Force multipliers can help improve your game

If you are a golfer who longs for increased distance, listen up. The military concept of “force multiplier” is something you need to know about.

In military science, force multiplier refers to a factor or a combination of factors that gives a person or equipment the ability to accomplish far greater feats than without it.

For example, in the Battle for the Atlantic in World War II (1939 to 1945) the United States started using newly built smallish aircraft carriers, which were converted merchant ships, to search for and sink German U-boats, which had been taking a huge toll on convoys transporting strategic goods to England. These ships were “escort carriers,” or CVE’s and had 25 to 30 planes, with flight decks only 500 feet long.

Whereas an anti-submarine warfare destroyer escort (DE) equipped with radar could check only 75 square miles of ocean an hour hunting for U-boats, in the same amount of time a plane with microwave radar could cover 3,000 square miles. Eventually, the strategy effectively put an end to the sinking of convoy merchant ships. This was a force multiplier!

Let’s apply this notion of a quantum leap in force (results) to your golf game. Suppose you were hitting your average drive 20 yards farther that you do now. And as a result, you were hitting two less clubs for your shots to the greens.

Bryson Dechambeau made his game a whole lot easier for himself by making a leap in body size, strength and applied force. He is averaging 344.4 yds. driving in this 2020-21 season and had had carries over 400 yds. Recently, he recorded a ball speed of 206 mph.

I’m not suggesting everyday golfers try a “bomb-and-gouge” approach. But we can find ways to apply a force multiplier to our game.

If you’re not working out at the gym or at home with weights and up-to-date apparatus, you’re sacrificing serious gains in distance, flexibility and swing mobility. Strength training helps your body handle faster swing speeds safely and prevent injury.

If you don’t care to visit a gym, check out “golfforever” the digital golf exercise program you can do anywhere t increase flexibility and distance while reducing back and joint pain. There are several apps available. Also, try golfdigest.com and golf.com for their programs.

Marty Jertson, a Ping Golf fitting expert and professional golfer, also favors “speed training” where one swings sticks at high speeds that are either lighter or heavier than a driver weight.

“If you pick up just 5 mph of club head speed, and you have the same three-dimensional dynamics of delivery at impact, you’re going to generate 200 to 300 more rpm of spin,” Jertson says. That’s 10 to 15 yards of distance because of more applied force. Remember, that won’t happen overnight. As you pick up club head speed, you may have to get re-fit for your driver.

Another force multiplier to consider is upgrading your technology where needed. Do you use a laser rangefinder? Our Air Force, Navy and Marine fighter jets use precision-guided munitions, better known as laser-guided bombs, to achieve pinpoint accuracy (within a meter). You should too. Are your golf clubs up to date? They should be. Things change after eight years!

How about putting? Here, we’re talking fine motor skills, meaning touch, feel, visualization and technique. Would you like to have four fewer putts, on average, per round? Would that not be a force for the better in your game?

Then get out there and practice. What? Practice? You say you don’t have time. Maybe less time playing around with your phone and eyeballing stuff on Facebook would free up some practice sessions. It’s called “time management” bunky.

Practice time on the range and the course gives you the chance to improve your whole technique and course management, all while fixing score-ruining flaws.

Dr. Charlie Blanchard is a licensed psychologist specializing in sports and leadership. Contact him at docblanchard71@gmail.com.