How has Ernie Els hit the ball so far?
When Tiger Woods hits his driver, or Bubba Watson, you can see the power and almost hurt yourself just looking. Then there’s Ernie Els, every recreational golfer’s favorite player. With what seems to be effortless, he hits the ball as far as anyone. How do you hit the ball so hard with such an easy swing? For starters, appearances are deceiving.
Ernie hits harder than you think, but let’s first go back to his development as a young golfer. The story goes that when he was a child, he would hit plastic balls in his backyard. With one easy movement, they would travel about 70 feet. If he hits one as hard as he can, he’ll go about 70 feet. This taught him that taking off your shoes was not the key to good golf.
What it does is obey the fundamentals of the golf swing, the first of which is preparation. Your grip, stance, aim, and the stance you get into before removing your stick define the move you can follow. A good setup tends to restrict your movements to the right ones. In a poor configuration, anything goes, and most of it is wrong.
The second fundamental of your swing, the one that makes it stand out so much, is its rhythm and tempo. He never rushes things, letting them unfold in the right sequence and at the right time. He really swings hard. If you get a chance to see it live, you’re in for a big surprise. But his rhythm and tempo allow his swing to flow gracefully and effortlessly from start to finish. They allow you to concentrate all your power at the moment of impact in a square and online blow.
Imagine you’ve hung up a rug and are hitting it with a tennis racket to remove the dust. You know that to get maximum effect from your shot, the racket should strike the carpet moving directly toward the carpet, not at an angle to it, and the entire racket head should strike the carpet flush, not hitting the carpet first with one edge of the racket.
Now think of the mat as a golf ball, and the racket as the head of your club, and there you have it: a square and inline shot. That’s how to hit the ball hard, and that’s what Ernie does. Always keep in mind that swinging hard and hitting hard are two different things.
There’s one more thing about him that, try as we might, most of us won’t be able to copy: talent. Ernie, like all professional golfers, has a talent for hitting the ball very far. You’re either a long hitter or you’re not. Paying attention to the fundamentals allowed him to fully develop his talent. You can do the same and hit the ball as far as your talent allows, which will be enough.
