To all you Distance Monkeys...

[dak4n6]

On 12/12/2015 at 8:18 AM, JonMA1 said:

I can't find the quote, but @saevel25 put it best when said (paraphrasing) "you know your swing is good when you can start swinging harder and still make the same clean contact"...or something along those lines. I've experienced that at the range on occasions. 

Having said that, when I'm playing my best golf my tempo feels slow.

I guess my swing isn't good then, because usually my sequencing gets messed up when I swing too hard/fast.

[Lihu]

3 minutes ago, thug the bunny said:

I guess my swing isn't good then, because usually my sequencing gets messed up when I swing too hard/fast.

As with most of us. . .

[JonMA1]

3 hours ago, thug the bunny said:

I guess my swing isn't good then, because usually my sequencing gets messed up when I swing too hard/fast.

For the most part, same here. I didn't mean to make it sound like it was easy.

Usually, if the idea of swinging harder even crosses my mind, it almost guarantees disaster. I get in a hurry, don't make a full turn and I speed up my hands on the downswing. The sad part is I never seem to learn.

[dak4n6]

18 minutes ago, JonMA1 said:

For the most part, same here. I didn't mean to make it sound like it was easy.

Usually, if the idea of swinging harder even crosses my mind, it almost guarantees disaster. I get in a hurry, don't make a full turn and I speed up my hands on the downswing. The sad part is I never seem to learn.

Same here. I usually don't complete the BS and set at the top, and try to get to 100mph in the first 2 ft of the DS totally giving away any leverage and not using the lower body and coming OTT to produce a short pull draw or slap fade. I call it 'lunging' at the ball.

[RFKFREAK]

As someone who has never shot in the 80's, I can comfortably say I suck at golf.  That said, I don't really think about swinging hard or as fast as I can.  I usually swing at what feels like a natural speed and then the ball gets sprayed either right or left but rarely straight. 

[Lihu]

11 hours ago, RFKFREAK said:

As someone who has never shot in the 80's, I can comfortably say I suck at golf.  That said, I don't really think about swinging hard or as fast as I can.  I usually swing at what feels like a natural speed and then the ball gets sprayed either right or left but rarely straight. 

As someone who shoots in the 80s, I can say the same exact thing.

[Marty2019]

Since I am 62 years old, and relatively small and not very strong, the key to getting the maximum distance for me is to keep my hands relaxed and start the downswing very slowly and then accelerate as smoothly as possible.   When I try to swing hard, I am not strong enough to maintain control of the club without tightening my grip, which kills my clubhead speed.  

I agree with the previous posters who talked about watching LPGA golfers.   I think because of a lot of them lack size and strength, they make up for it with flawless technique. 

[Lihu]

31 minutes ago, Marty2019 said:

the key to getting the maximum distance for me is to keep my hands relaxed and start the downswing very slowly and then accelerate as smoothly as possible. 

I agree with the previous posters who talked about watching LPGA golfers.   I think because of a lot of them lack size and strength, they make up for it with flawless technique. 

This method doesn't sound any different than all the good players I know. The only difference is the turn rate the longer hitters can generate is faster?

Agree with your LPGA comment, but I think it applies to the PGA players as well where the main difference is turn rate?

[Marty2019]

On 12/20/2015 at 9:20 AM, Lihu said:

This method doesn't sound any different than all the good players I know. The only difference is the turn rate the longer hitters can generate is faster?

Agree with your LPGA comment, but I think it applies to the PGA players as well where the main difference is turn rate?

I'm pretty sure you're right.   I would guess that with LPGA players,  since their turn rate is slower, their technique is easier to follow. 

[bones75]

Latest update (I'm the OP).  I took most of this year off golf (medical leave) and just started playing w my friend again.  He's picked up a new habit.  He actually grunts when he swings now.

Call me crazy, but I've never seen this before.  Half of me think its not  abnormal (some tennis players do this regularly) but half of me thinks this is demonstrable proof he's swinging too hard.

I've reread the responses to this thread, and while everybody here has a fair point, and different strokes etc.. I still liken my my friends swing to a pitcher in baseball.  While many many pitchers can throw a 100mph+ fastball, they can't do it in the strike zone with anything near consistency (average mlb fastball is around 90mph).  My friend still gets crazy upset at his score, but refuses to do anything but try for the LDA record in distance everytime he hits.  AND he grunted like Monica Seles on his way to 8 OB/lost ball's today.

Do you guys know other people that grunt too? (Excluding some seniors who do this, but those guys also grunt while picking up a bag of groceries).

Summary: I still think distance monkeys exist, and my buddy is one of them.  Still like him (we're closer than ever actually), but its just sad.  

P.s. I'm still a bit embarrassed about the veracity in my original post (I'm the OP), but good lord.  Year 6 for my friend @ ~50+ rounds per year, and he shot a 112 today. I just cant get over it....  absolutely ridiculous.

[chris3putt]

2 hours ago, bones75 said:

Latest update (I'm the OP).  I took most of this year off golf (medical leave) and just started playing w my friend again.  He's picked up a new habit.  He actually grunts when he swings now.

Call me crazy, but I've never seen this before.  Half of me think its not  abnormal (some tennis players do this regularly) but half of me thinks this is demonstrable proof he's swinging too hard.

I've reread the responses to this thread, and while everybody here has a fair point, and different strokes etc.. I still liken my my friends swing to a pitcher in baseball.  While many many pitchers can throw a 100mph+ fastball, they can't do it in the strike zone with anything near consistency (average mlb fastball is around 90mph).  My friend still gets crazy upset at his score, but refuses to do anything but try for the LDA record in distance everytime he hits.  AND he grunted like Monica Seles on his way to 8 OB/lost ball's today.

Do you guys know other people that grunt too? (Excluding some seniors who do this, but those guys also grunt while picking up a bag of groceries).

Summary: I still think distance monkeys exist, and my buddy is one of them.  Still like him (we're closer than ever actually), but its just sad.  

P.s. I'm still a bit embarrassed about the veracity in my original post (I'm the OP), but good lord.  Year 6 for my friend @ ~50+ rounds per year, and he shot a 112 today. I just cant get over it....  absolutely ridiculous.

As the old saying goes "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting to get a different result"...............

I'm as guilty of this as anyone with my golf swing (not swinging too hard, but repeating the same error over and over). A little bit of instruction & we think we can sort it out ourselves, when really we are usually blind to the priority steps we need to make to improve.

I think part of your frustration is that it's a lot easier to see the flaws in other swings and think "if he just did such and such, he'd improve out of sight". It's near impossible to recognise this in ourselves. Feel ain't real.

Maybe you could buy him a copy of LSW - he'll be encouraged to keep going for distance, as well as learning how to manage his current game correctly. That by itself should help him break 100.

 

[bones75]

yea.  Well just like my OP, i'm already feeling bashful for being too hard on my buddy.  I just get frustrated at his despair in his golf game.  I'm legitimately worried that it'll become a Charles Barkley thing to him, where swinging hard will become such a mental hitch that he'll never get over it, ultimately resulting in him losing love for the game.  Just like Barkley his practice swings are okay, but when he's over the ball, he truly tries to just obliterate the damn thing (I wish I could show you a video, but for his privacy's sake, I can't).

@chris3putt you are correct.  It's too easy to see the fault in others, and I'm likely even more guilty of repeating mistakes/not-learning in the even larger game of life.

 

[newtogolf]

16 minutes ago, bones75 said:

yea.  Well just like my OP, i'm already feeling bashful for being too hard on my buddy.  I just get frustrated at his despair in his golf game.  I'm legitimately worried that it'll become a Charles Barkley thing to him, where swinging hard will become such a mental hitch that he'll never get over it, ultimately resulting in him losing love for the game.  Just like Barkley his practice swings are okay, but when he's over the ball, he truly tries to just obliterate the damn thing (I wish I could show you a video, but for his privacy's sake, I can't).

@chris3putt you are correct.  It's too easy to see the fault in others, and I'm likely even more guilty of repeating mistakes/not-learning in the even larger game of life.

 

Your buddy might listen to Hank Haney on XM or be a user of his website.  Hank frequently tells people to swing as hard as they can so they can hit the ball further.    

[Rainmaker]

Just now, newtogolf said:

Your buddy might listen to Hank Haney on XM or be a user of his website.  Hank frequently tells people to swing as hard as they can so they can hit the ball further.    

I've always wanted to swing as hard as I can.  That's where it's at . .but you need solid technique to be able to do it.  One of the things I complain about constantly to my golf teacher is the fact that I feel like I should be able to go after so much more than I do . . but I lack the technique to really unleash on it.  The better I get, though . .the more I feel I can go after it. 

My wife is a terrible golfer but naturally athletic.  One thing I've always envied is the fact that she can smash a driver as hard as she can and have it turn out well.  If she practiced even just a little - she'd be much better than me.  As it is, though . .she's awful, lol. 

[newtogolf]

5 minutes ago, Rainmaker said:

I've always wanted to swing as hard as I can.  That's where it's at . .but you need solid technique to be able to do it.  One of the things I complain about constantly to my golf teacher is the fact that I feel like I should be able to go after so much more than I do . . but I lack the technique to really unleash on it.  The better I get, though . .the more I feel I can go after it. 

My wife is a terrible golfer but naturally athletic.  One thing I've always envied is the fact that she can smash a driver as hard as she can and have it turn out well.  If she practiced even just a little - she'd be much better than me.  As it is, though . .she's awful, lol. 

The problem with most people (high handicappers) is when you tell them to swing as hard as they can, they tighten up and actually swing slower.  I've been working with some training aids where I am learning that a fast swing is not a hard swing and the feel is opposite of what you think it should be.  

[Rainmaker]

3 minutes ago, newtogolf said:

The problem with most people (high handicappers) is when you tell them to swing as hard as they can, they tighten up and actually swing slower.  I've been working with some training aids where I am learning that a fast swing is not a hard swing and the feel is opposite of what you think it should be.  

That's the truth . .most high cappers take a really inefficient path to the ball.  Doing that faster or harder won't help much at all.  Golf is truly a game of opposites . .first you do one thing, then the opposite . .then, hopefully, you got it.  At first I needed to swing more to the right . .now I need to swing more to the left.  I needed to slow down . .now I need to speed up, I needed to be smoother. . now I need to be more "violent" (to quote my teacher), lol. 

[natureboy]

33 minutes ago, newtogolf said:

The problem with most people (high handicappers) is when you tell them to swing as hard as they can, they tighten up and actually swing slower.  I've been working with some training aids where I am learning that a fast swing is not a hard swing and the feel is opposite of what you think it should be.  

The golf club is a rapier or sabre, not a Claymore.

On 12/14/2015 at 1:29 PM, dak4n6 said:

I guess my swing isn't good then, because usually my sequencing gets messed up when I swing too hard/fast.

I agree with your post above (#58). You have to be patient in letting the pivot / swing develop so things are in position for you to 'go at it' with the 'late hit'. Going hard from the top releases the club too early. You stand up on the back foot (early extension) and come out and over with a high trail shoulder, because instinctively your brain knows you need extra clearance from the ground to avoid the dreaded drop-kick.

Edited September 5, 2016 by natureboy

[newtogolf]

1 hour ago, Rainmaker said:

That's the truth . .most high cappers take a really inefficient path to the ball.  Doing that faster or harder won't help much at all.  Golf is truly a game of opposites . .first you do one thing, then the opposite . .then, hopefully, you got it.  At first I needed to swing more to the right . .now I need to swing more to the left.  I needed to slow down . .now I need to speed up, I needed to be smoother. . now I need to be more "violent" (to quote my teacher), lol. 

Many pro golfers look like they swing effortlessly because they in effect are.  They have mastered their swing and mechanics to maximize club head speed with minimal body tension so their swing just flows.  I know my best and longest shots are the ones that feel the smoothest and as though I didn't even try to hit the ball hard.