Swing Effort

[mdvaldosta]

I think you'll find most good golfers will swing as hard as they can and still maintain control and balance. For me, that's about 90%.

[opie]

80% or so with irons
60% with Driver

[$2 Nassau]

80% or so throughtout most of the swing. But as I approach the ball on the downswing, say 12-18 inches away, it's probably around 95%. Can't imagine that is the correct way to swing but I just can't help but try to hit the ball hard...when it comes time to hit it. Actually has helped my iron play quite a bit, no more fat shots.

[TN94z]

my brother tried golftec and didnt like it...

That's not necessarily a bad thing. Your swing needs to be comparable to a pro's at impact. My teacher builds on what I have naturally on my backswing, but at impact he is always comparing my video with pics of Tiger and other pros at impact.

All of my full swings are about 80%. To me, there is alot of difference between 80% at impact and 100% at impact. I would be willing to bet that my 80% will have as much or more clubhead speed than my 100% swing just because the fundamentals are better. This leads to better contact and more distance with 80% than with the 100%.

[inthecup]

I recently have come to the conclusion that 80% is a better choice. Being in the fairway or on the green with a longer club is fine with me. I also have found as many have said if you hit it pure at 80% you lose no distance. It is also an amazing feeling. I also hit the driver at 80%.

[jaragon126]

As many of the other posters have mentioned, I too swing at about 80% for all my clubs. Sometimes if I have hit my driver well on previous holes that 80% starts creeping up to the 90 - 95% range and that's just about the time it all falls apart & I have to make more of an effort to get back to the 80% area.

I was just like you too ... my lower back started killing me for a while when I first started because I was trying to kill the ball all the time. And like you have found ... you don't really lose any distance between swinging smoothly & under control and trying to kill the ball. AND your results with swinging under control are usually much more playable & straighter

[ks8829]

Try a full swing in slow motion until you can consistently hit a ball not caring how far it travels but focusing on making solid contact. Lose grip pressure is very important and starting taking zen classes, maybe Japanese Tea Ceremony classes to help relax yourself and your muscles.

half kidding of course in slow motion.

The swing will feel like it is without effort and feel like you are swing only with the turn of your shoulder and hip working together and your hands are only hanging on for the ride.

[bunkerputt]

How much "effort" do you use when swinging? After taking a swing do you feel it was at 100% or closer to 50%?

Get your setup and sequencing right and you can swing as hard as you want. If you are a ball player, your muscles are probably trained to swing fast. Don't try to undo that by slowing them down. Instead, just make a good shoulder turn, hold back the horses while you are at the top of your backswing, get your hips to move your shoulders down the plane, and then swing for right field as hard as you can. That's easier said than done, but I think it's a sound strategy. The main thing you need is to prefer solid contact over fast contact. That's why people will generally say to swing 80% instead of 100%. An pured 80% swing will travel much farther with less spin than a mis-hit 100%. Also, since everyone has swing flaws, slowing things down a tad gives you valuable time to compensate and hit it solidly

[OzzDOA]

Also coming from a baseball background (played through college) I've found that my body wants to just rotate the hips and throw my hands at the ball. If I make sure I slow down, especially the backswing, I get much better results.

[RC]

Here is a little different take on "how hard" one swings.

The feeling of how hard one swings is mostly upper body sensations for most golfers (that is my guess anyway.) I try to swing in that 80 to maybe up to 90 percent with full shots, but I make a very determined effort to swing close to 100 percent with my body and weight shift. I never want to feel a super hard effort above the waist.

If I feel the need to gain a few yards, I focus on making sure my turn through the ball is solid and balanced, very firm. I do not want to feel extra agression in my upper body. So, going for a long drive simply means keeping strong lower body movement and cranking through the turn... the shoulders and arms will get there on their own. If I try anything else, it doesn't really work for me.

Hope that makes sense.

[TN94z]

Here is a little different take on "how hard" one swings.

Very good point! When I try to gain the extra power with my upper body, my swing goes to crap and there is no telling where the ball will go. Using the the turn to get the extra yardage helps me as well....that is the same thought I try to keep in my head.

[bunkerputt]

I have some soft, empirical support for the claims in this thread. I was measuring the speed of my free swing (no ball) last night during a long overdue speed training session. Baby swings from a cold start are usually around 95mph. A little more and it's around 102. Now from there, I can "try" harder and get it up to 108 or so. But it feels like I'm approaching my limit at that point. I can try REALLY hard and get it to 112. But if I get rid of the feeling of TRYING to swing hard (which I mostly feel in my abdominals, shoulders and forearms), it suddenly jumps to 120+, 125 max last night. The only real sensations I have at this speed are:

1. A nice, relaxing stretch into my backswing with a very full shoulder turn and big hip turn where it's easier to look behind you than at the ball.
2. A LOT of pressure into the ground starting with an A-frame feeling against my rear leg
3. Somewhat of a tightness in the forward abdominals to maintain my spine angle

I hit about 5 swings at ~123 for training, then I decided to go for it at 100%. Voila, back to 108. But it felt SO MUCH HARDER. Really what I was feeling was the flexing of a bunch of muscles that add no additional velocity, and in fact remove velocity from the swing.

So I think the more important thing isn't how hard should you swing as a percentage, but which muscles should you be using and how. I'd bet a lot of noobs when they first start were just like me: swing as hard as you can with all the wrong muscles, max out at 105, top the ball and end up with back problems and frustrated at the game wondering why little guys who weigh 80lbs less than you are out-driving you by 50 yards.

[iacas]

I hit about 5 swings at ~123 for training, then I decided to go for it at 100%. Voila, back to 108. But it felt SO MUCH HARDER. Really what I was feeling was the flexing of a bunch of muscles that add no additional velocity, and in fact remove velocity from the swing.

Yep. And that's why a lot of the people who are saying 80 or 85% are probably getting pretty close to their maximum speed.

Ask a PGA Tour player how they hit the ball a little further, and they'll talk about non-effort related things: a slower backswing, a slightly more closed or a wider stance, ball a little further forward, a bit more of an aggressive hip push, a draw instead of a cut... whatever. It's never "Duh, dude, I just swing harder."

[cphpaco]

A good swing doesnt require a huge amount of effort. First, a controlled backswing and the transition from the back to downswing should be relatively slow, taking about a second long... this is extremely important as it determines the swing path and direction of ball at launch. the only bit that requires ur power is just before impact when ur transition is all set and through then just swing through into the ball. whilst many ppl mistaken distance=power... and to no avail