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If an 80% swing produces 90% of the distance then.....

T2GRN18 said:
It's a viscous cycle for me. I work on my swing a ton, I get comfortable with what I'm seeing for results. Then my brain gets involved, which is never good, and I try to squeak a few more yards out of my iron play. It's feeds into "are we ever content with our game".
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I'm the same exact way.
 
EaglevsFalcon said:
I'm sure this affects us all in some way. The true golfer's disease.
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Yup. I bet if my wife hears, "I think I figured out something at the range today" one more time, she will break my kneecaps...
 
I think each of us has a swing tempo that enables us to impact the ball with 100% efficiency - specific to us. Anyone who swings with absolute 100% effort is going to eventually hurt themselves and their golf game.
 
Dr RosenRosen said:
Yup. I bet if my wife hears, "I think I figured out something at the range today" one more time, she will break my kneecaps...
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Lol, I can relate but now she just laughs at me.
 
I struggle with this, badly. My hit impulse is probably the biggest issue with my game right now. I keep telling myself to swing not slow, but in control. I've tried Tour Tempo, tried a metronome, tried phrases or repeating musical patterns as I swing, and every time I stand over the ball... I just want to kill it. I'm getting better at it, but I'm still a long ways away from having a good solid tempo, especially at the transition.
 
Dr RosenRosen said:
Yup. I bet if my wife hears, "I think I figured out something at the range today" one more time, she will break my kneecaps...
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This hits home on so many levels.

Also, I notice that the better I play, the more confident I get, and the more confident I get, the harder I swing. Things start going downhill quick.
 
I can take some off the shorter irons with no issue, I love a 3/4 swing there, but trying to swing too easy with the driver gets me in nearly as much trouble as going all out. Too easy and I tend to leave the face open. I find swinging hard but not trying to kill it, say 85-90%, is where I find the best results.
 
Last season I tried to hit the ball hard every full swing. During the off season I tried to make a slower controlled swing and play shorter distances with my irons (on a simulator). I ended up making really inconsistent contact. It just wasn't working and when I got on the course this spring I would take a normal swing and hit past my target. I am swinging harder now than I did during the off season and am playing the same distances that I played last year. Luckily my efforts weren't in vain--I am making better contact and do have a smoother swing. I think I was trying to swing too slowly. Has this happend to anyone else?
 
EaglevsFalcon said:
Yeah, this is tricky. I find, for me, that 80% means length of my backswing more than the effort put in. I had been doing 80% effort for much of this spring but found that I lost the power I generate from my lower half. I was playing about 20yds shorter per club and I wasn't happy with that. So a couple range sessions ago, I used the 80% backswing with a full fire of my legs and hips and found my distance came back but I was WAY more accurate. The result has been a much more compact, powerful, and efficient swing that I couldnt be more elated with. Striking the ball better than I ever have at this point. May not be the same for others but it certainly is a revelation me.
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I've been doing kinda the same thing lately with great results. I take a 3/4 turn with no wrist cock (the tighter I grip the better), arms get about head high, and then just turn back through, pulling pretty hard with my left side. I get nearly the same distance I can with a longer, more free wheeling, swing, but much straighter and way more consistent. The nice part is it works from sand wedge up to driver. I know that seems weird but it sure does work for me when I get it right.
 
Controlling my tempo and power with irons & wedges is far easier for me than with woods. If I try to "slow down" or smooth my woods/hybrid, I am in deep trouble. Not sure why but I have to swing with "controlled aggression" when hitting woods (I'd say > 90%). Trying to adjust the swing is disastrous. It must have something to do with timing as the clubs are obviously longer and there is much less room for error. Aggressive swings with woods produce both better accuracy and distance for me.
 
I always struggle with this with driver. I have a hard time getting it through my head that I don't need to swing the bajeezus out of it. I just always want to hit it far and then it makes it worse. Really trying to work on it, though.
 
The drill that works best for me to get my tempo and length of backswing dialed is to take a full backswing, stop for 5 seconds at the top, and then hit the ball with a normal downswing. If my swing is in sync I can hit full 3 woods like this within 10 yards of a normal swing.
 
Ive always had trouble slicing my drives because of my baseball swing. Its usually your golf swing screws with your baseball swing, but to me its the other way around. Because I have to swing so hard when playing baseball, my mind is given the conclusion on the links as well. To me, the best way for my swing to become more on tempo to what i need is to think of one of the greats, Arnie! I use his two-syllable first name and two-syllable last name to make sure my swing is the same on the way up as it is through my downswing. Ar-Nold Pal-Mer. Obviously, every golfer is different, but this helps my brain a ton.
 
I feel that if I have a smooth take away and transition I can fire faster coming through the impact zone. When I can get the take away right I have been able to shoot
much lower scores. I usually shot around the mid to low 80's when I get smooth I have gotten to the high 70's.
 
This year my biggest focus has been on decreasing the length of my backswing and improving tempo with my irons. Because of that I am now able to confidently pick up my 4 through 6 irons and know that I am at least going to get the ball elevated and make decent contact, even if it draws or fades away from my intended target. Until now I have always been nervous about thinning my long irons and that just doesn't happen anymore thanks to slowing down a little. I have lost 5-10 yards distance per iron but am much more consistent on my distance and dispersion. Unfortunately this hasn't translated over to my driver yet.
 
BamBooBender said:
I've been doing kinda the same thing lately with great results. I take a 3/4 turn with no wrist cock (the tighter I grip the better), arms get about head high, and then just turn back through, pulling pretty hard with my left side. I get nearly the same distance I can with a longer, more free wheeling, swing, but much straighter and way more consistent. The nice part is it works from sand wedge up to driver. I know that seems weird but it sure does work for me when I get it right.
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Exactly. I'm still working on finding consistency off the tee this way, but its coming. I find that I'm able to work the ball better this way too. I'm controlling flight and trajectory more than I've been able to in the past. Pretty much the reason I was able to hit the shot I holed out with on Saturday.
 
Parshooter36 said:
I'm not sure what percentage I swing with, I try and swing as hard as I can without swinging out of my shoes. I'm a very short hitter though, so I may be doing it wrong.
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I used to be the same when I was younger, until I was playing a round with an older man and he was giving killing me. After 9 holes he said to me a little bit of advice "half the swing twice the distance" thats what I always tell myself now.
 
TrueFX said:
This hits home on so many levels.

Also, I notice that the better I play, the more confident I get, and the more confident I get, the harder I swing. Things start going downhill quick.
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I am hearing you this was my last round 1st hole par 5 bit stiff had a bogie, 2nd hole par 3 birdie, 3rd hole par 4 par, 4th hole par 4 par, 5th hole par 4 par, 6th hole long par 4 so I thought I would give it a bit more pulled the driver into the trees punched back out into the trees on the other side of the fairway chipped out still 300 meters to the green, tried to over hit the fairway wood pulled it left into the trees again, punched it out of the trees to about 50 meters from the green pitched on and one putt for a seven.
 
I need to work on this a lot this year. But with the cold weather and rain it looks as if this will have to be delayed.

It's kind of frustrating because I have found a great swing for my driver, wedges and woods but can't carry that to my irons.
 
GregDan said:
I need to work on this a lot this year. But with the cold weather and rain it looks as if this will have to be delayed.

It's kind of frustrating because I have found a great swing for my driver, wedges and woods but can't carry that to my irons.
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That's pretty much where I'm at. Yesterday I was at the range and the focus was keeping it smooth. I noticed that I had a tendency to get "lazy" if I got to comfortable through impact. I've got to stay aggressive even though I'm not coming out of my shoes. If that makes sense.
 
T2GRN18 said:
That's pretty much where I'm at. Yesterday I was at the range and the focus was keeping it smooth. I noticed that I had a tendency to get "lazy" if I got to comfortable through impact. I've got to stay aggressive even though I'm not coming out of my shoes. If that makes sense.
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Perfect sense. I struggle with the same thing. I need to remember "Smooth shorter backswing and then be aggressive through impact."
 
EaglevsFalcon said:
Exactly. I'm still working on finding consistency off the tee this way, but its coming. I find that I'm able to work the ball better this way too. I'm controlling flight and trajectory more than I've been able to in the past. Pretty much the reason I was able to hit the shot I holed out with on Saturday.
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Congrats on the hole out. I started doing this last summer and reached a peak of hitting 7 of 9 greens, which threw me so far out of my comfort zone I ended up three putting all but one of them. hopefully I'll get used to playing from better positions. I am also working on finding consistency on the tee with this swing, my most common miss being a big push.
 
T2GRN18 said:
That's pretty much where I'm at. Yesterday I was at the range and the focus was keeping it smooth. I noticed that I had a tendency to get "lazy" if I got to comfortable through impact. I've got to stay aggressive even though I'm not coming out of my shoes. If that makes sense.
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Makes perfect sense to me.
 
My mindset to get to an 80% swing is to hit an intermediate target instead of where I want the ball to finally end up. This works for awhile, but like OP, sometimes I get too confident and let the 100%+ swing out and find that I spray the ball (again).
 
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