May 20, 2008 -- This week kicks off the 69th Senior PGA Championship from legendary Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, N.Y.

And speaking of legends, plenty of them are scheduled to be in this year's field including: Tom Watson, Greg Norman, Hale Irwin, Nick Price, Tom Kite, Raymond Floyd, Sandy Lyle, Craig Stadler, Fuzzy Zoeller, Ian Woosnam and defending Senior PGA Champion Denis Watson, to truly name but a few.

All told, the players slated to compete in the Senior PGA Championship have earned a cumulative nine Hall of Fame memberships, 19 major championships, nine Ryder Cup captaincies and nine Senior PGA Championships during their storied careers.

One piece of the equation that enabled these players to achieve such greatness is their understanding of how the length of the arc in their golf swing directly affects the success of each shot.

The Length of Arc is defined as the total distance that the club head travels in the backswing and forward swing. This differs from the Width of Arc, which is the distance that the grip end of the club travels. The club is a one-piece lever, but the forces on the two ends are quite unique. Yet, the primary ball-flight influence that Width and Length of Arc both affect is distance.

While a short putt needs only a short back and forward swing to generate enough club head speed to roll a ball the required distance, the maximum drive a player is able to hit is dependent on the fastest possible club head speed he can produce. The greater the Length of Arc that a player can create increases the amount of time that force has to build up in their swing.

There are several factors that directly influence the Length of Arc, with the greatest being club shaft length, size of the player swinging the club and the ability of the player to extend the motion on both the back and forward swings. The goal of a player's swing is to create the Length of Arc necessary to produce the speed to reach the desired distance.

I recently studied the swing of Sergio Garcia while using the state-of-the-art Motion Analysis Technology System by TaylorMade here at the PGA Learning Center, in Port St. Lucie, Fla. -- one of just seven MAT-T Systems available to the public in the world. His swing demonstrated a classic example of the difference between Width of Arc and Length of Arc.

Two separate driver swings by Garcia gave us some interesting numbers. On swing No. 1, his club head speed equaled 117.4 mph (Length of Arc), and his hand speed was 17 mph (Width of Arc). Swing No. 2 showed a club head speed of 120 mph, and a hand speed of 16.4 mph.

These figures demonstrate the difference in speed between the club head and grip end. For Garcia, the faster the hand speed, the slower the club head speed, and vice-versa.

The positioning of the club shaft enables the slowing of the speed on the grip end, which can be used to increase the centrifugal force on the club head and also allow for an increase in club head speed.

That is the kind of inside information that the best in the game take to the bank.

And you can too. The MAT-T System is available for you to utilize at the PGA Learning Center. Call (800) 800-GOLF or visit www.pgavillage.com for more information.

Also, a friendly reminder that May is PGA Free Lesson Month. The easiest way to sign up and find a PGA Professional near you who offers complimentary 10-minute golf lessons is to visit PlayGolfAmerica.com and use the Zip code search.

The price is certainly right!

Finally, if you would like to attend the Senior PGA Championship, be sure to log on to pga.com to purchase tickets. You can also watch the drama unfold this week on the Golf Channel and NBC Sports -- check your local listings for times in your area. There will also be updates and highlights available throughout the Senior PGA Championship on pga.com.

Until next time, here's to better golf and another incredible Senior PGA Championship!