Gaining Distance and Consistency

[907golfer12]

I'm sorry but I can't let you get away with this one because you are way off. First of all muscles have to do with everything you do except for maybe sleep and that is fact. So for you to say that muscles have nothing to do with the golf swing is incorrect. Next of all Freddy Couples may be on of the few who doesn't lift weights but I promise you he does something else that account for his muscle endurance whether he is a runner or does yoga or is a bike rider or something like that and that is why his swing is repeatable because it is ingrained in his MUSCLE memory and he can rely on that even when he is tired. And he came up in an era where golfers weren't seen as athletes and they didn't realize the importance of fitness. One guy from that era that works harder than anybody in the gym is Gary Player. I didn't say that you have to gain muscle mass i.e. powerlifting. You can lift light weights and do high repetitions and you with build long lean muscle with good endurance. Golf is a light weight high repetitions sport right? I mean a golf club only weights a lil over a pound and you swing it anywhere from 70 to 100 plus times not counting practice strokes and warmup. Why is it that women can't hit the ball on average as far as men even though most women have the same level of flexibility as Tiger Woods? Maybe it's these things called MUSCLE!! Muscle is the foundation that supports your swing and allows your body to support the force that swinging a golf club creates. And your theory about having to have 120 degrees of shoulder turn is incorrect also because that is swingin past parallel and that is actually not a good thing at all and decreases clubhead speed. Alot of pro's fight to avoid swinging past parallel (Phil Mickelson). I maybe get 70 degrees of shoulder turn and I have 119 mph clubhead speed and hit driver bout 320. If all you needed to do was get a hip and shoulder turn there would be a lot more guys on tour.

And what causes your muscles to "fire?" Your hips and shoulders unwinding, your muscles don't initiate it. For have a college major in this subject you have terrible sequencing skills

[imtomtomim]

best advice I can give you is to make sure your hips stick with your swing. pull the butt end of the club on your swing plane and do not release the clubhead until your hands pass the ball. This will allow you to swing and rotate at much faster speeds and when you release the clubhead, that stick will whip around even faster. The only way you can make this consistent is to keep your whole body in tune the same way you probably already do. Just keep swinging faster until you notice your body moving in one piece and your shot constiency should be ok with that faster swing

[ks8829]

Just playing for one year and being a 15 handicap golfer is pretty good.

I would concentrate on consistently hitting fairways with your Driver since you stated that when you hit fairways you score well. The distance will come in time. Make sure you are making solid contact and have good fundamentals with the following:

1) grip slightly strong
2) take away and back swing - more inside
3) rotation of your body
4) using your big muscles and not just your hands in the swing
5) club position at and after impact should be square to slightly closed and not open
6) check contact on your driver face with impact tape
7) Make sure you are using the right equipment and get fitted

Try the above to help you become consistent with your driver and hit more fairways, have you thought of video taping your swing?

[Yanks Fan]

I have considered video taping my swing but I recently lost my digital camera lol. If I can find it then I will definitely video tape it and get it posted on here for you guys to see and point out the flaws. I hope this week I can get one up.

BTW, I found that loosening my grip a little bit really helped relax my swing with my driver as well. I used to grip it like I was squeezing the life out of it.

Thanks for all the help so far guys.

[ks8829]

I have a swing that keeps the club face square at impact and after impact that I can rely on when I need to hit the fairway, its a type of punch shot. you might want to try it.

When I need to hit a slight draw, I simply closed the club face at address and focus on keep the club face slightly closed at impact and after impact. you can try different take away position either down the target line or slightly inside the target line and see how the ball reacts.

[Cesar]

BTW, I found that loosening my grip a little bit really helped relax my swing with my driver as well. I used to grip it like I was squeezing the life out of it.

A relaxed grip definitely helps. Squeezing the club too hard removes the elasticity in your forearms and will definitely knock some MPH off of your club head speed.

[john tuttle]

One year and a 15 handicap? Wow, your good. Your short game must be excellent.

[Righty to Lefty]

And what causes your muscles to "fire?" Your hips and shoulders unwinding, your muscles don't initiate it .

Are you freakin serious man with that one. So you are telling me that bones and ligaments in your hips and shoulders just move by themselves. You have got to be kidding me on that one and I can't believe you said that. Athletic movements no matter how big or small are caused by muscles pushing and pulling against each other. Muscle fibers are what cause muscles to fire. Your hips and shoulders don't move unless muscles are activated to create that force. I hope you don't have a college degree. Man just google it or something.

[Yanks Fan]

One year and a 15 handicap? Wow, your good. Your short game must be excellent.

Put a wedge or putter in my hand and I'm not too terrible lol.

[Righty to Lefty]

Old ground, I know, but you must be joking. Further than all the guys on the PGA tour in 2007. And on a handicap of 25. What complete and utter nonsense. I can just imagine you smoking it past Vijay. Laughable.

Would you like me to post my swing on here so you can see for youself because I have nothing to lie about or try to pump myself up to people who have no idea who I am. Last night ( yeah we play at night in Kuwait because our course has lights) I was playing with the assistant pro at Sahara golf and country club (

www.saharakuwait.com ) and we were playing the 535 yard par 5 13th ( blue tees). It is a flat tee shot and there was no wind at all and it was actually humid. I hit the fairway and had 188 to the center of the green left. That means that my drive was 347 yards in the prescence of the assistant pro. Vijay Singh hits an intentional fade and yes, I would have rushed a ball by him or most PGA tour pros on that particular shot because I have tour caliber swingspeed. Oh and we also have GPS on our carts so don't try and use the teeboxes moved forward stuff. I am a 25 handicap because I just switched from right hand to left hand 3 and a half months ago and I played to a 12 after about 9 months right handed. Handicap has absolutely nothing to do with distance. I had batspeed of 99 mph in college with a baseball bat so yes, I generate alot of clubhead speed effortlessly. If you wanna call me out I'll put you on blast because I'll post a video of me swinging. Check my distances if you like and see what they equate to in swing speed. I judge my distances off of an average swing and my clubs are standard loft and lie and not bent strong. I even play logo overrun Callaway iX tour balls. 64* 100 yards 56* 120 yards 52* 135 yards PW 150 yards 9 Iron 160 yards 8 Iron 170 yards 7 Iron 180 yards 6 Iron 195 yards 5 Iron 215 yards 4 hybrid 230 yards ( not usually carried in the bag) 3 hybrid 240 yards 5 wood 265 yards (Stiff shaft) 3 wood 290 yards ( X-stiff shaft) 10.5* driver 320 yards

[907golfer12]

Are you freakin serious man with that one. So you are telling me that bones and ligaments in your hips and shoulders just move by themselves. You have got to be kidding me on that one and I can't believe you said that. Athletic movements no matter how big or small are caused by muscles pushing and pulling against each other. Muscle fibers are what cause muscles to fire. Your hips and shoulders don't move unless muscles are activated to create that force. I hope you don't have a college degree. Man just google it or something.

I hope you feel proud that you insulted and told a 15 year old on an online golf forum and who lives half way around the world from you. Plus it is a combination of everything not just muscles, or else don't you think we would be made of only muscles? Yes you do need muscles, but you don't need to be a body builder, does Lorena Ochoa have ripped muscles? No, but she drives the ball over 280 yards.

[907golfer12]

Would you like me to post my swing on here so you can see for youself because I have nothing to lie about or try to pump myself up to people who have no idea who I am. Last night ( yeah we play at night in Kuwait because our course has lights) I was playing with the assistant pro at Sahara golf and country club (

What is your clubhead speed?

[Righty to Lefty]

I hope you feel proud that you insulted and told a 15 year old on an online golf forum and who lives half way around the world from you. Plus it is a combination of everything not just muscles, or else don't you think we would be made of only muscles? Yes you do need muscles, but you don't need to be a body builder, does Lorena Ochoa have ripped muscles? No, but she drives the ball over 280 yards.

I don't feel any sort of a way when a 15 year old kid disrespects my college education and how did I insult him when simply said that I hope that he doesn't have a degree when he is too young to even be in college. I never once said that you have to be a body builder. I said that you have to build long lean muscle that has endurance yet is elastic to allow for range of motion. You hips and shoulders are bones surrounded in muscle and bones don't supply force they support it. Your muscles provide force and yes we are pretty much made up of a bunch of muscle because muscle facilitates all movement. Yeah Lorena is tiny and hits the ball far but that is because she has a perfect blend of lean muscle mass, timing, and rhythm. I'm not on here to insult people at all I'm just tryin to learn as much about this game as I can and i have put alot of work into studying the golf swing since college and I have a much more different perspective than most because I've studied it at a deeper level than most. No disrepect to anyone no matter what age.

[Righty to Lefty]

What is your clubhead speed?

115- 119 mph at impact verified by launch monitor on the driving range not in a hitting bay.

[Lefty731PM]

. Vijay Singh hits an intentional fade and yes, I would have rushed a ball by him or most PGA tour pros on that particular shot because I have tour caliber swingspeed. Oh and we also have GPS on our carts so don't try and use the teeboxes moved forward stuff. I am a 25 handicap because I just switched from right hand to left hand 3 and a half months ago and I played to a 12 after about 9 months right handed. Handicap has absolutely nothing to do with distance. I had batspeed of 99 mph in college with a baseball bat so yes, I generate alot of clubhead speed effortlessly.

Sorry buddy - I don't believe you. Tour calibre swing speed and all that. On those resort courses in Kuwait and the humid conditions you should "effortlessly" be playing off plus one or 2 with those distances. Why would anyone want to hit a 64 degree wedge 100 yards? I would say that handicap has a heck of a lot to do with distance -consistent ballstriking is not accidental - and let's be honest here - if you're on 25 you're struggling to break 100 but think you can outdrive Vijay and most tour pros because he fades the ball? Gawd t give me strength. Go ahead and post the videos -please!!

[NBGC]

Old ground, I know, but you must be joking. Further than all the guys on the PGA tour in 2007. And on a handicap of 25. What complete and utter nonsense. I can just imagine you smoking it past Vijay. Laughable.

Ah, the hater's and doubter's always throw that out, but usually they use Tiger.

Why is it so hard to comprehend that people can hit the ball far? Every week I see people on my own course hit it 300 yds yet they are not on the Tour. As for the Tour, please remember that they are playing in a tournament for money and sponsor's. Huge reason to play it safe and consistant. Just today JB hit a 325 carry drive into the woods. Off the circuit, they bomb their drive's 50 yd's past thier Tour avg. Watch any of the Playing with the Pro's or Playing Lesson's on Golf Channel and see AK, JB, Bubba, Boo smoke 350yd drive's while saying "In a tourney I wouldn't do that but this is a practice round...etc". They don't need to hit 325+ on par 4's because they're playing for position, of for thier preferred approach distance. I'll guarantee that if they had to or the conditions warrented it, i.e. straight fairways, no doglegs, hazards, first cut rough counted in avg, thier avg's would be ton's higher. Also, you're using their Tour avg. There were 1000+ drive's in 2007 that were over 325yds. http://www.pgatour.com/r/stats/2007/159.html So ya, he would probably smoke VJ if VJ was in tourney mode. Whole other world if VJ was able to let loose. Only 140/983 drives were used in VJ's avg. And only the drives that stayed in the fairway, anything 1ft in the first cut didnt count, including all the drives that rolled out. I avg 290 with a long of 315 (107mph ch and 3100 spin) allmeasured with GPS, but I also count "decent" drives that are slightly off the fairway where I have an approach shot at the pin. Guess I should go to Q school because my avg is higher than some pro's. Never mind my iron's, short game, and putting.

[Lefty731PM]

.

I'll put it simply. In 30 years playing this game I have played with thousands of golfers of all levels. I have NEVER seen a high handicapper hit the ball long distances with any degree of consistency. I've seen plenty of gifted players with inconsistent ball striking who have much more talent than their handicap might indicate, though. Of course on hard fairways with tailwinds you can catch the odd one well, but there's a difference between saying you average 290 and saying that in perfect conditions you have occasionally hit one close to 300. To hit it straight and long you need coordination and timing and these qualities naturally translate to the iron game and short game. It's too easy to say "I hit it miles but can't chip or putt." If it's true, why not work on these aspects of your game to take advantage of the driving?

[golf_junkie27]

I avg 290 with a long of 315 (107mph ch and 3100 spin) allmeasured with GPS, but I also count "decent" drives that are slightly off the fairway where I have an approach shot at the pin. Guess I should go to Q school because my avg is higher than some pro's. Never mind my iron's, short game, and putting.

Out of curiosity, how are you averaging 290 yards with a swing speed of 107 MPH? Mathematically and using COR ratios, that's virtually impossible. Are you playing at a higher altitude?