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Driver Swing Speed (Slow vs Fast)?


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Hi,

I've been swinging my irons fine, but I'm still having an issue with my driver.  I'm not 100% sure if I have a fast swing speed, but what I noticed is when I swing normaly I tend to slice the ball.  However, when I take just a very slow swing I hit the ball perfectly straight.

Some things that I think are causing this is, I feel with my irons I have the weight of the club head and metal shaft making my club face squar up on impact which makes my release happen automatically.  However, I feel like with my driver not being able to feel that club head weight and having a regular shaft flex causes me to hit the ball with an open club face on impact and my release happens after making contact with the ball.

I was thinking of maybe purchasing a driver with a strict shaft flex and maybe find a driver that has a heavier club head; I think this will help get my club face square at impact with my current/natural driver swing speed.

I guess I could also just slow down my driver swing speed with my current driver, but I would rather just keep my mechanics and swing speed the same, and hopefully a new driver will help me out with this.

Has anyone ever had this issue where a slower driver swing speed would make you hit the ball perfectly straight, but with a faster driver swing speed would cause you to slice?

Thank you,

olimits7

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Drivers are usually about the same swingweight as irons, but only because of the extra length.  The head weight and the total weight will be lighter.  The player can feel that, so his subconscious is telling him that he has to swing harder with that lighter club.  Wrong, the extra length alone will increase clubhead speed, and trying to swing harder may cause an outside-in swing.

The other problem occurs when the ball is put on a tee, well off the ground.  Now the subconscious is saying that you only have to hit that ball forward, that you do not have to swing down.  Wrong again.  You do need to swing down to create a proper release.  Even if you intend to hit the ball on the upswing, you still need to swing the clubhead down through the lowest point of its arc just before impact.

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people tend to overswing with their driver which will cause the body to tense up and usually the product of that is going right with more right.

Your swing SPEED might be fine but what about your tempo?

My philosophy on golf "We're not doing rocket science, here."

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Thanks for the replies!

I will try to work on my tempo, and also try slowing down my swing when it comes to the driver.

I was watching the following video and I think I'm at fault for setting up to the ball wrong on my driver by turning my body towards the ball when setup by my front foot instep and causing an outside/in swing which makes me slice the ball.

From the video it seems that he keeps the driver club head in the center of his stance this way his body is in the right position during his swing, and would then swing up on the tee'd up ball by his front instep.

Do you guys use a similar method by keeping the club head in the center of your stance but teeing up the ball by your front foot instep?

Thank you,

olimits7

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Thats because your trying to lunge at the ball, trying to hit it to hard. A slower swing speed will allow you to feel the club because your not trying to muscle it. It will drop more on plane and you will hit it squarer. I had this issue with the slice. I found that if i need to really put one out there, i actually shorten my swing, and really fire through with alot of hip rotation. This allows me to not overswing, get to long, and get that over the top move.

  • Upvote 1

Matt Dougherty, P.E.
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What's in My Bag
Driver; :pxg: 0311 Gen 5,  3-Wood: 
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After fighting a slice that was more likely to turn into a boomerang ball, I've been hitting the straightest and longest drives since I started playing by cutting my driver down from 45.5" to 44", shortening my backswing, and swinging slower with a smoother tempo, especially a slower and smoother takeaway.  I also changed my mindset from trying to 'hit' the ball to that of 'swinging through' the ball... just taking a swing and letting the ball get in the way.

This crazy game of opposites.........

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Well, if you got a longer shaft, check to were your standing. years of playing with a smaller shaft will have you set up to close to the ball

Matt Dougherty, P.E.
 fasdfa dfdsaf 

What's in My Bag
Driver; :pxg: 0311 Gen 5,  3-Wood: 
:titleist: 917h3 ,  Hybrid:  :titleist: 915 2-Hybrid,  Irons: Sub 70 TAIII Fordged
Wedges: :edel: (52, 56, 60),  Putter: :edel:,  Ball: :snell: MTB,  Shoe: :true_linkswear:,  Rangfinder: :leupold:
Bag: :ping:

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Thank you for the replies!

I'll definitely practice my tempo and slowing down my swing with the driver.

I was watching a youtube video and I think I was having this issue with my driver setup.  I tried posting the video link before but since I'm new here a moderator has to approve my previous post.

Anyway, the video I watched was a "shawn clement - great driver tip" if you want to find it oun youtube.  And he says to keep the driver club head centered in your stance even when you have the ball tee'd up by your front foot instep.  I think I was doing this wrong because I would put the club head right behind the ball and turn my body towards the ball and push my arms out because the ball was tee'd up next to my front foot instep.  I think this causes me to swing outsind/in and slice the ball.

I think I will try to leave the club head in the center of my stance and not turn my body to face the ball; this way hopefully this will cause me to swing properly and hit the tee'd up ball on the driver upswing.

Do you guys also keep the driver club head centered in your stance when you have the ball tee'd up by your front foot instep?

Thank you,

olimits7

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Originally Posted by olimits7

And he says to keep the driver club head centered in your stance even when you have the ball tee'd up by your front foot instep.  I think I was doing this wrong because I would put the club head right behind the ball and turn my body towards the ball and push my arms out because the ball was tee'd up next to my front foot instep.  I think this causes me to swing outsind/in and slice the ball.

I think I will try to leave the club head in the center of my stance and not turn my body to face the ball; this way hopefully this will cause me to swing properly and hit the tee'd up ball on the driver upswing.

Do you guys also keep the driver club head centered in your stance when you have the ball tee'd up by your front foot instep?

I did that a lot too, open my shoulders to get the club head up to the ball.  Instead, since the right hand is lower on the shaft (if you are a righty), lower your right shoulder a touch.  What I use to do was to set up my stance, hold the club straight out, then slightly tilt my upper body right to lower my right shoulder a bit, and the club head would naturally draw up closer to the ball.

I do still have a tilt to my upper body, but the club head sits about 6"-7" behind the ball (not totally centered) when I start my takeaway.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi,

Ok, went out a few more times to practice my driver swing, but still having the same slice issue.  I don't have a quick slice but it almost seems like a nasty fade where the ball travels left and towards the end just starts moving to the right.  My irons are fine and I have no issues with them; which is good at the moment...lol.

I tried these tips that I received from this post, and this is what my current results were.  I teed up the ball with aligned with my left foot instep, I then tilted my upper body to the right this way I would swing up on the ball.  This position felt good and it felt good hitting the ball but was still having slicing issues.

At first my swing plane was kind of flat and I was taking it lower across my body, and trying a nice wide swing since the driver is a longer club.  I still ended up slicing, and I think it was because of the flatter swing plane it was harder for me to rotate my wrists and release the club head so it would square up at impact.  I then tried changing my swing plane up higher, and closer to where I would be on my backswing for a 6 iron.  This definitely helped and at the beginning I would end up hitting under the ball and popping it up, but there was no slice; which was good.  Since I was popping it up with this higher driver swing plane path; I ended up moving the ball position slightly further up on my left foot and teeing the ball slightly lower.  This definitely helped with the popping up issue, but then the slice started creeping back into place.

I then tried a couple swings with the same higher swing plane path, but trying to force myself to bow my wrist slightly on the backswing, and this definitely helped and I didn't slice the ball.  So I'm guessing with my driver I have a tendacy to cup my wrist and I end up hitting the ball with a slightly open club face.  However, its strange that I don't have this bow/cup wrist issue with my irons; maybe because my swing plane path is even more verticle than my driver swing plane path?

I try to use the same strong left hand grip with 2 knuckles showing for both irons and my driver.  However, the only thing that seems to work to cure my slice with my current natural swing path without trying to force myself to bow my left wrist in the backswing is to basically grip my driver with my palm directly down with my left hand; showing a lot more than 2 knuckles on my left hand.  This grip with my left hand seems like the way I can get my club face to square up with my driver.

However, I hate the fact that I have to hold my driver with my left hand with such a strong grip just to fix this slice.  Does anyone have any other tips I could try doing to see if I could fix my slice with my current left hand strong grip showing 2 knuckles?

The only other thing I could think that I'm not doing righ is having a light grip during my swing to allow the club head to realease easier, but I tried a couple swing like this and it didn't seem to help much.  One thing that I did notice and made me also not slice the ball is I would just do a half swing with the driver and I would end up hitting a low line drive shot but it would be perfectly straight; with no slice.

Thank you, again!

olimits7

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I just don't understand tilting to one side. I mean how can you possibly return to that same position. Try teeing the ball on the inside of your front foot and place your driver 5-6 inches behind the ball at set up. Keep your eyes on the back of the ball and hold on... Google Moe Norman to get ideas... You WILL get the ball up!!! Best of luck
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For me it's the opposite. When I try to take a really smooth and easy driver swing, I slice it completely. But when I swing at like 90%, I hit it far (no dead straight all the time but more reliable than a light swing).

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Our heads try to use our arms and hands to make adjustments during our downswing to contact the ball the way we think we should.  I had similar problems and once I was sure my address and swing were okay, my instructor had me close my eyes and trust my ball address and swing.  I hit five of the straightest and longest drives of my life with my eyes closed.  I also got a feel for swinging through the ball on a drive not trying to hit the ball.  Once I had the feel I realized that not only were my hands adjusting the club during the downswing, but I was also decelerating the club head before impact in order to make the adjustment.   My drives are very consistent now, and I go back to the eyes closed drill when I find myself out of sync with my driver.

I'm not sure it's a safe drill to try on your own at a crowded range, but it definitely helped me.  Interesting detail to go along with this is that my instructor has a number of vision impaired students he instructs and says they are the purest hitters because they have to learn to trust their address and swing and always swing through the ball.

Joe Paradiso

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This-this is the key to longer, more accurate drives.  It's never when I feel like I swung the hardest, just when I made perfect contact and cleared my hips fully.

Originally Posted by saevel25

Thats because your trying to lunge at the ball, trying to hit it to hard. A slower swing speed will allow you to feel the club because your not trying to muscle it. It will drop more on plane and you will hit it squarer. I had this issue with the slice. I found that if i need to really put one out there, i actually shorten my swing, and really fire through with alot of hip rotation. This allows me to not overswing, get to long, and get that over the top move.



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A slice is usually caused by hitting across the ball and that may be due to a number of reasons.  Not making a full turn, alingment, hands etc.etc.  Or maybe a shaft that is not stiff enough.  Try this if you will:  put the ball in the center of your stance, point your left toes to the left, step back with the right foot to shoulder width or slightly more, rest club about 4" behind ball, slide your right foot back an inch or two.  This will slightly close your stance and allow a better and easier turn.  Also don't clench your jaw when swinging, but leave it slack.  Ya know like a slack jawed yokel.  Don't laugh it works for a bit more distance cause you won't tense your neck or shoulder muscles up.  Take a neutral grip on your club too.  Hope this helps.

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  • 2 years later...

saevel25 has it right but I'd like to try and clarify.

When you swing you need to be quite mindful of your FEET and NOT YOUR HANDS!

The shorter the club the less severe the arc so you can stand more flat. But longer club requires a longer turn and more balance...hence some will try to widen their stance... but when you do that you have to turn your hips more to compensate.

When you swing quicker the upper torso moves but less so the lower so you have to take more attention to turning the lower... slow backswings insure you turn your hips enough ... when you swing quicker your shoulders turn, it FEELS like your hips are turning but they do not.

If you want proof then I dare you to become very aware of how you knee moves backward as you backswing. If you become aware of your knee, and turn it in (a little more)... you will never slice... or it will be damn hard.

When I teach I go from slice to straight over and over and the only difference is my knee moving back a inch or so.

Most of my lessons last about ten minutes and it's rare I've needed to give more than one.

- Randy in Philly.

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Note: This thread is 3718 days old. We appreciate that you found this thread instead of starting a new one, but if you plan to post here please make sure it's still relevant. If not, please start a new topic. Thank you!

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