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

Well yesterday I loosened way up while playing. Looking back on the round I hit longer drives the. I have hit in a long time. I hit several approach shots longer then expected too. I mean 20+ yards longer. I was definitely not trying to swing harder or faster. I know my distances are pretty consistent so I know when I see a lot of long hits.
 
To me its about consistency. If you are more consistent when you swing hard, then swing hard. If you are more consistent with your strikes and distances when you don't swing hard, then go up a club and swing easier. I am at a place in my game where I feel my iron swing tempo and swing speed are in a pretty good place. Where I fall off the map a bit is on the driver. When I am on, I am striking it square on the club face and pushing 108-109 mph swing speeds and 160mph ball speeds. When I am off on my swing which translates into mistrikes, my swing speed drops 4-5 mph and my ball speed drops to low 150's.
 
I need to swing hard with the driver, otherwise I get all out of sync.
With irons and wedges though, I concentrate on tempo. Does the world for a smooth swing, and I like the way I hit the ball when I am like that.
 
Deep breath and swing smooth with irons has helped!
 
Most people would because they have no tempo, and tempo is everything in golf.

Honestly good fundamentals and transfer of momentum are going to get you solid distance. I have never had an average drive of over 250 and yet am consistently around 80
 
I swing as hard as I can while still being able to hit the ball on the center of the clubface.
 
My best shots come when I relax and just try to swing smooth with a good tempo. As soon as I try to muscle up on the swing, I tighten up and everything goes bad. Same if I overthink it and try to 'steer' the ball - I tighten up, get too mechanical, and everything good goes right out the window.
 
Comfortable and relaxed at address, easy takeaway and smooth tempo.

That's always my main focus on a swing. After that, I trust my body to finish properly.

When I think too much, I'm screwed.

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Shortened up my swing and hitting the ball a lot better
 
I only swing that hard so that when the next player finds my lost ball, the ball already knows who’s boss 👊
 
Absolutely

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I slowed down the back swing and transition today off the tee and it made a accuracy difference. Notice I did not mention the distance, that’s because it was right there in the 260 to 300 range. I will continue to work on this as it really made a difference.
 
This is how I get back on track. Most years I'll get about halfway thru the season and my swing goes on vacation or something. I just go back to swinging easy and focusing on making solid contact. It almost always works and if I'm lacking distance, at least I'm playing from the fairway.
 
Nappy said:
This is how I get back on track. Most years I'll get about halfway thru the season and my swing goes on vacation or something. I just go back to swinging easy and focusing on making solid contact. It almost always works and if I'm lacking distance, at least I'm playing from the fairway.
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Shoot, I'm sometimes lucky to get half way thru a round and my swing clocks out and goes home! But just like you I reset and start thinking "swing easy" and it usually works.
 
It’s funny how this thread pops up today. I played a round yesterday (certainly not my best) and really struggled with distance control and club selection.

Here the last few weeks, I’ve been working with my swing coach on some technique to create some lag and eliminate my early release. Problem is that it’s not “my” swing yet and as much as I want it to be I fall back to old habits... Interesting part is this swing feels considerably slower with the arms but is producing considerably more club head speed.

There lies the problem in that my “distances” are built off of my old swing and the new and improved tends to fly it 10-15 yards further.
 
Cmontgomery said:
It’s funny how this thread pops up today. I played a round yesterday (certainly not my best) and really struggled with distance control and club selection.

Here the last few weeks, I’ve been working with my swing coach on some technique to create some lag and eliminate my early release. Problem is that it’s not “my” swing yet and as much as I want it to be I fall back to old habits... Interesting part is this swing feels considerably slower with the arms but is producing considerably more club head speed.

There lies the problem in that my “distances” are built off of my old swing and the new and improved tends to fly it 10-15 yards further.
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I’ve been working on something similar. 3 weeks in now and it seems to be coming together. Just gotta stick with it through the not so good to get to the better.
 
ApexFan said:
I’ve been working on something similar. 3 weeks in now and it seems to be coming together. Just gotta stick with it through the not so good to get to the better.
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It can be tough for sure! This change has created a bit of regression in scoring that I’m hoping is short lived... as my coach says, “golf is hard”...
 
Driver wise, I am DI isn’t that me going at it typically helps me keep a decent Rhythm. Irons though, I have to remember to swing more deliberativeand let the club and my body posture dictate what I’m trying to do. When I try to hit irons, I get way ahead and handsy. This results in low hooks that I end up cursing at myself later hahs
 
Absolutely

been working on this since the start of the year. Have become more consistent with the irons for sure and haven’t lost any distance.
 
I think it is okay to swing hard, as long as you don't do it from the top, but allow for gradual acceleration until it is maximized at impact.
 
Yes, but if I didn’t hit my five iron over 200 yards and out of bounds, did I really play golf that day? I think 85% could do a world of good for me.
 
I've found that when I try to "hit the ball" I over swing; the results usually aren't very good. That, and when I'm playing with guys who hit the ball much further than I do I over swing even more. My results, when I swing this way, are normally not good.

I try to keep my tempo smooth, and I play much better when I'm swinging with a consistent tempo and not trying to "hit the ball". I like to swing with the mindset of; "swing the club and let the ball get in the way".
 
A few years ago I slowed my swing down and found that Im hitting the ball straighter and just about as far. I just go for a nice, smooth swing instead of hitting the ball as hard as I can.
 
I've gone back and forth on this one a couple times (I was told the same thing) but what I finally settled on was it wasn't a question of how hard, it was a question of doing what was natural. I think your body has a preferred speed/tempo it likes and deliberate efforts to perform above or below can often lead to poor results. This I think is what people mean when they say they're thinking about their swing too much. They try to force a certain move or speed that their body doesn't like and it just doesn't work. I know I always play my best when I'm super lose and I'm not putting any thought whatsoever into the mechanics of how I'm swinging the club.
 
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