280+ yard golf swing

[Shanks A Million]

Hahaha you add some special touch to this forum man! Second video is impresive! Sounds incredible!

Sound is how I make my living, and I know what golf clubs should sound like. The sound of a purely struck titanium driver is pretty distinct from the sound of a poorly struck one. You can also tell whether the ball hit was a regular golf ball, or a limited flight range ball.

A poorly struck driver has a metallic clank sound. This is due to the fact the face is not compressing very far, which causes the pitch to be higher. The reason, of course, has to do with the length of the flex, longer flex = lower pitch, and more resonance due to a longer decay rate. It's the same with a drum head. If you hit it very soft, or near the outside, the pitch has very little low frequency. If you catch the exact center, and hit it hard enough, you get the low frequencies. Drivers are no different sonically from drums, strike one dead center and you know it. Drummers actually use this to their advantage, and hit the outsides of the drum head to get a more subtle ghost stroke sound. Mishits:

[Kingfisher]

The OP has definitely got some swing speed going on there, but it's hard to judge if they really are 280+ yds solely from the video.

Furthermore, shelling ball after ball at a driving range, with the use of an alignment aid is not the same way the pros measure their driving distance - it's a case of one shot, one kill and it must be on the short stuff - whereas on the range you can build up a head of steam and really get into a rhythm.

I think the bottom line, as other posters have said previously, is that there's no doubting when some of us catch one right out of the screws the ball will get nuked. However that would would be our maximum distance and for every ball that gets nuked, there's probably 2 or more that are off centre hits and though they still go a good way, they will not be up there with the bombs.

Let's not confuse our 'best' driving distance with our AVERAGE driving distance.

[saevel25]

Doubt if you must, by i haven't hit a driver under 250 in a couple of years. If i heal it, it goes out because those G10's are monsters period. IF i toe it, they still go out there. My distance wont drop from 280 to 220 just because i healed it.

Back to those discussing the swing,

"you tilt to your left on the backswing. The stretching is on the right side of your body on the backswing and the left side through teh ball."

Yeah i know i got this issue, been trying to work on it. I am not sure why i am doing this, or what i should be feeling otherwise. when i really try to turn my shoulder, i can feel my self not getting over. I guess i am concentrating to much on shoulder turn rather than weight shift. What do you guys feel like when you get a proper weight shift.

What do you mean by to far out. I have issues with understanding visually what you guys are saying. Does Deep mean to the inside, that is if you think 2D facing the ball at address thats going behind me. To far away would be if it is 2D, and i am facing the ball at address my hands going away from the ball down the line. Or is to far away just relative to them from my body?

Erie's a bit of a drive man, i know right were Erie is.

[imtomtomim]

If you are too far inside then standing closer to the ball to the ball in an effort to make your swing different is going to only cause more problems.

sorry buddy, that's wrong. If your arms are extended away from your body, you think during the takeaway your hands are gonna keep getting farther? remember, your arms

hang from your shoulders. You let your hands actually hang under your shoulders at address, you'll be able to take your hands straight back on the target line instead of wrapping it around your body. when you wrap that club around, good chance that takeaway is gonna be on the far inside. remember, action/reaction. if you're at your flattest and lowest point in the backswing, how is the reaction going to be the exact same thing? It's not, it's gonna be opposite. It creates a reverse loop (however slight) and on those times you come too far inside, your downswing will come back a little steeper (over the top) and will give you that pull hook miss or that push if you move through it. You always want your backswing plane to be above your downswing plane.

[iacas]

I think we may be talking about symptoms of different issues, spine tilt versus shoulder rotation. When my overall flexibility was restricting a full shoulder turn (as it was me early this season) the tension had been in the left side of the back as I was working against these muscles to complete a shoulder turn.

If you do nothing but try to twist your shoulders as much as possible, then it's possible to feel stretching on the left side, yes... BUT you would feel equal stretching on the right side, and then

any side tilt you add in (and everyone has some unless their shoulders are nearly level at the top or they move their head off the ball a foot or so) would lessen the feeling of tension on the left side.

[saevel25]

I am personally think its half a posture issue, i think i am way to tall, because if i let my hands hang down from my shoulders they would be extremely close to my belt buckle. They should be further out. I think i need to be bent over at the waist more and get my weight off my toes. I think that will help me keep my hands from getting aruond me, but not sure how that affects the hands being to far out, than inside.

[saevel25]

Another question, could all shoulder rotation with little hip turn cause the weight to stay on the left side. I question this because i know i don't conciously try to turn my hips, i just let them resist my shoulder turn.

[Kingfisher]

Doubt if you must, by i haven't hit a driver under 250 in a couple of years. If i heal it, it goes out because those G10's are monsters period. IF i toe it, they still go out there. My distance wont drop from 280 to 220 just because i healed it.

I'm not doubting that some amateurs do have the ability to rope one every now and then. I too own a G10 and can also vouch both for it's firepower and its forgiveness on off-centre hits and I also hit the occasional comet.

However, I don't claim an average driving distance equal to that of Paul Casey or Garcia, who are both around the 285 yard mark - I think this is what people on the forum are getting irked about - that a double digit 'capper is within spitting distance of big hitting PGA pros - people who hit drivers for a living? Its just curious that if you can truly, consistently, nail your driver as you claim to be able to, then you should be creaming your irons and quite frankly you should be lower than a 10. Unless of course you practice sessions consists entirely of mullering range balls with your G10?

[saevel25]

For example the course i play each week, lets take the front nine, i usually hit driver off every hole except the par 3's.. I usually have anyweare from 40-120 yards left for my approach shots on the par 4's with the golf holes ranging from 320 to 420 yards.

So really i never hit a full wedge into any of the greens unless i spray one way out there. For the nine holes the total yardage is 3100 yards. The issue is that i hit half wedges to about as close i can hit my mid irons, not a good wedge player at all. Then if i miss the green, i hardly get up and down. I am good at two putting, if my driver is having issues then i just compound my problems.

I can hit it a long way, but if i pull it or have a slight hook, its going to be a long day because its out there a ways, just not in a very adventageous location.

[sean_miller]

For example the course i play each week, lets take the front nine, i usually hit driver off every hole except the par 3's.. I usually have anyweare from 40-120 yards left for my approach shots on the par 4's with the golf holes ranging from 320 to 420 yards.

If your wedge swing looks like your driver swing, I can see why. There's a swing at 0:40-0:47 in video one that looks natural and in balance. The last couple look okay too, but for most of them you're overswinging. The Daly takeaway is a matter of personal preference but it's a tad inefficient (a possible power leak) and at points you're not in a balanced position. You've got talent up the ying yang and could probably reel in the "power" in order to improve your control, but at 25 years old, I was probably swinging for the fences too.

PS. Didn't see any uncut consecutive shots.

[grantc79]

I'm not doubting that some amateurs do have the ability to rope one every now and then. I too own a G10 and can also vouch both for it's firepower and its forgiveness on off-centre hits and I also hit the occasional comet.

Well, he has decent club head speed but it is far below what it could be. What you gotta understand is just because you take the club back father doesn't mean you have more room to accelerate. By him taking it so far back he has more room that he has to compensate.

Ever played tetherball? The club will act in the same way in this instance. As long as the tetherball is traveling in a straight line around and around the pole it is moving quickly but as soon as you tap it and that line begins to wobble it slows down dramatically. The big issue though is the more you compensate and the more off line you become the harder it is to hit the sweet spot. I have no doubt he can hit one 280 depending on the lay of the land, how much roll, and what not. That said if you gave him 10 drives at the golf ball I would seriously doubt he would average more than 220 because with that many compensations he is bound to sky, slice, pull hook, or top a couple of them which will kill the average. I have a swing speed of around 110 and I can average well over 280 if you allow me to throw out the bad drives :)

[grantc79]

For example the course i play each week, lets take the front nine, i usually hit driver off every hole except the par 3's.. I usually have anyweare from 40-120 yards left for my approach shots on the par 4's with the golf holes ranging from 320 to 420 yards.

Look, you need to understand how dog legs work.

Holes are measured from tee box, straight down the fairway, to the center of the green. So if you have a hole the doglegs left and is 390 yards and you cut a corner and have 90 yards in that doesn't mean you hit it 300 because that hole is only playing 390 if you hit it to the dead center of the dogleg in the middle of the fairway and then to the dead center of the green. The only way to get 100% accurate distances is with a range finder. Hit a drive and then go to your ball and laser someone who was standing where you stood. I would wager to guess I have a higher swing speed than you and I hit a grand total of 1 300 yard drive last week and that was simply nutted with a tight draw on a very hard fairway. Most of my good drives are in the 270 range.

[James_Black]

For example the course i play each week, lets take the front nine, i usually hit driver off every hole except the par 3's.. I usually have anyweare from 40-120 yards left for my approach shots on the par 4's with the golf holes ranging from 320 to 420 yards.

If you can hit the ball dead centre on your driver most of the time you should always hit the ball dead centre on a short iron and since you hit it 280+ yards you should have really good iron play.

[delav]

For example the course i play each week, lets take the front nine, i usually hit driver off every hole except the par 3's.. I usually have anyweare from 40-120 yards left for my approach shots on the par 4's with the golf holes ranging from 320 to 420 yards.

This seems like a silly way to score. Hitting driver off of every par 4 and 5 isn't something most amateurs and pros do. Learn to leave yourself a full swing into the green and watch your scores drop.

[saevel25]

Well the wedge swing is a bit less chaotic, i don't know why i can't score well, probably wedge and short game. Like i said in another thread, i have hit 7 out of 9 greens before and shot a couple over par. What do you think the Pro's do when they hit 7 out of 9 greens, they usually are something like 3-5 under par. So i am missing somewere, its probably how close i can get my irons to the pin, wedge game, putting, and short game. My best 9 holes i ever had was 2 under, i hit 8 out of 9 greens, and had 1 bogey and 3 birdies. Right now my game is all long ball, i am putting decently well, but have no confidence with any irons at all. The other day i had an easy 9 iron to an easy pin placement, hook my ball left and lost the ball.

"That said if you gave him 10 drives at the golf ball I would seriously doubt he would average more than 220 because with that many compensations he is bound to sky, slice, pull hook, or top a couple of them which will kill the average. "

I don't sky it, i rarely slice it, pull hook yes, and i never top my driver. Just to clarify some things. But my slices don't kill the average because my slice usually goes past 250. I am not lying here, i have been playing golf for over 15 years, i know my yardages better than anyone, i know if i slice it, it cuts it from 290 down to about 260, and if i pull hook it, its about 260. Thats walking straight out from the tee box downthe fairway then making a 90 degree turn left or right.

I know how dog legs work, i can tell you right now, 1st hole straight, 2nd hole straight, 3rd hole sligh dog leg, 4th hold straight, 6th hole par 5 straight, 7th hole barely dogleg, 9th hole straight, 10th hole straight, 13th hold slight dogleg if any, 14th hole straight, 15th hole straight, 16th hold straight, 17th hole slight dogleg, 18th hole straight... Its pretty easy to get a good sample of yardages when the only true dogleg is only like a 20-30 degree bend to the left.

Thats not true about hitting it dead center on irons versus a driver... Because they are two different beast. My tempo with my driver and irons are different, the irons are more upright swing due to shorter club, smaller club head, weighted differently. So those aspects can make either or harder for someone to hit. I know people who hit irons of the tee 100% of the time because they can't get a driver airborn, but they can surely hit there irons consistantly well.

Yeah my course management has issue, but everytime i hit an iron of the tee i end up pushing it right or pulling it left and now i am stuck in places with a longer club, i rather bomb it and either clear the danger or at least if i do mishit it i am using a lower lofted club.

Can we get back to explaining more of what that one guy was talking about, what the main issue is with my hands? I know what flat means, i know what to far to the inside means, but what does to far out mean?

[delav]

I'd chew on one thing at time.

[saevel25]

It does matter what others think of your opinion, i am taking them all in and trying to make sense of them all, even if there contridictory, they are all still relevant.

[delav]

It can be tough to work on a few swing thought simultaneously, especially if your are changing posture/address position and swing plane elements.

You mentioned that you have trouble with your irons off of the tee. How are your mid irons from the fairway?

If you struggle hitting solid shots with your irons, i'd work on your takeaway and swing plane first. This should put you on the right path to getting your hands in a better position at the top.