how efficcent is my swing

I am hoping there is someone out there that watches golf more than me that can help me out. I am 6'1" 160lbs guy and I am looking for pros or amateurs out there that match my discription or some what similar. A few months ago I saw a tall skiny looking guy who looked just like me, but I never caught his name and/or saw him again. So I am pretty sure someone is out there like that.

Basically i want to find someone out there matching my hieght/weight and see how far he hits and try to compare myself to him, to see if i possiby can get any more distance out of myself, or if I should start working on my game more and/or working out to get stronger to hit further.

I currently carrying (with range balls) my 3 wood 235-250yds my 5i 180-195 and my 9i 135-145. I dont know the distance of my driver because my range is only 250 yds, then it has woods behind it, but I would estimate 270 carry.

Anyone know if I can get any more out of it? Can my swing get any more efficient? Or have I maxed out my distance for my body type?

If so what should I work out? I am thinking my triceps and my lats seem to be the most important muscles.

The distances you are hitting look pretty good to me - 270 carry with your driver is great. The quickest way to more distance, for me, was lessons - there is no substitute for proper technique. I have friends who started with weights and I used a speed stick - my swing speed increased but not my distance - I think becasue my swing speed was slowing down by the time I reached the ball - my friends who lifted weights didin't realize greater distance either. Before lessons, I was atleast two clubs behind my friends - they are now one club behind me - somethimes more.
My distance has improved at a time when I really don't care about distance - I wan't accuracy!

Good luck


James

Click this link. The Golf Channel - Tiger Woods Content - Club Distance, Video Interviews and more!

If you are hitting range balls that far you're right up there with Tiger. Your distance is fine. Work on your putting.

Thanks for the compliment..... but I think those are tiger's distances at 70% or his avg swing... not his all out swing at 100%, I have seen tiger carry a 3W 300 yds. my distances were at 100% swing, and everynow and again at my range i see some nike balls or w/e and they seem to go just as far as the range balls (not the worn down dud balls, but the avg newish range ball). I have heard range balls go about 10% distance, but in my personall experience, i havent' noticed a differnece.

I think my disances are just short of the tour avg, but basicaly i as trying to find out if my swing was efficent for my body type to make sure that my techniques were correct so that I could finally stop working on learning my swing and actaully start praticing that swing and other parts of the game.

I dont think distance or power is the most important thing.... BUT, i do think that in order to get good distanced and great power is to swing correctly, so i learned golf by myself by watching/analyzing swing videos and trial and error and learnign what gave me the most distances, becuase chances are that is the correct technique and will give you the most accuracy. correct technique will give you good distance and good accuarcy

so i amd checking how good my technique is based on how accurate i am and the distances i get. and if there is a golfer of my body type that can hit further than me, chances are he is doing something better than i am and i need to learn to do that.

I am not worried about distance in the fact that tiger can hit further than me.... he is alot bigger than me so i dont relaly care how far his body type can hit, i care about how far my body type can hit. There is also people that play better than me but can't hit as far, but even tho they can't hit as far, they could still have better techniques than me and have a more efficent swing and that is why they would play better even tho they dont hit as far.

So tho it may seem like i am concerned about distance, or distance chasing, i am not. however i would like to be able to hit as i am able to through proper technique.


I used to hit my 3w 200yds, and that is pretty far, and i could potentially play good golf with that. but since my technique wasn't right, i hit alot of incorrect shots raising my score, but since i have learned better techniques, i have not only hit further, but alot more consistant, and much lower scores.

But you have to be a realist, and find the distances of your body type. like me hitting 350 drives... dont think that is gonna happen and that is fine. but a body type like tiger hitting 100% effort 270 drives is ****, tho 270 might be far for a 5'5" 150 lbs guy, it is terrible for a tiger build, and if you have tiger build and are hitting only 270, something is wrong with your technique and you need to fix it, becuae you should be hitting alot further than that. so you need to be a realistic distance chaser, but distance chasing is important imo, it shows how good your technique is and how efficient your swing is.

I saw an interview with jack nicklaus once, he said when he learned, he learned for absolute distance, you can learn accuracy later.... and it will come with distance and proper technique, i think more people should be distance chasers vs. being content with their terrible swings and learning to cope with them. the only way to get good distances is to get good technique, what comes with good technique? good accuracy. good accuracy and power means lower scores


Just wanted to say that to show that i am not some trivial distance chaser and that their is apurpose for my question, tying to find out what my goals should be

Vijay Singh
H - 6 2
w - 208
DD - 293.8

Tiger Woods
H - 6 1
W - 185
DD - 302.4

John Daly
H - 5 11
W - 220
DD - 312.3

BUT HERE ARE THE KICKERS ...

Charles Howell III
H - 5 11
W - 155
DD - 299.6

Camilo Villegas
H - 5 9
W - 160
DD - 298.3

So height can range from 5'9" to 6'2"+ and weight range of 155 and 220 and still hit in the 300 range.

This tells me that body type may be almost irrelevent to hitting the ball 300yds ... IMO the only restrictions are the ones that people put on themselves (oh and a little thing called practice).

hi
just like to add that Angel Cabrera is one of the longest hitters on tour and he is short and stocky and has his own swing. a bit like Daly in doing it his way.
bill

At 6ft I wouldn't really call him stocky. He may only look stocky because there are a lot of PGA pros that are over 6ft and have very slender builds.

hi
sorry i did not realize he was that tall, thanks for putting me right.
bill

golfing guy28,

Check out the link below.. Click on any name and you will get Ht. and Wt. of that player. Charles Warren is tenth on the list in driving distance. He's 5'8 and weighs 160. Swing speed is the key to distance. Happy golfing.

Golf Stats - CBSSports.com

true... but you can't deny that height will have a huge advatage and strenght will have a huge advatage.

body type is certainly not irrelevant.... how many 12 year olds can hit hit 300+? i dont care how good your technique is, if you are 100 lbs and 4' chances are you are not going to hit 300+

someone 6' 150 lbs will probly hit as far as someone 5' 200lbs of muscle, and somone 6' 250 will hit further than both.

i am saying my build would represent tall, lighter than avg meaning i have little mucles, but the reason i can hit as far as i can is my hight. tiger's build being tall, and strong athletic build, he hits as far as he can becuase he is tall and stong (and has good technique), same as camillo vellegas tall and strong. but someone with there techniique might not be able to hit as far becase of they dont have there hight or strength.

so having preper technique, i was wondering what distances i would be able to hit

so thank you for answing my question with charles howell being about my body type, and he can drive 300. that means he has a great technique and mine is not as efficient as i thought and i need to work on my swing still, so thank you

I wouldn't say you can deny it, because naturally a stronger guy is gonna have more club head speed, but most long drivers all have it in their technique. I'm 5'9 130 lbs and I hit it just as far or farther than just about anyone else on my golf team and I am probably the shortest and definitely the skinniest on our varsity squad. I don't try to swing very hard or anything I just naturally can hit it, now dont get me wrong I don't bust it 300, only on occasion but it sounds like your distances are fine and if you are in play and can control your ball flight and your accuracy I see no need to change anything unless you got a lesson from a VERY good teacher. You don't need mediocre teaching pros if you hit the ball like you do, you want only the best advice.

__________________
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Wood: Nike Sasquatch 3 Wood
Hybrid: Adams Idea Pro 3 I-Wood 20*
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Putter: Ping Karsten Series Anser

Your hitting distances are way above average, especially for someone who does not have a handicap.

Just enjoy your golf, you can hit far enough!

I'd like to remind people that some of the girls on the LPGA tour hit the ball pretty far and some of them are tiny...

I think that adds to the hypothesis that body type is less of a factor.

I would agree that the longer your arc the more club head speed you would tend to create. Most of the big hitters aren't exactly weaklings.

Then again Ben Hogan wasn't exactly a giant was he?

no, hogan was no giant... but he had some tiger/vilegas massive forearms

and I have seen a womens long drive competition before..... was a bit of a joke. The senior mens can even hit as long as the regular women do. The men longest drive ever was 412+ and the women can get what 332 and senior men even hit 381+ and the super seniors even hit 345+ (that is over 58+ yrs.) why cant the women hit as long as the men even the less flexible and numble old guys? my guess would be the much smaller frame and muscles, i would think they all have a very good technique

I do agree technique can't be substituted, and it is very important, but your body type, strength and hight is a undenyable factor in distance if not 2nd most important to technique.

Nuts to distance, scoring is what counts and that's all short game