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Desire for an Efficient Swing

mantan

mantan

24 WWGC Champions - Southern Twang
Albatross 2024 Club Albatross 2025 Club
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I got paired with 3 low digit guys last Friday. They were like a scratch, a 2 and a 5. All of them different ages/builds. I always love playing with really good players just to try to learn something.

But the one thing I noticed more than anything is how efficient all of their swings looked. I feel like I was 'lashing' at the ball - while their swings just looked to be smooth/efficient machines. I have no idea what that secret sauce is....but man I wish I could tap into it.
 
mantan said:
I got paired with 3 low digit guys last Friday. They were like a scratch, a 2 and a 5. All of them different ages/builds. I always love playing with really good players just to try to learn something.

But the one thing I noticed more than anything is how efficient all of their swings looked. I feel like I was 'lashing' at the ball - while their swings just looked to be smooth/efficient machines. I have no idea what that secret sauce is....but man I wish I could tap into it.
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If you find the secret sauce please share the recipe.
 
Maybe the key is laziness? Lol Sometimes the most efficient solution is found by the laziest person.
 
I'm nowhere near qualified to speak on this topic, but if I could offer one suggestion it would be to choose a club that you only need to swing at 85% to achieve your target yardage. I'm guilty of being in the camp of those thinking that swinging 105% with every club can lead to good outcomes
 
Have to realize how hard it took them to get there.Many / most of us will never have the time to get that level. So just lash at it and enjoy the game as best as you can
 
mantan said:
I feel like I was 'lashing' at the ball
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I'm not saying this is in your case, but I notice a lot of amateurs accelerate from the top and not where the club head meets the ball. They lose both club head speed and accuracy. I play with some very good golfers from time to time (scratch to + HI), and they all start the transition "slowly" and build up speed to reach its max at impact. Nothing is forced.
 
My long time instructor taught efficiency in the golf swing. Efficiency came from the golfer swinging the the club in a well balanced movement.

Max distance was important, but it was usable "max" distance is what he taught. Hitting the ball with a well balanced, in tempo swing took care of both accuracy, and distance. His whole teaching process revolved around making one's next shot easier.
 
Smooth is fast. Hit the ball hard, don't swing the club hard. Tempo Tempo Temp.


Just regurgitating all the things my father tried to teach me 35 years ago that only stuck like 10 years ago. :)
 
Simple is often complex .

What appears to be effortless is the sum of all cohesive moving parts to achieve efficacy

We all swing the club, but biomechanically we have less than contributory motions that aren’t advantaging the end co ordinated result
 
That post said:
Take a look at "BioDynamics golf swing" there is still some information floating around out there about the concept.
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This is the kind of thing I've used over the years to learn how to swing well and with the least effort and body stress possible at any given state of physical health/ability.
 
OldandStiff said:
This is the kind of thing I've used over the years to learn how to swing well and with the least effort and body stress possible at any given state of physical health/ability.
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I've been falling down that rabbit hole here recently. I did the self-evaluation I found on a website that looked like it was built in the early 2000's :ROFLMAO: , and found out what my swing profile was based on my measurements. The past couple of times out I've adapted to using those swing mechanics and I've noticed ZERO pain or discomfort in my hip and lower back. Both areas I usually feel it after a round of golf.

I've also been striking the ball quite well those past two rounds.
 
Slow is smooth and smooth is fast. The driving range is full of people flailing around getting really good at making bad swings. The biggest value from lessons is learning to practice the right things in the right way.
 
I have been what feels like soft swinging everything here lately, well except maybe driver lol. My contact and control are much better. I flush most irons dead center right now. Swing almost feels lazy and slow. Funny thing, I have lost no distance at all. Might have even gained a couple yards if I am being honest. Center face contact is way more valuable then trying to crush everything.

I honestly try and feel like from the top of my backswing I just let the club fall straight down as I turn through. It’s gentle and lazy but the results speak for themselves.
 
I think I disagree that slow is smooth. I think slow is slow.

However, smooth is definitely fast and all of us could probably work on making our fast swings less tense and more smooth.
 
About 5 years ago, I started doing what I thought was golf exercise movements to strengthen my core. It has that affect but the real focus I have learned in on biomechanical training of the body for the swing. It took me many sessions to dawn on me that the limited range of motion that are forced with weighted balls, cables, etc is meant to teach me how to stay balanced and how far I could actually turn in balance. This has changed the way I swing and opened up a new learning curve that I'm still benefiting from.

This has not made me much/any longer. Throwing the hands and body wildly at the ball will find a nut about every 10 to 20 swings. It has made me more accurate.
 
That post said:
I think I disagree that slow is smooth. I think slow is slow.

However, smooth is definitely fast and all of us could probably work on making our fast swings less tense and more smooth.
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Like all pithy sayings things are not as simple as the saying. “Slow is smooth” is doing things in a controlled intentional manner where you are not trying to force something to happen. For most people they need to slow things down to achieve the smooth control. Once they have achieved the control then they can start learning how to put the speed back into it.
 
leftybob said:
Like all pithy sayings things are not as simple as the saying. “Slow is smooth” is doing things in a controlled intentional manner where you are not trying to force something to happen. For most people they need to slow things down to achieve the smooth control. Once they have achieved the control then they can start learning how to put the speed back into it.
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That I do agree with. It’s all about sequencing and learning to do that properly often involves slowing things down first.
 
I lot of you are dead on about the efficiency being about 'when' you're delivering power to the ball. I snuck in a quick range session today and the guy behind me was launching rockets with that sweet sound of impact we all love.

I watched him swing for a bit. He had a moderate backswing and accelerated smoothly from transition. I worked on the same swing elements I'd been working on, but intentionally building up speed from transition and voila - was absolutely crushing the ball.

Now it's just continuing to do it. I've always struggled with being too fast at takeawy and at the beginning of the downswing.
 
Most people will hit it further, and all will hit it straighter with a shorter back swing that hits the ball with the sweet spot. People in search of more distance tend to get long and loose, flying right elbows, bent lead arms, you name it. Swing only as long and fast as you can maintain proper form.
 
mantan said:
I got paired with 3 low digit guys last Friday. They were like a scratch, a 2 and a 5. All of them different ages/builds. I always love playing with really good players just to try to learn something.

But the one thing I noticed more than anything is how efficient all of their swings looked. I feel like I was 'lashing' at the ball - while their swings just looked to be smooth/efficient machines. I have no idea what that secret sauce is....but man I wish I could tap into it.
Click to expand...
soe people are just simply lucky they happen to line up well physically via nothing but natural gate and movement for the task of swinging a golf club more easily than others. Thats my reason and Im sticking to it. The rest of us have to fight our own natural build forever and they dont as much.
 
When I'm swinging my 190 yard club, for example, I imagine hitting it 150 yards instead. I try, through the amount of effort exerted, to hit it 150 yards.

I don't mean literally, as if at the range, specifically trying to hit a multitude of different clubs to, say
.. 100 yards. That's different. I've done it, and it's quite effective in telling the mind how crazy little effort it takes for most clubs to reach 100 yards.

Instead, with a full swing, I'll try to "slow" that 190-yard club down to a 150 yard distance. As you might guess, all this exercise does is smooth out my swing, make it feel effortless, and instead of 150, I'll realize the maximum distance.

The same is used for all clubs and the mind-games similarly as before to smooth out the swing. I do this because I've found that when I "try" to hit to a certain distance, I'll tend to give a bit more effort (significantly so from the top). Whereas, when I just swing, with vastly lowered expectations, ball go far, and more consistently accurate.
 
leftybob said:
Like all pithy sayings things are not as simple as the saying. “Slow is smooth” is doing things in a controlled intentional manner where you are not trying to force something to happen. For most people they need to slow things down to achieve the smooth control. Once they have achieved the control then they can start learning how to put the speed back into it.
Click to expand...

That post said:
That I do agree with. It’s all about sequencing and learning to do that properly often involves slowing things down first.
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I think these posts point out the same idea: "Feel isn't real".

When I hit my best shots - longer than average, nice high, slight draw or fade, it's generally when I feel like I'm swinging slower (in reality I'm moving the club head faster than normal and making center-face contact).

Conversely, when I try to intentionally "kill it" is when I rush from the top and get out of sync and generally very bad things happen
 
Sean said:
I'm not saying this is in your case, but I notice a lot of amateurs accelerate from the top and not where the club head meets the ball. They lose both club head speed and accuracy. I play with some very good golfers from time to time (scratch to + HI), and they all start the transition "slowly" and build up speed to reach its max at impact. Nothing is forced.
Click to expand...

I like this ... I've heard different methods - one instructor said to go as fast as possible from the top ... worked for awhile, thinking that action would naturally open you up. And another said, before you get to the top, start transitioning with the lower body and opening up, like a baseball pitcher, and that action would produce speed along with your arms speeding up. A lot more to it. But FWIW, I go with the baseball pitcher type action.
 
Grins said:
I think these posts point out the same idea: "Feel isn't real".

When I hit my best shots - longer than average, nice high, slight draw or fade, it's generally when I feel like I'm swinging slower (in reality I'm moving the club head faster than normal and making center-face contact).

Conversely, when I try to intentionally "kill it" is when I rush from the top and get out of sync and generally very bad things happen
Click to expand...
My best swings feel effortless because body is working with the club not fighting it.

One of the biggest things with effective over speed training is you have to have a device to measure speed. For a lot of people trying to swinging harder results in less club head speed through the impact zone. They use more energy and effort but a not applying it in the right way to get the desired results.

If I had a dollar for every golfer I’ve seen try and swing hard from the top and not hit it well I could spend a week at pebble beach.
 
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