John Daly and JB Holmes

Did anyone catch the side-by-side GC put up showing Long John and JB head-on in full driver mode? One of the best uses of the technology I've ever seen.

Daly gets close to 300 degrees on his backswing, JB not a helluva long way past 200. And the result? A one-yard driving-distance differential.

Cool stuff.

 

I did see that. It just proves that the power zone is the same regardless of the length of your swing...

I remember watching a "Playing Lessons from the Pros" with JD a while back.. saying something like "When I get old - I finally will get to parallel and stop"..

Whenever my swing gets too long - I think of hunched over Alan Doyle and try and shorten it. :evillaugh

This thread has gone everywhere - sorry.

 

You're fine. lol

Not the same exactly, just that there are ways to get there. Someone could take a very long backswing and still not generate a ton of speed. It is as you are suggesting what's happening at impact.

All else equal (meaning optimal launch conditions), x MPH of ball speed = yardage. The rules of golf limit the multiplication factor, the 1.5+ times swing speed that equates to ball speed, and ball speed with said optimal launch conditions is carry and roll distance. An up-tempo swinger armed with more fast-twitch muscle can get to the same clubhead speed in less time/space as a longer, more languid swinger. That's why instructors who tell students to "speed up" or "slow down" in some vacuum sense aren't helping. Tempo is tempo, work with it don't change it.

One of the things I'm seeing in drivers the last year or two is enhanced forgiveness (and distance) all over the face. These slots and channels bring more of the club face up to the regulatory limit. You hit 'em on the nuts they don't go any farther, but the slop factor has jumped.

 

That makes a lot of sense. It's often that slowing down and improving my tempo results in longer, "crisper" shots.

What's with the whole move towards a higher launch angle on drivers to increase distance? Used to be you'd grab an 8 or 9 degree (if you could hit it) to increase distance. Is it because the new technology reduces spin so the increased angle, in turn, increases distance?

 

There's a woman golfer who won a major a year or so back(one of the koreans with shall we say a large rear end), who's backswing pretty much ends with the club pointing straight up, she still kills it.

Just shows that backswing doesn't matter, whatever works.

 

All I know is John Daly was a winner yesterday...........

.....with those slacks........

 

Yeah, but were they using the same equipment? Same club and same ball?

Just curious.

 

The modern ball doesn't spin compared to the balata marshmallow of old, so now launch angle is far more important, the ball doesn't spin upward, in fact. Lofts of old also were often far off what was stamped on the sole of the club, for ego purposes.

 

I kinda see what you are getting at, but that's rather immaterial since clubs and balls are regulated. Each has a set up tweaked to them but neither is using anything beyond the limits. And that's why driver numbers are great comparos; it's not one guy's 7-iron which might have the loft of another guy's 5-iron, it's just how far the biggest stick goes (that hits the fairway). Their respective angles of attack might be different, which would manifest in equipment tweaks, but ball speed is ball speed is ball speed at the point of impact, and they are nearly identical with far different swing lengths. That's the moral of the story.