better distance

I have been hitting my irons with an in to out swing (I think), but the marks on the bottom of my driver, left by the tee, show a bad outside in swing with my driver. as well as an erratic contact point.(tee marks on the driver from toe to heal. I have always made, what appeared good contact, but had no distance. Just yesterday, I concentrated on a straight left arm through out the swing (as well as keeping it closer to my body), and was hitting the ball much farther, and the tee marks on the bottom of the driver were dead straight and more concentrated around the sweet spot. I was not hitting the ball any straighter (I have always hit it straight), but farther, and with what felt like less effort. Would a straight left arm have this much effect, or was I just "in the grove" yesterday? I was also hitting my irons much farther.

Hi,

I think that if you were concentrating on keeping your left arm straight it will have altered your impact position. i.e a straight arm reaches further than a bent arm and a stretched arm/shoulder reaches further still. As you say you saw more marks on the sweet spot. You will have been hitting the sweet spot more often and this means better contact. The further you impact from the sweet spot the more distance you lose. ~ 12% per 1/2 inch on a large titanium club I heard. If the ball goes straight anyway you may be cutting across the ball which can cancel out the slight spin from an off centre impact or open/closed face.
You must remember however that its only at impact that you need a staight arm. Dont over concentrate on this as it can cause unwanted tension. The centrifugal force of the swing should pull your arm straight.
Well thats my thoughts. Of course I may be wrong...

Lots of luck!

If you're coming over the top there's a good chance that your right arm is straightening too early on the downswing. The idea of the modern golf swing is to eliminate any extra independant moves in an attempt to make the swing more consistent. If your right arm begins to straighten early in the downswing it introduces an inconsistent factor in your swing (it is difficult to repeat the same movement, by the same amount, over and over again)

Try to get angle of the elbow and the distance between the right wrist and the right shoulder to remain the same throughout the downswing as it was at the top of the backswing. Centrifugal force will straighten out your arms automatically at impact so there's no need to think of independant movements.