Sorry!

With 30 - 80 yard shots, it is most important to accelerate through the ball. Therefore, you can not swing to the top of your backswing. This is where most people have troubles. Several problems can start here. Some try to swing all the way back and slow their tempo down. This usually creates a disconnect of your natural motions and a poor shot is the result. Another common problem is to take a full swing, start their downswing at the same speed as a full swing, then start to decellerate as the clubhead approaches the ball. This leads to all sorts of disasters with any shot. Another common problem is to bring the club back 1/2 or 3/4 or where ever they need to go, but they turn their hips fully on the backswing. The hips should not be turned, full swing, half swing, 3/4 swing. The hips should only move as they are pulled by your upper body - there should not be a conscience/deliberate movement of your hips. You are still trying to create coil against your hips, so keep your hips as quite as possible. The amount you bring your club back will disctate the distance the ball will travel, the farther you bring them back, the further the ball will go. Accelerate through the ball, keeping your hands ahead. Ensure your followthrough is the same distance (or as close to as possible) as the length of your backswing. This will ensure you have properly accelerated through the ball.

Back when I had nothing better to do than spend my days at the range, I knew exactly how far to bring my hands back to adjust for every 5 yards. Obviously, this takes quite a bit of time to establish and practice. That being said, every 10 yards you should have a club and swing. It becomes a 'feel' thing. There is no secret, other than to build a great full swing, then replicate your full swing shortening it until you learn how far bringing your hands back will affect your distance.

Better yet, don't leave yourself with those types of distances. Use course management to keep your tee shots outside the 100 yard marker if you can reach the green. I will hit the green 9/10 from 100 yards and probably only 6/10 from 60 or 70 yards, so I try not to leave myself those shots.

__________________
Gord

Quote of the month:
"It's easy to see golf not as a game at all but as some whey-faced, nineteenth-century Presbyterian minister's fever dream of exorcism achieved through ritual and self-mortification." ~Bruce McCall