Chapter 9: What Could An Extra 25 Yards Do For Your Game?

Over the years I’ve given countless complimentary golf talks at the local country clubs in Naples, Marco Island, Bonita Springs, Estero, and even Ft. Myers. I’ve even done virtual Zoom golf talks for attendees all around the country. The purpose of these talks is strictly from an educational perspective ending with immediately actionable tips that the attendees can put into use in attempts to gain more distance off their tee shots later that day.

One thing that I’ve noticed is that in general “birds of a feather seem to flock together”. Meaning that as I look out into the crowds of my talks, the attendees tend to be very similar in demographic at individual clubs but can vary significantly from club to club. For example, one club might have an average age in the upper 60’s and the next club might be in the mid 80’s. 

At first, I thought I might have to make significant modifications to my presentation in an attempt to “adapt” to an older or younger audience. Then I had to remind myself that I really didn’t have to change anything other than 1 number; and that was the average distance off the tee I used in my examples during my presentation so that my audience could relate better. Literally, everything else stays exactly the same.

Why?

Because when using The Berman Method for golf performance, it does not matter how old you are or what your handicap is

As long as you have a pulse and are willing to “wake up” some muscles, you are more than capable of gaining more distance off the tee when swinging the big stick! How much more distance you gain is completely up to you.

After asking hundreds of golfers over the age of 60 what increase in distance off the tee that they would realistically be happy with gaining, the most common answer I hear is “20 more yards.” And then the 2 most common reasons why they want 20 more yards off the tee is “because that would get me over 200 yards total” or “because that would help me avoid moving up to the next tee box (senior’s tee box)”. Now let's think about those 2 answers for a minute because I see a little “chicken or the egg” action happening here…

Yes we can argue that both of those answers are directed towards the hopes of looking at a better scorecard at the end of the round. However I think it’s a little more deeper than that and here’s why-

Before giving one of my golf talks at Bonita National, I was talking with a lady who was attending about her golf game. Specifically about her tee shot distance, handicap, and overall enjoyment of the game. I’ll never forget the word she used to describe what she thought was one of her best drives ever… As she drove up to where her tee shot landed, she looked up at the GPS and saw that it didn’t even go 135 yards total! “Demoralizing. Really, it was demoralizing. There’s no other way to explain it.” She thought for sure that she had hit a 160 yard plus drive. “It felt perfect off the club face. It was flying beautifully. I just knew it was going to be my best drive.” But the harsh reality was that it didn’t even travel 135 yards. 

Now what this lady described to me is more than just wanting to have a better scorecard at the end of the round. This was all about how she felt while playing the game- the actual enjoyment of being out with the ladies and being proud of what she was able to produce with her physical capabilities. This has nothing to do with the damn score card! Think about it. If you could hit a 4 iron off the tee and get close enough to comfortably reach the green on your second shot, you could easily record a better scorecard. But I can pretty much guarantee that you won’t enjoy the game nearly as much without using the big stick.

I’ve even asked a few golfers over the age of 60 about which they would prefer:

Would you rather have 20+ more yards with your driver?

OR

shave a few strokes off your scorecard?

Of course everybody always answers both, but I force them to pick just one. And 9 times out of 10 they will choose 20+ more yards with their driver! How can this possibly be? It’s simple really, hitting a great shot with your driver makes you FEEL good. 

Everything we do in life really comes down to how it makes us feel. If it makes us feel good, we'll gravate towards doing it again. If it makes us feel bad, well maybe we’ll avoid doing it again. And then there’s golf- 99 bad shots and one AMAZING shot on the 18th that gives you that feeling like no other. That “one shot that keeps you coming back.” All that heartache, frustration, and feeling demoralized is all worth it just for the feeling you get when you hit that one perfect shot.

But What If You Could Have Both?

Absolutely not!

Every single Naples golfer who has gone through one of our Berman Method Golf Performance Programs has done exactly that. On average, golfers who have gone through one of our programs have gained 25 more yards off their tee shots AND lowered their handicaps! This is not BS and it’s not a sales’ tactic. This is straight up science and physics that’s reproducible every single time!

We all know that it is very common for the golf course designers to strategically place hazards right around the halfway mark from the tee box to the green. So keeping math simple, let's imagine a beautiful water hazard that travels the entire width of the fairway that begins at 165 yards from the tee box and ends at 180 yards away from the tee box. If you average 195 yards total with your driver, that means that some drives might go 185 yards and others downhill and downwind might go 210 yards. We can also say that if your total average is 195 yards with the big stick, that means that you’re likely carrying 185 yards MAX! 

This is where we should reluctantly leave the driver in the bag and tee off with an iron that should put you out around 150-155 yards off the tee and well short of the water hazard. This means that you have 170-175 yards left just to reach the green. Usually if you’re averaging 195 yards with your driver, you don’t really have a club in the bag that you are highly confident in hitting a small target at 175 yards- which means that you’ll be laying up again before ultimately having just the chance to go “up and down” for a par. So this means that if all the stars align, you get a par. BUT we all know that it will typically end in beautiful double bogey. 

Now let’s imagine gaining 25 more yards on your tee shots. 

You now average 220 yards total off your drives which means some will go just over 200 yards and others downhill and downwind will go 235 yards. This means that you have 100% confidence in your ability to carry that water hazard which will leave you somewhere around a 105 yard shot left to the green. Now I don’t know about you but if I’m 105 yards out from the green, I’m ATTACKING the pin! And now I have a chance at birdie which shouldn’t end in worse than a bogey. 

Example

For this example, if we can agree that there are on average 10 par 4 holes on an average par 72 course, we just shaved 10 strokes off our scorecard simply by adding 25 more yards to our tee shots! We didn’t change anything else, fairway shots are the same, chipping and putting are the same, yet we shaved 10 strokes off our total score! Now that’s freaking exciting! 

But wait, there’s more (I hope that made you smile a little bit, pun on the ol info commercials)! The best part about using the Berman Method for gaining more distance off the tee is that you can do it inside in the comfort of air conditioning! That means no time is wasted sweating out on the driving range sweating and getting frustrated hacking at balls trying to gain extra distance. This also means you get to avoid the frustration of not being able to physically do what your teaching pro is wanting you to do. This also means that you don’t have to waste $100’s if not $1000 on brand new drivers that promise to gain you that extra yardage only to find that it doesn’t “perform” any better than the last driver you bought that’s collecting dust in your garage. 

Sounds too good to be true doesn’t it?

Well it is very true and every single day we are helping Naples golfers over the age of 60 gain more distance on their tee shots which is leading to a dramatic increase in the overall enjoyment of the game AND shooting lower scores! The reason why we are able to do this repeatedly over and over again is because we keep things simple. 

To make it even more clear, I'd like to use the analogy of a Toyota Corolla towing a boat down the road. Sure the car may be able to pull the boat out of your driveway, maybe even out of your neighborhood...But what do you think would happen to that tiny little motor under the hood if you tried towing that boat down I-75? Sooner or later (likely sooner), it's gonna break down!

The Toyota Corolla breaks down because you are using too small of a motor to perform the job that a truck is meant to do. In general, trucks have much bigger motors than Corolla's which makes them perfectly capable of towing boats down I-75 all day long WITHOUT breaking down.

Now I want you to think of the boat being synonymous with your (golf) driver and the car/truck motor as being your muscles. The Toyota Corolla motor is essentially your low back muscles and your arms. The Truck motor is your core and glutes (do you see where I'm going with this?). You can absolutely use your low back muscle and arm swing the crap out of your driver attempting to gain some more distance but....

Eventually something is going to "break down" leading to either pain and/or worse and worse shots.

This leads to you working harder and harder to try and "fix" the problem, when all you really need to do is work SMARTER! By using your core and glutes to swing the big stick you will naturally generate significantly more power resulting in longer ball flights EVERY TIME! The problem is that you cannot do this on your own. Heck, I can't even do it on my own. It requires somebody else putting hands on you to help "connect your brain to your muscles." It's then and only then that you can actually use the right muscles to do what you want them to do- which is hit the ball farther!

I can honestly say that every single golfer over the age of 60 that I’ve worked with was using a Toyota Corolla to tow the boat before starting The Berman Method. And within a matter of weeks we are able to upgrade to a truck with a strong V8 engine that can tow the boat without even knowing it’s back there! 

If you want to learn more about how simply using the correct muscles can immediately help you gain significant distance on your tee shots, simply call or text me at 239-431-0232 TODAY! Or you can email me Drberman@bermanpt.com and ask whatever questions you have! Or even better, don’t take my word for it. Take the word of other golfers just like you who have significantly increased distance on their tee shots and dramatically improved their overall golf game at Bermanpt.com/golf!