How hard do you hit the ball?

[tommyg]

Hi,

I know this may sound a strange question because i suppose the answer is relative to each individual person. But i have found my best shots are played when i swing slowly and controlled. However i have a massive urge to hit the ball as hard as a i can, particularly when im taking my second shot on a par 5 and the hole still seems so far away. Im a newbie to golf so im unsure whether i should be aiming (in a year or so's worth of practice) to be able to rip into a shot really hard for extra distance or whether its understood in golf to always swing slowly and without too much effort.
Watching the pro's a lot of them seem to just slowly turn into the ball as if a practice swing. However watching Tiger he seems to hit the ball as hard as he can. I know we cant all be pros and a lot of the pros cant be Tiger but i like to know what is the ideal we should be aiming to achieve.

Thanks
Tom

 

[Kilted Arab]

I'm crap, so don't listen to me too much - but I believe that timing is as important - if not more so - than basic swing speed.


Having your set up and body in the correct position at impact is crucial to making a good shot. "Grip it and rip it" sounds great, but you need to have the basics consistent and in place. There's no point in having the fastest swing speed on the planet if your position at impact is a million miles from where it should be.

 

[Dave Ireland]

I'm crap, so don't listen to me too much - but I believe that timing is as important - if not more so - than basic swing speed.....
.

I wish to put forward a motion that all Kilted's musings on the technicalities of golf be confined to the "Hackers Anonymous" section. .... In saying that I agree completely with what you say ... timing IS the most important aspect ... Els and Couples are 2 of the longest hitters out there and they have the most languid of swings..... Golf in the same manner as boxing is all about controlled aggression ...

Now off with ye Kilted to yer own room ...

 

[Kilted Arab]

Now off with ye Kilted to yer own room ...

Nowt ah'd like better!

But aw youse "hole-in-oners" and "aw-naw-whit-a-disaster-ah-shot-85ers" keep invading the fecking place!

 

[Dave Ireland]

LMAO .... yeah gotta agree.... IG's post in Hackers was tactless and far from a cry out for help it was a blatant 2 fingers up to all the decent earth moving hackers out there ....

whereas my hole in one, holds merit as a human interest story that can be respected by all standards of golfer, I can feel the overwhelming warmth given to me ... the heart rending story of a guy who battled the elements in a far away land, miles away from the comfort of his family and friends, and returned the conquering hero, to be chair lifted by the gathered masses of the local village on his return..... I'm wellin up here....gotta go ..*sniff* .. thank you all....

 

[Kilted Arab]

whereas my hole in one, holds merit as a human interest story that can be respected by all standards of golfer, I can feel the overwhelming warmth given to me ... the heart rending story of a guy who battled the elements in a far away land, miles away from the comfort of his family and friends, and returned the conquering hero, to be chair lifted by the gathered masses of the local village on his return..... I'm wellin up here....gotta go ..*sniff* .. thank you all....

You know, I think there's a movie in this, Davie Boy. Bags I play myself and have a love scene with Angelina Jolie. You could be played by Liam Neeson and IG would have to take on his own role - no mainstream actor would agree to whup it out on every hole.

 

[Dave Ireland]

You know, I think there's a movie in this, Davie Boy. Bags I play myself and have a love scene with Angelina Jolie. You could be played by Liam Neeson and IG would have to take on his own role - no mainstream actor would agree to whup it out on every hole.

LOL..... I take it Angelina Jolie is playing 1 of those crusty aul dears we met on the Riverside course while looking for yer ball on the 4th (I think) ... or are we straying from the plot and going straight for gratuitous sex ... in which case, there were 2 aul dears and I bags C Zeta Jones playing the other one, so you and I Angelina and Catherine could play a foursome so to speak ... IG yer not left out ... you can look for Kilted's ball

 

[IrishGolfer]

LMAO .... yeah gotta agree.... IG's post in Hackers was tactless and far from a cry out for help it was a blatant 2 fingers up to all the decent earth moving hackers out there ....

Feck off Mr. Ireland. If you witnessed some of the shots I have manufactured over the last few weeks, some of the dumb ass plays I have converted, some of the putts I have stood over, I would lay claim to hack it with the best of them. I feel that the Hackers section is like an AA chapter. "Hello My name is Irish, I just hacked it up pretty bad today."

Hacking isn't the inability to break 100. It is the ability to not perform to one's potential, be it one shot or a whole bunch.

whereas my hole in one, holds merit as a human interest story that can be respected by all standards of golfer, I can feel the overwhelming warmth given to me ... the heart rending story of a guy who battled the elements in a far away land, miles away from the comfort of his family and friends, and returned the conquering hero, to be chair lifted by the gathered masses of the local village on his return..... I'm wellin up here....gotta go ..*sniff* .. thank you all....

Jeez Dave, you're wasted in IT.

 

[Dave Ireland]

Feck off Mr. Ireland. If you witnessed some of the shots I have manufactured over the last few weeks, some of the dumb ass plays I have converted, some of the putts I have stood over, I would lay claim to hack it with the best of them. I feel that the Hackers section is like an AA chapter. "Hello My name is Irish, I just hacked it up pretty bad today."

Hacking isn't the inability to break 100. It is the ability to not perform to one's potential, be it one shot or a whole bunch.

Jeez Dave, you're wasted in IT.

Oh I getcha IG ...... so you're differentiating between a hacker and a guy that hacks occasionally ... for want of a better analogy ... you be like the cross dresser of hackers, whereas Kilted would be a transexual ....Ah clarity at last ....

 

[IrishGolfer]

Oh I getcha IG ...... so you're differentiating between a hacker and a guy that hacks occasionally ... for want of a better analogy ... you be like the cross dresser of hackers, whereas Kilted would be a transexual ....Ah clarity at last ....

A cross-dresser analogy from you???? King of the Disco Kilt!
Pllluuuuzzzzzeeeeee!

I was more thinking of someone who drinks to excess occasionally, as opposed to your common or garden alcho. Both still suffer from alcohol addiction. Right?

But KA's proposition is to say to the occasional mega tippler "Feck aff, unless your'e bombd aw the time, stay away fea me and ma mates. Nae room for Sober Joes in dis gaff!"

How about KA as an "uber alchie trannie"? (Has a nice ring to it, donchathink?)

 

[Kilted Arab]

Hacking isn't the inability to break 100. It is the ability to not perform to one's potential, be it one shot or a whole bunch.

Bow Locks!

If player 'A' has the potential, at his best, to shoot 110, and he does so - he's still a hacker!

If a single-digit shoots 85, he ain't no hacker.

Yer a class act on the golf course (forgetting about your odd habit), IG, and all the fancy logic you can come up with disnae change that!

 

[Dave Ireland]

............How about KA as an "uber alchie trannie"? (Has a nice ring to it, donchathink?)

LMAO...... couldn't have thought of a better one ... hats off to ma man !!

 

[Kilted Arab]

Oi!!! Wots all this trannie stuff??
Bastards! You said you wouldn't tell...

 

[Dave Ireland]

Oi!!! Wots all this trannie stuff??
Bastards! You said you wouldn't tell...

Correction ... I said I wouldn't tell if you loaned me yer clutchie bag and slingbacks ...

 

[Loop]

lol...

Timing is important, and if you feel you can hit hard and go straight, then do it and assume the consequences. Personally, I hit hard most of the time.
Also, there is this misconception that players like Ernie, Fred, Retief and even Vijay have a an easy slow swing. Nothing is farther from the truth. If you watch them carefully, they generate tremendous clubhead speed. Yet, you are tricked by the optical illusion of slow transitional smoothness.