Swing Hard or Swing of Sound Technique

My daughter is 13 and just started golf this spring. She has a beautiful swing, effortless, straight, and naturally draws the ball. Currently hitting the driver about 120 yards. Starting lessons with LPGA Pro pretty soon. My question is should she maintain a good swing or should I encourage a hard swing for more distance? Please advise, fully appreciated.

Always encourage FUN when teaching children. After that, proper technique is most important. Power will come with comfort of technique as the muscles develope with a repeated swing.

I agree with Gord, you need to encourage her to have fun. Don't worry about the distance, proper tech is more important. After all you will be taking her to a coach let the coach encourage how she swings, you just sit back and let her enjoy the game.

I'm pretty much in the same boat as you. My wife, just took up the game last year (now where do I go to get away from her ). She's very tall and has a very effortless swing. I've tried to help her out as much as I can, until she gives me the look. I have to remind myself she doesn't care if she shot 160 as long as she's having fun. Myself, it's hard to have fun without shooting half way decent.

So trying to get my message back on topic. Encouraging having fun is the way to go.

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Thanks Guys, I agree too that fun is important. She is having fun and really likes the driving range. I think I'll wait till her lessons with the golf pro before I take her to a golf course to play a few holes. She is very young (13) but has been dancing for 8 years and used to following instruction. Very easy to teach and repeats movements to perfection. My fear is that I might teach her my bad habits. So it's time for me to move aside and let the "pros" take over.

I'm going to go in the other direction here.

Whenever I teach teenagers who have "decent" prospects of playing good golf I always teach them to hit hard, hit it far and bugger the direction. Modern golf is a game of power and distance these days and it's getting worse.

In our lifetimes we will see golfers driving 400 yards and unless you prepare the youngsters to keep up as best they can they will be "out powered" out of the game. Watch the youngsters today at your local course and I see it all the time where 15 and 16 year olds are bombing thier drivers 300yards.

Trust me when I say this: it's easier to improve direction on a powerful swing than it is to improve distance in a "controlled" swing.

So, consider the fate of the decision carefully. But I must just add this to be fair: I quite agree - FUN is the most important thing, no question about it.

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Golf is easy ... once you know how.
Graham Arnott, teaching professional
Kelrosa Golf Studios
www.kelrosagolf.com
Class 'A' PGA Member
Full Member: World Golf Teachers Federation (GB&I)

I seem to remember Jack Nicklaus saying something similar, it's much easier to add accuracy to a powerful swing than add power to an accurate swing. But we all agree, make sure it's fun!

Well sorry guys,

I have to disagree with Jack Nickolas and all of you except Gord.


certainly with my son, I started with him swinging slowly and comfortably in balance, on the correct plane and a short swing (kids swings are always miles to long) Kids learn very quickly so teach good mechanics and balance first,, once they are comfortable......speed later.


Ian.

Great input from all! Although opposite approach. I guess your view is a sample of how others think in the golf world with equal respect and accomplishments like you gentlemen. So where do I go from here? I strongly agree with Teaching Pro on how "power" has become a modern necessity. I took her out yesterday to a driving range and had her hit as hard as possible without breaking her swing. She was hitting it about 30 to 50 yards further but not so straight (although a few did stay straight). I noticed though that her shoulders were coming up during the backswing yet she managed to make solid contact. Needless to say she loved "whacking" the ball hard and didn't mind not hitting all of them straight. My conclusion is, I will talk this over with her new LPGA coach and see what her personal view is and perhaps find somewhere a compromise that will benefit the child without unneeded pressure. Thank to all.

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FraTor

I started teaching my son last year (at 6 yrs old). He wanted to golf solely to spend more time with me and had the attitude of "if Dad likes it, it can't be that bad."

I started with the basic mechanics and weight transfer. He was driving 115 yards in his first two lessons with me and by the end of the summer his was driving almost 140 yards. As he became more comfortable with the correct positions and developed the muscles he felt he could swing harder. I am interested in what he will be able to accomplish this year with more time to develop.

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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

Gord, congrats on getting your son to even start liking golf which to me is the hardest part of the process. Golf to many kids is just not cool. Hopefully this attitude will continue to change. My daughter was so afraid of telling her friends at school that she was taking golf. Since everyone else was in soccer, softball, cheerleading, etc. I told her to just say it and say it with pride. She did and now all her female friends think she is the cool one of the group. How about that? I wish you many happy moments with your kid...

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FraTor

I played Monday with a guy who just took up the game a year ago. I have been playing for 3 years. I admit that I was a bit jealous because he is hitting long irons with a nice easy swing as far as I used to hit my Driver when I was at his stage. He is not swinging hard and the ball is flying because his has a nice easy swing with great technique. I am a big guy and weight about 290 right now, and the ball doesn't go farther when I swing hard. It goes farther when I hit it with a nice swing (with speed) but not trying to kill it. I tried to kill one on Monday and shanked it. Wanna talk about swallowing your pride. My longest drive of the day was about 260 and it didn't take anything out of me. Tiger says, that speed will come with accuracy! Makes sense to me for beginners. I went to the range today and thought about his easy swing and to my surprise I was hitting them as far as if I swing harder. My thought is that as I swing easier, their is less movement of other body parts and this is actually giving me more solid contact at impact. Does this make sense? Tiger Swings Faster but not necessarily Harder! Harder equates to muscle in my mind. Speed equates to flexibility and technique.