Club Head Speed

[kurtwainwright]

What are your thoughts on the importance of CHS? Is a high (and by high I mean > 105 MPH) CHS needed to get those insanely long drives, or can equipment make up for the difference?

I took up golf in my late 20's, so I wasn't lucky enough to get my feet wet in the sport when I was a teenager. If I had, I may have started off swinging much faster. Currently, my average CHS is around 87~92 MPH. But, with that being said, I have the ability to swing much faster than that (I'm a relatively big guy) -- I just choose not to swing that fast because I feel like I lose too much control at impact.

Practice Strategy 1:
So I was thinking. Next spring, around February or March (golf season doesn't truly start in Missouri until late March) I might go out to the range. I'll take one of my older drivers with me, buy a medium sized bucket of balls, and swing like a maniac with as much speed as possible. I would use my old driver so I wouldn't worry so much about pop-ups. Never mind where the ball goes for now.. just make contact. Then later on, as I hit the ball more consistently, work on precision.

Practice Strategy 2:
Don't swing like a maniac. Instead, gradually increase CHS by learning how to find that magical combination of upper body swing arc, torso torque, hip rock, and leg thrust to finally achieve 105 MPH or above (this may take years). Should I work on all at once, or just add one at a time?

All you long-hitters, weigh in. I want your opinion.

[yeis20]

without good swing mechanics to begin with, it wont matter about swinging like a maniac.

Hip turn, shoulder rotation, taking the club back properly, packing your wrists, weight transfer near impact...

without knowing how to do these all right first, swinging like a maniac will hurt much more then help.

Besides, doing this will make you MORE inconsistent, and golf is about reducing variance.

[Chief Broom]

I'm not a long ball hitter. I have hit some crazy long drives, but that was more a fluke than anything I can count on doing when needed. What I do is concentrate on taking a full swing with minimal wrist/hand action, but with a full shoulder turn back and following through. When I do this I average about 250-260yds, but the ball is much more likely to remain in play. Occassionally I'll bust out a long one (this morning I tagged a drive on a 386yd par 4 a little past the 100yd marker). How I don't know. I guess it's just good contact combined with good swing form? But I'm much more successful driving when I concentrate on good form rather than trying to hit it hard.

[halcon]

I have a good CHS (>105), and started much later than you (seven months ago, at age 40). It helped me that I played baseball for many years, but the secret is the coordination of your movements (coil, feet, loose arms) and mostly, the quality of the impact.
Even when I was able to swing really hard from the beginning (about 240 yds of carry), I was using my arms mostly and the results where unpredictable; my ball use to flight as far to the right as forward. Now, I am starting to use my body as a coil, and not only I can hit the ball straighter, but longer (270+ yds of carry).
My recommendation is that you should work on your swing, but not doing it as a maniac, you will get nowhere. Read some books, get help from a pro and within a month or two you will be able to hit longer shots. Of course, consistency will come later (I haven't reached it yet, but getting closer!).

[deronsizemore]

Club head speed is the main factor that decides your driving distance. If you don't have a high clubhead speed, you can forget about bombing a 300 yard drive as it's just not physically possible with a club head speed of 100mph or there abouts.

One of the other factors is crispt contact. You can swing 120mph but if you miss the ball in the process what good is it to be able to swing that fast? That's why the pros are pros, they can swing 120mph and still hit the dead center of the clubface about 70% pecent of the time. You can probably swing around 105mph and make pure contact and see a longer drive than if you swing 120mph and make heel contact with an extremely open or closed clubface (which you're very likely to do).

Equipment won't make that much of a difference. Where the equipment helps is with contact. You're far more likely to make better contact with a 460cc head than you are with a 260cc head. So, although you're not nessessarily swinging faster with the newer equipment, you're seeing better results becuase they are a lot more forgiving on off center hits thus making it seem like you're gaining distance.

[iacas]

Maximum carry length is about 2.4 to 2.5 times clubhead speed (in yards). So 105 MPH is, at most 260 yards of carry, and even then that's with ideal launch conditions.

So no, a 300-yard drive isn't possible unless you get a bizarre amount of run-out somehow.

I vote for the second plan. When you try to swing all out, oftentimes your clubhead speed is SLOWER.

[MattljDuke]

I've found that swinging like a maniac doesn't work. It seems to encourage me to accelerate the club from the top of the swing instead of through impact. I experimented with a big backswing (slightly breaking left elbow) and got the clubhead speed up to about 105, but control was definately sacrificed, and got no more than 10 yards out of it. So now I swing about 95-97, hit the sweet spot much more often, and carry about 245 average. Which is definately fine with me.

A great man named Moe Norman always said "swing smarter, not harder." Probably the best advice I can give.

[golfdad]

this won't directly ans your question, but i think golf is really about better chipping and putting. as we age, we really cannot find the downward trend of chs, but we can get much much better with short game.

in fact, take slower chs as an hint to work on the short game.

[thumper07]

I am 23 and last year my SS was about 95-100. I was a 10capp so i thought i had a decent swing. I took one lesson to get some help laying a foundation and have been working on swing mechanics and fundementals without even thinking of speed and now i'm seeing upwards of 110-112 with a 3 wood and i feel like im swinging easier. Proper mechanics are way more important than age, body type, physical strength. Work on your swing and speed will come.

-matt

[extremeld]

this will pretty much go against all the previous, but then most people on the net simply repeat what someone else said somewhere.

This is how i became a big hitter - hit it hard, go nuts then refine it - it worked for jack nicklaus and i have used this approach for many years - when your ss goes up you are bound to loose a little technique and control but the best way to have control with higer ss is to push your limits so you are not swinging flat out to achieve 105mph, lets say you work solely on power and get this up to 112mph, you can then refine your swing to swing at 105mph with technique.

Its easier to generate big speeds as you are learning then refine rather than get a pretty swing and try then to find significant power.

GO NUTS THEN REFINE.


k

[kurtwainwright]

Its easier to generate big speeds as you are learning then refine rather than get a pretty swing and try then to find significant power.

That's pretty much what I was thinking! Thank you for your input.

[og512]

Swing speed is important and yes some equipment is better that others. But honestly, it all starts with good mechanics imo.

would your rather hit the ball 260yds in the fairway or 300 yards in the rough? Good mechanics should result in pretty accuracy which will build the confidence. Good mechanics and a good mind set will allow you to eventually increase your club head speed with confidence.

Good luck.

[jjb333]

Can you get your swing speed tested at Dick's Sporting Goods for free? If not, where can I get it done?

[extremeld]

i understand that golf shops may for some reason inflate the numbers? not saying that this is true but remember they are always trying to sell you something.

hit it 300 in the rough then refine your swing so that you hit it 300 down the fairway!

i have a bunch of ss radars (if anyone wishes to measure) and i never swing below 130mph on it even when i am not trying to smash it.

interestingly - when you feel like you are swinging really slow i.e. rythmically rather than hard your swing is often only 2 or 3 mph off your max!

which is why rythmn is important - they are on ebay at the minute - in the uk though!

[og512]

Can you get your swing speed tested at Dick's Sporting Goods for free? If not, where can I get it done?

Golfgalaxy and Golfsmith.

[kurtwainwright]

would your rather hit the ball 260yds in the fairway or 300 yards in the rough? Good mechanics should result in pretty accuracy which will build the confidence. Good mechanics and a good mind set will allow you to eventually increase your club head speed with confidence.

hit it 300 in the rough then refine your swing so that you hit it 300 down the fairway!

Honestly, I'd rather hit it 300 yards into the rough. I've become fairly good at hitting out of rough from being a high handicapper. LOL

Think about it this way. You're on a 490 yard Par 4. You just hit your drive 225 yards (carry) and it rolled maybe another 20 yards. You now have a 245 yard approach shot. Now compare that to a 300 yard carry with a 20 yard roll, and you now have a 170 yard approach shot from the rough. The first scenario is not obtainable unless you can hit driver off the fairway. The second scenario is doable. Not bery ikely that I'll actually pull it off, but at least the yardage is within the realm of possiblity. That, my friends, is the difference between my bogey average and your par average score for this hole.

[UP&DOWN]

Speed first. Swing mechanics second.

Your better off hitting a bad 280 yarder than a bad 220 yarder.

[GolferDot]

One thing that has'nt been mentioned is shaft length in your driver, this does have an impact on swing speed, get the longest shaft your wrist strength allows.