Jaacob Bowden's Swing Man Golf Blog

Dan Shauger good job of explaining?

Question:

Do you think Dan does a good job of explaining the swing in his books?

Jaacob's Answer:

If you like lots of information and a large variety of analogies that explain the way he advocates swinging the golf club, then yes, he does a great job of explaining.  However, some people I have talked to also get a little overwhelmed with the amount of information and would like a simpler explanation.  If you fall under the latter category, contact him and let him know you would like such a product.  He has been surveying people as to what kind of product to put together next.

70 years old - wanting to get to 250 yards

Question/Comment:

When I first started, my swing speed was 85 mph, which isn't too bad for a guy 70 years old. But I started swinging the Power Hitter, and have now improved my speed to 90-95 mph (it varies, and I once hit 100!).  And my latest thing is I now use the doughnut AND the Power Hitter, in an attempt to improve even more. My goal is to reach a consistent 100.

And as far as distance improvement - my drives are now in the 200-220 range, whereas they were 180 when I started. My goal here is to get to 250, which I now think is entirely possible!

Swing aids are somewhat expensive, but if you're a golf lover (as I am), it is totally worth it!

Jaacob's Answer:

A swing speed of 90-95 for someone who is 70 years old is fantastic!

When training with your Power Hitter and Speed Stik, make sure that once you are warmed up to swing them as fast as you can while still keeping under control. If you spend too much time swinging either of them slowly, you may be building golf swing strength (good), but you may also be building slow-twitch golf swing strength (not so good). When training with weighted devices like these, from a speed standpoint it's important to build fast-twitch muscle fibers. Do make sure to stay under control, though. It won't do any good to increase your speed if you are ingraining sloppy swing habits.

Beyond that, if you want to increase your swing speed further...using things like resistance bands, different kinds of isometrics, various forms of weight training (if you like to go to the gym), etc will all help. Details on these things are all in the Speed Training Section of the Swing Man website. 

Beyond that, you can get more distance out of your driver with two things.

1) I'm not sure how good your ball-striking is, but missing the sweet spot by as little as an inch can mean a loss of 20 yards. Make sure that whatever swing method that you are using, that you hit the sweet spot as consistently as you can.

2) And I don't know if your driver is custom fit to your swing, but you may check in with a good PCS club fitter to get your driver optimized. I've hit two similar looking drivers which differed in loft, weight, flex, and length, and literally hit one 50 yards farther with the same degree of accuracy as the other.

Hope that helps!  Good luck in getting to 250.  It's definitely within reach for you!  

How fast can you swing Momentus without injuring?

Question: How fast can you swing it without injuring your back?  I have a Momentus iron.

Jaacob's Answer:

It depends on the person and how much you are warmed-up.  Ease in to it, take your time as you work up to maximum controlled speed, and be aware of your body.  If you pay attention, you'll know if you're pushing yourself in to a dangerous area.

Hands at set up and impact?

Question:  Where should I set up with my hands at address?  And where should they be at impact?

Jaacob's Answer:

That depends...if you have a slower swing speed or hit the ball too low, set up with more of a Y position (where the club comes straight up the midline of the body) rather than the K position (hands are forward and club is inline with the left arm) that many teachers advocate. When you arrive back at impact, arrive back in that similar Y hand/club position (while still catching the ball on the bottom of the swing arc). The K position is more appropriate for a professional or someone with a fast enough swing speed to still hit it high.

Your setup for Mike Austin/Dan Shauger swing?

Question: Could you describe how you setup (club position/stance/etc) for the MA/DS swing with:

Driver
Other woods
Hybrid
Irons
Wedges

Jaacob's Answer:

The only thing that really changes for me is the ball position.    My stance, posture, grip, etc. are all similar with each club.

With all of my irons and wedges I typically set up with the ball in the middle of my stance.  Keep in mind, though, that I use a set of 1iron irons.  All of the irons are the same length and each club-head weighs the same (in a typical set there is a progression in length and weight).  They are designed to all be played from the middle of the stance.  Hmmm, although, even with your Taylormade irons, you could still play them all from the middle of your stance.   That's what I used to do with my old Titleist irons.  Most teachers would have you incrementally move the ball more towards your front foot as you progressed from PW -> 3 iron...but there's nothing wrong with playing everything from the middle of your stance (or anywhere in your stance, for that matter).  Personally, the center is where I think irons are easiest to hit consistently.

At the moment, I don't have any hybrids.  Although, depending on how high or far I would want to hit them, if I did have them I would play them anywhere between slightly forward of middle in my stance to a few cm's off the inside of my front foot.  The same goes with woods.

With the driver, most of the time I play it off the inside my front foot.  On rare occasion I might move it back a little if I wanted to hit the ball lower.

Which body part generates the most power?

Question:

If you could attribute one muscle group that generates the most power in a golf swing, what would it be? Hips, shoulders, legs, back?

In the same line, what would be the most important part of the body part to strengthen to increase swing speed?

Jaacob's Answer:

The muscle group that you get most of your power from depends on your particular swing. Different people swing different ways. Me personally, most of my power comes from my legs.

One way to determine which major muscle groups you are using with your particular swing is to look at the positions and differences of each muscle group at the top of the back swing and at impact. These are the muscles that you use to build your speed from 0 mph at the top to whatever your speed at impact is.

For example, my primary groups for my swing are:

Outside of left forearm
Inside of right forearm
Right triceps
Right chest
Right obliques
Left adductor
Left quad
Right abductor
Right hamstring

So when I'm in the gym, I'll focus on strengthening (and speeding up) those groups. When you do your strength-training, though, do it as fast as you can while still keeping under control. Regardless of whether it's bulk or endurance muscle...you want to build fast-twitch muscle fibers, not slow ones.