Devloping Club Head Speed

[ColinMB]

How do you develop club head speed through your swing?

I am starting the hit the ball where I want, but with lethargic distance. I am trying to figure out how you increase your clubhead speed for distance. Strength is not my issue. I am 6'.1" and still have a decent bench press after 20 years of weight training. What I am really asking is about technique.

I have a crappy swing for my size. Most people I golf with, even new players, easily out distance me. What are you thinking when you want to hit far but accurately?

Are you accelerating to top speed all the way down on your swing? Do you just put a 100% into the swing as you near the ball? What do you do differently to get your club head speed increased as opposed to just connecting with the ball?

I'm just not sure what to do to get more distance. I've taken many lessons but most have dealt with swing plane, and just making solid, square contact. I want to take the next step but have no method for doing so. I'm curious if anyone has advice.

[iacas]

How do you develop club head speed through your swing?

I'll give you one word: lag.

I am 6'.1" and still have a decent bench press after 20 years of weight training.

Strength won't help you except out of the rough (occasionally). What will help you is speed. Strength isn't exactly directly opposed to speed, but it's close to being the opposite.

I have a crappy swing for my size. Most people I golf with, even new players, easily out distance me. What are you thinking when you want to hit far but accurately?

I don't think about it... I trust my mechanics to do it.

Are you accelerating to top speed all the way down on your swing? Do you just put a 100% into the swing as you near the ball?

No, because I never want to sacrifice the quality of impact for a little extra speed. Plus, when you try to swing harder, a lot of people actually swing the clubhead slower because their timing is off.

When I want to hit a ball a little harder, I simply try to increase my lag and really snap the clubhead through impact.

[Dminn23]

I'll give you one word: lag.

Iacas, could you elaborate a little more on lag?

[wachesawgolfer]

Lag is holding the hit or release until impact. The release is the wrists unhinging and crossing over. To creat lag you either must start the downswing with a lateral move or simply let the club drop. Any effort exerted at the top tends to create tension in the hands and arms and an early release prior to impact

[ColinMB]

I'll give you one word: lag.

Lag is the first thing that comes to your mind? How about if I have a 70mph swing? How do I go about attempting a swing at 80mph? I'm just not sure what to do.

Swinging harder, doesn't seem to necessarily equate to 'faster'. I see guys that don't look like they're swinging very hard at all, but they are hammering the ball.

I don't think about it... I trust my mechanics to do it.

I guess that's what I'm asking about... mechanics behind a fast swing. I have a fairly slow tempo and tend to swing outside in unless I concentrate on coming down inside. I used to have a problem of going back too far... ala John Daly, but my instructor caught this on video and now I control it.

When I want to hit a ball a little harder, I simply try to increase my lag and really snap the clubhead through impact.

Snap the clubhead... with your wrists?

BTW: I was looking for stuff on youtube and I ended up stumbling on a Taylormade ball video... I think it was made by you. Very cool. Update: I have been looking at some powerful swings to derive anything out of them that might help me. A week ago I was watching video of Adam Scott's swing compared to Tiger Woods' swing... On the second view of this video, on the way down, the announcer says they have great 'lag'. To me it appears their left arms reach parallel to the ground and the club is almost perpendicular to the ground.... at this point, I imagine they are starting to snap their wrists for release and power? If you're curious what I'm talking about here's a video on the ' modern power swing ': http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZecViQxUwss Another thing I notice is they start turning their lower body a lot more and sooner than I do. I find if I do this, it pulls my club head across the swing plane causing a horrendous slice ....

[allin]

There are two basic ways I believe to add clubhead speed. Which you use depends on your strengths. If you are tall, slender and have good arm and shoulder flexibility you can increase clubhead speed by maximizing your arc and by making sure the right arm straightens and the right hand has a powerfull release late in the downswing. (only for those with good timing and eye hand coordination). This requires tempo, tempo, tempo.
As a person who has lifted weights I suspect focusing on increasing your rotational flexibility and using your strength to rotate your arms and body and hips through as quickly as you can and while keeping them moving together. The risk is if the arms get ahead of the body pulls, hooks, topped shots. If you get the body ahead of the arms then pushes and fat shots normally result.
With any style swing rleaxation, maintaining balance and making sure your weight shifts properly is crucial to not wasting the power stored in the backswing.

[wachesawgolfer]

You say you "tend to swing outside in" and therein lies your answer. That motion causes an early release prior to impact or cast of the club so that your clubhead is losing speed thru impact not accelerating. Picture someone spinning an object on a string from their fingers. Their fingers hardly move but the object swings very fast. Increasing from 70 to 80MPH is all about increasing the centrifugal force on the clubhead.

[ColinMB]

Okay, here's a quick story on my outside in issue...

After two lessons my instructor wasn't able to tell me much other than video analysis showed my club head pulling across the plain. Low and behold, of all things I read in a magazine that I may have a bit of reverse pivot happening so I try what the magazine suggested: Start your down swing with a bump of your hip... a motion that will get your weight moving the left side (I'm right handed) of my body. This, at first, felt awkward but amazingly it worked! My arms were dropping down in the 'slot' and I wasn't swinging off my back foot. Now I was straighter... but my distance just is _ not _ improving. As soon as I try swinging really hard, I start to come outside in again. My instructor noted that I was turning my body too much and therefore pulling the club across the plain... fine, I quieted my lower body. He said to imagine I"m swinging a baseball bat... how at the middle of the swing, the bat handle should be lining up with my belt buckle... this is used as a reminder so that I don't get my body too far ahead of my arms. I'm going to try releasing later. I'll see what happens when I try to put more power into my swing. With irons I often see ' divot evidence ' of a right to left angled divot, which isn't good. Both Adam and Tiger seem to be able to almost... thrust their body weight to their left leg while twisting their hips through the swing without pulling the club head across. It's very impressive to watch, however, I first wanted to straighten my swing.. which I have. I swing more straight back now, rather than behind my back which had screwed up my plane. But when I tried to add power, I slice (even with a square face at impact). So I have to figure out a way to add power to my swing. Driving 235 yards at the range is almost embarrassing... honest story, I had some guy stop behind me and I asked him what he was doing... he said it looks like you can really hammer the ball, I just want to see you hit some. Here I am in my 3rd year of golfing, fighting a slice... so I tell the guy there's nothing to see here... he says he wants to see. I smash the ball about 150 yards ahead, and 150 yards to the right and he just starts laughing at me. That's about the only time I wanted to cram a club up someones'... you know what.

Notice when they go frame by frame and once at impact tiger has passed Adams club head. On Adams take away you can notice a slight premature wrist cock, this definetly has something to do with his ability to prematurely uncock his wrist before impact. Dont get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with this, if he wanted more power he would avoid the premature wrist cock and uncocking.

I did notice that Adam definitely cocks sooner than Tiger, however at impact they both seem to have their hands in the same position to me.... slightly ahead of the ball. (as a result of late release?)

I'll try releasing a little later in the swing as well. ++Edit++ I keep trying to watch Tiger's clubhead at impact but it's so friggin fast! Watch as they both come close to impact, somehow Tiger accelerates SO much faster than Adam at the end. By the time Adam comes to impact, tiger is a foot past impact. Tiger covers so much ground in that final release, it's almost impossible to pause the video at impact for him. Adam not so much, I can clearly see where his hands are at impact (ahead of the ball).

[gas_can]

How do you develop club head speed through your swing?

ColinMB,

From everything I've read so far in this thread, it sounds as though you are simply thinking too much about your swing and are trying to get your body into certain positions. You can have a lot of lag in your swing, but it won't necessarily translate into speed. My best advice to you is to clear your mind and hit the ball hard. You may not think you can, but trust me, you can. Practice swinging hard at the range. I'm firmly of the opinion that you can learn to hit the ball straight, but it's very difficult to teach distance. 1. Give up control to gain control. Steering the ball might work at slow speeds, but it won't work if you want to start swinging hard. 2. Probably the most important thing is to make solid contact. It does not matter how hard you are swinging, if you are consistently hitting the heel or toe of the club or hitting your irons fat or thin, your distance will suffer. 3. Find a swing theory you like and stick to it. Something like Jim Hardy's one and two plane theories, Homer Kelly's Golfing Machine will provide you with a framework to build your swing around and seek advice from trained instructors. Without it, you are likely to get tips from various sources which may or may not help your swing, there's too much information out there to sort out what piece of info belongs to which theory. Sticking with one will help weed out the unproductive information. Good luck.

[allin]

Did anyone notice that Tiger almost squats at the transition from back to forward swing? Adams legs are much quieter in this swing. These guys vary their effort so much depending on the shot shape and distance they need I wouldn't make to big a deal out of one swing sequence comparison. What if Tiger was trying to hit a draw and Adam a fade in that sequence?

[sungho_kr]

tempo is key to consistency in speed and mechanics

[ColinMB]

@Allin, Yes I noticed that as well. His legs are really involved in that swing. So much so if you look at the end of the swing, Tiger is almost on the -edge- of his left foot. I agree Adam's legs are quieter, and more upright througout the swing.

@Gas_can. Maybe your right. I had this one range session where I just let loose and everything clicked. I haven't been able to replicate that power since. However, my swing got so mechanically wacky, my wife started calling me 'Furyk'. I had to get another set of lessons in to calm my swing down. I guess that's what I'm afraid... just letting loose again and getting all wild.

I will be at the range on Wednesday, and that's one of the things I'll try. I also will try a bit more club lag. But watching those video it -feels- to me like I have to involve my legs more to assist in uncorking without pulling across the swing plane (outside in) again. I'll try as many have suggested to whip the club a bit and stay cocked until late in the swing.

Most importantly, I guess I'll try not overthinking and just hammer a few and see how frustrated I get.

[RX Phoenix]

tempo is key to consistency in speed and mechanics

After watching the pro's in person up close at tournaments and then the best amateurs at q-school tournament I would agree that tempo is the key.

They always swing within a smooth tempo. It seems the key to hammering the ball would be to extend the arc of the swing as much as possible and then have an aggressive confident move through the ball toward the target instead of just hitting at the ball.

[Ian Tessier]

Colin...I think this has been mentioned and I'm sure your instructor has covered it with you but I'll cover it anyway.
I'm just a little guy, 5'6" 145 and also fight an outside in path. Two things my instructor "Canada's Golf Doctor" impressed on me was:
1. Grip Pressure, on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being death grip) I should be a 4.
It's amazing how much a light grip can increase "the snap" at impact!!!!!
2. He got me to stop trying to focus on cocking my wrists...let the weight of the club do it for you. Bingo...it helped me to stop casting the club head.
Now I keep up to and regularly out drive my bigger pals....damn that feels good.
Try these tips and good luck with your lessons!
Tess

[wachesawgolfer]

ColinMB,

Grip, posture and balance are the keys to power and consistancy. Swinging hard is of no use if its composed of a poor grip on a bent or unstable platform. You can completely eliminate focus on mechanics if your grip, poature and balance is good. Good things happen automatically.

[ColinMB]

I used to have a looser grip than I have now. I find I slice irons with a loose grip, but I'll try a more gentle grip on driving.

My grip, I feel, is solid. It's completely neutral and I like that position best. Balance is interesting, on my worst ball strikes, while trying to swing hard, I sometimes notice weight on the back foot. I have been making a conscious effort to end up on my front foot. I am straighter... just too short.

Thanks. I will go with more of a 'grip it and rip it' approach instead of over thinking. As long as I get my weight forward, I want to work on distance.

[Young04]

I used to have a looser grip than I have now. I find I slice irons with a loose grip, but I'll try a more gentle grip on driving.

you mentioned the bump to your left side...for me, i don't consciously bump my weight over - if i do, i'll fight the dreaded block shot. try a small pause at the top of your backswing (this will feel more natural if your hands and arms are tension free). this helps me naturally get my weight over on my left side before i get the arms involved in the downswing.

[sungho_kr]

thats dangerous because you might actually just push ur whole body to the left before impact, which causes sliding, instead of letting ur hips out, good way to start the downswing is to think about ur left hip opening!!!