How hard do you swing? How hard should you swing?

[Moleman]

Played 9 holes after work today and hardly had one decent swing, felt I was searching for something the whole round..

 

When I'm in my swing funk I go one of two ways, either swing slow and deliberately or (as I did today) try to swing as hard as I can without loosing balance.. The crazy thing is that one method is as likely to get me round the course as the next which doesn't make sense as they are at opposite ends of the spectrum..

 

Anyway it got me thinking, how fast do you guys swing, 100%, 80%, 60%??

 

I'm sure there's a sweet spot there for me somewhere, just haven't found it yet!

[midweston]

Monte posted on his blog recently...people say the pros swing at 80%, but thats a myth. If you check their max clubhead speed and average (on drives), they are very close...meaning they go after it all the time.

[jconroy12]

I think the back swing should be not hurried and smooth. The transition should definitely be very smooth and then go at the ball as hard as you can. I find when I am not playing well, it is usually caused by a rushed backswing and transition. A backswing that is too quick normally results in a jerky transition which messes up the whole swing. Once the transition is good, you can normally go at the ball as hard as you can. That is what I find anyway

[juststeve]

1. Don't conflate swinging hard with swinging fast. They are different things.

 

2. Give yourself permission to swing as fast as you can while maintaining balance and center face contact. For most people that won't be as close to your maximum as it's for the pros.

 

3. If you want to be a true WRXer just swing flat out all the time and then tell us about the one you happened to hit squarely.

 

Steve

[naval2006]

I go for it, especially with woods and long irons. I like to feel I speed up right after I hit the ball. I'm not a long hitter, but the faster you go the less likely to misshit.

[Moleman]

A good Tempo is the most elusive thing for me, when I have it everything feels smooth and unhurried, too often though I get mechanical and snatchy..

 

Definitely something I need to improve..

[OTTgolf]

A good Tempo is the most elusive thing for me, when I have it everything feels smooth and unhurried, too often though I get mechanical and snatchy..

 

Definitely something I need to improve..

 

Snatchy made me laugh. Don't go getting snatchy damit. You just said it, Tempo is the key.

[Exactice808]

Monte posted on his blog recently...people say the pros swing at 80%, but thats a myth. If you check their max clubhead speed and average (on drives), they are very close...meaning they go after it all the time.

 

Monte did make this point and I 100% agree on it, also... how do you know what the heck 100% vs 80% vs 70% is any ways.

 

I personally feel, "tempo" as stated above is what sets your swing speed, You swing a club what naturally feels right to you where you stay the most balanced throughout your swing. If you swing and you are falling, slipping and sliding, it doesnt mean you are swinging too hard, just means you are not swinging correct for your body.

 

If you are swinging slower, but you cant sync your body and ball contact consistently, then you are out of tempo/timing and maybe need to speed things up.

 

Anyways.... grab a club and swing it what feels natural were you are well planted/stable.... there is your good swing speed....

 

Everyone can try to swing @ 120+mph, but not everyone is "meant" to swing at 120+mph......

[Dan42nepa]

I swing about 80 percent. I try and have a consistant speed for every shot except perhaps the driver. For me. swinging hard would be hard to replicate shot after shot.

[MonteScheinblum]

Setup decent, make a backswing that isn't horrible, be patient in transtion and.....

[Petunia Sprinkle]

I always think of my first mother-in-law on tee shots. I want to hit it as hard as I can, but, I want to savor it.

[RossRules]

I always think of my first mother-in-law on tee shots. I want to hit it as hard as I can, but, I want to savor it.

 

Hahaha, post of the year....

[Hoganstriker]

I swing at a comfortable pace in balance. I don't swing hard ever. My driver goes 250-260 average. Occasionally I'll catch one and get 280 or so. I used to swing very much harder but results were not much different.

[Gamble Gamble]

I swing at 100% of what is capable on all full shots.

[golf1931]

I have some weird thing going on lately where set up way open and try to hit a fade and swing as hard as I can and the ball gets ~10 yard draw. Weird stuff but lately: I've been swinging as hard as I can off the tee.

[Moleman]

Played yesterday and my only swing thought was good tempo and swing thru the ball, shot my best score in ages..

 

The trick is remembering this the next time I'm out!

[juststeve]

Played 9 holes after work today and hardly had one decent swing, felt I was searching for something the whole round..

 

When I'm in my swing funk I go one of two ways, either swing slow and deliberately or (as I did today) try to swing as hard as I can without loosing balance.. The crazy thing is that one method is as likely to get me round the course as the next which doesn't make sense as they are at opposite ends of the spectrum..

 

Anyway it got me thinking, how fast do you guys swing, 100%, 80%, 60%??

 

I'm sure there's a sweet spot there for me somewhere, just haven't found it yet!

 

How hard/fast should you swing? Surely the answer depends on what you are trying to accomplish.

 

You may want to hit the ball like a Re-Max long driver. Hit the ball as far as you can and hope to get one in a 60 yard wide grid. A reasonable strategy in a contest where it just takes one "good one" to defeat a opponent head to head and the bad ones don't count. . You don't have to find your foul balls and hit them from where you find them, just need that one big hit.

 

If you watch he Re-Max finals as I have for several years past you notice two thing. First the contestants hit a lot of balls that would not just miss the fairway on a real golf course, they would be completely out of play. Second, there is a great deal of shot to shot variability in how far even their good shots travel. Neither of these things keeps someone from advancing in the Re-Max, so long as they get one in the grid. Not so playing golf for your best score on a real course.

 

Playing real golf requires a lot of things long driving doesn't, two of the most important of which are driving the ball in play and controlling the distance you hit your shots. In play does not mean necessarily in the fairway but is does mean driving into positions where you have an unobstructed path on your next shot from a playable lie and take no penalty shots. With regard to distance control its important to recognize that hitting a shot 20 yards further than you expect can be worse than hitting it 20 yards wide. Either way and you just missed the shot. If the Re-Max guys are any indication swinging as fast as you can is incompatible with keeping the ball in play and controlling the distance you hit your shots. To do that you need to back down from maximum speed and swing the club at a pace that allows you to control the ball.

 

Steve

[NZgolfer1991]

When you have a yardage of 170 yards what would you hit? a full 7 iron? 6 iron? play to the yardage and hit a full shot. Dont complicate it and think you need to swing at 83.5% to hit it consistently all the time.

Learn your full swing yardages and use that to determine how far or hard you need to hit it. Everyone will have a comfortable rhythm and tempo that they swing at

 

I might be wrong but do people make a full swing but throttle the speed/effort in order to hit the club a certain yardage? Would you not restrict the length of the swing yet still apply the same effort into that 3/4 swing to hit it the required distance?

 

I guess what I am saying is I always swing at 100% it might be a 100% 3/4 swing but its still 100%!

[BenHoganSlam1953]

Setup decent, make a backswing that isn't horrible, be patient in transtion and.....

 

I'm getting there myself, tricky part was figuring out the proper speed of my backswing. Too slow and I lose a lot of club head speed, too fast and I pull the shot. I find if I do it at the same speed that I lift my arm above my head - my downswing just explodes. Is this what they mean when they talk about explosive power in the swing on TV?

[juststeve]

When you have a yardage of 170 yards what would you hit? a full 7 iron? 6 iron? play to the yardage and hit a full shot. Dont complicate it and think you need to swing at 83.5% to hit it consistently all the time.

Learn your full swing yardages and use that to determine how far or hard you need to hit it. Everyone will have a comfortable rhythm and tempo that they swing at

 

I might be wrong but do people make a full swing but throttle the speed/effort in order to hit the club a certain yardage? Would you not restrict the length of the swing yet still apply the same effort into that 3/4 swing to hit it the required distance?

 

I guess what I am saying is I always swing at 100% it might be a 100% 3/4 swing but its still 100%!

 

I'm not sure how much it helps others to know what I personally would do, but since you asked 170 is a real good number for my stock 6 iron. I can speed up my swing a bit and hit a 7 iron that far, but with some additional dispersion in direction and distance. I can really amp up my swing and carry an 8 iron 170, but with a lot less consistency than I can with either the 6 or 7. Hitting the "real big" 8 introduces more dispersion on good strikes but brings some mishits into the picture.

 

I've played with a lot of really good golfers, pros and top amateurs, over the years, and not one of them has routinely hit the ball to their maximum distance on the course. Each has demonstrated the ability to hit a shot further than normal when circumstances require them to do so. An extra 10 or even 20 yard on tap when needed. Otherwise they swing at what you might think of as a cruising speed, not slow by any means but also not as hard as they can.

 

On the other hand, I've played with lots of duffers who go at it as hard as they can all the time. In baseball there is a saying "swing hard in case you hit it". I don't know about baseball but it doesn't work in golf.

 

Steve

[DevilDog]

Longest hitter I know at my home club looks like he is hardly swinging but he is swinging fast as he can he will tell you every swing. Reason he looks unhurried and easy is because of what Monte said, everything is in perfect sequence and balance.

[Jarri]

Swing as hard as you can IN SEQUENCE and in TILT...

 

What I see people do when they try to hit one out there is they swing hard from the top, thrusting their shoulders, getting ahead of the ball... leading with shoulders and arms and spinning laterally...

 

Any one of the moves about is in isolation merits a full condemnation... all together BYE BYE ball followed by "I came out of that one"...

[juststeve]

Longest hitter I know at my home club looks like he is hardly swinging but he is swinging fast as he can he will tell you every swing. Reason he looks unhurried and easy is because of what Monte said, everything is in perfect sequence and balance.

 

Its a given that long hitters swing fast. That's the only way you can hit it long. That goes to the point I made about Re-Max guys. Given the nature of the long drive competition one must swing as fast as they can to compete. Golf however is different. Its not so much about hitting the ball long as it is about controlling your ball. Controlling your ball is impossible if you're swinging flat out all the time.

 

Steve

[BdaGolfer]

As Steve mentioned above, hard and fast are not the same thing. For me, hard feels like more physical effort, more strain (think of the guys puffing and panting on the range after every swing); fast is smooth, connected, balanced etc. and is easier to do longer.

 

Either way, once you are swinging beyond the speed where you can maintain balance and center face contact, you're going too fast - back off until you find that spot. With improving technique you can get faster until you hit your natural limit.

[RichieHunt]

I try to go at it pretty much as hard as I can. In fact, your brain will act as a governor to prevent you from swinging as hard as you can as it overreacts to the threat of injury. So I tend to remind myself throughout a round of golf to try and turn that governor off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

RH

[juststeve]

I try to go at it pretty much as hard as I can. In fact, your brain will act as a governor to prevent you from swinging as hard as you can as it overreacts to the threat of injury. So I tend to remind myself throughout a round of golf to try and turn that governor off.

 

 

Richie:

 

Are you saying you go at it as hard as you can with every club on every shot, or are you saying something else?

 

Steve

 

 

 

 

 

 

RH

[herdman]

I think swinging easier gets you in more trouble more than not.

[NZgolfer1991]

When you have a yardage of 170 yards what would you hit? a full 7 iron? 6 iron? play to the yardage and hit a full shot. Dont complicate it and think you need to swing at 83.5% to hit it consistently all the time.

Learn your full swing yardages and use that to determine how far or hard you need to hit it. Everyone will have a comfortable rhythm and tempo that they swing at

 

I might be wrong but do people make a full swing but throttle the speed/effort in order to hit the club a certain yardage? Would you not restrict the length of the swing yet still apply the same effort into that 3/4 swing to hit it the required distance?

 

I guess what I am saying is I always swing at 100% it might be a 100% 3/4 swing but its still 100%!

 

I'm not sure how much it helps others to know what I personally would do, but since you asked 170 is a real good number for my stock 6 iron. I can speed up my swing a bit and hit a 7 iron that far, but with some additional dispersion in direction and distance. I can really amp up my swing and carry an 8 iron 170, but with a lot less consistency than I can with either the 6 or 7. Hitting the "real big" 8 introduces more dispersion on good strikes but brings some mishits into the picture.

 

I've played with a lot of really good golfers, pros and top amateurs, over the years, and not one of them has routinely hit the ball to their maximum distance on the course. Each has demonstrated the ability to hit a shot further than normal when circumstances require them to do so. An extra 10 or even 20 yard on tap when needed. Otherwise they swing at what you might think of as a cruising speed, not slow by any means but also not as hard as they can.

 

On the other hand, I've played with lots of duffers who go at it as hard as they can all the time. In baseball there is a saying "swing hard in case you hit it". I don't know about baseball but it doesn't work in golf.

 

Steve

 

Sorry it was more of a rhetorical question than anything but you answered you question by saying "170 is a real good number for my stock 6 iron".

I think adding percentages or ideas of how hard you should swing is tough because someone's 80% is another persons 100%.

 

Sorry if I came across as rude I didn't mean to.

[Shawn Paul]

I would say about 90% because if I swing 100% control is compromised. For me. Some clubs I swing better faster like 4 iron I can get after at almost full bore, but if I'm full bore with the 3W off the turf then look the truck out.

[herdman]

I would say about 90% because if I swing 100% control is compromised. For me. Some clubs I swing better faster like 4 iron I can get after at almost full bore, but if I'm full bore with the 3W off the turf then look the truck out.

 

That is me. I am better of to swing faster with an iron but the woods watch out. That could get a little uglier.