Easy Tiger!

[Basher]

Like many amateur golfers I am guilty of teeing it up then trying to leather the cover off the ball. Often resulting in wayward slices,hooks, in fact any direction shots.

Went up for a few holes after work tonight. Got on the first, quick waggle then heyho! Tried ripping it down the fairway......nope, just sliced off toward the trees with no great distance. Played on a few holes then stopped on the 4th and thought about what I was doing and why it was going wrong.

I then made a conscious decision to swing back steadily with a good turn and keep the swing short. Follow that with a hip initiated downswing and aim to get through the ball to a good finish, again relatively smoothly.

Result, a booming drive, straight down the middle! Amazed, I teed up another and repeated the swing. Again, a long drive down the middle. Quite giddy at this stage.

I think the shorter backswing allowed me more control. The hip turn and good follow through on the downswing gave me the yardage. That's what I thought anyway.

Does my theory sound something like? Gotta say that I was chuffed to bits with the result. It just seems strange that a shorter backswing can result in a longer drive. It has to be the hip turn and follow through which provides the power for the drive. Tell me if I'm wrong guys!!!

 

[Potor_36]

Played this afternoon with pretty much exactly the same approach. Left the driver at home after some terrible tee shots in recent rounds and tried to focus on using a controlled backswing and a hip-led downswing.

The result? 7 out of 8 fairways hit (usually I'll get 3 or 4 on a really good day) and probably the best ball-striking round I've ever had. Shame the greens had been worked on earlier in the week and were full of little holes or I feel I could have threatened a PB

Coincidence? I think not. There must be a few lessons to be learnt here.

 

[Alex1975]

I dont think you are wrong and I am sure all of what you have done helps. To add to your point on the shorter back swing, all or most of the power in a swing is in the last 80* or a little over half a meter I have been told. I also feel this for myself.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

It's been said by a lot of pros that most amatuers they play with in pro-ams swing way too fast and way too long. I don't think there is any coincidence that a shorter and better sequenced swing will give you those results. The problem I can see is to keep doing it with a competition card in your hand and a bit of pressure.

On the other hand if you can work on it and get it to become a permanent change then it'll give you more accuracy, more length (it rolls further on short grass) and more consistency. I hope it works and let us know if this eureka moment holds up

 

[brendy]

watch the lady pros, none of them have a lightening fast swing and hit such a consistent ball its almost unfair that they only play half of the course.

 

[Imurg]

Talking of Tiger, whenever I watch him tee-off he seems to try to smack the ball into the next Galaxy. I always think to myself if he slowed it down a bit then he might actually hit a fairway or 2.

 

[Region3]

I'm sure the extra distance comes from hitting the middle of the driver face.

They have amazing technology built in to them so that the sweet spot will give a little then catapult the ball away, like a trampoline.

A 90mph swing out of the sweet spot is going further and straighter than a 100mph swing away from the middle.

But then you start hitting it well and think "wow, now if I just swing a bit harder it will go miles!"

 

[RGDave]

A 90mph swing out of the sweet spot is going further and straighter than a 100mph swing away from the middle.

I can testify that this is true. Doesn't make it fun though

 

[BROOKIE]

remember seeing david fehrety hitting a driver and say with some irony,you hit soft and the ball goes further..smiling

 

[Flarkey]

Yep I agree. I experienced something similar lately. After a round where I sliced all my tee shots (driver and 3 wood) I nipped down to the driving range to sort it out.

At the range I was still slicing my woods, but my irons were all fine. I deduced that it was my habit of trying to 'leather' the ball into oblivion with a wood that was the problem. I believe the issue was that in my downswing my hips would be ahead of my arms and club, which resulted in an open clubface at impact and the habitual slice.

My solution was to slow down my backswing. My swing normally has a timing that I count in my head of 1-2-3-WHACK!, but I changed this to a 1-2-3-4-WHACK! which had the resultant effect of ten shots straight down the middle.

A simple solution to a terrible problem!.

remember seeing david fehrety hitting a driver and say with some irony,you hit soft and the ball goes further..smiling

I like that quote Brookie!

 

[HawkeyeMS]

I've been working on this all year and my shots have definately improved.

My back swing was always too slow and long meaning I was out of sync and in no position to return the club to the ball and the transition from bacswing to downswing was way too quick. I've actually sped up my backswing but slowed the initial part of my downswing.

I think of my swing from the point of view of my shoulders rotating back and through without forcing it at the same speed and trust that my arms and club will just follow. I never think of hitting the ball, just making a swing a letting the ball get in the way.

 

[StrangelyBrown]

My last thought before pulling the trigger is 'let the club do the work'. It's slowed me down and got me into sequence resulting in a nice fade rather than the high slice I was suffering with previously.

 

[SwingSlow]

Had the same problem - hence the choice for my Forum name! Also I find that when I try to leather it, I tense up on the follow through and don't release the club properly with resulting graceful and not so graceful high fade/wides/slices.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I have a lot of movement in my swing and so there is plenty that can go wrong if the timing is out so I really have to focus on making a decent turn and keeping it in synch. I used the tour tempo cd last winter to slow my swing from something breaking the sound barrier to a mere blur and it did have some positive effects. It's starting to get quick again (cue some shanks) and so I'll work on it again. I've a refresher lesson next Thursday (one of just four between now and March) so I'm sure tempo will come up again

 

[sev112]

RIGHT YOU LOT - STOP THIS RUBBISH RIGHT NOW !!!!

You are all wrong, you all need to keep swinging with really long backswings, and fast downswings - that's the only way to play golf, and to enjoy golf, and to see the whole of the golf course etc etc etc

I am writing to teh Moderator to have this shameful thread removed off here.

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P.S. Anyone who spots any of my previous posts on here advocating much shorter backswings and reduced wrist cocks, is completely mistaken

P.P.S How on earth am i ever going to have a chance to win anything unless the world of golf maintains the suprelong backswing and massive wrist cock