Golf instruction is ever-evolving, but the best advice stands the test of time. In GOLF.com’s new series, Timeless Tips, we’re highlighting some of the greatest advice teachers and players have dispensed in the pages of GOLF Magazine. Today we look back to our November 1979 issue where we shared some tips on how to hit the ball longer. For unlimited access to the full GOLF Magazine digital archive, join InsideGOLF today; you’ll enjoy $140 of value for only $39.99/year.

The current era of golf is all about power. If you can’t bomb it down the fairways, you don’t have much a chance to compete at the highest levels. This obsession for power isn’t a new phenomenon, though. For as long as the game has been around, golfers have been looking for ways to hit the ball longer.

Our November 1979 issue of GOLF Magazine proves as much. On the cover of that issue, we promised seven easy ways to hit the ball hard. And in today’s edition of Timeless Tips, we’re resharing those tips from legendary instructor Phil Ritson. Check ’em out below.

7 easy ways to hit the ball hard

My pupils often ask me what is the secret of power? Truthfully I have to answer: There is no one secret. Every golfer would be pumping the ball out long and Straight if there were. But I have thought a lot about power and over the years have found seven master keys that make the difference between having power or not. Most golfers get these keys wrong, thereby preventing any possibility of consistently powerful shots.

The keys are simple, because golf is difficult enough without further complicating it. But don’t let their simplicity delude you into thinking that all you need to do the next time you go to the course is think of them and immediately you’ll be a long-ball hitter. No, these keys will develop into new and correct habits only if you give them the necessary practice.

Approach one key at a time. An effective way of ingraining each of them into your golfing system is to take a lot of “dry swings,” that is, swinging without the ball. Make three or four of these, concentrating on the key you want to acquire. After the dry swings, hit a ball, again with that one thought in mind. Repeat the process until the key has become a habit.

1. Keep your left hand straight
A key factor in power is the angle you set in the left hand at address. This angle I call the ‘‘straight’’ position. To adopt it, extend the fingers of your left hand in line with your left forearm. Make a fist, and the back of the left wrist makes a slight angle with the forearm. This “straight” position is the most powerful way to grip the club.

I teach all pupils to hold the club so that the thumb of the left hand is at 12 o’clock on the grip. With the so-called “strong” grip (hands turned very much to the right on the grip), either they swing back to a totally shut position (convex left wrist and clubface pointing to the sky) and don’t have the physical strength to hit the ball from there, or in their attempt to cock their wrists the left wrist collapses under the shaft. They over-swing and lose control of the club. With the “‘straight’’ left wrist, they can’t over-cock the wrists because the left thumb properly supports the club at the top of the swing.