California
"Momentum is your friend. Smoothly swing the club away,
using both hands equally, to a point over your right shoulder. now
swing the club back to and through the ball at the same speed you
used to take it away. The club will speed up automatically,
if your hands are relaxed and allow it to happen.
Practice swinging back and forth at the same speed at least 10
times without stopping. Be happy."
- John
DeSantis, Teaching Professional |
California
"Darlin', at your age, I'd try to swing faster (not
harder) as you need all the club head speed you can get. The golf
swing is a continuous motion. If it wasn't, all professionals
wouldn't need a back swing - they'd just start from the top. If I
were you, I would swing as if you were throwing a ball at top
speed but try to maintain your finish in balance. That becomes
more difficult as we age, especially if you are not used to it, as
there are equilibrium problems. Also, visualization is good
but only before you swing. There are 23 movements to the swing and
the brain can only direct one in the time it takes to swing the
club. Don't think too much and swing to a relaxed and
balanced finish. Good golfing!"
- Kati
Biszantz, Teaching Professional |
California
"Walter:
The
movement of the club that seems extremely fast or out of sequence
with the motion is due to hand pressure which is too tight. The
hand pressure issue could be due to the improper hold of the golf
club. The question to you would be do you hold the club in the
fingers of your left hand or is it diagonally across the palm of
your left hand. I would also like for you to explain your thoughts
on head movement and left arm straight issue. This will help me
fully explain to the actual movements of the golf move."
- Robert
Veroulis, Teaching Professional |
Colorado
"Dear Walter: I hope you are a musical type! A well-timed
golf swing can be visualized as having a "waltz"
tempo...a "one-two-three, one-two-three" rhythm. Your
back swing begins on the first "one" and pauses briefly
at the top on the first "three"; impact is at the second
"one" and your swing reaches a balanced finish at the
second "three". Work on developing the feel of swinging
the club head in this rhythm, and your tempo and ball-striking
will improve noticeably!"
- William
Kipp, Teaching Professional |
Colorado
"Walter - Why do you want to
go slow? You can never go too fast, but you can go too quick.
You don't lack a slow back swing, you lack the knowledge to
make a correct back swing. Call 1-888-884-4653 and ask for
"The Knowledge Video" and you will be on the correct
path. Thank you for reading this."
- Jim
Sanborn, Teaching Professional
|
Florida
"Walter, swinging "fast" is nothing other than
playing in the future and not the present. Tim Galway in the Inner
Game of Golf has an excellent drill to get you in the present. As
you swing say out loud "one" when your club stops it
backwards motion at the top of the swing, say "two" when
the club head makes contact with the ball, and say
"three" when the club head stops at the finish of your
follow through. You MUST do this out loud. I'll bet that you might
say "one" (and probably early) and then nothing else
because the swing is over and you're looking for the ball. With
practice you will "get in the present" and be able to do
this drill. It is best if you have an observer when you do this
drill to tell you if you "counted" at the right times,
or use a video camera with audio. Good luck!"
- Joe
Sciortino, Teaching Professional
|
Florida
"Dear Walter: The first thing
is not go against mother nature. If you are a type "A"
personality I doubt seriously that you will be to slow on the
tempo. Try a little less wrist action back and breathe out on
the back swing. As far as the forward swing faster means more
distance as long as you don't mean jerky on the down swing. Less
wrist action would be the best recommendation given only the
brief information supplied. Best
of luck." - Mike
Calbot, Teaching Professional
|
Florida
"Hi Walter. The feeling
of rushing your swing is caused by imbalance in your set up. As
golfers get older they seem more comfortable with their torsos
closer to the vertical position. In other words, they don't bend
much from the hips. I've noticed more
golfers than not in your age category standing very erect with
more bend at the knees than the hips. This position promotes
poor balance as it makes it virtually impossible to be on the
balls of your feet during the swing. If you are not on the balls
of your feet at address, as your swing starts you begin to lose
your balance. You respond automatically to this poor balance by
cutting the back swing short and hurrying the forward swing.
Another problem arising from this setup is the shoulder runs
into the chin in the back swing, either stopping a full shoulder
turn or forcing the head up. What
you'll want to do Walter is make sure there is only a slight
flex in the knees and I mean only enough to unlock them; that
you reach the ball by bending at the hips and that you position
the ball far enough from you so that your arms hang loosely and
freely straight down from your shoulders. If
you can get your hands on issues of Golf Digest, you can
see this position in pretty much every pro they profile. This
position will help you find the balls of your feet at the start
of the swing and you'll be better balanced throughout the swing.
The quickness and jerkiness of the swing should disappear or
diminish greatly. Good luck!"
- John
Brott, Teaching Professional
|
Florida
"Walter, take a towel or head covers and place them under
your arms, take a 5 iron or 7 iron and tee the ball up. When
swinging the club think of back at the target and belly button at
the target, this will help you to just let your arms swing with
the body and keep you from getting jerky or to quick with your
hands." - Jeff
Thorne, Teaching Professional |
Florida
"Walter - I once had a teacher by the name of Jack Grout,
(Jack Nicklaus's teacher). He told me something that may
work for you. If you speed up one department of your swing,
you must speed up all departments. What he meant was - If
your tempo on the follow thru is quick, maybe you should pick up
the tempo on your back swing. Imagine matching the tempo
both back and thru. The reason stopping at the top works is
because you are actually making an effort to complete your back
swing before you start your follow thru. Many people make the
mistake of starting their downswing before they have even
completed their back swing. You may also try visualizing the back
swing and the follow thru at the same pace. Good luck." Maria
Marino, Teaching Professional |
Florida
"Walter: Don't worry about it." - Sean
Gorgone, Teaching Professional
|
Georgia
"Walter: Speed of the swing is relevant. The example is
like driving a car, some people drive fast and some drive slow.
The problem I see with most players who think that they swing too
fast but there are
a couple of things you can work on. The first thought would be
like driving a car, go from first gear to second, do not go from
first to third as this will actually slow the club down. The
second thought I would have you work on is the rhythm of the
swing. Try to feel the rhythm of your back swing and make this the
rhythm of the beginning of your downswing then speed your arms up
as you would like at the bottom of your swing. This in turn will
help your overall transition of the club and get the results you
are looking for. If you have any further questions, please contact
me at Woodmont Golf Club in Canton Georgia (770)345-9260 ext. 5.
Good luck with these, and I am sure they will help
you."
- Keith
A. Cain, Teaching Professional |
Indiana
"Walter: Perhaps I might suggest you hit balls half
the distance you normally would. For example, If you hit a 5 iron
160 yards, take a full swing and hit it 80 yards."
- Jeff
Mathew, Teaching Professional |
Minnesota
"Slowing down your back swing artificially only worsens
the problem. Just let your natural pace take you to the top
smoothly and slow down your "transition" from back swing
to downswing."
- Jim
Manthis, Master Professional |
Missouri
"Walter: Instead of trying to slow down your golf swing,
why don't you just try to swing the same speed both ways.
Swings are not necessarily to fast or to slow, they just change
speed. Some people are more fast paced, others are more slow
paced. You may just be one of the fast paced people; such as
a Tom Watson or a Nick Price. Just work on swinging the same
speed both ways and see if that doesn't smooth your swing
out." - Terry
Grosch, Teaching Professional |
New
York
"Unfortunately, you got it backwards, you do not want to
slow your swing down! From a mechanical point of view, the faster
the club swings, the farther the ball will travel based on solid
contact. By trying to slow your swing down, your mind is confused
because you have to swing fast enough to create distance. What you
are feeling is not your swing being too fast but your body moving
incorrectly and out of time with your arms and club! To develop
your proper timing, swing the club faster with your arms not your
body. A simple drill is to hit balls with your feet together and
try to hit the ball as far as possible without losing balance. The
faster the club moves the farther the ball goes! Good
Luck!"
- Tony
Luczak, Teaching Professional |
North
Carolina
"Walter:
To create a better tempo in your swing try this. If you hit your
seven iron say 130 yards with a full swing, try hitting it 100
yards making a full swing. This will help you feel where the club
head is better and will allow you to keep better control of the
club head. Then move to 110 yards making a full swing and then 120
yards and so forth. Do the same with your driver. Before long long
your swing nice and smooth and not rushed. Good Luck!" - Ben
Hynson, Teaching Professional |
| Oregon
|
Oregon
"Dear
Walter: Many amateurs think they swing to fast but in reality very
few amateurs get to impact as fast as the pros. The average tour
pro gets to impact in .9 to 1.0 seconds. The average senior tour
pro gets to impact in 1.0 to 1.1 seconds. When I match up a tour
pro like Al Geiberger. who is noted for great rhythm, on my
computer video program, with the amateur, almost always Al will
get to impact first. My suggestion to you is not to slow your
swing down. Swing faster with an even rhythm to it.
Try it!"
- Bruce
Furman, Teaching Professional |
South
Carolina
"Hi Walter: I have 2 things which help to better the tempo of
the swing. 1. Try hitting shots without grounding the club. Before
you start your club back wait till you can feel the club getting
heavier then just swing. 2. Another effective way is to set up
with your club head about two inches behind the ball and slightly
inside. Also at your age make sure at set up your weight is
primarily on the right instep if you are a right handed golfer. Hope
this helps!" - Sean
Carey, Teaching Professional |
South
Carolina
"Here is the good news Walter, the ball does not know how
old you are. Here is the rest of it. Rushing the downswing in
simple terms means you really do not know where the club should
go, thus your visualization of an erroneous picture only compounds
the problem. More good news, most people do not. Check out my site
at doctorgolf.homestead.com and give me a call. Bet regards."
- Michael
Lucas, Teaching Professional |
Texas
"Walter: We need to let the body swing the club. It's
difficult in golf to try not to do something. Here's a drill you
can do that will help. I call it the Tiger Woods drill because it
was first introduced to me when Butch (Harmon) gave it to Tiger to
help him with a similar problem to yours. Make a back swing to
halfway back or 9 O'clock. Feel the position and ease back to the
impact position. You'll notice that the club returns perfectly
when you simply let it fall to impact. The legs in golf provide
the power. Now make another halfway back swing and stop. Now start
forward by letting your left hip go as fast as it can to the
target. This drill should give you perfect divots with the irons,
a great indication of a perfect path."
- Dave
Baron, Teaching Professional
|
Texas
"Dear Fast: What you are looking for is proper
transition. You can't swing the club to fast... you have to get
your swing working in proper sync. Watch a baseball player, he
coils on the back swing, steps, the hips explodes and the bat
rips. A tennis player clears his lower body first to square the
racket. A pitcher has already squared his body and transferred his
weight long before he throws. Find a qualified PGA instructor or
spend a couple of dollars and read Hogan's Five Fundamentals. Use
the body, power comes from there along with the club squaring
naturally and you gain the ability to hit down to get it up. Can't
find one, come see me in Corpus." - Bob
Hasbrouck, Teaching Professional
|
Texas
"Walter, you've been given some bad advice. If you have a
fast, lousy swing and we slow it down, we now have a slow lousy
swing. You have to fix what is wrong with your impact and then try
to speed up. Best of luck." - Mark
Moore, Teaching Professional
|
Virginia
"When a swing gets "Too Quick", the arms are
usually out pacing the body. A fast tempo is not bad if the hands,
arms, shoulders and club reach the top at the same time. A good
exercise is to let your eyes follow the hands to the top of the
swing. Swinging a weighted club such as a Momentus Swing Trainer
will help the body pivot keep up with the arm swing." - Chuck
Will, Teaching Professional
|
