Why is it unbelievable I can drive 300+ ?

[mosnas]

Originally Posted by mad max

I think some of the problem is that people think when you say "I can hit a drive 300 yards" they change it into "my average drive is 300 yards".  I can and have hit a drive 300 yards but my average is about 220 yards.  If I top one or hit a tree and the ball comes back at me I might only get 100 yards out of it.  It takes a lot of 280 yard drives to make up for the one that only goes 100 yards.  I.E.

260

285

100

300

210

185

is only a 223 yard average

In general I feel it isn't very smart to figure extreme mishits into your average distances.  Sure the numbers may say he hits 223 on average but if the golfer in this scenario were stepping up to a 223 yard par 3 what would they be comfortable hitting?  I am not saying that these stats suggest 300 yards everytime but these stats to me definately suggest that if the golfer hits it relatively good it will go 250+

[logman]

For me ,and I know the argument is whether the ball is going 299 yards or 301 yards, but that's a great looking swing you've got there and just keep smackin it down the middle. Good golf.

[Dave2512]

Jimbo,

I post this with concern, well inet concern anyway. Lets assume for a minute you really are hitting it 260-300, the long ones on the best infrequent hits. Why is that important to you? It seems after watching your latest swing vids that you've spent time trying to develop more speed but still have a fundamentally flawed swing. Honestly, and I say this with sincerity, that swing needs serious help. I realize you are new but since the first vids and the new vid all you've managed to do is swing a bit harder. The erratic rhythm, the left foot moving all around, the inconsistent plane, the hands way out in front. All of that is bad form and are things you'd be better off getting rid of and quickly at that.

The grunting in the vid is proof you are only concerned with hitting it hard. If you've spent any time at all trying to improve anything but speed it's not evident. You will be a better golfer if and when you get the "distance = progress" idea out of your head. I said this before and I meant it. The best advice I ever received was "let the club do the talking". The idea being good form and smooth technique are paramount to not only consistency but also distance. I honestly think you are spending too much energy on the wrong thing. I get why you want to prove yourself but I don't think it will provide worthwhile results even of you manage to prove yourself. Club head speed wouldn't be my concern if I was swinging like that. If you improved your form you'd be able to swing better, faster, more consistent, hit it farther, more success in everything.

[newtogolf]

Could be a Haney disciple who believes you should learn to swing hard first that work out the rest.  I wouldn't lose much sleep over him.  He's on a quest to prove to himself and us he hits his drive 300 yards but until we see Trackman data that can be verified, it's all speculation, who says "he can" and who says "he can't" with that swing.

I know I can't a 300 yards drive so it's not even something I've wasted more than 5 seconds worrying about with my own swing.  He'll soon figure out the game is about more than just driving the ball long and we'll forget about this thread.

Originally Posted by Dave2512

Jimbo,

I post this with concern, well inet concern anyway. Lets assume for a minute you really are hitting it 260-300, the long ones on the best infrequent hits. Why is that important to you? It seems after watching your latest swing vids that you've spent time trying to develop more speed but still have a fundamentally flawed swing. Honestly, and I say this with sincerity, that swing needs serious help. I realize you are new but since the first vids and the new vid all you've managed to do is swing a bit harder. The erratic rhythm, the left foot moving all around, the inconsistent plane, the hands way out in front. All of that is bad form and are things you'd be better off getting rid of and quickly at that.

The grunting in the vid is proof you are only concerned with hitting it hard. If you've spent any time at all trying to improve anything but speed it's not evident. You will be a better golfer if and when you get the "distance = progress" idea out of your head. I said this before and I meant it. The best advice I ever received was "let the club do the talking". The idea being good form and smooth technique are paramount to not only consistency but also distance. I honestly think you are spending too much energy on the wrong thing. I get why you want to prove yourself but I don't think it will provide worthwhile results even of you manage to prove yourself. Club head speed wouldn't be my concern if I was swinging like that. If you improved your form you'd be able to swing better, faster, more consistent, hit it farther, more success in everything.

[Dave2512]

Could be. The problem with that cart before the horse mentality is for one to happen certain other things have to happen as well. You can slug away at the ball baseball swing style, and many do, but it doesn't translate to hard or fast. I'm pretty sure Haney's philosophy is to swing as hard as you can in a somewhat traditional manor. That left foot thing the OP is doing is a power killer. He's not stepping towards the ball and busting through it like Bubba. It's rubbery and loose. The opposite of powerful.

[Valleygolfer]

Sometimes all you have in the beginning of being a golfer is distance . He didn't say he hit every drive 300 and most people like the op don't like being told they are liars. Why can't we just let it go. So his swing may not look like a 300 yard swing, most do not unless you are Bubba. Getting better at this sport is a process. Everyone has their milestones and what they are proud of now.

[JerryTimes]

Really.  13 pages of this?

[iacas]

Originally Posted by Jimbo Slice

Ok, contemplate this. These swings I just posted are for sure as hard as I can swing. When I go and hook up with Jeff and hit on TracMan, if those swings come up as 105 or even 110. Would you then say that your estimate of my swing in the video is off? There is no way I'm going to gain 10mph of ss in less then a week.

The math's the math, so... no, my estimates aren't off. Where's the error in the math? Like I said, I don't really care in the end. I just did the math to amuse myself.

I measured with my laser a flag today at 337. My ball was two feet in front of its pitch mark when I played my second shot on the par four, and I was fifteen yards from the flag, and a good bit of that was lateral as I was just short of the left front side of the green.

Wind was mostly left to right, 10° down.

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by Dave2512

Could be. The problem with that cart before the horse mentality is for one to happen certain other things have to happen as well. You can slug away at the ball baseball swing style, and many do, but it doesn't translate to hard or fast. I'm pretty sure Haney's philosophy is to swing as hard as you can in a somewhat traditional manor. That left foot thing the OP is doing is a power killer. He's not stepping towards the ball and busting through it like Bubba. It's rubbery and loose. The opposite of powerful.

[Dave2512]

Still not sure why the speed would be important. It's akin to watching NASCAR drivers hit the wall at 190 mph and placing last if that's what they do as they fly off the track and out of control. Safe to assume most of the men here in reasonable physical condition could take a hard whack at the ball and get the monitor to register impressive numbers. At some point it gets into that old Range Hero thing. I'm sure we've all had those days where we blast 2 large buckets of balls into oblivion prior to bad rounds of golf. Practice is just that and what happens on the course is a completely different thing. Practicing the wrong thing won't lead to good results in anything. Forget the math. Forget the challenge. That swing is a problem.

[Dave2512]

Originally Posted by sean_miller

Because pros with bad form are the norm? The Bubba's and Daly's aren't good examples for the LCD. They have raw talent and grit few possess.

[KaiL]

I think  Iacas  made a mistake in getting the  radius of the circle earlier!  Its  67"  instead of  57"......(43+26-2).

So the swing speed should be  ~96*(67/57) = 112.

[Jimbo Slice]

Originally Posted by Nutter

"I still don't even get how you think I'm only driving 220 ROFL. Like I said I can hit my 4 iron 220, and I can hit it 200+ probably two out of three swings." - you

That's pretty consistent

Like I said when swinging my hardest I can hit the 4i 200+ around 2 out of three. I only swing it that hard on one hole off the tee because the distance on that hole is 211. I'll also swing it that hard on a approach shot if I'm 210 yards out. I don't switch to my 3 rescue to hit 210 yard shots, I do use my 4 iron. But My average distance on my 4 iron would be around 180-190 on an average shot. It's not at all hard to believe, but what ever.

Originally Posted by onesome

Jimbo just by watching your right around 92 -95, your not producing enough torque in your backswing, lifting your left foot like you do is killing your chances to create the necessary torque. If someone else says I'm wrong say so but that is what I see. I think you may get a few swings up to 98 at times but that's probably about it.And also the only swings that count are the ones that go straight.

I was told about the foot thing in my first video and do try to work on it on the course and the range. I have make some shots while making a concious effort to keep the foot down. I'd say on most the shots I did keep the foot down I had better results in both accuracy and distance. I'm still very new and struggle with trying to think of all the things I need to do while hitting the ball. I'm still mainly in thought about keeping my elbow straight and not cupping my wrist atm. When thinking of those two things I forget about some of the other mechanics. I know about the foot and plan on keeping it down, it's just going to take some time. The foot actually only comes up when I'm trying to bomb the ball now and I have corrected that problem on my regular shots. Like I said all the swings in that video are my hardest. I don't take that swing on most of my shots. I just posted them to try and get an idea of my maximum possible swing speed.

Like I said, if the Tracman says 95-100 then I'll call it official, but If this is true. Then a 95-100mph swing when hit correctly can at times produce a 300 yard shot in my conditions. I'm just under the impression that a 95mph swing cant produce a 300 yard drive in my conditions, so I tend to believe the the SS is higher.

I'll 100% jump on board that I have a 95mph ss, if it is possible to hit a 300 yard shot in my conditions with it. I have seen it with my own eyes multiple times in calm weather and flat holes with my swing.

Is it possible to produce a 300 yard drive with a 95mph ss In Las Vegas on a clam day, hard fairways, and a flat hole?

Originally Posted by Dave2512

Jimbo,

I post this with concern, well inet concern anyway. Lets assume for a minute you really are hitting it 260-300, the long ones on the best infrequent hits. Why is that important to you? It seems after watching your latest swing vids that you've spent time trying to develop more speed but still have a fundamentally flawed swing. Honestly, and I say this with sincerity, that swing needs serious help. I realize you are new but since the first vids and the new vid all you've managed to do is swing a bit harder. The erratic rhythm, the left foot moving all around, the inconsistent plane, the hands way out in front. All of that is bad form and are things you'd be better off getting rid of and quickly at that.

The grunting in the vid is proof you are only concerned with hitting it hard. If you've spent any time at all trying to improve anything but speed it's not evident. You will be a better golfer if and when you get the "distance = progress" idea out of your head. I said this before and I meant it. The best advice I ever received was "let the club do the talking". The idea being good form and smooth technique are paramount to not only consistency but also distance. I honestly think you are spending too much energy on the wrong thing. I get why you want to prove yourself but I don't think it will provide worthwhile results even of you manage to prove yourself. Club head speed wouldn't be my concern if I was swinging like that. If you improved your form you'd be able to swing better, faster, more consistent, hit it farther, more success in everything.

Hitting the long ball is not important to me, and I never said anything like that. I did however say I enjoy trying to hit the long ball from time to time and go for one every now and again. I don't see anything wrong with that. You keep hinting that I think hitting the long ball makes you good at golf, when I don't and also know its just not true. I have spent no time at all trying to improve my ss. It's just the main difference in these two swing vids, and that was saposed to be the main difference.

I posted a normal swing and some people said it had to be my fastest possiable ss for some reason. So I posted a swing to show my max SS and now people are saying its my normal swing? I dont get it.

Hitting the ball 260-300 is not important to me in way shape or form, and at no time did say this or even hint that it might be the case. I would much rather be able to hit the ball 230-250 consistently with accuracy, and that is what I strive for. My home course has tight fairways and water playing along side the right or left of most the holes. I play what I would call the ideal shot I'm striving for, 250 right down the middle on most of them. I only crank it up on some of holes.

This is not my new swing video saying, hey look how much I have improved or  hey look Im getting better. It was just what you said, me swinging harder. People where saying my max SS was 80-90 mph max and I just wanted to show that it wasn't. Of course I'm out there grunting, I am in fact swinging as hard as I can at those balls, and in no way think that the swings I have posted have proper technique, and in most real life golf situation I would not take that swing. I do crank that exact swing out at times but its not the norm. I'm sorry it looks so bad, I am working on all my swings as much as I can with help from the internet, youtube and the forum. I don't use this swing as much as you are thinking also.

I was under the impression a golfer could have more then one swing type with his driver or any club for that matter. The better you are the more swings you might have in your arsenal. A controlled accurate normal distance shot, nice push fade or draw, long carry or line drive burner, and a shot for extra distance that has a little more power on it. I'm very new to golf, less then 3 months and I have 2 swing types atm. My normal controlled swing and my power swing. If a newer guy wants to post his swing on the internet and has a normal swing and a power swing, what swing would suggest he post? I would think you would want to see his normal every day swing, and not his power swing. That is why when I posted my first swing, it was indeed that, a controlled normal swing. Everyone quickly jumped on my case and associated that swing with this thread. So I posted a few swings of what I would call my power swing, and now you are associating those swings with what would be my normal swing.

I post my normal controlled swing and everyone says, he could never hit a long ball like that. Well duh its my normal controlled swing. Then no one believes me that is in fact my normal controlled swing and I must be a liar.

So I post my power swing, just for the purpose of this thread and now people are ripping it apart. Thinking its my normal swing, saying I'm swinging to hard and think the only thing I have worked on was SS. This is not true at all. The most recent swing I posted is an example of me digging in full blast just to show that I can crank up my ss if need, and I clearly I stated this.

I do have a controlled swing that I'm guessing looks somewhat better then my power swing but to be honest I have not seen it lately and don't really know. I panned on making a new swing video of my normal swing here in a few weeks, and only fast tracked the power swing video to this thread because people where demanding it. When trying to get better I would never swing like that or ask for someone to analyze it. The swing is just an example of proof that I could in fact swing faster then the first video.

I look at it this way, I'm very interested in golf and improving and accuracy is by far my main concern. I'm not sure if I can afford lessons, so I do what I can to get better. Reading books, websites, forum threads and youtube are my only options. The best tool that I may have at my disposal atm is posting my swing to this forum and trying to apply any information I might get from the members to my swing. In most cases I would think when trying to have your swing analyzed you would want to use your standard controlled swing. I would only  post my hard swing if I was in fact trying to improve my long ball. Like maybe I had a long drive contest coming up and wanted some help with my power swing. This is not the case and those hard swings are exactly what they are, my hard swing, and only meant to show what my max ss would be regardless of how bad it might look.

Originally Posted by iacas

The math's the math, so... no, my estimates aren't off. Where's the error in the math? Like I said, I don't really care in the end. I just did the math to amuse myself.

I measured with my laser a flag today at 337. My ball was two feet in front of its pitch mark when I played my second shot on the par four, and I was fifteen yards from the flag, and a good bit of that was lateral as I was just short of the left front side of the green.

Wind was mostly left to right, 10° down.

I didn't say there was an error in the math, just that something MAY be lost in translation somehow.

You never answered my question either. If tracman does in fact say that I'm swinging in the 105 average range on my power swings. Just like the ones in the video I just posted, they are for sure my hardest, and you have listed them at 96. Would you then be willing to say that something is lost in translation with the ss estimate you are putting on my swing. I'm not going to gain 10 mph ss in a few days.

[Jimbo Slice]

Originally Posted by Dave2512

Still not sure why the speed would be important. It's akin to watching NASCAR drivers hit the wall at 190 mph and placing last if that's what they do as they fly off the track and out of control. Safe to assume most of the men here in reasonable physical condition could take a hard whack at the ball and get the monitor to register impressive numbers. At some point it gets into that old Range Hero thing. I'm sure we've all had those days where we blast 2 large buckets of balls into oblivion prior to bad rounds of golf. Practice is just that and what happens on the course is a completely different thing. Practicing the wrong thing won't lead to good results in anything. Forget the math. Forget the challenge. That swing is a problem.

Yes the swing is the problem, and the problem with it is.... it 10 weeks old and I never swung a golf club in my life before march 2012. I don't know where you think my swing should be at by now, but I'm sorry its there yet. When Im at the range I do split my driver practice between regular shots and power shots, but I like I said a few times. I really enjoy hitting the long ball and I don't think I'm a bad person for trying every now and again. This last session at the range where I made the video was indeed all long balls, and I swung at maybe 100 of them damn fast. This is not the norm and I only did it for this thread and to get the footage I needed to post what would be considered my top SS, and what the swing would look like.

I'm under the impression my golf game is coming along very nicely. I've broken 100 multiple times and have a low score of 91. I continue to improve in accuracy and distance daily reguardless of me hitting some power shots. I really don't see anything wrong with how I am approaching the golf game. You seem to think I'm taking more power shots then is actually true.

This is also something I do that might help put things into a little more perspective.... While playing my round I do sometimes take a few practice/fun shots off the tee after my initial drive on hole 18. What does this mean. I will hit my drive on 18 and play that first ball no matter how bad or good of a shot it is, but after that ball I usually hit at least one more ball sometimes up to 5. If my first shot was really bad Ill shoot another controlled shot for practice, but after that I do swing away at the others. Just to get some good power swings in on a real life hole without risking messing my score up. Many times at my course I have hit 300 yard drives on 18 with these extra balls. They don't factor into my score at all but I do consider them legit 300 yard drives. I would only do this on 18 because I don't see it as cheating in any way as long as my first ball hit is the ball I play. If this was done on any other hole then 18, I would be getting extra practice driver stokes in during the round at that just seems like cheating. Same thing with the people who play two balls when alone. This is such big time cheating an neither of those cards should be anything close to counting to as real score, but that's off topic.

I also put thought into every shot, I'm not out there just swinging mindlessly my hardest at everything. I swing hard on the reachable par 4's and 5's, and if something goes really bad and I get an ob. I take my stoke plus distance and then hit a normal controlled shot. I don't see what is wrong with that.

A perfect stoke does not mean great scores and great scores can and have been reached with not so perfect swings, same thing with the long ball. This does not mean that I am abandoning all swing technique, actually its the opposite. I do and will continue trying to improve my swing technique. I new ahead of time going out and making this video of me swinging for the long ball was going to have bad technique, but that was not the point. It was just to show that I could do it, not that I could do it right.

Pretty much at this point any swing I put out there is going to look wrong, weather it be my normal swing my hard swing or my chip shot. A'm I supposed to have good technique already? Even in my normal shots?

[Jimbo Slice]

Originally Posted by KaiL

I think  Iacas  made a mistake in getting the  radius of the circle earlier!  Its  67"  instead of  57"......(43+26-2).

So the swing speed should be  ~96*(67/57) = 112.

I'm not sure if what this guy is saying holds water, but now I think I need to learn what Eric is doing so I can at least cross reference it. I tried once but I don't have any software that I can slow the video down without it blurring the club head drastically. I tried downloading three different things, but they are all trial versions and I cant use the slow motion.

[Jimbo Slice]

Ok I have a program now, I took screen shots at every frame and my  picture looks nothing like what erik is posting. I'm not sure if it's the ghosting from the club that is showing up on youtube or what but here are the exact frames and then I masked them together.

And here they are all masked todether.

I'm not sure whats going on, but these images arn't even close. I can only guess he is grabbing a ghosing image of my club? The frames I just posted are the true frames and 100% legit.

Add up the one I posted if you get time.

[LovinItAll]

I know right?  Who would put any trust in such an unproven thing like science?

You want to quote me and be a smartass? I was talking about the general douchiness of some of the replies in this thread. Seems that, overall, the OP has been a decent person posting. You and others may not believe him, but that's no reason to be a jerk. Gotta love the Internet. As always, people are so very quick to make comments that, in 'real life' might very well get their teeth knocked out if made to the wrong person. My point about the OP's claims, in case you missed the subtlety, is that whether he drives the ball 300 yards or 300 feet, if it makes him happy, good for him. Golf is a game, not a personality trait. I understand, though, that to some people, how they (and apparently others) actually hit the ball somehow defines them as a person. Pretty easy to spot those guys, and it's beyond pathetic. Jimbo: You have nothing to prove to anonymous people on the Internet, or to anyone in real life, for that matter. Seems like you're making good progress with your game. Keep it up and have fun - you've found, IMO, the best game on earth.

[LovinItAll]

Jimbo just by watching your right around 92 -95, your not producing enough torque in your backswing, lifting your left foot like you do is killing your chances to create the necessary torque. If someone else says I'm wrong say so but that is what I see. I think you may get a few swings up to 98 at times but that's probably about it.And also the only swings that count are the ones that go straight.

I'm not a golf instructor, so this comment isn't an attack on your observation, but haven't a bunch of great players lifted their left foot and knocked the cover off the ball? He may be lifting it in a funky way - I can't see the video, as I'm on an iPad and the Huddler software that powers this site apparently hasn't incorporated the necessary code changes yet. I hope M/soft cleans Apple's clock when they release their competing tablet.....as much as I love the design of the iPad, I HATE Apple's closed 'ecosystem'.