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Hi all i'm a new member ..i play off of 18, i had my swing speed measuresd with a 5 iron on saturday and it was 75/78 mph ,wich expalins why my irons do not go very far, my driver swing speed was 108 which i'm ok with ,my ball flight is a high draw and it seems the harder i swing the higher the ball goes, i've been told that i do'nt seem to attack the ball enough and any tips on how i can get that more penatrating ball flight that makes me envyous down the range. i make sure my shoulder passes my chin on the backswing and try to keep the release as late as poss any advice will be greatfully accepted , as we all know this great game can give sleepless nights and they are not far away!!!

How far are you hitting your irons? A 108 isn't slow, if you swing the same swing with your irons naturally since they are a shorter club, but you should hit them regular distances....

Why be the envy of the range? Who cares about the range? If you can't play on the course it doesn't matter anyway right?

How far are you hitting your irons?

Try playing the ball back in your stance more. It will lower your trajectory and give you a longer ball flight since you hit the ball so high.

My iron distances are ... wedge 90/100 , 7iron 140/150 yards 5 iron 160 max i just feel that to get to the next level those extra 10/15 yards per club would give me more of a chance.

There are two types of muscle responses:

1. Fast Twitch Response - people who have this response think they are moving fast and they are.

2. Slow Twitch Response - people who have this response feel like they are agressive and think they are moving fast but are moving very slow.


These Responses are natural and not handycaps. Either response type can find more distance. For people with slow twitch response you can hit the ball farther by:

1. Hitting more balls while practicing and swing with "reckless abandon". Using swing speed devices (like you have talked about) to check you swing speed and working out with things like:

Impact bag, Power Swing (large fan on a shaft), etc.

2. When practicing at the range work on learning how to punch or knock down shots.

3. Have a pro check your basics regarding grip stance alignment and see if your have a late or early release.

4. Work on driving through the shot not picking the ball.

5. Finally, something not often talked about. but you may need to think like an actor does and become a more agressive personality while making impact especially if you are a slow response person. When doing this you will feel out of control but after a while through balance and timing you can become used to it.

NOTE: Most slow response people have the best looking strokes even in tennis.

Outstanding answers from glfdiva! Especially about hitting punch shots. It sounds like you are releasing a little early to hit a high draw that only goes higher as you swing harder. That would feel like a lot of effort but not a lot of clubhead speed. Do you hit behind the ball or hit drop kick shots where you scuff the ground behind the ball a little?

Thank you very much for the help everyone, i'm taking things all on board , in response to you question Gary, i guess i do seem to hit the ground a fraction before the ball although it does sound and feel like a clean strike it .

I remeber when I lost a lot of iron distance it was becuase I wan't setting my hands. Like think about hitting a 3/4 wedge shot with your arms making a _l. Once I added that to my swing and then finshed at the top I was back on track.

watto, since you are hitting the ground a fraction before the ball, you are either releasing too early or the ball is too far forward in your stance like the others said. good luck.

i have a lesson tomorrow and i'm going to be recorded on a video ,swing speed machine l,aunch angle monitor, etc once again thanx all.

watto, you're not alone...I have the Exact same problem as you... my stats are identical to yours in terms of distance and swingspeed, and I definitely have been struggling to gain distance!

I think you've mentioned some of the key points such as lag, wide shoulder turn, etc...one of the things I've noticed about my own swing is that I'm probably a "slow response" hitter as golfdiva mentioned...the swing looks pretty with good tempo, but it doesn't go worth a darn....

Currently, I'm working on being more aggressive, e.g. I'm working on trying to incorporate my legs into the swing (people were commenting on how my legs just weren't moving) - specifically, loading my right leg, and initiating with hips for a whiplike effect with hands last...

Finally, I've been told that most amateurs/novices don't swing fast enough? I don't know if anyone has read, but I've ordered the book Tour Tempo - I've heard good reviews on this book...

best of luck! - let me know when you discover the secret!

The thing with that is that they don't swing fast enough...but there is a catch. Most higher handicappers or novices don't have the fundamentals of the golf swing down and therefore cannot swing the club fast. When an novice is out one the range, I see it all the time, they just pull out driver and start whacking away. They will swing as hard as they can and either bearly make contact or they will make contact and it wont go anywhere just because "as hard as they can" doesn't translate into a whole lot because they don't understand how to generate speed, they just thing SWING HARD. So swinging fast for the hight handicapper is usually a very slow swing speed for a lower handicapper. The same could be said about a lower handicapper and a touring pro. For example I take my father who plays to about a 14 I'd guess. His "fast" swing is probably 100 mph and it goes about 235 or so (driver) That's all he's got, or all his body, muscles, etc will allow. On the other hand for myself if I go after it with a driver "all I got" will produce about a 123 mph swing and that's it for me. For a touring pro it maybe be upper of 120's or low 130's if they really go after it.

So I guess a final breakdown would be most novices don't swing fast enough to produce a lot of distance, but most novices swing fast enough for their game (even though that might be 15mph slower then the other guy) and could stand to slow it down a little even until they understand the golf swing better.

Hopefully that makes a little sense.

Good point deron....so I guess the question for us mid/high handicappers is what are those key fundamentals to generate maximal clubhead speed...I know there are a ton of different variables, but I'm stuck with watto, in that, I'm leaking power somewhere...I think it's lag for me...

What's frustrating, is that a friend of mine who is about 4 inches taller than me (he's 5'11) with same lanky build just started 6 mos. ago, and though he's not as consistent, he whacks his 5 iron about 180 - 190. He's never had lessons, and he doesn't have that great technique. And here I am having played over a year and stuck with a 5 iron going about 155-160???? Geez!!!! I know I need lessons quick!

Once I grasped the importance of "relaxed" forearms and lighter grip pressure, my distance improved.

Has anyone addressed the issue of shaft flex? If you're playing with stiffer shafts, you may be losing distance too.

Then there is also the issue of overall strength. When I saw my iron distance steadily falling year after year, I committed myself to a weight-training program that has seen me not only return to the form of my youth, but to exceed the distances I once achieved.