How to increase club head swing speed and distance
with your hand release technique...
For those of you who feel you do
not have the "physical power" to increase your distance,
take note....
Hello,
This lesson is aimed at giving
you a taste of how a little knowledge about "golf
mechanics and physics" can give you a deeper
understanding about the golf swing and guide you to
making swing changes that will increase your golf swing speed and add more distance to
your game.
For those of you who feel you do
not have the "physical power" to increase your distance,
take note....
The technique I describe in this lesson
requires "no additional torque" or physical
effort to increase distance....
it is all about your "technique" and how you can
efficiently convert the
torque you already generate in your backswing into increased
swing speed on your downswing.
This is of particular
importance to women golfers, and seniors golfers who may
feel they are restricted physically from improving the
distance of their swings.
Enjoy the lesson....
------------------------------------
Delayed Hand Release
The technique of the "delayed hand
release", or "hand lag" as it is commonly referred, to increase golf swing speed is not fully
understood by many golfers.
Yet, it is the most effective
technique for adding more distance to your game.
By delayed hand release, I
mean keeping your hands in a fully "cocked" position
during the downswing for as long as possible before
releasing them through the ball.
In this
golf lesson I am going to explain why this technique
is so effective using a "laws of motion" approach to the analysis.
---------------------------
Swing Speed and
Trunk Turn Speed
First, I want
to make sure you understand the term "swing speed".
Swing
speed refers to the speed at
which the club head is traveling as it strikes the
ball. The
faster the club head swing speed, the further you are able to hit the
ball.
The swing speed of the club head at impact depends
on how quickly you are able to accelerate
your downswing turn from the top of your backswing
where the swing speed is ZERO, to the point of
impact with the ball.
Just as the speed
reached over a quarter mile by a
drag racer depends on the acceleration capabilities
of the car from the zero stand still position.
---------------------------
Golf Physcis
Without trying to get too
technical, I would like to take you back to some high
school physics and remind you of the equation describing
Newton's second law which essentially states that:
Force = Mass x Acceleration
This equation applies to
all objects moving in a straight line.
The golf swing
though, rotates in a circular path and the equivalent
equation that applies to objects moving in a circle is:
Torque = Moment of Inertia x
Angular Acceleration
Take a close look at this equation.
Your aim is to increase your angular acceleration
during the downturn to increase your golf swing speed. This
equation indicates you have two
options for achieving this:
-
Increase the Torque of the swing which requires
additional physical effort.
-
Reduce
the "Moment of Inertia" of the swing, which as you
will see in a minute, requires no physical
effort.
---------------------------
Mechanics of the Downswing
The common
understanding of all golfers on how to increase the rate
of acceleration of the swing is to increase the "torque" that has been built up
during their backswing.
However, as you can seen from
the equation above, the Moment of Inertia of the swing
also determines how "fast" you can accelerate the
downswing. The smaller the MOI for a given
torque, the faster the rate of acceleration on
the downswing.
MOI is a term
that is being referred
to more and more in the golf world and justifies a
little more explanation.
Moment of Inertia (MOI)
Moment of Inertia defines the
"inertia" of a mass that is "rotating"
and is a function of both the
size of the mass that is rotating and the
"radius" the
mass is rotating away from it's axis of rotation.
The larger the "radius of
rotation" for a given mass, the larger the MOI or "inertia" of the
mass.
As
the term inertia implies, the larger the inertia, the
more difficult it is to get the object "started" from a stand still position.
MOI applies to a golf swing
because the swing is a "rotating" entity.
Your aim on the downswing is
to keep the MOI of your swing as low as possible to make it easier to "start the swing"
and achieve a faster rate of downswing acceleration with
the torque you have built up on your backswing.
Ice skating "pirouette"
and the golf swing
The best
way to visualize the effect of Moment of
Inertia is to imagine an ice skater
doing a pirouette (spin).
The skater
initiates the spin with a given torque (rotating
force).
To speed
up or accelerate the spin, the skater draws in their
arms to reduce the "radius of rotation" of the spin.
To slow down the spin, the skater increases the
radius of rotation by extending their arms.
What the
skater is doing technically, is changing their "Moment
of Inertia" to alter their spin rate. If they
extend their arms, they increase their Moment of Inertia and slow
down the spin rate. If they draw in their arms, they
reduce their Moment of Inertia and accelerate the spin rate.
Essentially, the only
control the skater has over the MOI of the spin is by
changing the "radius of rotation" of the spin with their
arms.
The
same can be said about the golf swing...
How to Reduce Swing MOI
There is nothing you can do to
affect the mass of the swing since that is fixed by the
weight of your arms, the club shaft and the club head.
However, you have a lot of control over the "swing radius
of the rotation" which is totally governed by your hand
technique.
The swing radius being the distance from the tip of the
club head to the center of your spine in your shoulder
area, around which the swing is turning.
This is determined by the angle at which you cock your hands.
The more you cock your hands, the smaller you make the
swing radius.
You want the swing radius to
be as small as possible at the start of the downswing by
maintaining the fully cocked position of the hands as much as possible
for as long as possible.
This makes it
easier for the torque you have generated during the
backswing to get the swing under way and accelerate the
swing at a faster rate on the downswing.
Most golfers achieve a fully
cocked hand position at the
top of the swing.
The problem though for many golfers shortly after this
point, is that they begin the
"release" of the hands on the downswing too
early...
Early Hand Release
As you begin to release the
hands, you increase the radius of the swing, and by
doing so you increase the swing MOI. Just as in the
example of the skater, the turn rate of your trunk
"slows" down as you increase the MOI of the swing.
The longer you can keep your
hands cocked on the downswing, the faster you can
continue to accelerate the trunk turn during those crucial moments
from the start of the downswing.
High handicap golfers
tend to release the
hands right from the start of the downswing. As soon as
they do this they increase the whole "inertia" of the
swing making it very difficult to get it under way.
To overcome
this heavy swing load, they try to add "more torque"
into the downswing to get it going by "muscling" the
club head all the way through impact. It is no wonder
that the "effort" that is required for this motion looks
pretty unpleasant to watch!
A pro golfer on the other hand
maintains that cocked hand angle long after the start of
the down swing keeping the swing MOI very low. Their swings
have a much higher rate of acceleration without much "
visible" effort involved.
That's because
they do not need to put much torque into the start of
the swing to "get it going". They just let the backswing uncoil
naturally. It is only
as the radius of the swing begins to open up as they
release the hands that you see them
generate the effort.
How the smaller players hit it long
The delayed hand release is how the smaller golfers
achieve great swing speeds and compete with the big
guys.
Their technique is not so much about generating high
swing torque as the larger players do, it is more about
controlling their MOI on their downswings by
delaying the release of the hands to keep the radius
of rotation to a minimum.
If you
watch the swings of Sergio Garcia or Lorena Achoa ,
both of whom are smaller relative to other players
on their respective tours, they pack a great punch
in their swings largely because of their mastery of
this one technique.
So Ladies and senior
golfers who may feel you are physically unable to
generate a lot of swing torque, work on your delayed
hand release technique to increase your golf swing speed
and distance. This requires no additional physical
effort, only practice with your technique.
Keep your hands relaxed and
let the swing uncoil naturally and you can easily increase
your swing speed by as much as 10%....
Word of Caution: If you plan to rush out to
the range and put this technique into practice
you will see an immediate difference. However, as easy as this technique
is to pick up
extra distance, there are two other aspects of your
swing that you need to learn to control before you
can achieve the "full benefits" from the delayed hand
release technique:
"Golf swing tempo and timing" will be addressed when you sign up
to receive our
newsletter and the free email lesson on the subject that you
can apply immediately with this technique.
The
elimination of muscle tension is a much broader
subject which is one of the prime topics addressed
in my book "Breaking the Distance Barrier".
In the
book I will show you how to match your swing to your "golf physique" which will eliminate
most of the muscle tension that causes swing break downs and
swing inconsistency.
My
approach is to help you develop a
"natural" golf swing from the ground up under the
guidance of "golf physics" and "golf mechanics"
as you have just experienced.
This requires
an awareness of the true
"physical restrictions " of your swing
and a change to how you "mentally" control your swing to
swing within those restrictions to avoid mechanical
breakdown.
Once you
are able to swing within your "natural"
golf swing range,
you will build a strong foundation on which to make
rapid swing improvements to your consistency and swing distance
performance.
Trying to make
swing technique changes when you are still experiencing
muscle tension and breakdowns in your swing is an impossible task that may
never result in any lasting improvement....
---------------------
Thanks for
taking the time to review this lesson. Keep your hands "quiet" for greater
golf swing
speed and good luck with the remainder of the lessons.
Les Ross
If you are ready
to get started right now on learning how to discover
your own "natural" golf swing range and more "practical"
techniques for pumping up your golf swing speed and distance, you may do
so by ordering your copy now.
The book and great
bonus package can be downloaded
immediately....
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