It's been quite a year for Nicolai Højgaard. A victorious Ryder Cup debut in Rome was swiftly followed by the DP World Tour Championship title and the award of a PGA Tour card all before his 23rd birthday.
The achievements listed above should come as no surprise, especially considering the Danish sensation has a secret weapon that he wields to great effect - his driver.
Saying that Nicolai is long off-the-tee would be underselling it, as he ranked in the top-five for driving distance on the DP World Tour in each of the past two seasons. He also ranks 8th in the world for the same metric over the past 12 months across all professional tours.
With that in mind, who better to give advice on how to crush it with the driver than Højgaard himself, which he did exclusively in an interview with Golf Monthly. Here he shares his top four checkpoints that you can use to gain extra yards off the tee...
1) Set-up For Speed And Control
The correct stance is the first step to hitting longer drives
Your stance and the way you set up to the ball with an athletic posture is crucial. You need good balance and stability in your feet because you’re moving a touch more than with your irons. You need to load the right side in the backswing and move into the left side in the downswing to create speed and power. The ball is just inside the front foot and the shaft is pretty vertical to help you hit slightly up on the ball.
2) High Arms In The Backswing
Get the arms high in the backswing to allow the club to fall into place naturally
I try to get my arms high in the backswing, so when I swing down the club falls naturally into place. This helps prevent too much of a slice for amateurs, because it stops you having to come ‘over the top’ if your backswing is too low and on the inside. Higher hands also enable you to create more speed because the swing is longer.
3) Left Leg Starts The Downswing
Use a slight movement towards the target, with the left knee, to initiate the downswing
One of the drills I do is to finish my backswing and feel like I’m starting the downswing with my left knee moving a touch towards the target. From there, I rotate, which helps to shallow the club out so it attacks the ball from the inside and the clubhead is on the way up when I hit the ball.
4) Push From The Ground Up
Push against the ground through the feet in the downswing
I feel like I’m pushing up and away from the ground through my feet. Build speed in your downswing instead of going too hard from the top, because you want to create the power through the hitting area. I use my core quite a lot and feel everything is engaged.
