Swing slower for more accuracy?

[chspeed]

Article in the NY Times today entitled "Want to Make More Baskets? Science Has the Answer" - read it here: https://nyti.ms/2qyjf6k

Seems obvious, and explains why many pros often say they swing only 80% or so.

[RayG]

Yeah, 80%, but those pros are still hitting it 340. If you slow down to try and steer the ball straight? not gonna happen. I will take the same swing and choke down a couple of inches and tee it lower, or use a 3 wood off the tee.

[saevel25]

11 minutes ago, RayG said:

Yeah, 80%, but those pros are still hitting it 340. If you slow down to try and steer the ball straight? not gonna happen. I will take the same swing and choke down a couple of inches and tee it lower, or use a 3 wood off the tee.

PGA Tour average is under 300 yards with the driver. 

They say 80%, but that is a feel. It could be they are swinging at 95%. Unless it is measured then I would be skeptical. That is more of an old golf adage than fact. 

[SunkTheBirdie]

Flawed swings don't slow down well. Which highlights why golf is harder than throwing. By a lot. 

Golf uses every sport as an analogy and no other sports use golf as an analogy. Wonder why that is. 

[shortstop20]

3 hours ago, chspeed said:

Seems obvious, and explains why many pros often say they swing only 80% or so.

Nothing more than a "feel".

[No Mulligans]

4 hours ago, saevel25 said:

PGA Tour average is under 300 yards with the driver. 

They say 80%, but that is a feel. It could be they are swinging at 95%. Unless it is measured then I would be skeptical. That is more of an old golf adage than fact. 

If you are referring to the PGA driving distance stat, not all of those tee shots are with driver.  I wouldn't be surprised if tour average with driver is over 300 yards.

[SunkTheBirdie]

1 minute ago, No Mulligans said:

If you are referring to the PGA driving distance stat, not all of those tee shots are with driver.  I wouldn't be surprised if tour average with driver is over 300 yards.

I would think they would select holes that people use their driver on.  

[No Mulligans]

2 minutes ago, SunkTheBirdie said:

I would think they would select holes that people use their driver on.  

Hard to do.  Take Stenson, last year he seldom used his driver on long holes, he used his 3w the majority of the time.

[saevel25]

5 minutes ago, No Mulligans said:

If you are referring to the PGA driving distance stat, not all of those tee shots are with driver.  I wouldn't be surprised if tour average with driver is over 300 yards.

Trackman has the average ball speed for the Driver at 167 mph. When hit optimally the carry distance is 295 yards.

Far away from your claim of 340. 

[iacas]

12 hours ago, chspeed said:

Seems obvious, and explains why many pros often say they swing only 80% or so.

As others said, 80% is a feel. They're swinging at 90-95%.

7 hours ago, No Mulligans said:

If you are referring to the PGA driving distance stat, not all of those tee shots are with driver.  I wouldn't be surprised if tour average with driver is over 300 yards.

It's not. They measure driving distance on holes where players are pretty much hitting driver.

@RayG, If you just gave them a 60-yard wide grid and told them it was a long drive contest, you might get the average to 340. Maybe even "probably." But that's not golf.

[chspeed]

4 hours ago, SunkTheBirdie said:

Flawed swings don't slow down well. Which highlights why golf is harder than throwing. By a lot

The article is talking about professionals. Golf is hard, but so is throwing across the diamond to first base in time to beat a world-class sprinter going up the line. :)

14 minutes ago, iacas said:

If you just gave them a 60-yard wide grid and told them it was a long drive contest, you might get the average to 340. Maybe even "probably." But that's not golf.

I think this was what the point. When throwing, good athletes and professionals naturally tune their motions to find the right mix of speed and accuracy, with slower speeds usually leading to better accuracy. It's funny that one exception the researchers found was cricket. The study did not look at the golf swing, so it may not apply at all. I just thought it was interesting.

[No Mulligans]

3 hours ago, saevel25 said:

Trackman has the average ball speed for the Driver at 167 mph. When hit optimally the carry distance is 295 yards.

Far away from your claim of 340. 

My claim of 340, where is that?

And carry distance?  I said distance (as in total distance).

Edited May 3, 2017 by No Mulligans

[saevel25]

22 minutes ago, No Mulligans said:

My claim of 340, where is that?

And carry distance?  I said distance (as in total distance).

Sorry, my bad. I got you mixed up with another. 

Carry distance matters more. It's more consistent to track actual distance. Roll out is not consistent on the course. 

[Patch]

A slower club head speed, made possible by gripping down on the shaft, might be a better discription for "....slower for more accuracy...." 

[Bucki1968]

I think that Ben Hogan always said "to save a little or hold something back" on your swing. I have always tried to keep that in mind. I figured he would know. It always felt like about 80% to me but after a club fitting (launch monitor etc.) it looks like I swing more towards 90% than 80%. Just my personal results. I would like to go back and try to swing at 80% and see what the results would be. It seems like a very slow motion swing based on my 90% swing. That feels pretty smooth and slow.

[Jack Watson]

1 hour ago, Bucki1968 said:

I think that Ben Hogan always said "to save a little or hold something back" on your swing. I have always tried to keep that in mind. I figured he would know. It always felt like about 80% to me but after a club fitting (launch monitor etc.) it looks like I swing more towards 90% than 80%. Just my personal results. I would like to go back and try to swing at 80% and see what the results would be. It seems like a very slow motion swing based on my 90% swing. That feels pretty smooth and slow.

In Five Lessons Hogan said he hits better when he hits hard and full due to muscles being stretched the same every time.

Personally I like to swing comfortably on course.  No idea percentage compared to max.

 

Edited May 4, 2017 by Jack Watson

[RayG]

grasp of sarcasm seems to be a bit limited around here sometimes...

[proto]

idk bout swinging slower but you can slow down ur back swing and then down swing u can attack it as hard as u want. slower ur back swing easier to get the club in ur back swing be more on plane.