Swinging Hard

[RIduffer]

Since power is such a huge part of the modern golf game, you hear some people say that new golfers should just swing as hard as they can. The idea being that someone who swings "flat out" can later be taught to hit it straight; whereas someone who swings real smooth from the beginning will have trouble increasing their swing speed and staying accurate. Arnold Palmer mentions this in the Sept. 09 Golf Digest, and Paul Casey talked about it on Playing Lessons with the Pros.

Do you agree with this?

[blackxpress]

All I know is I hit the ball a whole lot farther when I can remember not to swing too hard. Overswinging is one of my biggest problems.

[James_Black]

Well that's the way I was taught when I was younger and I agree with the teaching.
If you can hit the ball O.K when you smash it you'll be able to hit it better when you swing softer.
while if you start off hitting it soft and can only hit it O.K then there's nowhere to go...

[Tiger Spuds]

As you'll see in nearly every magazine, dvd etc, the harder you try to swing, the tighter and more tense your muscles get, which means they can't move as quickly and you won't hinge fully etc.Personally found this to be true on the range.I think it was Ernie Els who said he used to swing a lot harder but when he started swinging easier he found he was actually hitting it farther.

[uttexas]

I agree with swinging hard. This gets misinterpreted to mean swing hard with your arms. Swinging as fast as you can with your arms will lead to over the top and inconsistency. Your legs and torso movements should be strong and forceful.

[Par Fore]

Typically, I find two things that cause disaster:

Swinging hard
Swinging easy

If I think smooth or aggressive, there is usually a much better outcome, especially with the driver.....

[Shanks A Million]

This is, by far, the worst advice there is. There used to be a saying, and it's truer now than ever:

"Swing easy; hit hard."

Swinging hard is the best way to hit the ball shorter, and less accurately. If you want to be a duffer for the rest of your life, by all means, swing hard. The honest truth is that of all the golfers I know, the worst ones are the ones who swing the hardest. Here's a question, "what shots do you tend to hit the most solid?" Nearly every high handicap golfer you ask will say "layup shots." This is because they aren't trying to get it there, they are merely swinging easy. Most high handicap golfers can also pure a 3 iron if they make a little pitch with it. Tell them to try to lay up a 3 iron from 200 yards by pitching it 100 yards, and most of them will pure it the whole 200 yards. The bottom line is, while some people can swing hard and still hit the ball well, 99.9% of golfers will not be able to, and that includes Tiger Woods, who often swings out of his shoes at drivers, and slices them into the next fairway, yet can pure his 3 wood right down the middle, nearly 300 yards when he lays up.

[RIduffer]

This is, by far, the worst advice there is. There used to be a saying, and it's truer now than ever:

Point taken, but I wasn't talking about always swinging at 100%. Paul Casey swung real hard as a kid, so now he feels like he can go at 80% and still produce a ton of swing speed. By pushing the ceiling high enough, so to speak, his

controlled swing is still very powerful. (At least this is what Paul Casey believes.) I totally agree with you that this is not great advice for the average golfer...I guess I was thinking more along the lines of kids who could potentially be elite golfers. I mean when you have guys like Alvaro Quiros hitting a 600 yard par 5 in two, it's a totally different game.

[jamo]

I've never got the whole fascination. Swing as hard as you can without being out of control. Slightly easier said than done but with a little experimentation it can be achieved.

[ohiolefty]

I try to TURN hard and PULL hard, but the swing itself is relatively easy for me. Just set the wrists and hold the angle. The swing speed takes care of itself. If I 'swing' hard, I hit the ball all over the freaking place, my contact point gets super inconsistent, and my back hurts like crazy.

Just swing smooth, create lag in the swing by holding the angle well, and make a consistent and strong turn with your lower body. Then you'll hit the ball consistently, and far.

[ks8829]

Maybe the phrase should be changed to swing athletically hard. This way it sounds like you are more in control of your swing and you are going all out and not holding back. You have to be faily proficient with your golf swing before you can start to swing hard or what I like to call, swing athletically.

[HoosierGolfer]

Typically, I find two things that cause disaster:

I agree. Middle ground is the place to be. Swinging all out only leads to trouble. Think of the Ernie......The Big Easy!

[Fatphil]

I totally agree with you that this is not great advice for the average golfer...I guess I was thinking more along the lines of kids who could potentially be elite golfers. I mean when you have guys like Alvaro Quiros hitting a 600 yard par 5 in two, it's a totally different game.

I agree there are two issues here...a kid who has the chance to become elite is going to be an exceptional athlete, has professional instruction, hits 300 balls a day, year round, plays tournaments and represents less than 1/10th of 1% of golfing reality. If your question applies to this person, I agree they need to swing hard to compete on 7,400 yd layouts...for the rest of us...it may be fun, but it's dumb..

[Zeph]

Powerless effort or effortless power?

First learn how to swing, then increase the speed.

[Shanks A Million]

Even the elite few do not swing hard, they generate power through proper technique and leverage. Guys like Daly swing hard, but he's fallen hard too. Tiger has his opinion:

[O.B. Right]

As somebody who is only just starting to develop a golf swing, I think it's pretty bad advice. If you're not swinging correctly, there is no point in swinging hard. I use a simulator (p3proswing) as part of my regular weekly practice. While it's measurements might not be the best I do trust the swing speed it tells me. According to p3proswing, I generate less clubhead speed when I swing as hard as I can vs when I try to swing "rhythmic, smooth and powerful". The reason why, I believe, is that I instinctively put all the "strength" into the wrong part of the downswing and actually lose speed towards the ball (p3proswing reads as much as 10mph drop through the hitting zone). My body hasn't learned to apply the power in the right spot without thinking about it yet.

[mdl]

I don't know how to feel about this. I think it might be good for little kids. I'm big (6'2", 200lbs, was 220 in college), and I was a college baseball player, but I never had power like I should have had for my size. The guys I played with who did had started as kids swinging out of their shoes, and had learned later to shorten up with 2 strikes or get a little more control to raise their BA. I started trying to hit for average (I hit like .680 in little league), and stayed solid in that department, but had a lot of trouble hitting for as much power as I was capable of physically. I think this might apply to golf as well.

The issue I see is one other commenters have pointed out. Coming from baseball, there's a difference between swinging a bat hard and swinging a golf club hard. For me the power in the golf swing comes from whipping the club hard, not from swinging[\I] the club hard. For me, thinking of it as whipping de-emphasizes the tight arms part trying to gain power.

This is something I learned too late in baseball too. My brother (also a college baseball player), is friends with the son of one of the owners of the Phils, and got to talk to Chase Utley once about hitting. My brother told him he was a college player and loved watching him work his craft at the plate, and asked him what the short version of his secret was. Utley said it was all in the wrists. I think this translates pretty well to golf. Of course, you can see from my handicap I'm not master. But for me, I think it makes sense to think about swinging hard as using your lower body and core to get the gross arm speed and the real key from the shoulders out is really all in the whip from the wrists (ie lag).

[zeg]

My belief is that you should spend a significant amount of time *practicing* swinging hard, but be smart about it. Not exclusively; when you're out playing, bring the hardest swing you can control, so you'll have to practice that a bit. You're not likely to learn to swing harder just by practicing technique---you need to get the feel for what the correct motion/feel is for an effective hard swing. As has been said well above, swinging hard is definitely NOT putting all your muscles into the swing in random ways, it is coordinating them to achieve the fastest swing speed you can. Ideally, mix this with practicing fundamentals so you can incrementally improve everything.

I know Nicklaus recommends this for kids, and there I think it's definitely the right way to go. They have a LONG golf "career" ahead, and they should be having fun so they stay interested. Bombing the ball is definitely fun; forcing them to focus on accuracy too early risks sapping the fun out of the game---appreciating the effort it takes to get that skill takes some sophistication that (most) kids don't have yet. Plus, kids can learn by feel in a way that adults can't even remember how to do. Let them get the feel of a fast swing and then rein it in later.