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"Club head speed determines your potential in golf". H. Haney

tahoebum

tahoebum

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I listen to HH almost every morning because he is on when I'm in the car and at least a few times a week he talks about distance determines your potential in golf. I happen to agree with this 100%.

Here he explains.

“Clubhead speed determines your potential in the game,” he said. “At every level, distance is the determining factor. Swing it faster, get more distance.”
After stating that 86 mph is the average clubhead speed among amateur golfers (it’s around 115 mph for PGA Tour players), Haney fired away at slow swings: “Take a fast lousy swing, slow it down, and you’ve got a slow lousy swing. Too many people think speed causes mistakes. That’s wrong. It makes no sense at all to take an easy swing, particularly with a driver.”
He then presented his version of a slow-motion swing and contended, “You can’t swing like this and then have all hell break loose (speed up the swing) at the top. You need to swing faster from the beginning.
“I have great success getting people to swing faster, because they’re all trying to swing slower. You think you swing too fast? Well, you must be hitting the ball too far,” he added sarcastically.
Haney added a metaphor: “Taking a slow swing is closer to taking a nap. You must swing faster. To do this, stay soft and loose and do not tense up. I never said swing harder, I said swing faster.”
 
Makes sense. My best drives are when I'm swinging loosely. I'm not necessarily swinging easy or slower, though it may feel that way since I'm not forcing the path by trying to muscle the club around with my arms.
 
I think he has had enough success with this line of thinking and teaching for me to say that it probably works for his students. On the surface it makes sense as well. Swinging faster results in so many things that can make the game easier to score. for instance any time you can put once club shorter in your hand I think you are better off and swinging faster would accomplish this.
 
To be followed by the next Hank Haney miracle training aid to increase your clubhead speed 10mph. You just need to get through a free 40 minute video presentation to find out how.


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I think that is correct to a point. 90 mph swing speed is never going to cut it on the PGA tour. Not the way courses are now days. 120 mph is in no way a guarantee to make it though.
 
I am sure Haney knows quite a bit about the golf swing but I take pretty much everything he says with a grain of salt anymore. He will put his name on anything it seems if they will give him a nickel.

While I agree with him that speed is a limiting factor in golf (just like it is in baseball, football, height in basketball) what many amateurs think of as swinging fast is increasing tempo and swinging the arms faster.

Most of us need to learn how to generate the speed with the hips/legs/torso and let the arms be along for the ride.
 
ntanygd760 said:
I think that is correct to a point. 90 mph swing speed is never going to cut it on the PGA tour. Not the way courses are now days. 120 mph is in no way a guarantee to make it though.
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I'd say you have to be able to hit it at least 250 to be a scratch and at least 275 to be a decent college player. There are currently 125 PGA Tour players averaging over 290 yards off the tee and the top 185 average over 280 yards.
 
Meh, I don't really agree with this for everyone.

I used to hit my pw at 140 yard targets, and hit 4/10 greens. Ever since I slow my swing down and hit an 8 or 9 I hit 7/10.
 
I both agree and disagree with this statement

I agree that swinging faster is obviously going to result in more distance, but just because you can swing it faster and hit it further doesn't necessarily mean you are going to be a better golfer. I think there is a lot more to it than just hitting the ball a long way - you still need to be able to get the ball in the hole, and distance doesn't determine the overall result

I play with people who swing faster and hit the ball further than me, yet they score worse than me, so in that regard I don't agree with his thoughts
 
i agree with him. a slower, more deliberate swing is a thinking man's swing. a faster, freer swing is an athlete's swing. swinging fast and loose is a way to let your body react naturally to the motion you instinctively know how to do. freddie is always telling me to just let it go. swing faster. don't hold back. and he's absolutely right. when i do that, good things almost always happen.
 
That has a lot of merit, especially when he threw in the qualifier there at the end about not swinging hard but swinging fast. Speed brings stability in a lot of respects, so I can see what he's saying, especially given that you have less time to commit mistakes if you're swinging faster. It won't work for everybody, but few golf tips do.
 
tahoebum said:
I'd say you have to be able to hit it at least 250 to be a scratch and at least 275 to be a decent college player. There are currently 125 PGA Tour players averaging over 290 yards off the tee and the top 185 average over 280 yards.
Click to expand...

This sounds about right to me.
 
I agree with this - note that he says "potential", and not "performance". If you're swinging 115-120 without swinging out of your shoes but you're all over the place, you've got a chance to straighten out your swing and keep it in the fairway, as well as hone in your short game. That's probably "easier" than trying to bring someone's swing speed up from 90 to 100+.
 
mancest said:
I am sure Haney knows quite a bit about the golf swing but I take pretty much everything he says with a grain of salt anymore. He will put his name on anything it seems if they will give him a nickel.

While I agree with him that speed is a limiting factor in golf (just like it is in baseball, football, height in basketball) what many amateurs think of as swinging fast is increasing tempo and swinging the arms faster.

Most of us need to learn how to generate the speed with the hips/legs/torso and let the arms be along for the ride.
Click to expand...

I think he trys to make that point as well. Swinging fast doesnt mean hard. In other words at a detriment to tempo. how i read it anyway.
 
tahoebum said:
I'd say you have to be able to hit it at least 250 to be a scratch and at least 275 to be a decent college player. There are currently 125 PGA Tour players averaging over 290 yards off the tee and the top 185 average over 280 yards.
Click to expand...

Its hard to use the PGA Tour as a measuring stick because of how it is calculated and where it is done. Most golfers are not going to see 50 yards of roll ever.
Geography plays a huge roll in driving distance.
 
The devil is in the details. I've heard Hank make such statements before, and I've never heard him discuss the details. The details are in his last sentence.

The problem is 99% of amateur golfers if they don't hear that last sentence would assume they need to swing harder. They would assume they need to swing their arms faster. This would result in more problems IMO.

Where most amateur golfers (including myself) need to add speed is in the double-pendulum, aka the release. They need to get better at staying behind the ball, getting into a great wrist set, and letting those wrists unhinge out in front of the ball with full extension. But you do that by letting the club swing tension-free, not by muscling up and swinging harder.
 
JB said:
Its hard to use the PGA Tour as a measuring stick because of how it is calculated and where it is done. Most golfers are not going to see 50 yards of roll ever.
Geography plays a huge roll in driving distance.
Click to expand...

You got that right. We had almost 60 inches of rain here since December 1st and the 6580 tees at my home course I've been playing recently are playing longer than the 7,005 tees do in the summer time.

I've played a US Open course the week or so after the event and I was consistantly 20 yards longer off the tee.
 
I think it is all tempo, my drives get wacky when the smooth tempo gets off. That and if I am trying to choke the grip, have to always remind myself relaxed grip and even tempo= good results.
 
I used to be in the opposite side of thinking as short game makes up for alot but im 100% on board with his comments. I wish when I was learning I was taught the basics of swinging faster.
 
I like his quote though and I agree with it. SS determines your "potential" not "makes you a good/bad player." It's not just off the tee either. If you have a tucked pin and you can't get enough height/spin on the ball, you'll have a tough time making pars and birdies. Of course there's a number of exceptions; easier courses, super soft greens, etc. but I definitely think your "potential" can be determined by ones SS.


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mpeterson said:
I agree with this - note that he says "potential", and not "performance". If you're swinging 115-120 without swinging out of your shoes but you're all over the place, you've got a chance to straighten out your swing and keep it in the fairway, as well as hone in your short game. That's probably "easier" than trying to bring someone's swing speed up from 90 to 100+.
Click to expand...
True. It's easier to teach accuracy than teach distance.
 
"The woods are full of long hitters." --Harvey Penick
 
I think his statement is oversimplified and can be taken the wrong way.

A good golf swing with an even tempo and proper sequence will generate a better, faster swing.
 
flog2424 said:
I used to be in the opposite side of thinking as short game makes up for alot but im 100% on board with his comments. I wish when I was learning I was taught the basics of swinging faster.
Click to expand...

Amen to that. When i was coming up all i heard was swing slow and easy.


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I'd agree. Having seen a lot of junior golfers over the past 3-5 years, though who can swing fast have developed into much better golfers into their older years. Hank has always sort of talked this though. During his show he would always teach his students to swing as fast as possible.
 
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