Swing and grip change results in much slower swing speed-Good or bad?

[Deke]

Hi forumers,i have recently been working on a major change in my swing and grip,and i have had some extreme results! My old swing speed was about 95-100mph,but this often resulted in bad accuracy with decent(for a beginner)distance.I often had trouble releasing my hands at impact,where it felt like both arms were resisting each other,and my bad shot was a nasty slice.My contact with the ball was not great,with only about a third of shots flying off the centre or toe(hitting a perfect pure shot from the centre was rather rare,but slight mishits were going the distance if a little off right),and my ball flight was high.After the new changes(focusing on a slower take away,and more relaxed hands)my ball contact(hitting the centre about two thirds of the time)is much better, my wedges and 7-9 irons all fly much straighter with more accuracy,my bad shot now goes left(less off centre),and my ball flight is much lower and better into the wind.My swing speed however has fallen to 80-85mph!As a result i am losing distance with my mid to long clubs,and my stiff shafts now feel odd.What do you think is my next step should be,try and speed up again and risk losing accuracy,but gaining extra yardage? Or get regular shafts and realize i will never be a big hitter,but rather a more accurate one? Sorry for the long post,i am fretting over this! Any help appreciated!

 

[the_g_man]

As a junior golfer i always wanted to hit it as far as the rest of the guys but with my swing being slow i found myself 10-20 yards behind everyone else. The best decision i made was accepting the fact that i was never going to be a big hitter, if i were you keep your swing slower and keep the good striking up, id always say to myself that i would rather be 200 yards down the fairway then 300 yards in the tree's. Distance isnt everything. If your cutting the ball it probably means your hips are coming through to early. Hope that helps

 

[kid2]

Hi forumers,i have recently been working on a major change in my swing and grip,and i have had some extreme results! My old swing speed was about 95-100mph,but this often resulted in bad accuracy with decent(for a beginner)distance.I often had trouble releasing my hands at impact,where it felt like both arms were resisting each other,and my bad shot was a nasty slice.My contact with the ball was not great,with only about a third of shots flying off the centre or toe(hitting a perfect pure shot from the centre was rather rare,but slight mishits were going the distance if a little off right),and my ball flight was high.After the new changes(focusing on a slower take away,and more relaxed hands)my ball contact(hitting the centre about two thirds of the time)is much better, my wedges and 7-9 irons all fly much straighter with more accuracy,my bad shot now goes left(less off centre),and my ball flight is much lower and better into the wind.My swing speed however has fallen to 80-85mph!As a result i am losing distance with my mid to long clubs,and my stiff shafts now feel odd.What do you think is my next step should be,try and speed up again and risk losing accuracy,but gaining extra yardage? Or get regular shafts and realize i will never be a big hitter,but rather a more accurate one? Sorry for the long post,i am fretting over this! Any help appreciated!

This is just my take Deke....But maybe a change to regular shafts might be the answer.....Since your speed has dropped you may not be loading the shafts properly.....Just a thought.....But take accuracy all day long over length my man

 

[sawtooth]

Hi, your loss of distance has probably nothing to do with the shaft flex. Whats your distance like? If you can reach 150yds with a 7I, 160 with a 6I and 170 with a 5I then you're doing well. If you are way short of this rough guide then my advice is to give your new swing and grip some time to bed down and if necessary go and see a pro.

If you are confident that your new grip and swing changes are sound then go practice/play like mad with them. If you arent then theres a chance that you'll making a rod for your own back.

Practice doesnt make perfect it makes permanent.

 

[Deke]

Thanks for the input lads,i think accuracy is probably the way to go.I have a cobra 6 iron in regular,i will take to the range with my stiff cleveland 6 and we will see what happens.Anyone else?

 

[Deke]

My old swing gave me distances of about 165 with 6 iron,155 with a 7,with further 10 yard gaps down to my lob wedge.With my new swing everything is the same until my 6 and 5 iron,with both i struggle to get further than 140 yards! Strangely enough i can now hit my 4 iron 200 or so yards(about 4 atempts out of 10).I hope with time and a lesson or two,my mid irons will sort themselves out! Cheers!

 

[Region3]

How about playing as you are for a couple of months to ingrain the changes, then gradually speed it up again when you're less likely to go back to old ways?

Unless of course part of the changes the pro made is slowing down your swing.

If I was given the choice of losing 50 yards off my drive for a 25% increase in accuracy, I don't think I'd do it.

The other downside to losing club head speed is that you'll get less spin on the ball on full approach shots.

Just my opinion, plenty will disagree.

 

[CrapHacker]

Just my opinion, plenty will disagree.

I disagree