Swinging too hard?

[MiniBlueDragon]

When I swing the club leisurely and 'relax' my swing is smooth, nice and reasonably straight but not fantastically far. My predominant shot is a straight push which I think may be purely from the ball being too far back in my stance for the club I'm using.

I've had times in the past where I've been playing a round with family and accidentally trying too much to add power into the swing which makes it absolutely abysmal; fat shots, thin shots, ball hit of various parts of the club face, hooks, slices etc.

Today I decided to try and work on adding more power to my swing, partly out of curiousity on why it goes horribly wrong and partly because I'd like to hit it further than I do currently.

Having looked back at videos of my swings I think the faster I swing and the more upper body I put into the swing, the steeper my swing gets and the less in-to-out I have at impact which I think may be causing the random element in harder swings. There may also be an argument for me not maintaining my flying wedge as well as when I swing slower.

How do most people start building more power into a swing without it going horribly wrong or is it just a case of adding the desired power and then fixing the problem from there via video/lesson?

Thanks all.

[EverythingGolf]

Originally Posted by MiniBlueDragon

When I swing the club leisurely and 'relax' my swing is smooth, nice and reasonably straight but not fantastically far. My predominant shot is a straight push which I think may be purely from the ball being too far back in my stance for the club I'm using.

I've had times in the past where I've been playing a round with family and accidentally trying too much to add power into the swing which makes it absolutely abysmal; fat shots, thin shots, ball hit of various parts of the club face, hooks, slices etc.

Today I decided to try and work on adding more power to my swing, partly out of curiousity on why it goes horribly wrong and partly because I'd like to hit it further than I do currently.

Having looked back at videos of my swings I think the faster I swing and the more upper body I put into the swing, the steeper my swing gets and the less in-to-out I have at impact which I think may be causing the random element in harder swings. There may also be an argument for me not maintaining my flying wedge as well as when I swing slower.

How do most people start building more power into a swing without it going horribly wrong or is it just a case of adding the desired power and then fixing the problem from there via video/lesson?

Thanks all.

The best way to add power to your swing is to have relaxed muscles. If you are trying to hard to hit the ball the muscles tense up and you can't generate speed. Start the down swing with a slow pace then increase the speed as you get to the ball.

[Roblar]

I was in the same boat.

Was?  Maybe I'm just on a different deck of the same boat now.

I need to swing slowly to have any hope at all of hitting (roughly) where I'm aiming. I used to top out at about 150yds.  P=90, 9=110, 8=130, 7=145, 6=145, 5=145 or less, 4=fat or topped or sliced, 3=not in the bag... etc

When I tried to get a bit more distance by 'trying harder' I just sliced harder, hit fatter, or topped it more.

What helped me get a bit faster with my swing was this thought:

"Add a little speed to the follow through."

I tried to keep the rest of my swing easy and smooth, but by trying to speed up the follow through, the rest of my swing sped up a little bit too.

Now I've added about 10-15yds per club, I top out somewhere between 170-190 yds with my irons, and the 3-iron is back in the bag!  (I'm still pretty inconsistent with the 4 and 3 irons.  If I'm honest and 'average' my shots... I lose yardage with those! But I'm hitting the ball well often enough that I'm not afraid to try it out.)

An instructor told me to swing as fast on the backswing as I wanted go on the downswing, but I haven't mastered that. I lose a lot of consistency when I try to add speed that way. (Though, I think that's what I'm starting to do by just focusing on adding speed to the follow through.)

I'll be interested to read what has worked for others.

[NEOHMark]

Originally Posted by MiniBlueDragon

.....Having looked back at videos of my swings I think the faster I swing and the more upper body I put into the swing, the steeper my swing gets and the less in-to-out I have at impact which I think may be causing the random element in harder swings.

I think you've nailed it right there.

I'm a big fan of Paul Wilson's teaching methodology.  Obviously he has a product to sell (and I'm not hawking his wares), but this was one of his better freebie tips that addresses this very issue:

http://www.peakperformancegolfswing.com/golf-swing-tempo/

It's a great tutorial of how/why a slow tempo can create a great whipping action at the end of the 'stick'.

[phillyk]

A great tool for me that I've seen work on the few people I've helped out is as your doing your downswing, try turning your hips a little bit more than normal while keeping your hands EXACTLY as they would be normally right as your bringing the club down (this is the key to the power, you must keep the hands in the same position).  You should feel a lot of tension, which is the torque building up, between your side and arms.  You can still have the same swing path you normally have, but that added torque will help speed up your down swing.  The follow through can be your normal one too.  I see about 15 to 20 yards more driver distance when I help people with this technique (their normal drives would be around 240 250).

[mdl]

Seems you already realize that most people's natural attempt to "add power" is just to try to muscle it more with the arms, which adds little power, or even subtracts cause of other changes it causes in your swing, and greatly reduces consistency.

I don't speak as a scratch golfer or anything, but I've added a lot of distance over the last six months while still slowly improving in consistency (my first two sub 80 rounds were in the last 6 months, a 74 and a 76).  For me the whole key has been finally really feeling what it means to fire from the top of your backswing starting at your feet, instead of starting at your hands or arms.

The piece it's helped me to concentrate on is the coil.  Your power comes basically from unloading the coil you get in you hips, back, and shoulders on the back swing.  The key for me is to really feel how the only job of your hands and arms is to keep the club on plane (given the rest of your mechanics are solid), and you want to increase your power by coiling and then, starting from your feet, unleash the power loaded up in the coil to whip the club face through the impact zone.  You want to feel like you're whipping, not like you're muscling up and smacking the ball really hard.

I think that's what people talk about when they say you need to relax to hit it further.  Part of that is that with a relaxed swing you'll be more consistent, so you'll hit the sweet spot more often and the ball will go further even if your swing speed goes down a bit, but really to max out your swing speed you do need to relax your arms, cause if you tense your muscles that'll slow down the potential whipping action you can get from unleashing the coil in the body.

[MiniBlueDragon]

Thanks for the replies guys.

That video above was pretty much standard golf info for me right up until the point he said, "The looser your wrists, the faster the club head is going to swing" and I had a Eureka moment!

When I try hitting harder, I'm tensing my right lat, left pec, both biceps and my grip at the top of the back swing and keeping them tense throughout the downswing and follow through, probably because it "feels" like I'm hitting harder/longer.

The pec tensing I don't think is a major issue as it helps maintain the arm and chest contact just as practicing with a tee under there would.

My right lat I don't think is an issue as it helps to stop the in-to-out from flattening quite as much.

To a certain extent I don't think tighter biceps will affect the swing that much but the grip will be a killer.

If I'm gripping the club tighter I'm tensing my forearms which means I'm manufacturing when the club uncocks for impact rather than using the natural, loose uncocking that happens when I'm relaxed with a shot. It may be that I can incorporate the extra hip turn and arm speed but leave my grip nice and loose to gain distance without ruining the club head path and consequently cleanliness of shots.

Also if the path is steeper I may be able to exaggerate the 'hands back' portion of my swing to reproduce the path but at a higher speed.

I'll give that a go next practice. Thanks all.

Also just because I'm working on a fix don't be shy; post your thoughts too!

[Keep It Simple]

My instructor taught me (and proved to me) the optimum swing effort level is closer to "too soft" than to "too hard" and that there is a fine line between hitting a home run and having the ball trickle off the tee.  With this in mind, during practice I like to approach the optimum swing effort level from the "too soft" side.  I take soft swings and slowly ramp them up.

[golf4fun12]

I swing more towards the harder side. I believe as long as you are mechanically correct with your swing, you can swing hard.

[The Gill]

I guess I swing less than 90%. The HARDEST I can possibly swing is 123 mph with the driver and 97 mph with a 5 iron. This is swinging for the fences and pray I make contact. I average 108 with a driver and 85 with a 5 iron with my normal swing.

[johnthejoiner]

[saevel25]

I tend to base everything in balance, so what ever swing gets me to keep my balance were i finish into a nice pose on the left foot. I get a 160-165 ball speed on my normal driver swing, if i catch one center, i can go over 170. I have gotten near the mid 170's if i really tear into one.

[golf4fun12]

nice video john. and it is very true what he is saying. but, you have to have the mechanics down to be able to swing like the pros. which most amateur golfers do not.

[Stretch]

Yeah, I think a lot of us average hacks confuse force/effort and timing/tempo. When I watch really good players at the range, they're not pouring the coal on right from the top of the backswing and then heaving at the ball, they're smoothly accelerating the club all the way down to impact.

I've been using the Tour Tempo app (http://www.tourtempo.com/) on my iPhone and when I do get it right (which is still only occasionally) the ball takes off with a zip I've never managed before. And the feel is certainly that I swung "less hard."

[TourSpoon]

I can't view the vid from the phone so take this for what it's worth. The power you seek has to come from the bottom up. To feel this make half wedge swings. Then with the same swing take it back and then take the arms out of it and use your body to turn through the shot. Feel this connection from your body into your swing and work this feel into your full swing. This connectedness will get you to where you want to be with the relaxed feeling but more distance and better control. I look at Freddie swing and he is so mellow it looks like he is not even trying and he still bombs it.