High gear?

[MiniBlueDragon]

Today I went out and shot a slightly less than average round on my local 9 hole. I had to wait around on the last tee box for 15 minutes while a five-ball zig-zagged their balls across the measly 180 yard hole taking ten or so shots each and then stood on the green counting up which of them was less of a waste of space than the other.

Needless to say I was pretty p***ed when I teed off, I hit it thin and into the greenside bunker and then I hit my bunker shot only using rage, not technique so it plugged in the bunker wall and I picked up for the hole.

Anyway after the hole, standing 50 yards of so off to the back side of the last hole I was complaining to my playing partner and decided to take out a little more rage with a golf swing at nothing in particular. I swung the club using my normal setup and I felt more power in the swing than I ever have previously BUT it came from my torso and it actually gave me pins and needles in my finger tips with the blood rushing to them. Again I lined up and swung and again it felt like my arms were being pulled out of their sockets with a beautiful whooshing sound about 45 degrees down in front of me. Ridiculous raw power from some level I didn't know I had.

I've always swung at a steady, smooth pace in the past which I'd guessed at the time was around 75% of my total capacity for speed, however this swing felt like a whole new level for me. If the power I generated on those swings today was 100% I'd say my "normal" swing that I've been using for the last year or so would only just be hitting 50%.

So my question is, if you had the ability to swing (not hit!) the club a LOT faster than you do currently, would you try to wrangle that power into a workable swing or would you stick with what you have currently?

Obviously I haven't a clue how the actual ball flight would be with it so it may not be workable in the slightest but if it is then wooowweee I'm looking forward to it and I'd love to hear people's opinions, good or bad.

EDIT: Club I was swinging was a 6i by the way.

[B-Con]

So my question is, if you had the ability to swing (not hit!) the club a LOT faster than you do currently, would you try to wrangle that power into a workable swing or would you stick with what you have currently?

Irons: No (at least, not yet). Driver/wood/hybrid: Yes. I can swing faster than I currently do. I don't hit my irons even a moderately impressive distance. I've definitely made a trade-off in terms of accuracy for power. I could try to incorporate a faster swing, but it would be hard to control and I don't think I'd be able to tone it well enough to make it worthwhile. At a 19ish handicap, I have plenty of problems as it is, the last I need is to intentionally make accuracy harder. So I've already answered "no" to that question. The driver, 3-wood, and 3-hybrid are a different story, though, because I actually rely on those for distance. If I could stay on the fairway with a faster swing, I would incorporate it with those clubs. And I have: I do swing a little harder with them as I get more consistent and comfortable with them.

[Whiskey84]

No. I feel like I have to throttle back to maintain some semblance of control. (My SS with a driver averages approx 115)

[Fairway_CY]

Jack Nicklaus has said (and this is how I play the game) that you should swing hard when you learn the game, and then later, learn control.  Greg Norman believes the same thing.

I've TRIED to swing at less than 100%... but it inevitably leads to me swinging hard later in the round anyway.  If I 'throttle back' on a shot, it almost always leads to a weak push or a dead pull.  Admittedly, I'm not the best golfer you'll meet... but I feel that if I played at less than 100%... I would score far worse than I currently do.

That said... whatever works for you is what you should do.  I've played with guys who swing clubs like a slow-motion replay... yet they drive the ball out there 225 or so.  I've also played with guys who swing the club like they're mad at the air... and they also drive the ball out there 225 or so.

My swing works for me, and my average drive is about 240.  Going down the scale, however, my irons seem to be less than average, even when I swing as hard as I do.  My distances are below... my golfing partners distances are in parethesis:

Driver - 240 (260)

3 Wood - 220 (240)

2 Hybrid - 210 (N/A)

4 Hybrid - 200 (N/A)

5 Iron - 180 (190)

6 Iron - 165 (175)

7 Iron - 150 (160)

8 Iron - 135 (150)

9 Iron - 125 (135)

PW - 110 (125)

GW - 90 (110)

SW - 70 (100)

My partner swings at a MUCH smoother tempo than I do... and with less effort, yet he hits the ball further than I do.  I've never had my swing speed clocked, and I don't want to guesstimate it, but... I'd be willing to bet that it's faster than average... but with far less control.

Anyway... if you're comfortable going after the ball at 100% (like I am)... do it.  If you feel that you'll lose control and start playing from the trees more often... it's likely not in your best interest to do it.  Oh... especially if you got pins and needles from swinging that hard.

CY

[Bryan SD2]

Those club distances are MUCH longer than most 16 handicaps.  Well done to you.  They are very similar to mine, and I've been a single digit for more than 20 years.  I do go much longer with the driver, and carry a 3 and a 4 iron - but all the others we match  up with pretty well.  No more than 5 yards difference at the very most.

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by Fairway_CY

. . . My partner swings at a MUCH smoother tempo than I do... and with less effort, yet he hits the ball further than I do.  . . .

Clearly 100% effort doesn't necessarily result in 100% clubhead speed.

[Fairway_CY]

Quote:

Those club distances are MUCH longer than most 16 handicaps.  Well done to you.  They are very similar to mine, and I've been a single digit for more than 20 years.  I do go much longer with the driver, and carry a 3 and a 4 iron - but all the others we match  up with pretty well.  No more than 5 yards difference at the very most.

Hmmm... I wouldn't have figured that.  The club I play in has handicaps ranging from 1.7 to 40.4 and skill sets ranging just as much.  I'm, obviously, in the middle of the pack.  My partner is a 9.2 right now.  I figured myself for average for my handicap.  I know that, once in awhile, I get the ball out there pretty well beyond most people in my group (with the exception of my partner).  But, based on my iron distances... I felt I was below average.  I've played with guys that I'm 30-40 yards longer off the tee, but they're hitting 9 Iron from 145 while I'm hitting 8 Iron and sometimes 7 Iron.

Good to know that my distance is fair.

Originally Posted by sean_miller

100% effort doesn't necessarily result in 100% clubhead speed.

There's no denying that.  I give 100% effort on every swing.  I know that I don't get 100% clubhead speed because I'm capable of hitting my driver 275 or more (I've GPS measured my drives for 3 years now and I hit about 1 of every 15 about 275 with my best being 293 earlier this month).  It's all about technique... which is why I'm a 16 handicap instead of a single digit handicap.  I've never taken formal lessons, although I did have my swing evaluated.  During that evaluation, I was asked... and I quote... "How the hell do you hit the ball?"  So... yeah, it's obvious that I don't get everything from my swing that I can... but, it's a work in progress.

CY

[MiniBlueDragon]

OK so judging by the replies so far I don't really "need" to swing that hard. My club distances average out at the following total distance with my current 72MPHish swing (driver fitting a week or so ago was 90MPH so that's an 80% estimate for irons):

Driver - 245

3 Wood - 200 (new 3w I have yet to try on course. Figure based on limited swings during a fitting)

4 Hybrid - 190

4 Iron - 180

5 Iron - 170

6 Iron - 160

7 Iron - 150

8 Iron - 140

9 Iron - 130

PW - 120

GW - 100

SW - 90

LW - 70

What I'm thinking at the moment is maybe if I spend a week or so employing the uber swing and seeing what happens I can always revert back to what I have currently. There's also a possibility that it could be used only for driver shots.

I'll report back here once I've given it a proper go; probably with tail between legs.