Swinging vs Hitting

FairwayDodger

FairwayDodger

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I think the penny might finally be dropping on this one, some brilliant ball striking this morning for a change!

Any other "hitters" seeing the light..... or still holding out?
 
What's the difference between the two ?

I swing the club which then hits the ball ?!

:mmm:
 
I saw the light earlier this year.

Used to lash/hit at the ball rather than swinging through (bad days still do right enough).

Much more consistent now, it's the future, I've seen it :thup:
 
I've always been very "armsy" in the swing and would belt it as hard as I could. But watching some of the proper golfers at the county finals last week finally convinced me I had it all wrong. I've already been working on a fuller shoulder turn and trying to engage my core more.... Today it feels like the last piece of the jigsaw fell into place - swing through, don't belt it.

I hit more quality iron shots in my round today than any round for ages. Fingers crossed I can recapture the feeling tomorrow!
 
I swing during my practice swing and then hit when the ball's there, and no matter how hard I try I can't stop myself doing it.

(See my handicap progress below for an indication of how it's worked for me this year.)
 
This (hitting at it) is one of my major faults too.

When I remember to swing through and sweep the ball away my strike is so much purer and ball flight and distance are significantly improved too.

Can never understand why I often find myself in the middle of a round and yet I have somehow forgotten to make myself swing and not hit. :rolleyes:

EDIT:

I mean swing 'relaxed' and through rather than a Pro's classic swing. As Gary says below, mine too is far from textbook and guess i'm more on about rhythm than true swing.
 
Last edited:
In my humble, rubbish opinion, it's nigh on impossible to always swing freely at high speed for the ordinary hacker.

A bad grip, backswing or transition very often will put the club in a position where the brain needs to take over, the hands get funky, all to ensure that the club head meets the ball as square as possible- thus hitting.
 
I havnt got the flexibility to swing right through. 3/4 back and through is all my tight body will allow me.

I also don't have a textbook swing so I am always having to manipulate the hands to control the face and path to get the ball going towards the target.

its hard work. Lol
 
Not a Student of the Swing at all but I know exactly what FD means
It's the difference between a 160 yard 7 iron and a 145 yard 7 iron for me.
 
Ok I haven't got a clue about swing etc but what's it all about ? Don't we all swing the club ?
 
Never over analysed it but I've always been a swinger :o

Nothing to do with gaining yards, getting a better connection etc......it's just the way I get the ball moving. Always been a sweeper as well, probably loses me much needed yards, but it's the way I do it.

I'm not good enough to worry about it either way, but swinging through as opposed to hitting at the ball just seems more natural to me.

The pro at my last club said I had an extremely good swing considering I was a (happy) hacker!! :D
 
the theory goes that you swing the club and you place the ball where it gets in the way of the swing.
Whereas if you try to hit the ball, you forget about the swing and concentrate on the ball, and you either lose rhythm or try to hit the ball too hard, either way the swing is affected as your point of concentration has moved.

I should take my own advice methinks
 
im certainly in the hitter camp ,yes we all want that long languid swing of the big Eeze Ernie but look at the tour pros in general and they all apart from a very few lash the crap out of it off the tee
i have tried the ,for want of a better word the rhythym method and i do lose yardage but it really isnt my natural game so its lash the big dog and try and hit the irons as smooth as i can
 
I've never even thought about this before, I think I'm in the hitter camp. I think my best shots are usually when I just swing through it without trying to smash a big draw right enough. Food for thought, after my season is done right enough.
 
Very interesting stuff here by a golfing engineer http://www.tutelman.com/golf/swing/golfSwingPhysics3a.php#wristtorque His argument is that, on the downswing, the arms & hands are actually decelerating in the same way as a pirouetting ballet dancer's turn decelerates as they stretch out the arms. This can actually be observed in high speed time lapse photographs. He says that what follows from this is that any attempt to move the hands faster at impact will actually slow the clubhead down. He gives the example of a trebuchet, which he says is like an upside down golf swing. The rope on the end of the trebuchet is the equivalent of the club shaft. This apparatus hurls large stones huge distances without the equivalent of any hand action on the rope/shaft. The power comes from the arm of the trebuchet moving the rope & transferring all of its energy to the stone = clubhead.

I'm a swinger and feel that my shoulders & upper body turn my arms, which in turn move the club. The hands do no more than hold on to the grip & the clubhead is swung through by its own momentum, driven by the rotation of the upper body & shoulders. I'm completely left handed, except for golf & don't feel that I hit with my right hand at all. I'm a fairly long hitter for my age.

Mr. Tutelman's articles are really thought provoking for anyone interested in the mechanics of the golf swing.
 
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