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Originally Posted by Pointer19
Very amateur here... I hit some balls at the range last night and couldn't drive more than 200 yards. I'm going to blame it on my $50 garage sale clubs. I was shooting most balls straight. What's the key to getting more distance?
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Mechanics. Back when I played regularly, I could hit a drive over 250, and a few times approached 300. And that was with the cheapo set of Chi Chi Rodriguez clubs my dad got me when I was 13.
But I took a lot of lessons and understood the mechanics of what I was trying to do. A golf swing is a multi-hinged pendulum motion. The more exact your timing the more energy will be transferred to the clubhead at impact, and the farther the ball will travel. Being taller can help due to increased leverage, but swinging at the ball harder generally is a losing proposition.
Get some lessons from the best instructor you can afford. that's the fastest, and in the long run, the least expensive way to increase consistently useable distance.
A decent set of mid-range clubs might show you an increase of 10-20 yards right off the bat, if the clubs you're using are really bad/old. New tech basically gives you a larger sweet spot, so more off-center hits still go relatively straight. But new drivers use fast reflex alloys that are more efficient than older clubheads, so you should see an increase in velocity/distance there as well.
Be advised that there are shops that sell second-hand clubs, so you don't have to buy a brand-new set. Go to one of these shops and buy a set or just a driver from 2016 or whatever; the difference in tech from 5 years ago isn't that different from 2020.