Swing speed and distance consistency.

[1Greatgolfguy]

Here is my problem. I have a hard time with ball striking, and any advice I see for amateurs is about increasing swing speed to gain distance, not about making good contact and consistency.

My story. This will be my third golf season. My first I held an 18 handicapp, and by the end of last year I have dropped it to 12. During this off-season I decided to have my clubs fitted - which was great. But was told by the pro, that I have a 'gift;' a swing speed above tour average.

Here is why this is a problem. On my home course there is a 174yd par 3. I started with a 7i and seemed to always fly the green. So I grabbed an 8i, and thought that same swing should get me close. Flew the green. Kept trying that with no consistency in distance, more often going over the green than anything. So, my 9i isn't bad for about 160yds. And I thought that short is better than long. (fairway is better that thick rough) And told my playing partners that if I fly the green I'm qutting golfing. Well, I flew the green, but still love to golf so I keep playing.
No this green is not below the tee box. It is about the same level.

Sooo, how do tour players control distance? I don't mind coming up short if I make bad ball contact, but I hate going long when I have good contact.

Any advice I usually see or hear is 'for amateur swing speeds - like yours.' Which drives me nuts. I am not sure that I need the high spin balls, and definitely don't buy in to the 'increased distance' sales pitches. So what advice do you guys have for me.

Sorry about the long explanation/rant. But it drives me up the wall and it's hard to get solid advice. Thanks.

[Pinseeker81]

My first thought was that if you're flying a 174 yard green with a 9 iron you need to quit blading the ball

[squaddie]

I wish I had your problem. My 9-iron only goes about 115 yds on a good day.

But to answer your question, I watched a golf clinic show hosted by Tiger Woods a few months ago (Tee it up with Tiger, on The Golf Channel), where he talked about controlling distance with his wedges.

He controlled distance with his trajectory. He explained that with his wedges he controlled distance by cutting off his follow through at either rib-high (shorter distance, lower shot), shoulders (normal, probably longer) or above his head (higher), while using the same swing-speed.

I haven't tried the technique myself, but it seems to make sense.

[grantc79]

My advice would be to figure out exactly how far you hit each club.

How I do that is to go to the range at my local course, stand my bag up beside where I am hitting, and hit iron shots with each club until I think I've hit one pure.

Then I go to where that ball wound up, laser my golf bag, and then subtract 3-10 yards depending on the club.

Then you know the distances that you expect to reliably hit your clubs.

[RC]

Recommend you practice hitting three or four different clubs to the same target -- pick one from 125 to 150 yards. Learn how to control you ball speed and flight with multiple clubs and you will improve your handicap quickly. I've watched some of the best golfers hitting perfect shots with one or two clubs less than they can actually carry. Sure they could hit a particular club further, but the idea is to control trajectory and spin, to be able to hit the shot shape that is optimal for the situation. If you don't work on this aspect, you will be stuck at a higher handicap than you could have.

There is a huge advantage to higher clubhead speed, but distance control trumps inconsistent distance.

[goblue107501]

Sooo, how do tour players control distance?

It is really pretty simple. You just need to swing the same and adjust your backswing and grip. There are several scenarios that I use:

Full swing / full grip 3/4 swing / full grip = normal full swing / 3/4 grip 3/4 swing / 3/4 grip These are just the terms I use in my head, they don't have any real meaning other than choking down on the club and not taking the backswing as far back. For me, each one of these is a slight progression down to the next club. I have about a 10-12 yard difference between my 8-iron and 9-iron. I can hit my 8-iron 150 or I can hit it 135 by using one of my examples above. I can do this with about every club, so for me, I have no distance gaps when hitting irons. I can either take a little off, or hit a little extra. My advice would be to try and adjust your grip and swing (only backswing) and see if that helps to control the distance. So on that par-3 that you mentioned, hit the 7-iron again, but choke down about an inch and take a little less backswing, but still explode through the ball. This should help you gain a better feel on distance control. You also have to know what your 'stock' distances are and engrain them in your memory. That way you know as soon as you see a 170 shot is a full 7 or an easy 6. You just have to decide which one to hit.

[Zeph]

Very good advice from goblue there. Swing length and where you grab the club is the most common way to control distance. I've been practicing this on a simulator with accurate measuring. After a few rounds of doing this I know pretty exact all my distances from PW to 5 iron. 4 and 3 irons are harder to hit, so I don't get as much consistency with them.

An example from the simulator, which I don't use as accurate measuring on the course, but I believe it's pretty close.

PW: 80 to 110 meters
9i: 100 to 120 meters
8i: 120 to 140 meters
7i: 140 to 160 meters
6i: 150 to 170 meters
5i: 160 to 180 meters

Something like that. If I have a shot at 150 meters I can take a full 7i or a shorter 6i. If I have a tough pin position and want to land on the green and roll to the flag with the green starting at 140, but I do not want to be too long, a full 7i will land on the green a roll further down. When I choke down and shorten the swing, the possibility is always there that I can hit it too far.

If you hit three irons the same distance, you are not hitting them well enough. I don't know how you swing, but you could try easing it down a bit. Distance is important, but distance control is even more important. That's when you can attack the pin and post low scores. Also knowing how ball position and trajectory works on the ball. Hitting on a green with danger behind which you will find by hitting over the green you want a higher ball flight and some backspin. The more lofted club you use, the quicker the ball will stop. So, if you have a distance where you can use two clubs, always think about which trajectory you will get from them.

[1Greatgolfguy]

If you hit three irons the same distance, you are not hitting them well enough. I don't know how you swing, but you could try easing it down a bit. Distance is important, but distance control is even more important.

Very good advice, I always thought that I should try easing it down a bit, but I kinda thought that a full swing would be more consistent than an arbitrarily slower swing.

My advice would be to figure out exactly how far you hit each club.

Excellent. I have always wondered how to get a good handle on my distance. This is a fantastic idea, I feel like a retard for never thinking about. My skycaddie will do a fantastic job.

Recommend you practice hitting three or four different clubs to the same target -- pick one from 125 to 150 yards. Learn how to control you ball speed and flight with multiple clubs and you will improve your handicap quickly. I've watched some of the best golfers hitting perfect shots with one or two clubs less than they can actually carry. Sure they could hit a particular club further, but the idea is to control trajectory and spin, to be able to hit the shot shape that is optimal for the situation. If you don't work on this aspect, you will be stuck at a higher handicap than you could have.

Another great step. Currently I struggle with ball contact and control, but once I have a good handle on that, I can optimize my trajectory and spin like you suggest.

It is really pretty simple. You just need to swing the same and adjust your backswing and grip.

I only wish it was simple.

Then fixing my problem would be simple. My problem is that I don't find this simple at all. Swinging the same is a problem. Thank you all for your advice. I take alot away from it. Any more advice on how to make my swing more consistent would be most helpful. Would eaising it down a bit help? Anything else???????????

[Cesar]

Some good tips on this thread that I'm going to piggy back on.

First, pros control distance with spin and trajectory. In order to do that, you need to make consistent contact with the ball. In order to do that, you need to swing at a managable speed. I cannot stress enough how important this is.

I have a buddy of mine that was like you, a friggin gorilla that could hit a 9 iron 180+ yards. He'd even brag about it, even though he couldn't control it worth a lick.

I told him to start swinging 80% to stop giving a damn how far he could his irons. Nobody cares. There's no shame in hitting a soft 6 iron from 160 yards if that is what the shot calls for. I'll even challenge him on the course now to hit more club and swing smoother and you won't believe what kind of difference it's made in his game.

You'll find if you start swinging barely harder than a practice swing, you're head will stay more still, you'll stay more on balance, and you'll make a lot more consistent contact with the ball. You'll also hit the ball much farther than you think.

Once you have that mastered, THEN you can start messing around with shortened backswings/follow throughs, choking down on the grip, etc and see real results.

The next few times you go out, try hitting 6 iron on that same par 3 and force yourself to hit easy enough to be the right distance. Start messing around by hiting more than enough club and controlling your swing speed.

It may take a while to get used to it, but once you do, the game will never be the same to you.

I've gotten to the point now where I can hit a 6 iron anywhere from 150-215 depending on the situation. I'll only really go for that monster 6 iron shot if I need to hit it real high with a lot of spin (i.e, carry a tree, attack a front pin location late in the round in a "must birdie" situation.). I try not to though, since it's much harder to control. My average smooth 6 iron goes about 190.

While I used to be proud of how long I could hit my irons, I take much more pride now in hitting a 150 yard 6 iron when the the situation calls for it (windy days, back hole locations) and executing it.

[kafka01]

OP you really have to work on controlling your swing speed - it seems to me that after you switched to higher irons you just kept giving more and more speed without even realising it.

Like Cesar already mentioned, go to the range - pick a target, then take your normal club you would use - put it back and take one or even two clubs more and hit the target and learn to swing in tempo & rythm. And do this over for several distances - and your only concern should be to hit the target and get solid distance gaps between clubs.

Not once you should have the thought - 190y - lets bomb 8i out there - thats pretty counterproductive in your case.

Last i played with a buddy - and as we approached the 17th (180y par 3 slightly downhill) he told me of a shot he witnessed during a pro tournament that really seemed to impress him. It wasnt of a guy who hit a 9 iron down there, but of a guy who punched a laser 4iron at the pin. Its about controlling distances - not hitting uncontrollable shots....

[1Greatgolfguy]

I told him to start swinging 80% to stop giving a damn how far he could his irons. Nobody cares. There's no shame in hitting a soft 6 iron from 160 yards if that is what the shot calls for. I'll even challenge him on the course now to hit more club and swing smoother and you won't believe what kind of difference it's made in his game.

You know your absolutely right. I went to the range and grabbed my irons and said to myself "This is the right club I don't need to kill it." Just like kafka01 said, I kept clubbing down and thinking to myself that I need to hit it harder to even get it there.

Noticiably, I had better contact, much more consistent. The only problem was my driver. I still feel I need to bomb it out there when a nice steady swing on the sweet spot produced fantastic results. I guess I just need to say to myself before every swing "Take it nice and easy." I appreciate everyone's input and thank you for your helpful advice. On another note. Does anyone have a suggestion for a ball for swing type. I still want the control/spin around the green but I'm not sure that for my driving I need a high spin ball. Does anyone have any input/suggestions??

[Jay-Bird]

Recommend you practice hitting three or four different clubs to the same target -- pick one from 125 to 150 yards. Learn how to control you ball speed and flight with multiple clubs and you will improve your handicap quickly. I've watched some of the best golfers hitting perfect shots with one or two clubs less than they can actually carry. Sure they could hit a particular club further, but the idea is to control trajectory and spin, to be able to hit the shot shape that is optimal for the situation. If you don't work on this aspect, you will be stuck at a higher handicap than you could have.

This is some of the best stuff I've ever read here. Dropping science.

[Cesar]

On another note. Does anyone have a suggestion for a ball for swing type. I still want the control/spin around the green but I'm not sure that for my driving I need a high spin ball. Does anyone have any input/suggestions??

Pro V1x. The best in the biz IMO.

[Blades4me]

Here is my problem. I have a hard time with ball striking, and any advice I see for amateurs is about increasing swing speed to gain distance, not about making good contact and consistency.

Just a suggestion here. Tour players only swing at 70-80%. This allows them to stay in balance and subsequently have very good distance control and accuracy.

So, go to the range and estimate what your 70-80% swing is and pay attention to the distances. Work on distance control first and accuracy will come, just like putting. Thats my .02 cents, good luck and enjoy the process. As for balls, well I use any tour level ball that I get the best deal on. I really don't notice much difference between them except for "feel" off of the club face. With your ss I'd think something like Pro V1x, B330, Sixon URC, but the only way you will find out is to play them.

[lumpuckeroo]

I wish I had that problem!!!!

Don't forget, Tour Players do it for a living, they work/practice at it diligently. They make their money on being able to hit a 9 iron exactly the distance they need it to go. What it boils down to is, you have to spend time to determine just how far you can hit each iron and what is the "best" distance to hit.

[kafka01]

Just a suggestion here. Tour players only swing at 70-80%. This allows them to stay in balance and subsequently have very good distance control and accuracy.

Thats something i ever wondered about - if you see them on the range or playing a casual practice round it definitly looks like 70% (even from the tee box) - but if you watch a PGA Tour event, i always have the impression they are going 99% at it (mostly off the tee though and trying to control their second shot with less power).

Is this just me or did anybody else notice this too? Just look at some of the Swingvision Vids - thats never 70 %?

[TheNatural]

Thats something i ever wondered about - if you see them on the range or playing a casual practice round it definitly looks like 70% (even from the tee box) - but if you watch a PGA Tour event, i always have the impression they are going 99% at it (mostly off the tee though and trying to control their second shot with less power).

I agree driver tee shots from the pros are at %85-%95 IMO.. JB Holmes and Tiger I have seen what looks like %95+ they seem to be really cranking it when they need to. Not all the time just when it warrants it. Even they can go full bore %100 but what will happen?, thats dangerous territory. Any humans 100% ss is going to be off target, thats why the LD Champions hit into a 100+ yard wide range and still miss IT!

[Blades4me]

Thats something i ever wondered about - if you see them on the range or playing a casual practice round it definitly looks like 70% (even from the tee box) - but if you watch a PGA Tour event, i always have the impression they are going 99% at it (mostly off the tee though and trying to control their second shot with less power).

Yes there are those that swing very hard on tour. However if you look at the majority of them, its around 80%. Erni Els swing comes to mind.