Swing at 80%?

[very handicap]

I have heard many saying about swing at 80%. However, this is something i'm having difficulty doing. If i slow down and do an easy swing, my weight transfer slows down and sometime end up hitting a fat shot.

Also, if i swing as hard as i can, my iron shot usually go straighter. My 7 iron can go around 165 yds but the downside is that i usually come home with a sore body as if i had a complete workout at the gym.

Is this the right way to golf?

[alf174]

80% works best for me - when I remember to stick to it.

[Lefty-Golfer]

last summer when i started swinging 80 percent my Hc went down with it...and won a fair amount of money doing it! 80 percent is good.

[ks8829]

If you can learn to hit a 80% shot it will help add more shoots in your bag. I sometimes like to practice hitting my wedges with a slow backswing and just return to the ball without any effort.

this helps me feel a slower tempo then I am use too.

[IlliniDrillSgt]

Just remember, don't decelerate on the swing to get the 80%. For me, if I take an absolute full backswing I will almost always end up with a slice. I take about a 75-80% length of backswing and then a full speed swing and follow through. I find my shots end up much better that way.

[popeyegolfer]

I don't know how to judge what an 80% swing would be because there are too many factors, but I just swing what feels comfortable and that probably is what 80% could be I guess.

[ripsid]

I went from a Stiff shaft to a regular shaft simply to MAKE me slow down and not be so quick to the ball, I've been able to improve my ball striking big time.

=P

[zeg]

[Warning: check my hcp idx before taking any advice. Consider yourself warned]

I was just reading Hogan's "Five Lessons" (again) and came across a bit where he suggests that once you "inaugurate" your swing with your hips, concentrate on hitting the ball HARD. His whole approach seems to be ingraining the fundamentals in such a way that your body forces you to swing properly. He claims this is how he gets the straightest, best results. So you'd certainly be in good company to be trying to hit hard every time.

However, I don't think that's the same as advising you swing out of your shoes every time. You've got to keep the technique that results in a proper swing. As others have said, I think this means slowing your tempo a bit, staying relaxed, and remembering that a tight swing is not the same as a hard swing. The strength of a shot depends on everything from your waggle to your follow-through[*], so IMO if you want to swing 80%, that's more than doing a normal take-away and then swinging soft on your downswing. That'll screw up your tempo and throw your swing out. You need to practice smooth "in-your-shoes" swings and figure out how to hit hard at less than your full physically-available power.
[*] Note that, technically speaking of course, only the speed/alignment of the club head actually matters, but with respect to the swing, every motion is connected with the before and after in what Hogan calls the "chain action." Thus, I really mean, your backswing depends on the feeling you had in your waggle, your downswing on the position after your backswing, and your follow-through on your downswing. So more correctly, if you have a bad follow-through, you probably made a poor swing...

[double_j]

I agree with one of the posts above - 80% effort is achieved more through length of backswing than the force of the downswing. Keep your backswing to 3/4 length, don't try to kill the ball on the way down (but you don't have to 'hold back', either), and maintain a good tempo.

To really get a feel for playing shots at less than full power, practice hitting baby iron shots where you barely lift your hands above your waist on the backswing. If you can't make clean contact doing this, then you probably have swing problems that require more of a fix than 'scale back on the power'.

[Shanks A Million]

I can swing at 40% and still hit a PW 130 yards. It's not how hard you go at it, it's how you swing it. I only take the club back to vertical, and I don't swing hard by any means, but I generate a lot of clubhead speed. One of the biggest myths I read is people talking about how they learned to swing hard, or something along those lines. The best advice ever is "Swing easy, hit hard."