Swing speed?

[token_hottie]

Is swing speed related to physical strength? Do men generally have faster swing speeds than women?

[Rockford35]

Yes. This is why most men can drive the ball farther than women. It's also why the women's tees are further up. Makes sense.

Some women, like Laura Davies (who may be a man, but i'm unsure at this point ) can crush the ball. But I bet she's a strong woman.

So I guess you could say it's physical strength, as most men are generally stronger than most women. But there are always exceptions....like DaveE.

R35

[Ravenous Bugblatter Beast]

It's also related to what kind of muscle fiber you have, as well as body type.

Generally, a tall, lanky person with plenty of fast-twitch muscle fiber should be able to coil and uncoil faster.

[ualtim]

Michelle Wie gets it out there quite a ways and also has a high swing speed. Its not just muscle that gets the club head speed up. Being tall and flexible helps a bunch, too.

Short and fat for some reason does not seem to improve my swing speed....

[Pa Jayhawk]

I would probably phrase it to be more related to "athletic ability" in being able to utilize the golf muscles. Sure Muscle will help to a point, but I'm guessing guys like Arnold, Lou and other body builders would have a slower swing speed because their muscle mass simply gets in the way.

My old instructor would always tell people to try and swing faster. Usually the try and power the ball with their arms and end up with a slower swing speed because they try to use other muscles and tense up. Actually, he told me that I was probably one of few at my level that could actually swing faster when told to do this because I relaxed more, tried to power the ball more with my legs and firing of the hips and let it rip.

Just because I could swing faster didn't mean a whole lot because the ball had a mind of it's own at that point. So the right muscles will certainly help you but learning to relax the necessary muscles may help you more.

[obagain]

It is mostly swing arch. The bigger the arch the faster the swing.
Most men are taller than women so they hit it farther.
Wie is tall so she hits it farther than a lot of men.
All the parts have to be in time or the arch is broken and the club slows down.
It sounds simple, we all know it isn't.

[bdcrowe]

OB nailed it, TH. Swing speed relies mostly on swing arc (wider is better) so depends on build and technique. Since you have no control over frame size, you need to concentrate on technique to generate controllable clubhead speed. Good luck.

[Loop]

Me think technique has the most influence on how far the ball can travel. Because with the right technique, you can achieve not only achieve optimum ball flight, but also humongous speed at impact.

[token_hottie]

All good thoughts on the subject.

I was just wondering. At this point I think if I tried to swing much faster I'd probably miss the ball entirely and fall on my ass...

TH

[obagain]

If you do, make sure someone has a video camera.
If you are off balance trying to swing harder you are loseing power.
You can swng hard or swing fast. Most people swing hard, thinking they are swinging fast. They are not and you are giveing up valuable power.

[Rockford35]

Right on OB.

Just go to the range and watch for about 5 minutes. You'll see that the guys (or gals) that are hitting the straightest and longest (generally) have the smooth swings rather than the guy that tries to rip the fabric of time hitting it long. And more often than not, he's still behind the smooth guy/gal anyways.

I have a swing tip that I say to myself. I say "straight thru and hard". That, to me, doesn't mean swing hard, it means being smooth and fast through the zone.

Works for me.

R35

[chollyred]

I spent a lot of my youth as a power lifter. I still have a lot of muscle mass through my chest, back, and shoulders. This mass causes a lot of inflexibility and loss of swing speed. My backswing resembles that of a hockey player. I'm always 2-3 iron lengths behind most of the guys I play against. To help improve my swing speed, I have to have two swing thoughts:

1) keep a loose grip
2) relax, relax, relax

As soon as I start trying to hit hard, all the muscles tense and I end up fighting myself.

Charlie Sorrel (a top 100 golf teacher) uses an excercise that helps keep the swing on plane, helps develop swing speed, and also helps teach where to release the club. He takes 4 balls and puts them in a long sock-style headcover and swings that back and forth. At the end of the swing, the headcover should be hitting you directly between the shoulder blades. As you learn to swing faster, you'll feel the release point and be able to tell how much faster the swing is at the impact point. This will also help with the weight transfer from the back foot to the front to generate a more balanced and powerful swing.

[Eracer]

My best, straighest shots always come from a swing in which I feel that I am accelerating the clubhead through the ball (not at it) to a full finish. I want to feel in control (but not controlling, if that makes sense) throughout the swing. There are a lot of things that have to be done correctly for that to happen. Your body has to move in sequence. The handle of the club has to feel like it is pulling through the impact area, with the clubhead just coming along for the ride. The point at which you should feel that you have accelerated the clubhead to its maximum speed should come at a point about 4-8 inches past the ball position. Most (almost all) beginners, and a lot of amateurs reach their point of maximum clubhead speed well back of that position. That's because they try to hit the ball. Heck, I still make that mistake a lot, and I've been playing for 25 years. I didn't understand what that feeling was supposed to be until about 5 years ago. The sooner you can feel it, the better.

To me, a good swing feels like a bow unleashing an arrow. At the top of the downswing, the string starts to release the energy stored in the bow (your body begins to uncoil). And at the moment of impact, the arrow has accelerated to its maximum velocity and is on its way to the target (you have uncoiled and your hands, and the clubhead, are "swooshing" through the impact area). You don't push the bow towards the target, trying to "help" the arrow go on its way (stay balanced and just let the club carry through to the finish).

It's a hard thing for a beginner to grasp, but to me it's something to strive for - that feeling of controlled acceleration through the ball to a full finish. The physical things: strength, body-type, muscle fiber type, flexibility, etc. - all of these things contribute to swing speed. But they are better considered as limiting factors, not methods for attaining your personal best swing (or swing speed). Swing speed comes through the proper application of force in the golf swing.

To me, trying to feel proper acceleration is the key to maximizing your swingspeed. Getting fitter and more flexible will increase it. Learning how to maximize your swing arc will increase it. But "feeling the arrow" will maximize it.

[Matthew_22]

Swingspeed is also about using all your muscles effectively and in the right timing.

For e.g:
If you isolated your hips or your legs your swing speed would suffer dramatically, but even if your movements are not in perfect time the swing speed would still suffer.

So to achieve your own optimum swing speed (its different for everyone) one of the major things to focus on is how efficient your movements are combined.

...Hope that made sense...