Harder to fire body with driver than with short irons

[nondualistic]

I have been working on really leaving my arms out of the equation and feeling to connection in my left shoulder and firing it through with the body after setting the club at the top. I am making progress with short irons and I have gained much more distance with a real feeling of not even trying to hit it hard, just letting the body fire through and trailing the arms behind.

But

My practice ground is small, and I can't get the same feeling with my driver, it feels different, I got a 6-iron clubhead speed of 90 but my drives reach an average carry of about 250 when I strike it solidly, and whenever I try get that effortless sensation which works with my short irons I don't see any added distance.

What should my clubhead speed be for my driver if it is 90-92 with 6-iron?

I think I must be leaking power with my driver but practicing with my driver is limited to when I can hit a few shots off as a tee shot when no-one is on the course.

Does anyone else think it's easier to get the body firing on short irons than longer clubs? Maybe I should try swing more steeply a I swinging round the body seems to make it harder for me to feel the body firing through.

Thoughts anyone?

[Righty to Lefty]

Much bigger swing arch and impact occurs later in the swing arch so you have to really be patient the longer the club gets and wait on things to happen.  When I swing driver it feels like and eternity before the club arrives back in the hitting zone, because my hips want to fire, but I know that I must be patient or the results won't be good.  The only club in my bag that I have a problem every now and then not completing my backswing is the driver. But at least you are starting to notice this difference whereas most people think there is something wrong with them.

[Joehuggy]

Originally Posted by Righty to Lefty

Much bigger swing arch and impact occurs later in the swing arch so you have to really be patient the longer the club gets and wait on things to happen.  When I swing driver it feels like and eternity before the club arrives back in the hitting zone, because my hips want to fire, but I know that I must be patient or the results won't be good.  The only club in my bag that I have a problem every now and then not completing my backswing is the driver. But at least you are starting to notice this difference whereas most people think there is something wrong with them.

So as thought I must be coming out of sync whenever I try and really go at the ball with the driver... So if I want to get from a 250 carry to a 270 carry, I should maybe?

first get my rhythm sorted with the driver with the hip firing at the right moment, and also getting a more consistent contact?

Then once this is good and proper, try other things to add distance while keeping this rhythm solid?

It's hard to get the instinct of really hitting hard out of your mind, maybe some meditative techniques could help this lol

[saevel25]

For me when i am hitting my drives the longest is when i worry about my finish, because i tend to fall backwards away from the target in the downswing. So what i do is focus on my finish alot, i like to feel like i am really extended and stretched in the finish. Though this is for me, i am a flexible guy. The golf pro i go to has the finish were he's straight up and down, fully on his front leg, kinda old school. I like to finish like Rory, i think of were his club is finished, were he looks fully extended. I try to get there. Usually when i do that, i don't hold back, i get a full release and i just pound the ball.

Now going harder or softer at the ball, i don't i have one speed, its easier that way. 95% of the time i don't have to worry about hitting it shorter. My max distance is pretty accurate. I know a lot of people say, find your 100% and go back to 80%, i hate that. I made my swing in such a way were i go 95-99%, and i am totally in balance. This was achieved through working out and working hard on my balance and coordination. Now if i want to tone it down, like this one hole is a par 4, 450 yards, but you have to hit a big sweeping draw to cut the corner and not run through the fairway into a hazard. i know i can get over the trees but only if i hit a high push fade. So what i do is, play the ball way up in my stance, and just try to hit a very high sky ball, it takes about 20-30 yards of the ball, but its a high fade, really a fun shot to play and works well because i can just hit it over the trees that block the corner. If i hit my draw, i would have to aim at the water and draw it around, the draw is to low for the trees. Johnny miller said, don't aim at something you know you would hit it into if you hit it straight.

But as for syncing up your swing, i find that people usually have problems when they have something else going wrong. Like when i fall away from the ball (my head goes backwards), i have to flip at the ball to not slice it and then hold the release to not duck hook it. I've gotten really good at this, but it kills my power. So i worked on getting proper impact position, and finish and this has helped a ton.

[Righty to Lefty]

You just need to learn the "rythmn" of your driver.  I downloaded a metronome for my Ipod and you will shocked when you hear just how slow a full execution of a driver swing is.  I'll post a vid of an example.  The beautiful thing about it is that once you have your baseline then everyday when you warm up you will know that your timing is the same and not any faster.  Slower is fine so long as you don't decel into impact.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnwcseNrPPQ

[Joehuggy]

Originally Posted by saevel25

For me when i am hitting my drives the longest is when i worry about my finish, because i tend to fall backwards away from the target in the downswing. So what i do is focus on my finish alot, i like to feel like i am really extended and stretched in the finish. Though this is for me, i am a flexible guy. The golf pro i go to has the finish were he's straight up and down, fully on his front leg, kinda old school. I like to finish like Rory, i think of were his club is finished, were he looks fully extended. I try to get there. Usually when i do that, i don't hold back, i get a full release and i just pound the ball.

Now going harder or softer at the ball, i don't i have one speed, its easier that way. 95% of the time i don't have to worry about hitting it shorter. My max distance is pretty accurate. I know a lot of people say, find your 100% and go back to 80%, i hate that. I made my swing in such a way were i go 95-99%, and i am totally in balance. This was achieved through working out and working hard on my balance and coordination. Now if i want to tone it down, like this one hole is a par 4, 450 yards, but you have to hit a big sweeping draw to cut the corner and not run through the fairway into a hazard. i know i can get over the trees but only if i hit a high push fade. So what i do is, play the ball way up in my stance, and just try to hit a very high sky ball, it takes about 20-30 yards of the ball, but its a high fade, really a fun shot to play and works well because i can just hit it over the trees that block the corner. If i hit my draw, i would have to aim at the water and draw it around, the draw is to low for the trees. Johnny miller said, don't aim at something you know you would hit it into if you hit it straight.

But as for syncing up your swing, i find that people usually have problems when they have something else going wrong. Like when i fall away from the ball (my head goes backwards), i have to flip at the ball to not slice it and then hold the release to not duck hook it. I've gotten really good at this, but it kills my power. So i worked on getting proper impact position, and finish and this has helped a ton.

You mention having something else wrong, I think my swing is sound, BUT I have a real problem with distance, I know that I am slightly below Pro average for swing speed (90mph 6-iron tested at American Golf) and this is ok, but it's got to the point where I just need to get more distance, OR deal with the reasons why I let this bother me so much... But when I am in this state of mind where I just hate myself for feeling like I can't get that 270 carry and hence I go into a kind of self destruct mode where my swing goes to shit because I am trying to kill it, it feels like to just swing easy is risking failure, because I know what I need to do, but seeing no improvement when I do get my head straight and fire all my body in sync then gets me pissed again...

I think it is a combination of impatience wanting immediate results and not being fully in control of my ego...

[Joehuggy]

Originally Posted by Righty to Lefty

You just need to learn the "rythmn" of your driver.  I downloaded a metronome for my Ipod and you will shocked when you hear just how slow a full execution of a driver swing is.  I'll post a vid of an example.  The beautiful thing about it is that once you have your baseline then everyday when you warm up you will know that your timing is the same and not any faster.  Slower is fine so long as you don't decel into impact.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnwcseNrPPQ

awesome thanks

[Joehuggy]

Originally Posted by saevel25

For me when i am hitting my drives the longest is when i worry about my finish, because i tend to fall backwards away from the target in the downswing. So what i do is focus on my finish alot, i like to feel like i am really extended and stretched in the finish.

I've noticed from watching pros that rather than being a definate strike at the ball, the rhythm finds a small pause or slowdown, almost as if we have a rhythm going of

1 .. 2 .. 3 .. 4

1 being the start of the swing, 3 the top and 4 the strike, but Pro rhythm being more like

1 .. 2 .. 3 .. 4 . 4.5

4.5, being the contact with the ball or the release of the trailing clubhead.