To Hover or not to Hover

[CannyFifer]

From Greg Norman
Once you've determined the right loft, try the following tips for generating more distance of the tee. They'll help you hit the ball farther without changing your swing speed or adding more muscle power.

1. Widen stance at address for greater stability
2. Shift more weight on right side (for a right-hander)
3. Turn our your left foot slightly
4. Take a full 90-degree turn.
5. Hover club head above ground
6. Hit hard with right hand through impact
7. Sense right forearm crossing over left
8. Finish high with your swing

 

[RGDave]

I thought it was more to do with the one piece takeaway rather than relieving tension. Never done it so imagine it'll feel alien if I did. Might be worth mucking about with it at the range and seeing though. Don't believe for a minute though that it will add more distance

Spot on.

It might aid a swing where there is some issue with the take away and I guess if you tee it super-high, it might help a little.

I've been working on a thing where I relax my grip pressure a second before starting the swing. I REALLY let the tension go, so I need the sole of the club to be sitting on the ground....if works for me, mostly because I spend so much effort gripping it right it must be too tight. I've also hit some corking drives adopting this idea!!!

 

[richy]

Just tried hovering at the range and couldnt hit a thing. Wont be doing that again

 

[Losttheplot]

I have been trying this 'hover' movement for a few days now. The way I do it is with the driver I never ground the club. I hover with a few little twitches for the take back path then go close to the ball and hold for half a second then take back and deliver.
For irons I do the same as the driver but after the half second hold I do just touch the ground behind the ball then take back and strike.

It worked a treat today and I shot a 79 which is about 6 shots under what I normally score considering the weather and time of year.
I'd highly recommend trying it down the range and see how it works for you individually. Also I found my ball striking was really clean and I felt like I was really hitting it 'out the middle' and my ball flight with the driver especially was really pleasing.
Not sure if all these improvements were down to this slight change in hovering or it was just a coincidence. Who knows.