It you’re inconsistent with your ball striking or you’re not hitting the ball as far as you normally do, take a look at the rate of acceleration you create when delivering the club to the ball.

When you’re not hitting the ball like you normally would, there will often be the feeling of trying to rush the shot; your swing feels very fast and out of sync when you bring the club down to the ball.

If your rate of acceleration is too fast from the top of your backswing, you’ll basically max out your speed before you get to ball. That will compromise the quality of strike and, often times, lead you to lose speed through the hitting zone.

When frustration sets in, you’ll then wind up more, grip the club harder and swing even quicker at the transition and down to the ball.

The ideal rate of acceleration is similar to riding a roller coaster when you reach the highest point of the ride, slowly creep over the edge and then gradually increase in speed on the way down — although screaming — until you’re moving the fastest at the bottom of the ride and beyond.

When swinging a golf club, the weight of the club should feel like it floats through the transition from backswing to downswing. On the downswing, let gravity glide the weight of the club down first before accelerating the club at the bottom of the swing arc, through and well beyond the impact zone. It’s just like the rate of acceleration of a roller coaster.

To improve your rate of acceleration, start with slowing down your takeaway. If your first move away from the ball is tense and fast, your swing will become disconnected and your will be timing off from the start, forcing you to rush on the way down.

A good drill to help you feel the ideal rate of acceleration of the golf club on the downswing is the swoosh drill. The idea is to hear the club make a swoosh noise at the bottom of the swing arc and beyond.

Hold the golf club with your lead hand on the opposite end of the club with your hand just below the club head itself, where the grip end will be pointing at the ground.

Practice one-arm swings with your lead arm and listen to what part of the downswing you hear the swoosh noise. If accelerating correctly, you will hear the club make a swoosh sound at or around the ball and through the finish. If you hear the swoosh sound early on the downswing, you’re accelerating the club too quickly and too early on the downswing. Do the same with two hands on the club as well.

While the ideal rate of acceleration is similar to that of a roller coaster, give the swoosh drill a try. Maybe then your ball will take off on the ride of its life.

Peter Harris is the director of Golf at the Fore-U Golf Center in West Lebanon. His column appears weekly in the Recreation page during the golf season.

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