Swing Speed: Do You Have One or Several???

[RX Phoenix]

I'm interested to know:
Do you strive for and use one consistant swing speed with your driver/etc. . . or
Do you have several speeds that you use . . . and

What is your reason for only using one or using several?

I've always used one swing speed, but have been thinking about trying two speeds, so today using the Speed Stick (which is very consistent gauge) I worked on it and found that I could use two speeds . . . 100mph and 110mph.

The 100 is without a wrist cock and the club head doesn't reach parallel and the 110 uses a full wrist cock with club head to parallel.

I was able to very very consistent. The lack of a wrist cock took exactly 10mph off my swing.

I'm a little unsure how much distance differential this brings . . . 110mph would compress distance balls a lot better than 100mph so the distance may be around 20-30yds.

The idea is 100mpg is for a drive of 230 and 110mph is for a drive of 250-60. Usually a fairway will hold a drive of 230 but many target courses have trouble past this yardage. I don't use a 3W as I prefer to use a hybrid 17* off the fairways and carry an extra wedge, so I need to have a 230 shot in the bag.

It will be interesting to try using this consistently on the course.

[BritBoy]

I try not mess with my swing speed with the driver too much. I find personally that if I try to slow the swing down it affects everything else. In particular I have trouble closing the club face down. Its almost like trying to swing slower makes me bump my hips late, and I rotate my wrists later too. So with driver in hand it’s all out or nothing.

Once I get into 5 iron through the wedges it’s more a case of changing the length of the swing rather than the speed though. I see a lot of people (and I've been there myself) decelerate through the ball by trying to slow the swing down which a lot off times can result shank or other variations of bad ball contact.

I try to use the clock face theory. A full swing to me feels like I swing to 9:30 (and we all know that what we feel is not always what we are doing, but its all about how it felt right) which with a 9 iron will give me 140 yards, I will hit it with a 9 o'clock swing about 135 yards, with 8 o'clock its 125 yards etc.

But as a golden rule for me it’s a case of, unless I’m looking for a specific ball flight and I need to adjust yardage I will just pull a different club. If I’m in-between clubs I will pull the longer club and take an hour or so off my swing. I’m sure people think I’m nuts when I stand there taking practice swings saying to myself… “9 o’clock, 9 o’clock... “

I've been thinking about getting a speed stick... do you like it? Has it helped in anyway?

[iacas]

I vary my swing speed, but I primarily have two: regular and a "bunt" swing I use to control a driver and hit it about as far as a 3W (with more control, lower flight, etc.).

[niblick]

I really try not to mess with my driver swing (in terms of swing speed). I'll do drills on the range, but when playing, a driver is a driver. I can't get the face square consistently if I try to vary my swing speed.

[Mikeland]

I really only have one swing speed - fast. However, I think my "fast" swing is mostly due to the transition, or lack thereof I should say. I don't really "pause" at the top of my swing...it's backswing-downswing. If I paused at the top, then I'd probably look "normal", although I do go at the ball pretty hard... If I try to slow down my swing speed, or pause at the top, I find I hit those shots fat. I use a shorter swing to manage "in-between" yardages rather than slowing my swing down. It just seems to work best for me.

[allin]

I probably answered the poll to quickly, I vary driver swing very little. Normal, all out, and a safety block fade that I can put in the fairway anytime I absoulutely have to. The safety only carries and rolls about 210 yards, but sometimes thats enough. I vary my short irons and wedges much more and that is how I answered the poll.

[NCGolfer]

For most of my clubs, I (usually) only have one swing speed and, like Brit Boy says, change the length of my swing. When it comes to my wedges, I will change the swing speed depending on the amount of spin I want to put on the ball. I still use the clock method on wedges, but I also slow my swing down a bit because I like to have my ball bounce once and stop rather than spin back 10-15 feet.

This isn't exactly the most sound advice because wedges are the perfect area to use the clock method and not change speed so to control your distances. I just find that my distance control is better by taking spin out of the equation.

Because of this I put myself in the "feel" category.

[pmcarync]

Like the others that have responded, I change speed for some iron shots, certainly wedge shots, by adjusting my backswing. Personally, I'd find it hard to adjust speed with the same backswing; i had a problem for a couple of years decelerating before impact... but switching to a backswing adjustment allowed for a more consistent swing and more consistent contact with the ball.

[bayareamtnbiker]

I strive for 1 basic full swing speed which I think of as 85%effort, and the goal is consistency. Of course longer clubs give faster head speed, and partial backswings or gripping down gives consistent slower head speeds. I'm plenty strong and coordinated enough to swing faster, but just like the experts claim, I sacrifice control and consistency if I go for more speed, often losing yardage. I believe anyone can find their right speed by swinging faster and faster and observing the results. It probably varies with age and conditioning over time. I'm sure some people I play with would get more yardage by swinging slower and getting better contact.

[golfchief]

I chose the feel player choice, you have to use the right swing for the shot you need from a full all out swing to a five yard chip.

[Fourputt]

I hit a lot of feel shots, but not with the driver. If I need less than a full driver, I dont use it, period. I have a 3W, and 19, 22, and 25 degree hybrids that I can use when I don't need a driver, so why mess with my swing on a club that can be so easy to screw up anyway?

[J.P.]

WoW! Your good if you can do that consistently!

Why not just grip down an inch for every 10 yards you want to take off? It shortens the swing arc = shorter distance.

I think many of us do that with wedges already.

[solid_ONE]

The 100 is without a wrist cock and the club head doesn't reach parallel and the 110 uses a full wrist cock with club head to parallel.

I dont understand how you can have an effective golf swing if you dont have a wrist cock in your backwsing. Must be a wierd looking swing.

I usualy slow my swing when hitting into wind. Speed is adjusted according to intensity of the wind. I find it much more consistant than trying to punch it low by moving the ball back in my stance. As for my driver I will kill it everytime unless there is water or if its realy windy. If the conditions are as I stated above, then I would use a smooth swing while thinking "Ernie Els..." in my mind. Otherwise... BOMB & GOUGE BABY!!!

[chingali]

I just have the one constant swing speed with my driver and fairway woods. If I want to try and hit it a bit further I will lighten my grip pressure a touch, sometimes it'll get me an extra 5 or 10 yards and sometimes it won't. Above all else when hitting driver I am working on controlling the shot shape and getting it in play.

With my irons and wedges I'll often use a 3/4 backswing and sometimes grip down an inch or so depending on the distance or trajectory I want. With my wedges and 8 & 9 iron I am focusing mostly on trajectory. I also use a lot of knock down shots from about 7 iron in but overall my tempo remains constant.

[Dent]

I tend to have a fairly fast swing speed for my driver, and then with my irons i am still pretty fast but i can notice i slow down just a touch.

[SubPar]

I have one tempo with my driver that produces decent straight shots and I try to stick with it. If I stick with a 3:1 ratio between the take-away and downswing to impact, I get better results, driving, chipping, and putting.

Swing speed is hard to quantify because a slower over-all tempo that produces a later release produces longer shots than a faster swing with a release that is less "in the slot". I find a shorter back-swing with good (3:1) tempo produces longer straighter shots than my "full swing".

My performance improved considerably when I got the Tour Tempo book and put my chosen tempo in an MP3 player to listen to when I warm up.

[popey]

I have two. One i use for driver and everything else of around about 100mph and then another in my dreams of around 200mph. With that swing i have won the grand slam 3 times and also shot a 57.

[lamebums]

Driver--One speed. Top speed--grip it and rip it. The last time I tried to "80 percent" it, I was short of the green (190 yard par 3), in a sand trap.

I haven't actually used a launch monitor--but a reasonable guess puts my swing at 100 mph, tops.

3 Wood - PW - I have top speed, 90 percent, and 80 percent. I usually swing with 90 percent, give or take 10 percent if I mis-judged the range to the green (cart on path only, while my ball is 100 yards from the nearest path makes walking back to the cart an unpleasent proposition). Sometimes I deliberately swing at 120 percent or so--end result is usually either a sprayed shot or a topped ball that went 30 feet.