Cowdray Golf Club has unveiled a raft of improvements to its driving range, raising the standard of practice facilities in line with the venue’s acclaimed short course and the recently refurbished golf studio.

As part of the refurbishment, the hitting bays have been reconfigured and landscaped, providing an additional bay alongside the studio.

The DryRainge cover, an all-weather driving range shelter, is next to the two bays behind the studio, which is available for lessons and custom fitting sessions.

Along with the aesthetic improvements, the range balls have also been replaced with premium two-piece, full-distance balls, further adding to the enhanced experience.

Tim Allen, Cowdray’s Director of Golf, said: “We are delighted with the improvements to the driving range, which have been welcomed by members and visitors alike. It is fantastic seeing golfers of all ages and abilities enjoying the great facilities that we offer including the Golf Studio, Par 3 course and short game area.

“We are determined to continue improving the standards and these improvements are reflective of how Cowdray has invested in the course and practice facilities in recent years.”

Cowdray Golf recently completed a £1 million improvement plan covering the main 18-hole course and practice areas, including reconstructed bunkers, pathways, and landscaping.

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To master your long game, you’ll need to work on your driving to improve your range and accuracy. In this blog, you’ll find 10 handy golf driving tips and guidance on how to practice each one at home.

How to practice driving for golf

1. Perfect your grip

You can’t drive successfully without holding your club properly. Using the wrong grip is usually the culprit for slices and hooked shots. 

How to do it

Hold the club with your lead hand (left for right-handers) so that the grip sits diagonally across your fingers. Both of your thumbs should point down the shaft. Place your trailing hand so that your palm covers the lead thumb with your fingers wrapping around the grip. Use a neutral grip.

Practice at home

Use a spare club to rehearse your grip if you have a spare few moments. Focus on doing so correctly and building muscle memory so the correct grips grow to feel natural.

2. Use the right stance and ball position

Using the proper stance provides stability and allows you to put power into your golf swing. Correct ball placement also helps ensure solid contact. 

How to do it

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, your knees slightly bent, and your weight evenly distributed between both feet. Your back should be straight with a slight tilt from your hips. Your arms should hang loosely from your shoulders. Position the ball in line with the instep of your lead foot. Of course, the club you’re holding will also affect your drive, and using a more forgiving driver will come in handy here. 

Practice at home

You can practice your stance and ball positioning with a club and a ball to ensure it becomes second nature. Alignment sticks can be a big help with this. 

3. Tee the ball high

A higher tee encourages an upward angle of attack, which helps with clean hitting and maximising the distance you generate from the force you use.

How to do it

Position the tee so that half the ball sits above the top edge of your driver. Roughly three-quarters of the ball should be above the club’s head as it strikes, allowing you to sweep into the ball with an upwards motion without the driver making contact with the floor.

Practice at home

Whilst this is most effectively practised at a driving range, you could use foam or plastic practice balls to rehearse your tee height and swing at home.

4. Master your backswing

A smooth backswing is essential for generating power and maintaining control throughout your drive.

How to do it

If you’re a right-hander, keep your left arm straight, and your wrists relaxed as you move through your backswing. Rotate your shoulders fully, creating a 90-degree angle between your upper body and your hips. Try to avoid over-swinging, though—you can stop when your club is parallel to the ground.

Practice at home

Practice slow-motion backswings in front of a mirror (in a room with plenty of room) to check your form. You could also record yourself going through the motion to work on perfecting it.

5. Focus on a controlled downswing

A powerful drive comes from a well-timed downswing that maximises energy transfer from the club to the ball.

How to do it

Your downswing comes from your core. Start by rotating your hips toward the target, following with your knees, then your arms. Keep your underarms relatively close to your body and tuck your trailing elbow in. Keep your lead shoulder down and make sure your hands and arms stay relaxed so you don’t skew your release.

Practice at home

As well as watching your swing by recording yourself at home, you can also use resistance bands to strengthen your hip rotation.

6. Improve your follow-through

You don’t want to ruin all that work on your backswing and downswing by not following through properly. A good follow-through ensures you complete your swing with full power and balance and strike the ball cleanly.

How to do it

After impact, allow your arms to extend naturally toward the target. Finish with your weight on your lead foot and your chest facing the target. Your back foot should be on its toe, with your hips fully rotated.

Practice at home

Use a slow-motion drill to exaggerate your follow-through position and improve your balance. Speed up the motion once you’re sure you’ve got it right to make sure it becomes a natural motion for you.

7. Focus on a consistent tempo

A smooth, consistent tempo throughout a swing leads to better contact, and the Holy Grail of driving—better reliability. 

How to do it

Count in your head during your backswing and downswing to establish a rhythm. Most professionals recommend a 3:1 count for a drive, counting three on your backswing and one through your downswing.

Practice at home

Try using a metronome app or a swing tempo trainer to develop a steady rhythm.

8. Use your legs effectively

Your legs might stay reasonably still during a drive, especially compared to your upper body, but they provide balance and generate a portion of the power of your swing. Using your legs effectively can help you get more distance out of your drives and will aid in controlling your swing.

How to do it

Start with a slight bend in your knees. Push off your trailing foot during the downswing to transfer energy to your lead side. Shift over to your front foot during the downswing to add momentum. Maintain your balance throughout the swing and aim to move smoothly.

Practice at home

Use step-through drills where you step forward after impact to emphasise weight transfer and leg engagement.

9. Work on your core strength

Your core muscles play a significant role in generating power and stability during your swing. The stronger your core, the more strength you’ll be able to generate throughout a round on the links. The more you can engage your core muscles during driving, the more stable your drive will be and the more power you’ll be able to put into it.

How to do it

Focus on engaging your abdominal muscles as you rotate your torso. Avoid overusing your shoulder and arm muscles, and let your body’s rotation drive the swing.

Practice at home

Improve your core strength by exercising at home, including doing planks, Russian twists, and medicine ball rotations. When you practice your swing, focus on feeling and engaging your core muscles.

10. Incorporate visualisation into your game

Visualisation is a powerful mental technique where you mentally rehearse an action and its consequences, such as visualising your swing and the flight of your ball along the fairway.

Whilst it might sound like wishful thinking, visualisation really works and is practised by professional golfers and athletes from other sports, too.

How to do it

Try visualising your ideal drive before stepping up to the ball. Focus and try to make your visualisation as real as possible. See your ball landing on a specific target. This can feel odd at first, but the more you do it, the more natural it’ll become.

Practice at home

Spend 5-10 minutes each day visualising perfect drives and imagining yourself performing confidently on the course.

Specialist golf insurance through Golf Care

Developing a consistent drive can take a lot of time and perseverance. If you’re mastering your long game with the help of these golf driving tips, you may also want to consider protecting yourself with specialist golf insurance.

With Golf Care, policies include Equipment Cover up to £7,500, Public Liability of up to £10m, and Personal Accident Cover up to £50,000. Get a quote online today.

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At Novellus, we have been lucky to share some great moments with several athletes across tennis and golf, but one story that stands out is still very much ongoing.

We have been supporting Euan Walker for several years now. He’s an impressive young man who has come incredibly close to earning his DP World Tour card, with two fantastic wins on the Challenge Tour (now the HotelPlanner tour), but narrowly missing out overall.

The way he carries himself, continues to represent Novellus and gives everything to the game is something that we are incredibly proud of.

We have a feeling this could be the year he finally breaks through and we’re excited to see what he can achieve at the higher levels of the game.

His journey is a powerful reminder of how tough the game is and how much it means to those who dedicate themselves to it.

How do you measure the success of your golf sponsorships beyond simple brand exposure?

We measure success by aligning with individuals who give their all, which not only brings satisfaction to us as a company but also serves as a powerful reminder to our employees.

The perseverance and commitment that these athletes show, despite such frequent setbacks (which of course are common practice in professional sport), sets a wonderful example for everyone at Novellus.

Many of your partnerships are with up-and- coming players, what qualities do you look for in an athlete?

We are spending more time with players and look for key qualities such as resilience, desire and competitiveness. Golf is an incredibly tough game, and you have to love what you do.

The most successful athletes not only relish competing but also embrace the process and progression.

We also value curiosity and willingness to learn. Asking the right questions and seeking the right advice is crucial and the smartest players figure that out early.

Finally, self-belief is essential. It sounds a bit cliched but backing yourself, when it matters most, is what separates the very best!

What do you think are the biggest challenges for young golfers trying to break into the professional ranks today?

The standard today is extremely high. The costs associated with playing professional golf are significant.

These costs exist regardless of the tour you are playing for and prize funds you can compete for. Coach (often coaches for different components of the game), Caddie, Travel, Entry fees, Physio, Physical trainer and psychology.

There’s also an overload of information in the world now with an expectation for instant results, but true success takes time.

Lottie Woad is a great example of this – what looks like an “overnight success” is really the result of 15 years of hard work by her and her support team.

A key challenge is learning to trust the process, to take the advice given and then committing to it for long enough, rather than constantly making changes.

We are strong advocates of trusting the process.

The KPMG Women’s Irish Open, Rose Ladies Series, and Women’s Irish Challenge are all significant events, how does Novellus see its role in helping these grow?

Novellus plays a small supporting role. These events are all driven by passionate, dedicated people and we aim to raise awareness and encourage other businesses to follow our lead by highlighting the positive impact of partnering with high quality tournaments.

We also encourage our Novellus sponsored athletes to compete in the events and, as they achieve greater success, we hope this will help elevate the profile of these fantastic tournaments and tours.

We have seen first hand, how inspiring for the next generation, spending a short amount of time with the players can be.

We try to ensure we are on hand with hats, autograph opportunities with our athletes and some words of encouragement.

We are lucky that the people we support buy into that and have had that from the generations that went before, no more so than in Irish golf where there is a great support network from current and former players advising the next generation as they navigate the professional game.

Are there plans to get involved at a junior or grassroots level, perhaps through coaching programs or youth events?

Absolutely. Lottie’s success offers a powerful foundation to inspire and attract more young golfers into the game.

Novellus is committed to creating a legacy by supporting grassroot efforts and actively engaging with clubs, coaches, and governing bodies to explore the best ways to make the most of this truly unique window of opportunity.

Can you reveal any upcoming golf partnerships or initiatives we should watch for?

We are excited about the next phase of growth at the Novellus academy. We also have several other projects in development, which we look forward to updating you on soon!

Does anyone in the Novellus leadership team play golf themselves? If so, any memorable rounds or personal highlights?

Our CEO, Billy McManus, plays regularly, as do many of our senior team. A memorable highlight is when Billy made two “hole in ones”, within two days, although he is quick to remind us that he hasn’t had any before or since!

If you could sponsor any golfer in history, past or present, who would it be and why?

It’s an obvious choice, but it must be Tiger Woods. While many great players have come before and after him, it’s unlikely we’ll ever see anyone who electrifies the sport or has the same level of impact on the game quite in the way Tiger has.

ABOUT NOVELLUS

Novellus is a privately funded alternative lender providing loans secured against real estate in the UK and Ireland.

The Novellus group have a range of business interests, including co-investments in private debt alongside tier 1 private equity businesses, direct investment in real estate and the pending launch of their fund business, focusing on supporting early- stage funds with cornerstone investments into the strategy as well as investment into the underlying GP.

For more information visit novellusfinance.com

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