Losing driving distance..

[eastley]

Hey all,

I am known to be a big hitter, infact I outdrive most of the Pro's. I use to range between 270-320 yard drives, but lately I have been hitting them 250-260 yards Maximum, so I have lost upto near 40 yards on my longest drives, does anyone know why this would happen? I have not really changed anything in my swing at all.

[msklar92]

Re: Losing driving distance..

not much information to go on here. assuming you have the same driver and the same ball and are playing at the same altitude, and your swing mechanics have stayed the same which must be excellent if your are hitting that far, then you may have lost your tempo.

[LowPost42]

Re: Losing driving distance..

Or lets assume it's winter, and you're still using your summer ball. You're not compressing it as well (because it's much colder), so you're losing distance.

[shootin4par]

Re: Losing driving distance..

put the swing on tape and figure out how it has changed. A very probable is that you have flattened a little, take it inside too quick.

[eastley]

Re: Losing driving distance..

Well it's still summer here. I will try get my swing on Tape if I can get hold of on of my mates with a Video Cam..

[Simon Woo]

Re: Losing driving distance..

A very probable is that you have flattened a little, take it inside too quick.

Interesting, care to elaborate a bit? Why could it not be the other way around, ie. too steep?

[eastley]

Re: Losing driving distance..

I cannot get hold of a video camera at the moment, but I went to the range to day and man they were going no where fast, like only hitting 200 Metres now..

[msklar92]

Re: Losing driving distance..

you may be getting too tense trying to hit farther. try relaxing - taking the tension out of your body and arms and swing just letting the arms follow the body.

[pnearn]

Re: Losing driving distance..

This happened to me a while back and i found out through trial and error it was becuase my downswing arc had got too steep

http://www.golfonline.com/golfonline...468978,00.html

[shootin4par]

Re: Losing driving distance..

Interesting, care to elaborate a bit? Why could it not be the other way around, ie. too steep?

the hard part of all this is putting in 100 words what I would have to write in 5000 words. I have studied the swing under someone who has worked with Haney, Leadbetter, Smith, ETC. He does not give me many lessons, we just talk and illustrate positions. the man also studied biomechanicx, so he knows the human body, with and with out a golf club. Example, no one get more then 40 degrees of seperation with their shoulder turn and hip turn, it looks that way becasue the rear shoulder blade will stick out, while the front shoulder blade will push in. Basically a more upright swing is easier to maintain lag and allow the club to FALL off at the top, look at garcias CLUB HEAD, from behind it comes up his ear, some people think he is flat, his arm yes, HIS CLUB HEAD NO!!! when you come to the inside, the arm rises up the chest at the end of the backswing which gets momentum gong that way and you come over the top. For a good player, they will come OTT minimally and have a straight swing path through the ball, but loose lag because the club did not fall off at the transition. This probably seems very vague, cause there is A lot of information that goes into my initial statement. It comes down to this, for MOST people, (95 percent) a steeper back swing will create more lag then a shallower back swing. The steeper you are going back, the better chance you maintianed spine angle and the esier to come from the inside going at the ball. The flatter going back, the more spine angle you lost and greater chance coming over the top. Too much info in too few words, not a great explanation but maybe there is something you can get out of it.

[pnearn]

Re: Losing driving distance..

Personally I find it much easier to come from the inside with a flatter swing plane, i.e. more around than up as my transition is all about my hips pulling my arms straight down (ringing the bell) and feeling my arms get close in to my body through the ball. If I get steep I tend to have an open clubface

Funny old game

[mike3381]

Re: Losing driving distance..

I found the best thing to do was to get my swing on tape with a really good traching pro. I think it is best to take the club back exactly on plane, which will translate in a duplication in the downswing, if you swing inside on the back swing the club has to cast, if you take the club to outside it has to lay off on the downswing. Take a rip both ways see how it works, as it seems to be in golf, to each is often own.

[shootin4par]

Re: Losing driving distance..

Personally I find it much easier to come from the inside with a flatter swing plane, i.e. more around than up as my transition is all about my hips pulling my arms straight down (ringing the bell) and feeling my arms get close in to my body through the ball. If I get steep I tend to have an open clubface

Funny old game

Dont take this the wrong way, but if you think like this I sure would like to hang out with you at the range for 2 hours and then see if you still think the same way when we are done

[pnearn]

Re: Losing driving distance..

Dont take this the wrong way, but if you think like this I sure would like to hang out with you at the range for 2 hours and then see if you still think the same way when we are done

Its each to their own isnt it. Look at Furyk for example. I try and use my core to swing in a circle which gives me a flatter swing plane than I would if tried a steeper swing. This gives me much more a rotational element to my swing. The key for me is making sure the butt of the club facs my belt buckle during the first half of the backswing and keeping my hands and the clubhead in front of me. Thus a nice wide circle which obviously flattens later in the backswing as it goes more around than straight up

[nickwbryant]

Re: Losing driving distance..

eastley - one thing i always look for if i am losing distance is getting my weight shift sorted. Am i really properly getting behind the ball at the top and transferring my full weight into the shot in the downswing. Sometimes i'll even go to the range and almost feel like i am swaying a touch just to get the feeling of weight shifting (note i dont do this on course!). Its a simple tip but with driver make sure you have slightly more weight on your back foot at address and are set up behind the ball.

Pnearn and shooting4par - interesting that there are different swing philosophies we all have - leadbetter is very much in the steeper back and shallow through camp. Whereas Harding seems to me to favour the one plane swing. All i know is if i get too flat i then come over the top or hit heavy, too steep and and hurt my back and hit weak shots!

nick