How is my swing limiting club head speed?

[MichBadger]

I seem to be limited at 96-98 mph club head speed.  I’ve been lifting and doing Stack System.  Is there a limiting factor in my swing that I can work on?

 

(first-timing posting a video, so I hope this is the right spot/process)

Edited May 21, 2023 by MichBadger
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[MichBadger]

2nd video.  2 consecutive swings with very similar results.  

 

 

[slytown]

The flexibility is impressive. I think you have too mich of a wind up in the backswing and you get too much lower body movement in the downswing. Notice how far your shoulders are turned at the top and how across the line you are. Work on a shorter backswing with the club more laid off. In the downswing your hips go hard towards the ball, making you off balance. You do a good kob of shallowing, but the hip lunge forces a lot of rotation near the bottom of the swing to play catch up.

 

I recommend just shortening the backswing and keeping the lower body quite through transition, especially the feet. That way you can create more efficient speed. Your swing now looks like you have worked on speed. It reminds me of a teenager's swing.

[nkurz]

First, congratulations on posting these.  It's always brave to ask strangers to critique your swing!

 

I can't tell you how to change it, but the thing that stands out to me is that you seem to have the club extended quite early on your downswing.  Rather than pulling along the axis of the shaft with big muscles and maintaining a 90 degree wrist angle, I'd guess you probably are trying to use your wrists for power too early.  Counterintuitively, this doesn't work well for swing speed, and it might well limit you to where you are at.

 

 In a fast swing, the club needs to whip around your hands during impact.  If the club is already in line with your arms, no whipping action is possible.  Think of hitting a nail with a hammer---or even better, actually do it!  If you start with the hammer in line with your extended arm, it's hard to get any speed.  But if you start by pulling on the handle with the hammer perpendicular to your hand, and then let the hammer whip around the axis of your wrist at the end of the stroke, you  can hit the nail a lot harder.  

 

As to how to actually apply this to a golf swing...

 

 

[GoGoErky]

Hips aren’t moving correctly. Swing is too long and you get stuck in transition 

[Valtiel]

8 hours ago, slytown said:

That way you can create more efficient speed. Your swing now looks like you have worked on speed. It reminds me of a teenager's swing.

 

7 hours ago, nkurz said:

I can't tell you how to change it, but the thing that stands out to me is that you seem to have the club extended quite early on your downswing.  Rather than pulling along the axis of the shaft with big muscles and maintaining a 90 degree wrist angle, I'd guess you probably are trying to use your wrists for power too early.

 

6 hours ago, GoGoErky said:

...and you get stuck in transition 

This would all be related to the fact that there is a big reverse pivot going on here that needs to be completely bailed out in the downswing. @MichBadger this is where a lot your power loss is coming from as you're setup to the ball incorrectly for a driver:



Right out of the gate you are heavily favoring your front leg at address and have the club leaned forward like you're hitting a short iron. Some shaft lean is ok, but not when combined with this setup issue. You're leaning a little bit away from the ball with your upper body (good), but your lower body and hands are pushed forward, note the position of your right arm and your right leg compared to Phil. Phil is setup to hit slightly up on the ball, you are setup to hit down on it, so you'll have to correct this first. Get your hand position back more into the center of your body and flip your foot pressure so you're slightly favoring your back foot instead of your front.



This is where we see how the setup contributes to the reverse pivot problem. Notice how Phil perfectly rotates around that tilted angle he established at address. His body's relationship to that line does not change. On your side however you've lost all of what little angle you started with and are standing straight up at the top of the backswing. Your lower body is sliding away from the target and your upper body is leaning towards it, therefore reverse pivot. Where it really breaks down is at the very end of the backswing:



This is a pretty good indication that you're swinging beyond your current range of motion because multiple things break down here. Your right arm folds, your head comes up and rotates significantly, and your lower body thrusts away from the target. All of these breakdowns create instability and thus inefficiency, and most of your effort in the downswing is now dedicated to untangling and attempting to reconnect these disconnected pieces to even make contact with the ball, let alone hit it with power. Compare to Phil where his head moves only a *tiny* amount, with a similarly small amount of bend in his right arm, and his lower body is stable with his trail side actually starting to work back towards the target slightly.

Speed and power come from efficiency *within* your natural range of motion, and to exceed that range in the name of trying to create more power actually slows you down, which is compounded by the incorrect setup which would make even a "correct" swing less efficient. Fix your setup and shorten your backswing/shoulder rotation to start with. There will be a number of other elements to work on after that, but you need a proper setup before any of that should be considered.

[MichBadger]

Thanks to all for taking the time to respond.  I appreciate the insight and it gives me some items to

explore. 

 

@Valtiel  double thanks for putting those video clips together. It’s amazing how easily I can see what you are describing with the side by side videos. Of course, as a lefty and slightly younger than Phil, I’ve wondered many times how he hits it 50-70 yards further than me.
 

I’ll report back in a few weeks.  Thanks again.