In golf what is the correct speed to hit the ball in the downswing?

What do I mean by speed?

What do I mean by hit?

Speed or velocity (to be more accurate) of the club in the downswing gives the ball its direction and distance, but where does this speed come from? It doesn’t come from the arms, so why do you see many a golfer of all experience levels thrashing the ball as fast and hard as they can with their arms? Do they thing the arms are what impart the force on the ball to go as far as it does? I supposed some do, but most will have read and understood that this isn’t where the power to hit a 300 yard drive is created. This comes from the correct hip, shoulder turn and transition of the backswing to downswing in a controlled and coordinated way. I’m not going to go in to a full diagnosis of the specifics here, that’s not the point of this blog. The point is why do we, well defiantly me, swing the club as fast as we/I can with our arms in the hope of hitting the ball a great distance?

I know and have read numerous times that the arms don’t create distance, but I still try to swing the club as hard and fast as I can and have to really concentrate on not doing so. When I do manage to control my speed in the downswing what’s the result? The ball still goes on average the same distance, more importantly it goes straighter and has a better ball flight than when I hit as hard and fast as I can. Why then if I know this is the case do I still have the urge to thwack the ball? Why am I not confident that this will produce the same or at the very least a similar distance? Personally it is down to one main thing and that’s how I’ve always done it and this is what is natural for me, so now I have to recondition myself to get out of this habit.

Last night whilst practicing with my 4 iron, I was getting incredibly frustrated with the amount of duff shots I was making and having the one in five shots that actually went where I expected and with the kind of ball flight I was looking for. However the more frustrated I became the harder and faster I hit the ball. Taking a breather, I decided to slow down and just hit the ball and ensure I was swinging the club on plane and not to worry about how far or where the ball went. Surprise, surprise I hit the ball cleaner, it still went a similar direction and I was more consistent. I’m still thwacking the ball on the odd occasion, but I realise when I’ve done it and correct myself again, I now need to make this my new habit.

The next bit is a little harder to fix, the fact of trying to hit the ball. Yes you have to hit the ball, but this shouldn’t be your primary objective. Your primary objective should be just to take the club through the area where the ball is without specifically concentrating on the act of hitting it. Hit through the ball don’t hit the ball. The bottom of the arc in the downswing isn’t supposed to be where the ball is but just after your ball, hence the divot you create should start just under the ball hence the phrase, “hit down on the ball.” Hitting down on the ball, simply (supposedly simply) means striking the ball before the club head gets to that low point. In other words, the club is moving down and still has even further to go, before starting back up in to the follow through. Visualising this makes you see that the ball just gets in the way of the downswing and is hit just before the downswing moves in to the follow through. Practicing this at the range isn’t going to achieve the same effect as you can’t create a divot in the mat, but you still need to visualise what is actually supposed to be taking place. Don’t hit the ball, hit through the ball.