Last week I participated in The Listener’s Cup, a three-day Ryder Cup-like competition sponsored by SiriusXM PGA radio. I had the opportunity to play a one day with former PGA touring pro and current SiriusXM PGA radio on-air personality John Maginnis. Later, John introduced me to his wife by saying, “This is Doug Haft. He hits the ball ridiculously far for a man his age.” (I’ll be 67 in a few weeks.) That kind of thing will give your ego a boost! But that’s not why I shared the story.
I share it because I don’t have the fastest hips, the biggest shoulder turn, a powerful core, a thorough consideration of how to use ground forces or any cliche things you hear on the weekly tournament telecasts. What I do know is the clubhead must go fast to hit the ball far. I’m about to say something controversial, but hear me out.
Clubhead Speed Generators
The main generators of speed in golf are your hands and arms. It’s not the hips, not the shoulders, not your weight shift. It’s the hands and arms. Do the legs, core, shoulders, weight shift, etc., play a part? Certainly! But in a supporting role. Trying to gain distance by turning your hips faster or shifting your weight farther/faster is akin to putting the cart before the horse. Your body’s movements, weight shift, hips clearing, etc., must be in support of your hands and arms swinging the club.
Speed vs power
Speed, not power, is what we need to generate in the golf swing. What’s the difference? The word power brings tension to the process. Most people, when they think power think of engaging the big muscles with the mentality of a football linebacker. “I’m going to hit this ball hard!” This kind of thinking leads to all sorts of golf swing maladies. First, as I mentioned, it creates excessive tension, especially in the hands and arms. Tension kills speed. Second, it promotes the notion that you need to spin your shoulders fast, right from the top of the backswing. As a result, the body gets ahead of the hands and arms. The club (when it finally starts to move) travels on an out-to-in swing path. Hello, slice!
But that’s not all. The out-to-in swing path usually comes along with an excessive movement of the hips toward the target. (“I’ve got to hit it hard, right!”) Now the swing is on an out-to-in path and a steep angle coming into impact. Nothing good will result from any of that.
I think John jacobs had it right
I’ve heard the great teacher John Jacobs say the golf swing is “Two turns and a swoosh.” However, not in that order! Turn away from the target, make the club swoosh, let the swoosh turn you toward the target. Turn, swoosh, turn. What is “swoosh?” Take any club in your bag, hold it near the clubhead and swing it with just one hand in a plane similar to your golf swing. Hear the swoosh sound? Make that sound as loud as you can just after what would have been the impact area. Switch hands and do the same thing. Notice how your hips, legs, shoulders, shifting weight all operate automatically to assist your hands and arms make the loudest swoosh. Do this drill over and over to ingrain that feeling. Now, address the ball as usual, turn, swoosh, and turn.
The truth is all parts of the body contribute to a swing that creates maximum clubhead speed. The trick is synchronizing all those moving parts. Turn, swoosh, and turn is a great drill to accomplish that synchronization.
Remember, think speed, not power!