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Taking more club and dialing it back

golfinFF

golfinFF

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Going through swing changes has me swing more with the big muscles and starting the down swing with my lower body/left hip bump. To be able to do this successfully I'm swing at what feels 75-80% speed. Leaving me a club shorter but much much more accurate in both being on target line and distance control.

Playing Friday I ended up clubbing up what equated to two clubs over what I would have two months ago, or one more over what I'm currently seeing and was hitting shots much closer to my target then I have been.

Example- 153 yd par 3 to center, pin was front probably 145ish I took an easy 8i instead of a full 9i and rattled the flag. Later tried to hit a full 6i 190yds and missed short and well right, next was a 200yd shot that I took an easy 4i and landed it dead on my initial target line right side of the green.

I'm hoping through much more practice and repetition that I'll be able to gain my distance back and keep the same control that I'm seeing now. Am I hoping for too much?
 
Maybe too much in hoping for the distance to creep back up. I think that if you've found a shorter, controlled swing that you can use more consistently, add it to the bag as another weapon.

I've recently done the same and find myself going for the controlled shot if I'm between clubs. Rather the ball go where we want, right?
 
Taking more club and dialing it back

Definitely want the ball going where I want and being slightly shorter isn't a huge deal but would like to be able stretch a club out and be accurate as well. Length is an advantage sometimes and I don't wanna give up going at par5's in two because it's a fun part of the game for me
 
Butch Harmon believes more amateurs should take more club and swing at about 75%. In my lesson on Wed my instructor and I worked on tempo. With the smoother swing I was seeing some small distance gains with my irons.

The he smoother swing produces a better result for me too. Not sure if I will make the move to club up yet
 
I normally take more club on long approaches and swing easier. Less likely to make a huge mistake. If I swing full out, trouble can follow.
 
golfinFF said:
Going through swing changes has me swing more with the big muscles and starting the down swing with my lower body/left hip bump. To be able to do this successfully I'm swing at what feels 75-80% speed. Leaving me a club shorter but much much more accurate in both being on target line and distance control.

Playing Friday I ended up clubbing up what equated to two clubs over what I would have two months ago, or one more over what I'm currently seeing and was hitting shots much closer to my target then I have been.

Example- 153 yd par 3 to center, pin was front probably 145ish I took an easy 8i instead of a full 9i and rattled the flag. Later tried to hit a full 6i 190yds and missed short and well right, next was a 200yd shot that I took an easy 4i and landed it dead on my initial target line right side of the green.

I'm hoping through much more practice and repetition that I'll be able to gain my distance back and keep the same control that I'm seeing now. Am I hoping for too much?
Click to expand...


This is such an important part of the game man, once you know what your clubs s can do at 70 to 110% you can ask them to do anything you want and you'll know within reason exactly what to expect. It's truly a gratifying feeling
 
I have been doing the same from about 160 in ... but I have played with people who think you get extra credit if you can x club xxx yards, regardless of where it ends up ... its like a blow to their ego to "club up."
 
golfinFF said:
Definitely want the ball going where I want and being slightly shorter isn't a huge deal but would like to be able stretch a club out and be accurate as well. Length is an advantage sometimes and I don't wanna give up going at par5's in two because it's a fun part of the game for me
Click to expand...
I'd think that you could always dial it back up when you wanted, but the sacrifice for doing so would be whatever accuracy dialing down gives you. But in going for greens in two, that is always the risk anyway. Having the extra distance when you want it it a great tool to have, as well as dialing it back to be more accurate. It just gives you more options to choose from.
 
I began dialing it down a few months ago trying to focus more on fundamentals. Lately the practice has helped me gain the distance back that I lost while still not swinging at full power since contact with the ball is cleaner and consistent


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Taking more club and dialing it back

This conversation is pretty interesting to me, as I really find no difference in distance between 100% and what I feel is about 60% effort on my swings. Have actually been going between 100% and 60(ish)% through all of my clubs on the range here lately while trying to dial my ball striking in after a long hiatus. 5i is right at 200, 8i is right between 165-170 yards, and PW is 140, on the money, rather I step on it or take what I feel is a fairly half-hearted swing. I'm not complaining, but I'm sincerely dumbfounded at how so much less effort is providing the same yardages. I'll take it, but it's weird.


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Sounds like a great plan. I struggle with pulls when i dial it back so tend to go back to full swings but looks like you have a routine to see it through.
 
Colt you bring up a very good point on distance kept/lost/gained.

I think that depends on the shafts one is playing and wether their backed off swing is loading them correctly or if they're creating enough spin to keep the ball up.

I'm playing f5 (x-stiff) recoils in my DPC's and until I can get on a monitor to prove it I'm thinking I'm lacking in the SS and/or more likely transition to fully load them.


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I make most of my swings (for full shots) maybe 80% power. If I really try to hammer the ball I often get a terrible slice. So I guess you could say that I take one club longer than what I would do if I swinged at 100%
 
golfinFF said:
Colt you bring up a very good point on distance kept/lost/gained.

I think that depends on the shafts one is playing and wether their backed off swing is loading them correctly or if they're creating enough spin to keep the ball up.

I'm playing f5 (x-stiff) recoils in my DPC's and until I can get on a monitor to prove it I'm thinking I'm lacking in the SS and/or more likely transition to fully load them.


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Click to expand...

If you have the chance, get onto a launch monitor that can give you ball speed and swing speed numbers. I did something similar to you last summer, so I was swinging easy with a 7 iron for a 150 yard shot whereas it used to be an 8 iron for me. I was hitting it straighter, but I got into a mode where I never swung aggressively at it. I was not taking lessons at the time, but when I started taking lessons in the fall, my coach showed me that my swing was basically all arms and not using my lower body very much at all. Admittedly, I've also switched irons at that time, but now I'm at a place in my swing where 8 iron is a 160 yard shot, and that comes from using my lower body a lot more. It's nice to have the feeling of swinging easier to have your swing be more in sync, but I'd be wary of any swing change that makes you lose swing speed.
 
Amol that's the plan I'll hop on with my instructor soon and see what the numbers say.

I'm working with my instructor on starting with my left hip, I'm making good progress but not so much at full speed.


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More club and dialing back is something I really just haven't figured out how to do. I'm just not consistent enough to know the difference between a 75% swing and a 50% swing or anything else other than my normal terrible tempo. Sure swinging out of my shoes normally leads to awful results, so I try to just swing normally…and when I do try to take something off, or dial it back, I either get way out of tempo leading to the worst looking golf shot in history--or I guess my 60% swing is really a 40% swing and I hit my extra club halfway to the hole.

I've started to play with my approach distances lately. If I'm consistently coming up short with my distances, I'll play to the longer number on my GPS watch. If I'm flying everything a touch long, I'll play to the front number. I can't say yet that it's worked, but it's easier for me than trying to alter my swing tempo with thoughts of 78% no wait 83% should do it.
 
golfinFF said:
Amol that's the plan I'll hop on with my instructor soon and see what the numbers say.

I'm working with my instructor on starting with my left hip, I'm making good progress but not so much at full speed.


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Click to expand...

Slightly related: starting my downswing with bumping my left (front) hip forward to get more weight on my front side at impact has made a world of difference for me. Pros on the average have 80% of their weight on their front foot at impact, that's amazing to me and what I'm trying to get to and the only way I can do that is initiating the downswing with the left hip moving forward. You sound like you're on the right path.
 
Colt said:
This conversation is pretty interesting to me, as I really find no difference in distance between 100% and what I feel is about 60% effort on my swings. Have actually been going between 100% and 60(ish)% through all of my clubs on the range here lately while trying to dial my ball striking in after a long hiatus. 5i is right at 200, 8i is right between 165-170 yards, and PW is 140, on the money, rather I step on it or take what I feel is a fairly half-hearted swing. I'm not complaining, but I'm sincerely dumbfounded at how so much less effort is providing the same yardages. I'll take it, but it's weird.


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Click to expand...

I wouldn't say it's weird, it just confirms that swinging hard doesn't necessarily mean swinging fast. Driver yields the best example. How many among us have decided on a wide open hole to take driver and really go after it, then hit a shot pure only to have it fly 30 yards shorter than we expect? Most of us, when we want to max out our distance, want to swing harder. As a result we tend to tense up, gripping a little tighter, tightening the forearms, and most of the rest of our bodies. What feels like generating maximum club speed actually works against developing club speed.

OTOH, often when we decide we're going to take something off and hit to a yardage, we sometimes hit it farther than we expected. We're relaxed and our muscles move more freely, and as a result we are able to generate more speed in the swing. It doesn't feel like we're doing it, but we are. It's one of the most difficult things to overcome, mentally, for me at least. When I want to go after it I still wind up tensing up and muscling up rather than relaxing and letting things flow.
 
Kinda similar to what I do in a way. Sometimes when I'm between clubs I'll just choke up a bit on the longer club and take a knockdown swing.

I find that when I try to dial it back on a full shot, I often overdo it and come up way short, or I decelerate and cause all manner of horribleness top go down.

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golfinFF said:
Going through swing changes has me swing more with the big muscles and starting the down swing with my lower body/left hip bump. To be able to do this successfully I'm swing at what feels 75-80% speed. Leaving me a club shorter but much much more accurate in both being on target line and distance control.

Playing Friday I ended up clubbing up what equated to two clubs over what I would have two months ago, or one more over what I'm currently seeing and was hitting shots much closer to my target then I have been.

Example- 153 yd par 3 to center, pin was front probably 145ish I took an easy 8i instead of a full 9i and rattled the flag. Later tried to hit a full 6i 190yds and missed short and well right, next was a 200yd shot that I took an easy 4i and landed it dead on my initial target line right side of the green.

I'm hoping through much more practice and repetition that I'll be able to gain my distance back and keep the same control that I'm seeing now. Am I hoping for too much?
Click to expand...

145 yards via your 8-iron
200 yards via your 4-iron

Do you need to hit those clubs further than that?
 
O'Carroll said:
More club and dialing back is something I really just haven't figured out how to do. I'm just not consistent enough to know the difference between a 75% swing and a 50% swing or anything else other than my normal terrible tempo. Sure swinging out of my shoes normally leads to awful results, so I try to just swing normally…and when I do try to take something off, or dial it back, I either get way out of tempo leading to the worst looking golf shot in history--or I guess my 60% swing is really a 40% swing and I hit my extra club halfway to the hole.

I've started to play with my approach distances lately. If I'm consistently coming up short with my distances, I'll play to the longer number on my GPS watch. If I'm flying everything a touch long, I'll play to the front number. I can't say yet that it's worked, but it's easier for me than trying to alter my swing tempo with thoughts of 78% no wait 83% should do it.
Click to expand...

I take yardage off by controlling how far I take it back not how hard I swing it seems to be working well and I can keep the same tempo.

arydolphin said:
Slightly related: starting my downswing with bumping my left (front) hip forward to get more weight on my front side at impact has made a world of difference for me. Pros on the average have 80% of their weight on their front foot at impact, that's amazing to me and what I'm trying to get to and the only way I can do that is initiating the downswing with the left hip moving forward. You sound like you're on the right path.
Click to expand...

We are working on the same thing got to get my weight shifted forward and keep my right foot down longer through impact.


SkiBumGolfer said:
Kinda similar to what I do in a way. Sometimes when I'm between clubs I'll just choke up a bit on the longer club and take a knockdown swing.

I find that when I try to dial it back on a full shot, I often overdo it and come up way short, or I decelerate and cause all manner of horribleness top go down.

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Click to expand...

ditto on the choking down to get a little off the club plus I'm working on controlling length of backswing and staying aggressive through the ball.

UglySwing said:
145 yards via your 8-iron
200 yards via your 4-iron

Do you need to hit those clubs further than that?
Click to expand...

Need probably not as I still have clubs I can club up to or down. But I could consistently hit both 15-20yds farther carry and hopefully can stretch them back out there when needed.



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lately I feel like for me, contact is better and distance more predictable when I go at 1 speed, and that's probably 80%. to manage distance gaps, I'll try to work the ball different ways, as my fade swing tends to be approx -7y than my normal going draw.


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I'll echo a lot of what golfinFF said. In my experience you can effectively reduce the club's distance by reducing the backswing and choking down on the club. The key is that you have to maintain the same tempo through the ball. The reduced backswing and grip will take care of the distance and will help you have more control.
 
I go back and forth on this, sometimes it works great, and other times I do better swinging more aggressively. I guess it helps to be able to hit clubs more than one distance only. I have three sets of distances I can play off with irons, but have wondered if maybe I should just stick to one or the other.
 
BamBooBender said:
I go back and forth on this, sometimes it works great, and other times I do better swinging more aggressively. I guess it helps to be able to hit clubs more than one distance only. I have three sets of distances I can play off with irons, but have wondered if maybe I should just stick to one or the other.
Click to expand...

I'm shortening my backswing and staying aggressive through the impact zone to control carry distance, along with ball position to control flight and release distance. I haven't got it down 100% for every club but have a good idea of what club and swing will give me what I need.
 
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