Increase swing speed

[BritBoy]

I am slowly but surely loosing swing speed with my driver. Call it age, call it mid section expansion, whatever you want. Does anyone know of any good training aides or exercises that can help to get swing speed back up?

My usually swing speed is about 110MPH and I can push it to around 115mph. Last week I had it measured at 108mph and I felt like I was giving it everything and then some.

[Shindig]

I am slowly but surely loosing swing speed with my driver. Call it age, call it mid section expansion, whatever you want. Does anyone know of any good training aides or exercises that can help to get swing speed back up?

What's your workout routine like?

I've noticed an increase in distance with my driver over the past few months, now that I'm working out on a regular basis. I know I swing slowly, but I've never had it measured. Do you really care about speed if you get distance and accuracy? [I'm a high-handicapper, so the answer might be "Yes, because speed gives me distance and accuracy" for all I know. If I'm wrong, please let me know]

[schlyer]

You could always just move to a lighter shaft in your driver - that would speed you up with no pesky exercise necessary.

[NM Golf]

Overall fitness and strengthening of the large muscle groups and core muscles, along with increased flexability is all you can do to increase swing speed. This can be done in several ways. Unfortunately, swing speed IMHO, like most athletic abilities, is a have it or not have it ability. You cannot teach someone to hit it 350 yards. Swing speed is genetic, like foot speed. You can increase what you are given through training but not significantly. And because of that it will also decrease with age. The degree it decreases is in direct relation to your overall health as you age. My father is 66 and still has club head speed greater than 100 mph. Of course in his prime he was a bomber, and now he is a complete workout nut. It is a fact we will all have to deal with in time. Father time will take his toll and eventually put us all on the executive course.

[Fourputt]

I know that over the last few years ( I turned 60 in December) my swing has shortened, so today on the range I was trying a few things. One that seemed to be working was to let my left heel come up on the backswing. Not conciously lift it, but make a bigger turn and just let it come up. I found that I could actually get the club past parallel, and I've been swinging about 3/4 for the last couple of years. I'm going to work on it some more, because when I wound up all the way, my drives were almost as long as they were 10-12 years ago (I was banging them well past the 275 yard sign, carrying over 250, and from the mats you have to add 25 yards to what the signs say)... and still straight. It remains to be seen whether I can maintain that much turn on the course, but I'll sure try.

One comment, I ALWAYS stretch before I start to practice or play. ALWAYS. It only takes me about 5 minutes to stretch my back, legs and shoulders.

[Shindig]

One comment, I ALWAYS stretch before I start to practice or play. ALWAYS. It only takes me about 5 minutes to stretch my back, legs and shoulders.

Absolutely! I tried playing without warming up first twice, and even though I'm in pretty good shape, and not at much risk for pulling muscles, it cost me 10 strokes one round and 15 the other. Even my putting is measurably worse under such conditions. I also stretch every morning, so that I can gain flexibility. And before and after exercising any particular muscle, so that I retain flexibility. [now I need to translate that into getting my irons and short game to behave...]

[tiger woods]

Hey brit boy buddy! sounds like you need to quit trying to swing so fast. easy swing keep your eye on the ball buddy. Lifes to short to be hard swinger. I bet you sound like a hughy helicopter on your practice swing bud. good luck remember to slow down.

[chingali]

Instead of working to increase clubhead speed have you ever stopped and thought about how big a factor solid ball contact is? I have been on a few launch monitors over the past few years and I consistently come in at between 104-108 mph which is as I have been told average to above average for a low handicap amateur. I have also been to a few fitting sessions with friends of mine who I have been playing with for years and their swing speeds are up to 10 mph higher than mine but when we play, I am longer than they are 90% of the time.

The reason why is pretty simple, I make good solid ball contact, right in the middle with my driver most of the time whereas they generate more clubhead speed but are always making contact off centre.

So I think it is very important to not focus too much on raw clubhead speed, but to focus on basic swing mechanics and make sure that you are getting good contact as often as you can.

I also think that is very good practice to get yourself fitted for your driver by a good clubfitter who can help you make the most of what you have. A good fit with your driver will add more than a few yards to your current average.

One other thing to think of, when being fit for your driver tell the clubfitter that you are interested in a driver of a maximum or slightly less than maximum length that enables you to make solid ball contact. Going an inch longer than this or even only a half inch can get you a few % more clubhead speed but can dramatically affect how often you are able to get it right out of the middle.

[Nick88]

Yep always stretch!

I didnt the day i tore my shoulder muscle on the 1st tee! It hurts! lol

[milesdowsett]

Simple answer to this one.

If you want to increase club head speed then maintain the angle of your wrist and shaft at the top of your backswing for as long as possible in the downswing; this is termed the 'late hit' and generates tremendous club head speed through the ball.

Just watch Sergio Garcia or Ben Hogan's downswing in slow motion; they demonstrate the 'late hit' beautifully.

[Finn07]

My two cents would be to loosen your grip on the golf club, get that whip effect going.

[jaacobbowden]

schyler's suggestion about switching to graphite is a good idea to increase swing speed without any other investment of time.

And chingali is right about the importance of solid ball contact - you can lose 20 yards on your drive by missing the sweet spot as little as 1/2 an inch. Getting your equipment custom-fit and possibly going with a shorter driver are good thoughts. I've hit two drivers that looked very similar but were different in loft, weight, length, shaft flex, and I literally hit one 50 yards further than the other.

I don't necessarily agree that you need to slow your swing down, though. Rather, I think it's more important to remove tension from your swing. Tension makes it more difficult to keep your balance and it changes the measurement between you and the ball. Often times slowing your swing down does remove tension, which is good...but you don't have to give up speed at the same time. It's okay to swing fast, just don't swing hard.

You don't need to be able to swing to parallel to hit the ball a mile either. Neither Sean Fister (a Remax World Long Drive Champion) or JB Holmes (PGA Tour) swing to parallel. That said, I do advocate stretching, flexiblity, and most definitely warming up before-hand to prevent injury.

Also, I think that either being born with swing speed or not is a common misconception (even Tiger mentioned this on the pgatour website). While it is true that some are naturally faster than others, that doesn't mean you can't significantly improve on what you've got.

For those that are interested, I've got a whole web site dedicated to building 'usable' swing speed and/or getting back the swing speed that you've lost with age. The basic program is a minimal investment in time and yet gets great results. Phil, 55, went from 100 mph to 116 mph in 30 days. At 2.5 yards per mph, that's a 40 yard increase. You should've seen his excitement to be hitting the places he began hitting (without losing accuracy) on his home course.

Jaacob
http://www.swingmangolf.com

[hukdizzle]

Some people are born with a better frame and build to be able to swing a club faster than others but really it's not set in stone that if player b isn't built like player a he will not swing the club fast than average ever. It's all about physical condition and proper training. I used to play professional paintball and had a personal trainer that did a football like workout with us that was mainly based on plyometrics. Plyometrics is essentially the study of increasing the actual speed of your muscles contracting and going back to rest and making them faster/stronger than they normally should be. This also applies to making your tendons more elastic like and allowing them to build a TON of power. For example football players do this for their lower body to be able to get to their full stride speed much faster than a normal individual as well as being able to change directions and use impeccable feet work at full speed in an instant. Same thing is applied to basketball players who would like to jump higher and farther and needs the agility. We used it on the paintball field to be faster out of the gate to our bunkers and be very agile on the field at full speed being able to stop on a dime from a full sprint. The same thing can be applied to the golf swing but I wouldn't have a clue how to do it unfortunatley because we never trained to swing a golf club. The training can be somewhat unorthodox in some ways and may seem like it doesn't make much sense sometimes but if you train with someone that focus' on those studies you'll see an improvement in distance and club head speed i guarantee it. A notable person who was aware of the plyometric effects on his body by the training he did was Bruce Lee. He had an INCREDIBLY fast and powerful body for his size and some would say he was the strongest/fastest man ever to live for his size (Chuck Norris quoted this). One thing I would not recommend is doing plyo training without direct supervision of a trainer as you can damage your muscles/tendons very easily if the exercises and training isn't done properly.

Cheers,
huk-

[tm22721]

I went from a standard 45" to a 43" driver which improved club head feel resulting in much better ball contact. Twenty years ago, all drivers were 43". I don't know how the industry hoodwinked us into thinking we're all tour pros.

I try to delay club release and increase club lag, but you can wind up pushing or slicing a shot. Garcia certainly has it perfected, his angles are incredible.

[Leek]

Simple answer to this one.

Great, can you tell him HOW to do this?

[MrKadash]

Try a weighted club. I posted this in another thread that the Momentum club I purchased about 6 years ago has done wonders for me - if you take the time to swing it almost daily. It increased my distance and swing speed, not to mention it's cool to pick up a club and have it feel light as a feather.

[worbos]

Remember every mile an hour you lose off your club head speed
you lose 2 yards off your drive.

It does add up

[extremeld]

i am sure i have posted on here before about swingspeed so i am not going to ramble

i dont think there is a quick fix for swingspeed, i have never met anyone who can give a decent player 30 yards in no time at all i.e. 1 week 2 weeks - they are generally just punting something and the only guarantee offered is that they will make cash out of your desire to hit it further.

you CAN improve speed by a range of exercises, practice, stretching, weights, technique, equipment, optomizing launch and spin - if you want to there are yards to be had - but they dont come easy

if anyone would like to offer me something where you Guarantee! to give me 25 or 30 yards i will be happy to pay for this when i have achieved said gain!

kenny