Get more distance off the tee

When Rich Berberian Jr. isn’t competing against the top names in the game, he can be found giving lessons at Vesper Country Club in Tyngsboro where he serves as the director of instruction.

So if you’re looking for guidance on how to get the most distance you possibly can off the tee, he’s a good guy to ask.

“It’s about turning your shoulders as much as you can, to a 90-degree angle,” Berberian said. “That’s what gets you wound up and gets the club loaded and that’s where you create speed and power from winding up the right way.”

Tee the ball up high and then unload on the downswing where you should be coming through the ball with a faster club head speed.

While a general rule of thumb has always been to not bring the club head beyond parallel to the ground, Berberian said that as long as you remain balanced, going past parallel is perfectly acceptable.

“John Daly (and former long drive champion now on the Mackenzie Tour in Canada) Jamie Sadlowski (are) two guys who make great turns and the club goes back and looks like it almost touches the ground after it goes past their shoulders,” he said.

Above all else, Berberian stressed that it is not a small tweak and will take plenty of time on the range to find the proper spots to find where each player is most comfortable and making solid contact.

“You can tell anyone how to swing, exactly how to swing, odds are they can’t do it their first try,” he said. “You have to stick to it, make sure you are doing it correctly every time and eventually you’ll get the feel of it and the hang of it and start seeing the ball go further.”