I think most golfers will become more consistent when they find more distance. In both cases you need to eliminat unproductive motions and let the strongest parts of your body to have main roles.
When you start to find an effective pattern you can always choose whether you want hit every ball as hard as you are capable of all the time or settle for an effortless 80% effort that give you a lot of headroom for real time adjustments. Hitting a ball at max speed is in many ways the ultimate test because you don't have any extras to spend if the clubhead or clubface is heading in the wrong direction.
There is a very clear correlation between distance and handicap. Part of is due to athletism and part of it is due to superior stroke pattern. If you're strong and hit it short you probably don't have a good stroke and you probably aren't very consistent either. If you're short and incredible good you are probably a good given talent in every department except speed and strength. And perhaps you go by the name Corey Pavin.
I am 6'3" 230 lb and decently athletic. I can score anywhere from 80-100 so inconsistent is a good description of me. I feel like I SHOULD be longer and I know I can be. I have felt the "on the screws" perfect impact and ball flight and I am forever on a mission to find it again and again. I do not have a good short game by any means. I always read that the fastest way to lower one's score is through the short game. I play with a guy every Sunday who it short and plays a slice. He chips well and putts light's out. He also beats me most of the time. It feels awful to lose so often to a guy like that. He could be very good if he learned to hit the ball better but I seems he is happy where he is.
My thoughts are that I want to be a consistent ball striker because on days when I am hitting it well, I can beat him easily and the game is fun. Quite frankly it feels great to blow a drive past him by 70 yards. My problem is that I don't do it often enough. When I am playing well it makes him play poorly. The big drive will deflate him. The same way on days when I am having a tough time, he will sink a big putt and beat the tar out of me (and my spirit.)
I know I will never be on tour shooting 70 but I do feel that I am playing way short of my potential. Maybe I am fooling myself?
The search continues...
I can shoot anywhere between 75 and 95 - and outside this range on both sides on an extreme day.
When I have my best stroke I feel like I can hit the ball with everything I've got and get a very good result. But I score better if I am a bit more humble about my abilities, take one more club and hit it 80%.
Hmmm... maybe I'm wrong about the distance part I guess it depends on where you come from. People who have a slice or OTT tencendy - that have to swing "easy" to square up the club - I think they can learn a thing or two by hitting the ball as hard as they can. I guess that my main point is that if your stroke doesn't work if you try to hit the ball hard you are compensating. And if you're playing with a stroke that breaks down if you try to hit it hard you're not playing to your potential.
If you know already how it feels to hit the ball a long way you should work more on the short game. Around the green, inside 100 yards and creative short game. It will make you less dependant on goot tee to green performance and it will feed off to your long game in a very positive way. I see people on the driving range who hit crap shot after crap shot because they have some problem they can't figure out. What happens then is that they repeat a dysfunctional pattern over and over - so they basically practice a stroke that then want to stop doing, which is not a good idea. I am not much better than those guys and I do fall into the same trap from time even though I knew better.
If they took an hour around the chipping green instead they might actually find their lost rhythm. That's what I do when I listen to my common sense. And it works pretty well too.
If its information on Hitting you're looking for , Id suggest you're best served with the information found right here provided by Yoda and Luke. Hit the search button using their names and it'll all come up. Luke isnt exactly short off the tee by the way......he's done a real good job of overcoming that suggestion about Hitting. Real good.
I guess it depends on where you come from. People who have a slice or OTT tencendy - that have to swing "easy" to square up the club - I think they can learn a thing or two by hitting the ball as hard as they can. I guess that my main point is that if your stroke doesn't work if you try to hit the ball hard you are compensating. And if you're playing with a stroke that breaks down if you try to hit it hard you're not playing to your potential.
Hybrid Mode
