Do Not Use a Heavy Club or Weighted Donuts

[iacas]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sinned123

What's your view on swinging a power fan, instead of a weighted club?

I think a weighted club is better than a fan.

I concur.

[mpb1472]

Very interesting topic. Having come from a baseball background and then playing softball for over 25 years i always looked for ways to increase power. Back in my baseball days, a donut was commonly used in the on deck circle by almost everyone. Mostly to loosen up and it was important to take a few dry swings after using it or your timing would be off. So I never thought of it as a way to increase bat speed. Fast forward to my years of softball. Now in slow pitch you have to supply more of the power so it behooved you to get stronger somehow. So powerlifting did help in that regard. I did use a swing fan on off days as I got older but I did not see any better results. What did help though is a routine alluded to in this thread. Heavy- regular-light swings, 3 sets of 15 reps each on non-playing days. I placed foam with duct tape to make a heavy bat, used a whiffle ball bat with a little tape on it for the light bat. I did see some more pop in my swing . Unscientific for sure but I saw its value. I have an orange whip trainer but I use it for loosening up.

[RussUK]

Thanks for sharing. Basically if you want to swing faster, you need to practice swinging faster. I know Dana Dahlquist has done speed training with some players and it involves plenty of reps going 100% with a lighter club (about 15% lighter than a standard driver).

@cedrictheo, what has been your experience?

Ive seen a lot of the golf magazines recommend swinging the driver with the headcover on in order to increase your swing speed, a few have even said to try and make it fly off. Is this a bit of a no-no are has it some merit?

[mvmac]

Ive seen a lot of the golf magazines recommend swinging the driver with the headcover on in order to increase your swing speed, a few have even said to try and make it fly off. Is this a bit of a no-no are has it some merit?

I would not do that in order to increase swing speed.

[golfbarefoot]

I always use a couple irons to stretch out, never thought this will help me increase swing speed etc... Just to stretch my shoulders, same as I always did in baseball... It's just a few swings not a daily workout regimen.. This is goofy Golfers often overthink too much....

[royroy858]

I have been training with weighted clubs for the past two months. One was a heavy "Momentus Driver" and the other was a "unique" kind of club. I have been training with them twice a week with two specific mindsets. Having trained in martial arts for 30+ years, I understand how a person trains as well as the mindsets employed are much more important than the training tool!

Here's what I have noticed:

1. The training tools make my hands and arms tired much quicker than a regular golf club.

2. I have an increased range of motion on my backswing and my follow-through after two months of training.

3. I am using more of my core muscles in my swing now because I am turning my body more.

4. I am hitting my driver 12-15 yard farther, without feeling like I am swinging for the fences.

5. I am hitting my irons 18-20 yards farther, without feeling like I am swinging for the fences.

6. I feel more stable with my putting AND am making a couple more long putts per round.

Not bad after just eight weeks of focused training!

While I agree that swinging with a weighed club before a round can be harmful - unless a person is just trying to get the blood flowing and a bit of a stretch - I do believe swinging weighted clubs as a weekly training regiment will help a person develop strength and flexibility in their golf swing.

[boogielicious]

This article is more about warming up.

http://www.golfdigest.com/blogs/the-loop/2015/01/does-swinging-a-weighted-club.html

Quote:

Does swinging a weighted club help you warm up?

By Ron Kaspriske

Many golfers go through the pre-round ritual of grabbing two or three clubs out of their bag at the same time and swinging them together in order to "get loose" for the first tee. Others take their driver, turn it upside down, and make blindingly fast swings whooshing the shaft through the hitting area in order to warm up. Do either of these activities help?

Turns out they both do, but it depends on what type of golfer is swinging.

If you're the typical amateur golfer who lacks the hip and mid-back rotation commonly seen on the PGA Tour, you're better off warming up with a heavy club, or swinging two or three clubs, to increase your range of motion when it comes time to swing for real. But elite players, ones who swing the club faster and more competently, will benefit more from warming up with lighter clubs. This information comes courtesy of Dr. Mike Voight (@voightm), a professor and clinical physical therapist who supervised a study on warming up with his students at Belmont University. He also is on the Titleist Performance Institute's (@mytpi) advisory board.

Voight's study focused on college and professional level players, but he says it's clear from their findings that warming up in this manner will improve golf-ball velocity on the course for any golfer.

"The typical golfer with limited range of motion, heavy club swinging works best, though any swinging will help increase ball speed," Voight says. "But if you already have good rotation in your mid-back—thoracic rotation—then we found it best to warm up with a light club. Or, better yet, progress from a heavy club to a light club."

It's also a good idea to switch from right-handed to left-handed swings, or vice versa, in order to maintain good muscular balance.

[Typhoon92]

You want to train your fast twitch muscles by doing explosive training. I swing the "Speed Whoosh" 100 times per night. You want your body/muscles to know what its like to swing fast. Alot of times I mix it up with my playing driver...but I don't go heavy. We have an orange whip at work but I'd never swing it to build speed. Even exercises at the gym like throwing a med ball off the wall...you want to use a lighter weight and fire it quickly, not a heavy weighted ball to throw slow. I'm 5'6", 140 lbs and north of 50. In the last couple years since focusing more on fast twitch/overspeed training I have gained clubhead speed instead of losing it...and I work with launch monitors every day.

[wannabe]

Interesting thread.

I've always just taken my driver and turned it around backwards, grip away from me, and swung it to get the 'whoosh' sound and get my speed up with some practice swings.

Kinda the same thing as using a light club I guess.

I have also used two clubs as slow warmup/stretching.

[Gunther]

Interesting thread. I've always just taken my driver and turned it around backwards, grip away from me, and swung it to get the 'whoosh' sound and get my speed up with some practice swings. Kinda the same thing as using a light club I guess. I have also used two clubs as slow warmup/stretching.

I do this too, when I feel like I'm having tempo issues; want to hear the swish at the impact point and beyond. But, this is the 1st I've seen of this thread and I've been reading with my jaw on the floor for the past 15 min. I've had a Momentus heavy club and used before every round for the past 7 or 8 years. It's out of my bag as of about 5 min from now. Gonna spend that time stretching going forward and see what happens. This is an amazing f###ing website.

[deason]

Why is a fan classified as worse than a weighted head?

[Typhoon92]

I don't know if the fan is worse, its just not training your muscles to swing fast. The weighted club will kill your elbow joints swinging it fast repeatedly. I hurt myself a few years back doing it.

[Typhoon92]

Actually the fan is more for tempo and creating lag than it is for building clubhead speed.

[JerseyThursday]

Ishikawa gets loose by hitting one-handed bunker shots & swinging a club w/ a 2kg medicine ball attached to it...

[Phil McGleno]

Ishikawa gets loose by hitting one-handed bunker shots & swinging a club w/ a 2kg medicine ball attached to it...

Getting loose is one thing. A different thing.

[gregsandiego]

My local course has this aid at #1 free for anyone to use. It looks like a club with 4 big plastic fins, kind of like a giant dart. It's not super heavy, but there is a huge amount of drag, like swinging a giant hand fan. When you swing it you are forced into slow motion.

Then your regular driver feels light and fast.

Thoughts on this one?

[iacas]

My local course has this aid at #1 free for anyone to use. It looks like a club with 4 big plastic fins, kind of like a giant dart. It's not super heavy, but there is a huge amount of drag, like swinging a giant hand fan. When you swing it you are forced into slow motion.  Then your regular driver feels light and fast.  Thoughts on this one?

Same as the heavy club except it may be less useless because it doesn't even let you stretch.

[gregsandiego]

Same as the heavy club except it may be less useless because it doesn't even let you stretch.

I think you mean more useless. But I might not be convinced.I get your argument about the data and swing speed. But if my regular club feels lighter doesn't that help with club control? Or maybe it's all mental but then so is golf anyway.