re: hitting it hard: at last year's SBE 14.1 Challenge, i saw player after player scratching on this shot, or winding up tough after it, from hitting it too hard.
even Shaun Wilkie (who i admire greatly for his proselytising of 14.1) was complaining to me when i was scoring his attempt "i hit it the same way Schmidt does, why does he get all the rolls?". well, no, actually, he was hitting it about FOUR times as hard as John.