Longest off the tee with the smoothest swing?

[nevets88]

@Zeph posted about Cameron Champ (besides the epic name), who has such a smooth looking swing given his prodigious distance. Sasho MacKenzie bought it to my attention on Twitter. Watson and Day look like they're swinging hard compared to Champ.

 

[Zeph]

It's all about speed. Swinging the club will of course flex it and provide resistance, but you don't need a lot of muscles or power to swing the club fast. What gives distance is speed and being able to use the body to turn in a way that maximizes speed without giving up too much accuracy. Long-drive competitiors take it to the extreme, but also lose a lot of accuracy. Being a long hitter demands more accuracy. Someone hitting it 290 can stray more degrees off the indended line than someone hitting it 340. Being 50 yards closer in the rough is of course often better than 50 yards further back in the fairway.

You can have a lot of clubhead lag coming into the ball, but still not hit it very far since the club isn't moving fast enough. Looking at the long hitters, they create a lot of torque by the hips leading the rotation and pulling on the rest of the body.

It's difficult to gauge how "hard" a player swings with the naked eye. An action looking hard might not be faster than one looking less hard. It happens so fast and especially time the club travels from the clubhead pointing up to where the ball is hit, that we can't say which club travelled at 120 mph and which at 125 mph.

Here's a quick comparison of five players. The first three are long hitters (Champ, Rory, DJ). The last two average around 290 (Simpson, Snedeker). A video displays it even better how the longer hitters uses the lower body to create torque and pulls the upper body along, while the last two gets the upper and lower body a bit more in sync coming down from the top. You don't want the upper body getting too out of sync either, or you'll lose that energy you are building and having to throw the club out. If you are able to lead with the lower body and create maximum torque without losing the upper-lower body sync, and being able to store the energy with the lag of the club, by the time it unleashes, you will create a lot of clubhead speed.

Lower body pulls upper body. Upper body pulls arms. Arms pulls hands. Hands pulls shaft. Shaft pulls clubhead. That chain creates a whip-like action and you can't achieve a high speed at the end if there's not enough at the beginning. If you have a whip and want to hit it as hard as you can, you don't just use the wrists or arms and wrists. You use the entire body to gain momentum and torque you can translate through each part of the chain to make the whip go even faster.

Club length, loft, ball, spin etc. is also a part of the equation, but I suppose most of them are able to maximize distance based on their swing speed. Simpson could never hit it as far as Rory without swinging faster.

Golf is more elasticity than power maybe. And if you are able to control that elasticity and utilize it to maximize speed, you will be able to hit it a long way. What they gain from lifting weights might be more about core stability and being able to support and finely tune a big swing rather than strength in lifting a lot of weight.

Edited September 23, 2018 by Zeph

[colin007]

I don't think I ever get the impression that DJ is swinging hard, it's always amazing to see the ball just go with him, I'm always thinking he swung at 80%. 

[HJJ003]

11 minutes ago, colin007 said:

I don't think I ever get the impression that DJ is swinging hard, it's always amazing to see the ball just go with him, I'm always thinking he swung at 80%. 

I second DJ. I think he looks pretty smooth hammering the ball out there. 

[dennyjones]

Fred Couples was a great example of this

[Aguirre]

15 hours ago, dennyjones said:

Fred Couples was a great example of this

Yes. Ernie Els, too.

[3jacker]

Louis Oosthuizen comes to mind. Freddie.  Ernie.  Sam Snead...

Rory looks like he's swinging extremely hard... it's impressive, but not "smooth" to me.

[Zeph]

On 9/24/2018 at 4:40 PM, 3jacker said:

Louis Oosthuizen comes to mind. Freddie.  Ernie.  Sam Snead...

Rory looks like he's swinging extremely hard... it's impressive, but not "smooth" to me.

Who hits it farthest? I looked up some numbers, and Louis, Freddie and Ernie all seems to hit it around 300 yards. I suppose there is a limit to how far someone can hit it while still having a swing that looks smooth. Ernie is listed with 111 in clubhead speed and Louis 114. Ernie and Freddie are older, but Freddie is hitting it farther now than he did 20 years ago. Probably more because of equipment than swing speed.

To hit it farther than 300, you need more clubhead speed and a snappier transition, which makes for a less smooth swing.

Edited September 26, 2018 by Zeph

[3jacker]

I think Ernie and Freddie would be up there in terms of SS if they were 20 years younger.  As for Louie, he has the ability to really stretch it out. A lot in reserve. I recall a 340 yarder on a hole a few years back that was the "long drive hole." You could see the little extra he gave it, but it was still smooth as silk.

At Bay Hill I watched him joking with Bubba when they were next to each other on the range. Spectators were ribbing him when Bubbas drives were landing in the bushes on the far end of the range, about 20 yds past him - easily a 300+ yard carry. He launched one into the bushes and folks cheered/laughed.  Then Bubba hit one that disappeared in the air it went so far. 

He's not a "long" hitter day in/day out though.  I'm sure many others could hit it 30 yards further than they choose to as well... but when he swings harder, it still looks smooooooth.

[GolfLug]

Luke List has to be in the top 3..

 

[nevets88]