Welcome to Play Smart, a regular GOLF.com game-improvement column that will help you play smarter, better golf.

Hitting longer drives off the tee doesn’t always require you to swing harder. Sure, it helps to put more force into the ball, but there’s another way to belt it past your playing partners without swinging out of your shoes — and it all starts with optimizing your launch conditions.

One of the best ways to hit the ball longer is by increasing your attack angle. If you can hit more “up” on the ball, you can launch it higher and with less spin, which is crucial for hitting longer drives.

So, how can you increase your attack angle angle? One easy way is by adjusting the way you set up to the ball.

Fundamentals like setup are often overlooked by recreational golfers, but they can have a huge impact on how you strike the ball. A poor setup can lead to all sorts of issues in the swing, which leads to compensations that can have negative long-term consequences. But if you set up to the ball correctly, you will put yourself into the best possible position to strike it consistently.

If you want to increase you attack angle (and set yourself up for a solid strike on every drive), it’s important you learn how to set up to the ball correctly with a driver. I recently learned how to do this from GOLF Top 100 Teacher Jason Baile, and it has helped me hit the driver longer than ever before.

Increase attack angle with a setup tweak

One problem I have when setting up to the driver is that my shoulders and hips are too level at setup. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing when hitting irons and wedges, but for clubs that demand a more positive angle of attack (like the driver), it causes some issues. Namely, it creates conditions for a negative attack angle.

A negative attack angle isn’t necessarily a death knell when hitting the driver, but when you are a slower swing speed player, it can sap you of distance. When you hit down on the ball, it increases spin. This is great for control, but robs you of distance. So if you want to hit the ball longer, you’re better off hitting up on it.

If you watch LPGA pros, you’ll notice that they don’t swing especially hard at the ball, but they still get plenty of distance on their drives. This is a direct result of optimizing their attack angles and hitting up on the ball, allowing them to maximize their distance without swinging harder.

In my lesson with Jason Baile, we made it a goal to get my attack angle up to not only help me get more distance, but also put me in a better position for a consistent strike. This all started with adjusting my setup.

The first thing he asked me to do was slightly “bump” my lead hip toward the target at address. This movement slightly raised my lead hip and lowered my trail hip.

“I’d rather see you get the proper tilts at address with your lower body than your upper body,” Jason said.

The next thing he fixed was the orientation on my arms at address. Before, I had a tendency to get my trail arm too high, which covered up my lead arm when looking at my swing from down the line. To fix it, he had me think about pointing my trail elbow more at my trail hip when I gripped the club.

By tweaking these two simple setup mistakes, I instantly increased my angle of attack and got into a better position to make swings that didn’t have so many compensations built in.

If you are someone who needs more distance with the driver, check out the attack angle numbers of your driver on a launch monitor. Chance are, you need a little more positive angle of attack to launch the ball higher. For that, all you need to do is make a few small setup tweaks.

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