tour golf.

0:57

So yeah exciting topic, but let's, let's dig into it.

1:03

Yeah. When it comes to distance, that's something where I think people get intimidated.

1:09

I think one of the questions is. That you think about, oh, no, then I don't have any wedges or shorter clubs, like the further you get out, the less you have that possibility of, you know, what if you're pitching ledgers going 200 yards? I see some of the long drive guys doing that, but what I look at it as is you have more variety of shots that you can take, whether it's being a half swing, whether it's working on your chipping and.

1:41

To be honest, if you're hitting it so far, are you really going to need those shorter shots? So it's a little give and take in that regard, but I like the fact that you have more ability.

1:53

With the different shots you're going to have and you're coming up to a hazard.

1:58

How are you playing this? Can you get over it? Some people on a par 5 you have to lay up a couple times because there might be like bunkers or water Before even getting to the green so I think having that capability where okay You can get to that water before it comes into play and then shoot over it from there.

2:16

So it's looking at that To cut down on your strokes and not having to play it short, play it short, play it short.

2:22

Okay. Now I got to go for it. So at least that's what I'm saying.

2:26

I mean, it just completely changes the strategy of the game as a whole.

2:32

Basically what you just said. Both of us have sat in hit shots, thousands of shots on.

2:40

Any kind of simulator. And I mean, even for somebody who hasn't hit on a simulator, even when you hit at the driving range, I can guarantee you the dispersion of your five iron is a lot wider than the dispersion of your seven iron.

2:56

And that's purely just because shorter club, little extra loft.

3:01

So, adding distance off the T box and being able to put that 7 iron further than you normally would be able to, all that's going to do is help, because you're reducing the spray.

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Into the green and giving yourself better chances at birdie putts.

3:21

So it's just a completely different world when you are able to immensely reduce the amount of yardage that you have into the green and we can see that there's huge differences, especially on tour with amateurs that you play with on a daily weekend basis.

3:44

Definitely it's it's crazy. I, I like how you said birdies.

3:48

I was like, no, let's Eagle. Come on, let's not hold back.

3:51

Janine. Okay. We're shooting for the Eagles on par fives.

3:56

Absolutely. A hundred percent, but I mean, that's just, that's where the scoring is.

4:02

And it, it honestly, in my mind, Yeah, you do have a little bit more room for error off the tee box, because we talked about it.

4:12

The further you hit it, potentially, the further out of bounds it could go.

4:15

But, just having that extra little bit, and having the confidence in being able to play your 7 iron versus your 5 iron into the green.

4:27

Overall, after playing tons and tons of rounds, all it's going to do is lower your scores across the board.

4:34

Because You're going to have more chances, like I said, at birdie putts and hopefully you won't have very long wedge shots on par fours.

4:45

It might be a pitching wedge instead of an eight iron.

4:49

So yeah, it, it just makes all the difference in the world.

4:53

No, exactly. And I think I read this somewhere and I wish I had the exact study, but they said it by gaining 10 more yards.

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of distance, you're dropping like 0.

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7 off of your, your strokes for the day.

5:08

And then if you're adding 20 yards of distance, you're dropping 1.

5:13

2 shots per round. So that's I think I know exactly where that came from.

5:16

That sounds like a Lou Stagner study.

5:19

But yeah, absolutely. So it's, it's, it's really narrowing it down and seeing the differences.

5:25

I swear, if you're using any kind of technology to track how you're hitting the distances you're hitting and then being able to analyze that and see, Hey, I'm gaining this much more yardage.

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I'm taking this many strokes off. That's what I think we need to dive into the data here more.

5:43

To analyze, to prove our point of why distance is important.

5:47

For sure. I, I think it builds up your confidence too.

5:50

And when you have more confidence, as Bob Rotella talks about in his mental golf books is, you know, golf is a game of confidence or golf.

6:00

You know, he has his putting books. He's got everything.

6:04

And, you know, golf's not a game of perfect.

6:06

That's his other book. That's actually my favorite one by far, but the confidence aspect of your more confident, you're going to bring that into your swing.

6:14

The less. Confident you are, you're gonna shank it more.

6:18

Oh, absolutely. If you don't feel comfortable, don't take it.

6:21

Don't take the shot. Exactly. You talk about the 7 and the 5 iron.

6:24

I would rather take the 7 iron all day. Okay.

6:27

Absolutely. That 5 iron, I always like pull it or something.

6:31

It's just like. It goes the distance, but then yeah, like you pull it all, you know, and that's something you got to work on.

6:36

But the fact that I have that capable distance, it makes it so much easier, less stress, more confidence.

6:44

You know, I play in some women's leagues and some of these women, they don't hit it that far and that's okay.

6:50

I don't mind, but they feel the pressure and the stress cause they're just going a little bit of distance and they hit again and they hit again.

6:57

And then they get self conscious and. I want golf to be a game that's fun that you're doing with your friends.

7:03

You keep up the pace of play.

7:05

I don't really care how many shots you have, but for them, it's their mental game.

7:10

So that's why I want to get more distance for everybody.

7:14

For sure. Well, I mean, it's, it's crazy, especially the two of us being females that do have a decent amount of distance.

7:24

Like when we go out and play with your standard Weekend golfer, a lot of times they're in awe of it and I don't think they recognize.

7:37

I mean, when we're 270, 280 off the tee box regularly, at least most courses, especially for women.

7:49

I will admit, I generally don't play the women's tee boxes.

7:55

I usually play the standard men's tee box, not the tips, but it, it, it has a huge impact because on those standard courses, I honestly very rarely pull out a five or a six iron.

8:13

I'm probably 90 percent of the time using something less than that.

8:17

And all it's going to do is improve my score.

8:20

I mean, obviously you have to be able to execute those shots as well.

8:23

Like driving it off the box isn't.

8:25

all of it. But like we discussed earlier, it's just giving you greater chances.

8:31

It's an extra piece of the puzzle that will potentially knock strokes off across the board.

8:39

So. Definitely. Noah, that's what I want to pull.

8:42

I want to pull this data, Janine, that you found.

8:44

For ARCOS? Yes.

8:47

I think, what is it? 2022 data here.

8:50

I'm looking at this chart. Maybe we can post this somewhere.

8:53

I don't know where, but we will post it.

8:56

We can reference it maybe in the bio or the link or like on the post.

9:00

But somebody with a plus, plus handicap or better.

9:05

You know, they're driving the distance of 273 and this is just based on our coast data.

9:11

So it could be different. Not only young players, but I mean, even across the board across pretty much all age groups, there's almost a 70 yard difference between.

9:24

The plus handicaps and the very high handicaps and 70 yards per hole is a huge difference.

9:35

Yeah, it's 40 yards difference just for like a 10 handicap.

9:39

What am I seeing here? Yeah, probably 10 handicap all the way up to the age group.

9:44

Probably up to 39. And then once you hit 40, then you're, it's still 40.

9:48

Yeah. I'd say about 40 yards distance between the, between a plus handicap and a 10 handicap.

9:55

I would, I would like to know the average handicap.

9:59

I think it's between like 10.

10:01

I think it's around 10. That's actually.

10:04

A data thing we should check. I would, I would be willing to bet it's higher than that.

10:07

You think it's higher? Yeah.

10:09

I think it depends men. So this, this is men's data too.

10:12

So it's like men versus women. But yet again, it's hard because you don't know.

10:17

All the golfers in the world, nobody, there's a lot of real amateurs who are posting their scores with their handicap, but those who aren't there, it's hard to really look at all of the data specifically, but yeah, just seeing that like a 70 yard spread.

10:34

In general, from the best handicap to the worst handicap, I, the data speaks for itself.

10:41

That's a whole nother hit for a lot of people on every single hole.

10:45

So. Oh my gosh.

10:48

Hitting it 200 versus 270. Yeah.

10:50

That's a hard four is 400 plus.

10:53

Even watching professional golfers, they're wedge masters.

10:57

Like that's 100 percent the truth of it.

11:01

So setting up yourself to have more wedge shots.

11:04

I think that's probably four or five strokes around, at least, instead of playing full irons.

11:15

And you know what? I think it's, here's the thing.

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You can practice your wedge shots and your putting and all these other shots for free at most golf courses.

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So by adding distance.

11:28

You can save some money because then you start practicing more of those shots.

11:32

And then all you have to do is work on your speed training and swinging and hitting the center of the face to then gain that distance.

11:39

So we're saving you money by gaining distance.

11:42

That's a stretch. No, I mean, it is kind of true because If you feel comfortable with those shots off the tee box, I mean, you'll give, enable yourself more time to work on the short game.

11:56

And as we all know, I mean, people who have, you have to have a good short game to have a low handicap and score well.

12:04

It's just, it's facts. You're not going to be pounding, you're not going to be pounding irons from inside of 10 feet every single hole.

12:12

It's just not going to happen. So. Challenge accepted.

12:16

I'm kidding, Janine. That's why we're not professional golfers.

12:19

We are professional long drivers. As we need to work on our wedge game and putting game.

12:25

And that's okay. You got to be honest with yourself and know where you are at with your whole golf game, but being able to target and narrow in to the distance.

12:36

That's a good start. For sure. Well, and I mean, I, I don't have data to back this, but even from when, before I started speed training, my scores went down like crazy after I did.

12:51

So, I mean, I have personal experience with.

12:56

Seeing, truly seeing the difference and the impact that adding some distance has made.

13:02

So same, I can't, absolutely can't say I, I can't say everything was just speed, I think because I was, I think more than anything because I was practicing for long drive and trying to, what will get to later talk about the tips to.

13:18

Our three top tips in order to get more distance, because I was working on those three things, or long drive, and then also made my golf game better.

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And that's how I dropped. I dropped my handicap last year in half.

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And this year, my goal, I'm putting my goal out here.

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So this is accountability here to all of our viewers.

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I would like to be a scratch golfer by the end of this year.

13:41

So you can absolutely do it now with the with the help of our distance right here, starting with the distance and then then having to practice more putting and shipping.

13:51

Yeah. Well, I mean, and kind of what you're talking about with speed training.

13:55

I even feel like adding that speed piece of it has changed the way that.

14:00

My swing looks in general. So it's added consistency on other shots that I previously didn't have just because I've had to work through pieces of my swing to find efficiency, to find consistency.

14:18

So. Yeah, it's made a huge difference there, too, without a doubt.

14:23

That's awesome. See, once I make it out to Raleigh, we're gonna go golfing.

14:27

I know. Plan out it this fall. Need the weather to warm up a little bit.

14:31

Absolutely. But yeah, one of the things that we kind of wanted to touch on was How much of an impact does it have even for tour players? Because you see guys on tour the bigger names, ball speed off the tee, they're probably running about 160 170.

14:50

I mean, the, in terms of ball speed, the best of the best are Mid 170s.

14:59

So if you think about it, like that's that's moving because they're the they're the pros.

15:05

They're the ones out there that recognize that distance is important.

15:09

And you can see it just based off of the way that tour players have started training for speed because they recognize that it is a competitive advantage.

15:21

Just going back to Transcribed Last year, and I'm pulling this up directly from the PGA Tour, but last year there was between we're talking average distance off the tee here, but the longest guy average last year was 326 yards, and that was Rory McIlroy.

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If you go all the way down to Last place, which is about 190 players down the list to 70.

15:53

That is a huge difference.

15:56

55 yards. That is insane.

15:59

That is so the amount of rounds that they play, you know, that has an immense impact on the scores and the results that they come away with.

16:09

I think that's one thing that Rory specifically, just because we're.

16:12

On the topic of him, he, he prides himself by distance because he has to.

16:18

And the thing is, I think Rory's, you know, how tall is Rory? We need to fact check this right now.

16:24

Rory McIlroy, but I want to.

16:30

Five foot nine. Thank you. Okay.

16:33

You were faster, faster on the draw than me. Okay.

16:35

So Rory, his height is five foot nine.

16:39

And just to let you know, I'm five foot four.

16:41

Okay. I'm probably one of the shorter women pro long drivers on tour.

16:46

Janine, how tall are you? I'm five foot seven.

16:49

Okay. No, just, just a five foot seven.

16:52

Yeah. So Rory just looking at his mechanics to the way he's using his body, the ground forces, everything in order to get that distance.

17:03

He's getting everything he can to hit that ball.

17:06

And that's, I think everybody has that in them.

17:09

So I don't want to hear excuses about height or athletic ability or any, anybody can do it if you're putting the work into it.

17:19

So that's why Rory, you know, has. Been a great golfer up, up until this point.

17:24

And now we're seeing even the new generation just hitting it further and further.

17:30

Yep. And one thing that you hear a lot, but especially for amateur golfers, they, people kind of push them to not compare themselves to PGA tour players, but.

17:41

Professional women, especially from a distance perspective, like, it's a little bit more comparable.

17:47

And, pulling the same staff from last year, the entire season the leader, her average driving distance was 281.

17:55

And then if you scroll down far enough. To player number 165 on this list, all the way at the bottom, 235 yards average, again, a huge difference.

18:08

So, I mean, obviously the courses they're playing are shorter, but when you're playing for 6, 000, 6, 300 yards, which is what the LPGA Tour usually plays from, if not a little bit more, again, that's a huge difference.

18:23

Because that's the difference between hitting a four hybrid into the green versus a Seven iron, quite literally.

18:30

Exactly. 100%.

18:32

That's what, man, 235.

18:34

That's, wow. I mean, you see par 3 set up at 235 on PGA TOUR.

18:42

Yeah. That's a par 3, yeah.

18:45

It's just, to even do a par 4, that's like trying to get 3 shots into a par 4, you know? A par 5 don't even, like, it's 5 shots just to get to it, so.

18:55

That's, that's crazy. Yep.

19:00

like you were saying for par fives, if you don't even give yourself a chance to be getting yourself into the green for an eagle shot, like the people who are just immediately gain an advantage.

19:17

No. If you want to be competitive, that's what it comes down to.

19:20

Now, if you're just playing golf for fun and you just want to do better, just think about just obtaining par.

19:27

You have to give yourself that opportunity.

19:30

We're going to have those three putts. We're going to have those, those chips where you chunk.

19:34

Okay. That's me right there. Okay. I'm the chip chunker right here.

19:39

So I give myself those opportunities to get as close as possible in the, in the fewest shots so that if that does happen, I can still play a decent round.

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And so by getting that distance, I'm, I take care of all the other issues I have.

19:55

For sure. Well, even for people who are Just trying to play solid rounds of golf and get themself from a hundred shots round player to a 90 shots round player.

20:06

You could truly make that up just from distance.

20:09

A hundred percent. Mm-Hmm. because Exactly. There's not a huge difference between a 90 and a hundred.

20:15

There's really not. So finding just that, those bits and pieces where you can make a difference and consistently make that difference, that's the key.

20:24

Cause you may not get those same green side shots or wet shots all the time, but when you feel good about yourself off the tee box, that's going to make a huge difference.

20:37

A hundred percent.

20:39

I always feel good off the tee box. That's the only thing that I can confidently say going into a round of golf.

20:47

I'm like ladies. I got this the rest of the game.

20:51

We'll see. Bye. Okay.

20:54

But let's look at some more. Let's look at some more data though.

20:57

So you sent this TPI website, this article here.

21:02

So comparing PG, this is the PGA 2007 to 2018, right? I'm looking at this, right? Yep.

21:11

Full season and then, and then it's money won by average ball speed.

21:16

Now I'm looking at this chart. And so the lowest they have is 150 ball speed on this chart.

21:22

The highest is about what? 1 94? 1 93.

21:26

There's no specific number that, that looks like an outlier though, for sure.

21:29

Yeah, that's, that looks like an outlier. It might be Bryson de Shambo.

21:31

Who knows? Basically, it's starting from one, I'm describing this cause you're looking at me, but on the podcast, you'll be hearing this.

21:39

It's basically, it's a line that's just gaining.

21:42

So the higher your ball speed is going.

21:45

The more money you're winning and this is millions of dollars.

21:48

Okay. If anybody wants to donate towards this podcast, no.

21:54

So it's going, and I think it peaks around, I'd say the most consistent highest number it's around about one 80, you know, it dips down a little bit and then comes back up at one 85 again, but that's.

22:07

A lot of big numbers around that 175 to 185 is like the curve, the bell, the hot spot for, yeah, that's the hot spot for it all.

22:17

So that the fact that you're seeing that at those ball speeds, like you were saying, off of the tee box, getting that 175, you're seeing that consistently with those PGA players.

22:27

You know, the money, money talks, right? That's what this graph is showing.

22:34

Well, yeah, this is, this graph is the equivalent of, drive for dough quite literally, that's my life right there, but yeah, I think we've, we've summed it up pretty well.

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There's immense value in increasing your distance off the tee box for amateur golfers and professional golfers alike.

22:55

So https: otter.

23:00

ai Just as a little motivation, almost there's, that's basically the new era.

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And now that we know in a few years down the road, the golf ball is going to roll back.

23:18

So it's going to be harder to get distances like this.

23:22

So all it's going to do is help. Yep, exactly.

23:25

This is our doomsday prep right here, everybody.

23:27

So let's take this serious. Janine, let's take it away then.

23:30

What are our three top tips, okay, in order with what you should focus on? What are our three top tips to gain that distance? Well, swing mechanics, of course, you have to be able to swing the club well and efficiently.

23:44

So, of course, that comes with lots of work and working with the right people and honestly, just getting a feel for it yourself.

23:53

You'll learn just based off of getting numeric feedback on either distance or clubhead speed.

24:00

And you'll kind of start to tinker with different fields and how you're able to figure out how to get that extra speed.

24:08

But yeah, swing mechanics are, of course, basically top priority.

24:13

You gotta hit the center of the face. If you're not hitting the center of the face, there's something in the swing mechanic that's off.

24:19

And that's when You said, looking at the data, seeing what's your club path, what's the face angle, what's your attacking.

24:25

There's all these big numbers that we can definitely dive into in future episodes.

24:30

I don't want to overwhelm everybody. You know, I always suggest just lessons from a normal golf coach.

24:36

You think, oh, I might need a long drive. No.

24:38

Just get a normal golf coach, work on that swing.

24:41

First, see what those efficiencies, as you mentioned.

24:44

So that's the first tip is working on that swing.

24:48

The second one I put this and Janine, you can argue with me or not, but I put strength and mobility as number two.

24:56

You need to, cause it's, it's between that and our number three one.

25:01

But for strength and mobility, if you're not able to stretch back and get that full rotation, You're not going to have as much flexibility or much as much leg in order to hit that ball and get that distance.

25:15

So that's what I talk about with mobility and just flexibility and then strength, that power, utilizing the ground forces, the linear forces, the rotating forces, everything.

25:26

You got to think about it. Also, that's where I think about the strength and mobility.

25:30

What do you, what do you think? Well, you're not going to be able to get fast if you don't have any strength.

25:35

I mean, that's the reality of it. There's, there's obviously a correlation between the 2 of those for sure.

25:42

But of course, the last piece, which is kind of what we have been hinting at is purely just.

25:48

Speed training, like teacher body, how to move faster, give yourself the opportunity to learn how to move faster.

25:55

Cause you'll never find it just by trying to consistently hit the fairway and not really putting as much effort into it or putting all that you can into it.

26:06

And that's the cool part about it is when you do.

26:11

training. Who cares where it goes? Yeah, that's my favorite.

26:15

All you're doing is teaching your body to move faster because ceiling and that normal swing speed is just going to casually creep up.

26:26

And that's where that extra distance comes from.

26:29

Exactly. Just speed training. And if you have questions on speed training, we'll talk about it more later in our episodes.

26:35

You know, my biggest thing is just swinging the club faster.

26:39

So I. Like to say the first thing that I did when I didn't want to buy all these swing training aids was just swinging your driver 50 times super fast.

26:49

I researched and watched so many YouTube videos when I first got into long drive, and that's what Kyle Berkshire did.

26:55

And then I looked up Martin Borgmeier. I looked at the top people and kind of saw what are they doing? How are, how are they doing it? And so that's the first thing, just swing your driver really fast, three times a week for 50 swings.

27:10

You know, you got to get that heart rate up, that endurance up.

27:13

That's a good place to start, but there's also, you know, the swing training aids to look into as well.

27:18

And we can go over that further later on. Absolutely.

27:23

Yep. So I hope that kind of giving everybody these insights has been helpful.

27:28

And we of course want to really, really work on and dig into.

27:33

The specific pieces to all this, but yeah, kind of just to wrap, sum it up, there's so much value in, in adding that distance so much.

27:44

So we're looking forward to everybody listening to this podcast, taking away our tips, working on this so that when springtime hits, well, if you're not in Minnesota, maybe it's already spring for you, but when the spring hits and you can get out and get golfing more.

27:59

We can start seeing those changes to, to your handicap, to your swing, to your golf game in general.

28:05

We want to see that doing better and better.

28:08

Yup. Absolutely. Okay.

28:11

Well, thanks everyone. Hope you have a good rest of your day.