More Powerful "Hit"

[Simon Woo]

Re: More Powerful "Hit"

http://www.golfonline.com/golfonline...139642,00.html

The last sentence :
Just by rotating your left forearm, wrist and hand, you will move the clubhead several feet back and through and generate an awful lot of clubhead speed.

This was exactly what I was trying to do to get a more powerful release/impact, and that alone has helped me add 20yds to my 7i. Are you saying that this should not be a conscious effort? The only difference for me is that before I was hitting straight, and after trying this 'release' I am also hitting straight. I am probably one of those weird ones who have been hitting the balls straight since day one, but maybe that's because I am trying to control the shots so much and compensating with distance? Is that possible?

[pnearn]

Re: More Powerful "Hit"

If it works for you then fly with it!! I had a hands based release for 2 years as I say, consicously trying to turn my forearms and hands over. I found whilst powerful it required exact timing else I would pull or push

I now use my hips and hands together at the transition with the feeling that my hips pull my hands downwards (ringing the bell) giving me a shallower downswing arc and then getting to a point where my right hip and right hand get to the ball at the same time. The wieght of the club head then releases on its own

Its whatever works for you. What I may feel and desribe might be something you already do !!

[Simon Woo]

Re: More Powerful "Hit"

I think it's a mental obstacle here. I just can't seem to imagine how hitting without using the hands, especially the concept of just letting the weight of the head take the club through the ball, can actually give more power and better distance.

I'm still confused what release is without the hands

I'm gonna bombard my coach with these questions the next time I go for a lesson...

[pnearn]

Re: More Powerful "Hit"

Simon

Try this. Take a club and close your eyes. Feel like the core of your body turn your arms back and through in a circular path and try and 'feel' the weight of the clubhead through your fingers as you do this. Sensation should be like you are taking the hands out of the swing and letting the body take over. Butt of the club should feel like it faces your belly button/belt buckle as you start back and your left arm should stay connected to your chest. Do this slowly with half swings

Now do exactly the same with your eyes open and no ball. As you turn back through with your body only in the same circular motion see how that rotary motion squares the club at impact before tracing the circle back inside again as you move into the follow through. You arent doing anything with the hands here to make this happen, it is purely the rotational motion of your body turning your arms

You can also stand up straight and swing the club like a baseball bat to feel the same motion

Have a read of the tip at the bottom of this article by Wally Armstrong http://www.thegoal.com/players/golf/...ong_wally.html

Again this is the same principle of Jones/De La Torre

[tomallinder]

Re: More Powerful "Hit"

My problem is that for all of my life, I got the club too far inside on backswing then LIFTED it to the top, then first move down with hands was outside a little...

I always used my hands to square the club in impact area... Did it out of instinct. Not having to think about it. I have hit many balls in my lifetime and my body does what it has to do to square it.

But now, I am working on keeping the club in front of me and not using hands to square the club. I want to have the feeling of leading the impact with my hands.

Its a lot of work to learn to do, but it is getting easier now and the compression of the ball is much better with all clubs. But, I really believe this pays the biggest dividends with regard to scoring clubs: short irons and wedges. I hit the ball much closer to the hole a lot more often now.

[Simon Woo]

Re: More Powerful "Hit"

Hi Tom,

I'm not sure if you would consider this using the hands, but I've been reading a lot about rotating the forearms to get a strong release. I recall this drill where you put your hands in front of you, right palm up and left palm down. Then you move your arms left and switch to left palm up and right palm down. So you kinda flip your hands over which is supposed to be timed just at the point of release.

It seems to be that you are learning how to just let the ball be caught up in your swing, without any conscious effort to hit the ball. I'm curious how that ties with your thread's header of a more powerful hit

I'm very interested in how you get along with your new swing thoughts. I just can't seem to visualize how taking the hands (or rather arms) out of the equation can lead to a more powerful hit (it doesn't even seem like a hit anymore if so). I know it's just a mental block. As you've said, perhaps it's a matter of better compression that makes all the difference. But you are so right, this is probably one of the most difficult thing to change about my swing so far.

[pnearn]

Re: More Powerful "Hit"

Simon, have a read of this article by Roger Gunn who does a great DVD series

Now it's time for the really important one, and that's feeling the clubhead. This concept revolves around that of a handless release, where there are no muscles used from the elbows down to propel the club. Here goes:

When you swing a club, there is a temendous amount of force going from the center of the circle (where you are), outward. This is exhibited by the fact that if you were to let go of the club, it would go flying. When you swing a club, you don't actually let go of it, but that same force will be acting on the clubhead itself, causing it to sling forward in the downswing. This action gives a feeling of weight to the clubhead. This is what the old timers called, appropriately so, feeling the clubhead.

If you grab on to the club too tightly, or if you push the handle of the club either toward the ball or toward the target during the swing, you will lose this feeling of the clubhead. It will feel like the ball is more likely to go toward the target (it's not), but the dynamic whipping of the club will be lost.

It should feel more like the hammer thrower, you know, the guy with the ball on the end of the chain. As he turns around and around, he simply pulls his arms in to compensate for the amount of force going from the center of the circle out. Even at the moment of release, he is still not pushing his arms toward the target. A correct and powerful golf swing has the same feeling. If anything, it feels like the arms and hands stay close as you turn into the downswing...and with wrists soft, the clubhead goes slinging forward, smashing into the ball.

Because the little muscles in your hands are doing nothing, there is nothing to take the club out of plane and therefore it's more consistent as well. The best of both worlds: Power AND accuracy!

One other way to feel it: Take an old club out to a wide open field. Forcefully throw it out into the field. Watch out for yourself and others! Don't do this with anyone else around! Anyway, when you do this, you will feel the weight of the club. The swing should feel the same way, only you don't let go.

That should help!

Rog

www.GolfLevels.com

[jbrunk]

Re: More Powerful "Hit"

My problem has always been, that instead of unwinding the hips, I slide the hips which is a no no. That has been the reason I ignore my lower body. Anyone have any drills to unwind hips vs. sliding?

[Simon Woo]

Re: More Powerful "Hit"

Thanks pnearn. Swing it like a rope and not a stick, right? I've briefly experienced how that feels in some of my range sessions before, but the tendency whenever I hold the club is still to whack it like a stick..

Good point jbrunk. I believe there should be some lateral movement of the hips, but how much is too much, I'm not sure either. I've tried the 'pure' rotation method but I always end up slicing/fading/pushing the ball...

[pnearn]

Re: More Powerful "Hit"

Thanks pnearn. Swing it like a rope and not a stick, right? I've briefly experienced how that feels in some of my range sessions before, but the tendency whenever I hold the club is still to whack it like a stick..

Unlearning that hit instinct is probably the hardest thing to learn Simon, esp if like me you came to the game late (i.e. not as a junior) and have been used to other bat led games such as cricket, squash etc where you do 'hit' the ball with your hands are forearms turning over

Once you learn to pull the club through the ball on the right plane with soft hands/wrists rather than a push/hit motion then it all clicks as you say. I have to pull through with my arms and shoulders as I am not good enough/athletic enough/co-ordinated enough to let this pulling motion be led by my lower body (indeed Hardy in his 1PS book says Hogan was wrong to start the motion with the hips but as always thats only one bit of advice)

[pnearn]

Re: More Powerful "Hit"

Here's a great article that explains this concept of a no hands release perfectly

http://www.golfdigest.com/search/ind...304akins2.html