To achieve a well timed shot, you need the head of the golf club to remain in contact with the ball for as long as possible.

For this to happen, the club needs to be moving with enough momentum to compensate for the impact with the ball and, and then it needs to continue accelerating through the shot.

If you stop the swing or slow it down at the point of impact, your swing won't have the clout necessary to give the ball the acceleration it needs.

The 7 Laws of the Golf Swing

Learning the correct way to swing a golf club is something that develops over time, and will become a natural reflex with enough practice.

Your goal is to have the head of the club sweeping down and through the ball, gradually gathering speed as it goes. Once the club has made contact with the ball, you can ease off a bit on the follow through.

What you should be looking to do with your action is to perform a three-quarter swing - i.e. the peak of the acceleration of your swing should be about a yard past the position of the ball.

This should lead to you shortening your backswing just enough and not wasting energy by over swinging. Over time, you'll begin to get a gauge of your backswing based on the follow through you're getting.

Remember - the focus of your golf swing shouldn't be to smash the ball as hard as possible - it should be on how far past the ball the swing will travel. In other words, a smooth, controlled swing.

Have you ever wondered how a good golf player can seem to have an almost lazy golf swing and yet still hit the ball a huge distance? The answer is in the power being used rather than the speed of the swing.

If you want to add more power to your swing, you'll need to use your body more in the build up, rather than trying to force the power via your arms and shoulders.

The Keys to the Effortless Golf Swing:
Curing Your Hit Impulse in Seven Simple Lessons

The shoulder, the arms and the hands are used to add the speed you'll need to accelerate the club head through the golf ball at the end of the action, but be careful because the speed of the swing will be killed if your arm or hand muscles are tense.

Of course, to be able do all of this, you may need to increase your current level of physical fitnes. Continually putting the necessary power into each shot can be extremely draining over the course of a round.

The power going into your swing is generated through the actions of your feet, your calves and your thighs. This power is then released through the hips, which are pivoted toward your target.

However, no amount of power will help if you come inside too much or if you're over the top with your swing - you'll still end up with a snap hook or a sliced shot.

A bad swing can also result in the drive being too high, too low, off to the left or off to the right or worse still, too short - sometimes even a mixture of these.

So as you bring the golf club down from the backswing, stay focused on the ball. Your weight should be on the balls of your feet as you go through your swing, to maintain your balance and achieve a better strike of the golf ball.

Each shot needs to be played with a different amount of power - i.e., if you're playing a half-shot using a mashie, you'll be playing the shot with half the power and not using a half-swing - you'll still be playing it using a three-quarter swing.

Before long, once you've mastered control over the power you're using in your golf swing, you'll be able to stroke the golf ball with more yardage using all of the iron clubs in your golf bag - then people will be stopping you and asking how you do it.