Would you play better if you didn't try to swing as hard?

A good fast smooth swing with velocity through the ball is my best. The hard swings not so much so. Occasionally I will crush one with a ripped out of balance swing which is fun, but not something I focus on because those are hit or miss type of swings.
 
One of the benefits of sound fundamental technique (grip-posture-alignment) is that it (in addition to good effective swing positions) it breeds good rhythm and tempo.
Usually especially hard paced and, or, over swingers are doing so to compensate for technique position faults.
Also, too stiff of a shaft flex causes some players to swing with too hard/fast of a pace and, or, over swing.
 
My timing and sequencing goes to **** when I try and swing hard. I always say to myself "swing like a wedge" prior to addressing ball. Seems to help most times..

Sent from my SM-G950W using Tapatalk
 
I definitely have contact issues when I try to swing a little too fast. I've had my most luck taking 3/4 swings and clubbing up ~2 clubs. In high wind I've taken to hitting half-swing hybrids between 150-180 instead of my mid irons and I'm seeing better control (and contact).
 
That's an interesting question... I normally swing at about 90% I'd say and my best ball striking and scoring is probably when feeling confident and swinging 95+%.

Now for the 80% of the time I'm not swinging and playing my best... I find it better to choke up on clubs and still swing 90% until I feel back on track. Regardless of "tempo", the most important factor for my swing at any speed is "timing". When timing is good, I can swing full out with no problem; if timing is off, that's when the bad things happen.
 
I have slowed my swing to a more controlled swing. I have picked up yardage. I assume that it is from making a better technical swing and actually generating more club head speed. What ever it is it's working.
 
Smooth is fast. I’ll forget this after a few good strikes. Then I’ll nearly fall over swinging out of my shoes. Better form and timing equal better distance, at least for me.
 
your 80% swing is your real swing. we all tend to over swing and rob ourselves of speed and distance. Swing a controlled 80% and you'll hit it further and more online.
 
I learned a long time ago that swinging out of shoes hurt my swing. I didn't make solid contact, was out of balance and didn't gain anymore distance. I started working on my tempo and it helped me make better contact, keep the ball in play and has added distance since I hit the sweet spot more often. I think good tempo is underrated when talking golf instruction.
 
No doubt that swing harder often decreases strike accuracy and therefore killing distance, not improving it. My biggest impact is when I try to swing harder, my tempo increases my normal slight hesitation to set my feet and anchor my swing through my lower body gets lost and now its all pure muscle contraction. That's when I start over snapping things.

With that being said, if I swing to easy then my timing goes all to hell. I have a swing speed zone where I am still swinging 'hard' to keep the body mechanics and sequencing in line but not 'harder' that I blow out my tempo and ability to guide the hands to a consistent strike.

When my tempo is consistent, my swing speed increases and my contact is great and I become dangerous. When I try to just crush the ball and swing out of myshoes, then I become a danger to others, usually 2 fairways over to the left.
 
For me, it is more about swing length than swinging too hard. My "3/4" swing (in my mind), is really a full swing.

When I can commit to the shorter backswing, I almost always see better results.
That's what the pro told me at my first lesson aged 14 and I imagine it still applies ;)
 
I'm constantly told I swing too hard. I'm experiencing tendinitis in my forearms likely due to my swing speed. Other than health it is definitely affecting my accuracy as well. My main swing thoughts are to stay down and swing easy.
 
I can't comment about swinging too hard because I don't know what that means. There's +2 mph and wild +12 mph. My only thought is to try to get the Orange Whip "whoosh" sound, or Swing Fan sound, at and past impact (right handed).
 
I'm constantly told I swing too hard. I'm experiencing tendinitis in my forearms likely due to my swing speed. Other than health it is definitely affecting my accuracy as well. My main swing thoughts are to stay down and swing easy.
JVbart...I hope this helps. In the past year I'd suddenly gotten almost a "tennis elbow" in my left elbow. The pain was most pronounced late at night or in the morning. I talked to my pro about it and he said I need to start rotating more into impact to get my left elbow in front of me. Either that or give up the game. The reason why is I was lifting my left shoulder too early in the DS, and the corresponding "snap" of the clubhead downward, trailing too far behind, was the likely cause of the pain. The problem is the clubhead weight reacts by going down too early, and my left arm straightened kinda "behind" me. The good news is I have to swing more correctly to keep playing.

I suck at explaining these types of things, and your case the cause could be completely different, but maybe not.
 
I don't feel like I swing really hard on my swings. I can definitely try to step it up a bit and it usually goes terrible.
 
The only way to swing "hard" is to use the ground more efficiently. If trying to swing harder with the upper-body it's a waste of energy, and can ruin a swing fairly quickly.
 
I dont have an easy swing. Less than 100% and things get wonky.
 
Smooth tends to actually be faster in a lot of cases. For me it was. I tend to feel like I’m going about 80% with my swings typically, but I actually gained or at least kept all of my distances because my timing improved and actually added some clubhead speed.

Ive seemed to always find, especially with amateurs, that people can either step on a shot and get more distance, or they are better at dialing a shot back and playing it with more finesse. I’m the later and have never had a problem swinging 25/50/75% with a club for a little creativity and hitting say a 150 club 130 and flighting it...but I can’t make my 150 club go anything more than 150 if I tried haha
 
That is my biggest swing flaw, I tend to get a little quick and swing too hard/fast at the ball. When I am playing well, my swing is much more controlled.
 
There are so many dimensions to this.

Over time I've learned the value of swing tempo, hitting the sweet spot, making a full turn on the backswing, creating clubhead speed powered by three levers and my core muscles. See when people say they're swinging too hard that can mean a lot of different things: gripping the club too hard, not completing your backswing, losing balance from a too-fast tempo, jerky swing, or quick tempo that never allows the weight to transfer, much less build a wall on the front side that enables the clubhead to snap through the impact zone.

Also, effort should NOT be the same throughout the swing. If you're going from zero to 100% at the beginning of the takeaway a lot of bad things can happen and not much that is good. Similarly, trying to go immediately from zero to 100% at the top of the backswing is fraught with problems too. However, if you've done everything properly there should be a point in the downswing where you can go flat out.
 
Back
Top