How Hard Should You Swing?

[lastings]

question:   on just an average, typical iron shot, how hard should you swing? 

background on the question:   

So, usually I average a little over 180 with my 6-iron.  If I really crank it up and catch it flush I can get it up to about 195.    so let's just say my typical swing is about 90% of my max.   

However, lately at the range, I have been really focused on path and face angle.    to work on this, I have been taking full swings, but slowing them wayy down to what feels like about 60%.   it's not 60% because the ball is still going about 170 or so.   (maybe even a bit longer).    just feels that way.   

however, when doing this.  I am catching the ball flush, center face, and have really good control over both path and face swing after swing.     I am honestly starting to think it would be beneficial to slow my swing down to this speed and have way more control over the ball.   heck, I was even able to take my 4iron out and do the same thing and I was consistently hitting 190 with complete control.  

what say you?  

 

 

 

 

 

[boogielicious]

3 minutes ago, lastings said:

question:   on just an average, typical iron shot, how hard should you swing? 

background on the question:   

So, usually I average a little over 180 with my 6-iron.  If I really crank it up and catch it flush I can get it up to about 195.    so let's just say my typical swing is about 90% of my max.   

However, lately at the range, I have been really focused on path and face angle.    to work on this, I have been taking full swings, but slowing them wayy down to what feels like about 60%.   it's not 60% because the ball is still going about 170 or so.   (maybe even a bit longer).    just feels that way.   

however, when doing this.  I am catching the ball flush, center face, and have really good control over both path and face swing after swing.     I am honestly starting to think it would be beneficial to slow my swing down to this speed and have way more control over the ball.   heck, I was even able to take my 4iron out and do the same thing and I was consistently hitting 190 with complete control.  

what say you?  

 

 

 

 

 

I think you should swing 16% less than your average so you hit your 6 iron the same distance as me!😜

[mohearn]

I read, and I can't find the reference right now, that you should swing at what feels like 80% effort, which is actually about 95%.  I was at the range and working on tempo and noticed that even with seemingly slower swings, I was getting almost the same distance with 5 iron (26 degrees). Contact was better, and consistency better also.  For my drills I was aiming for about 60% tempo.

[saevel25]

Depends on how my swing is. If I do things right, the swing feels like 80%. If I don't, I feel like I have to go 100% to get the clubface around at impact. 

[iacas]

Feel ain’t real.

Effort ain’t speed.

You’re likely swinging almost as fast, it just feels like less effort because things are better sequenced.

[saevel25]

8 minutes ago, iacas said:

Feel ain’t real.

Effort ain’t speed.

You’re likely swinging almost as fast, it just feels like less effort because things are better sequenced.

Makes sense. 

[dagolfer18]

The way I see it, it all comes down to what you feel comfortable with. In my case, I feel comfortable swinging hard with any club from a PW up. 

[phan52]

Tempo is the #1 key for me. What I think is a slower swing is just being in rhythm. I believe the clubhead speed is probably the same, maybe even more, it's just that I am getting to the ball in rhythm.

[lastings]

2 hours ago, iacas said:

Feel ain’t real.

Effort ain’t speed.

You’re likely swinging almost as fast, it just feels like less effort because things are better sequenced.

I get this, and I'm certainly swinging alot faster than the 60% I feel would suggest, but I'm definitely swinging slower.   10-15 yards slower to be exact.  

on another note:  was back at the range today and hit 14 of 15 balls (and oddly, 1 hosel shank) onto a green where the pin was 161 with a 7-iron.   There is something going on here.  

 

[colin007]

As hard as I can in case I make contact.

[iacas]

13 minutes ago, lastings said:

I get this, and I'm certainly swinging alot faster than the 60% I feel would suggest, but I'm definitely swinging slower.   10-15 yards slower to be exact.

Hence the word “almost.”

😉

[JetFan1983]

Maybe play a round or two swinging "slower" as you say just to see what you score? Might help, especially if you lose most of your strokes hitting it OB or into spots even a pro can't get up-and-down from.

Agreed the sequencing is likely better when you're feeling this. Plus more center-faced contact is gonna eliminate a lot of those wild ball flights that can kill you on a hole. 

Start a My Swing Thread if you haven't already and film both feels. Maybe there's a difference, maybe there isn't. Might help to add to the "data" here to see if you're onto something, plus if it's something else (which it might be) someone here will point that out.

 

EDIT: Oops, sorry, I see now that you have a My Swing thread. You haven't updated it in a while (maybe think about updating it with some videos of both feels), but if your swing is similar to the ones from 2017, I can see how swinging fast will introduce a ton of wild ball flights and subsequently OB shots or shots that end up somewhere you can't make par or even bogey from. Slowing it down would reduce distance of course, but help keep the ball in play, so I can see why doing this would help your score at the sacrifice of power. The best thing you can do tho in the long run is working on the right things on the range, understanding your priority piece, and gradually chipping away at making it muscle memory. That's what'll help your game the most. 

Edited April 30, 2021 by JetFan1983

[Vinsk]

I always enjoy a nice ‘slower’ controlled swing that results in a beautiful click off the hosel and the ball just majestically curves like a mallard flying over a mirror finished pond. Ohhhh the serenity.

[Double Mocha Man]

'Tis the stuff of legends...

(And wouldn't that be a dying mallard?)

[lastings]

Not really a more pure and recognizable sound and feel in golf than that click off the hosel.    Most predicable ball flight in golf. 

[Double Mocha Man]

One is really talented when they can fade or draw a shank at will...

[Vinsk]

34 minutes ago, Double Mocha Man said:

'Tis the stuff of legends...

(And wouldn't that be a dying mallard?)

After I hit him…yes.

[Zippo]

4 hours ago, Vinsk said:

I always enjoy a nice ‘slower’ controlled swing that results in a beautiful click off the hosel and the ball just majestically curves like a mallard flying over a mirror finished pond. Ohhhh the serenity.

It's rude of you to brag how your ball goes over the pond even with the beautiful imagery! Ohhhh, the humanity!

For the OP, I learned not to swing as hard as I can. That way, it hurts less when I completely miss the ball...

Edited May 1, 2021 by Zippo
Forgot the OP