Increasing club head speed with ghost balls

[wakefield724]

I have been trying a new way to increase club head speed and it has been working. Swing with no ball on the ground as hard as you can. I learned this trick from a long drive competitor. When we swing at the ball we are too focused on hitting it right which does not allow us to go full throttle. When we swing at an imaginary ball we can go full throttle which In turn makes us use more effort and breaks down muscle faster. I try to swing 25 times a day full speed and when I golf I have seen my club head speed has become faster with the same amount of effort due to a stronger swinging muscle group. When I started golf in April my club head speed was around 90ish. I am now up to 118 with goals of competing in amateur long drive next year so I have a goal of 130 by July. I am not expert by any means but this method works for me

[Lihu]

I'm not all that much better than you score-wise, but swinging a club without a ball isn't going to give the same speed results as with a lighter object like an alignment stick with a small weight attached or no weight in some training methods.

A lot of people recommend this method to develop swing speed. I personally don't because I'd more than likely injure my aging body swinging faster anyway.

Here's a video showing that method. . .

 

[RickPro]

That is a lot of speed, what are you trying to do with that speed? Are you trying to join a long drive contest? What you need to focus on is consistency and not swing speed. I have gotten beat by senior citizen scratch players because they are automatic with there shots. not long distance, but right down the center every single time.

drive for show, put for dough.

what kind of golf do you play? do you play completions, tournaments, or just for fun? If you are playing for fun, grip it and rip it. if you are trying to win trophies, money, club championships, etc... your going to need to focus on keeping the ball in play.

[Lihu]

4 hours ago, RickPro said:

That is a lot of speed, what are you trying to do with that speed? Are you trying to join a long drive contest? What you need to focus on is consistency and not swing speed. I have gotten beat by senior citizen scratch players because they are automatic with there shots. not long distance, but right down the center every single time.

drive for show, put for dough.

what kind of golf do you play? do you play completions, tournaments, or just for fun? If you are playing for fun, grip it and rip it. if you are trying to win trophies, money, club championships, etc... your going to need to focus on keeping the ball in play.

He stated that he's interested in amateur long drive, but increasing from 118 actual swing speed to 130 is going to take serious training and "youthfulness".

OTOH, if he's using a SS radar unit, then the actual speed of the swing differs by a lot. I have two types of these swing speed monitors that clock over 130 with great regularity doing "no ball" swings, but when you get me on a foresight GC2 my SS is only about 100. That's what I meant by actual swing speed in the above sentence, on a GC2 monitor. Even Trackman and Flightscope seem to overstate swing speed compared to GC2. For instance my son is about 110mph on average on GC2, but has clocked over 116 a few times with a 10 shot average on the radar units. On the course he probably swings 106 or so, and I only swing in the mid to high 90s.

So, going from 118 to 130 on a GC2 is pretty astronomically difficult unless you happen to be pretty young and have a lot of fast twitch muscles. That is, if he's really currently swinging 118.

Note that on GC2 you can't get SS without hitting a ball. . .

[wakefield724]

4 hours ago, RickPro said:

That is a lot of speed, what are you trying to do with that speed? Are you trying to join a long drive contest? What you need to focus on is consistency and not swing speed. I have gotten beat by senior citizen scratch players because they are automatic with there shots. not long distance, but right down the center every single time.

drive for show, put for dough.

what kind of golf do you play? do you play completions, tournaments, or just for fun? If you are playing for fun, grip it and rip it. if you are trying to win trophies, money, club championships, etc... your going to need to focus on keeping the ball in play.

 

4 hours ago, RickPro said:

That is a lot of speed, what are you trying to do with that speed? Are you trying to join a long drive contest? What you need to focus on is consistency and not swing speed. I have gotten beat by senior citizen scratch players because they are automatic with there shots. not long distance, but right down the center every single time.

drive for show, put for dough.

what kind of golf do you play? do you play completions, tournaments, or just for fun? IIf you are playing for fun, grip it and rip it. if you are trying to win trophies, money, club championships, etc... your going to need to focus on keeping the ball in play.hello

I am interested in competing in long drive and I would like to be a ringer for scrambles by being the guy who can drive far.  Getting into golf in my mid 20s I realize that I will never go pro but with my stature  I feel I can be a solid driver if I focus much of my attention on that

[Lihu]

7 minutes ago, wakefield724 said:

I am interested in competing in long drive and I would like to be a ringer for scrambles by being the guy who can drive far.  Getting into golf in my mid 20s I realize that I will never go pro but with my stature  I feel I can be a solid driver if I focus much of my attention on that

That seems pretty reasonable as well. . .but 130 is really fast. You're young enough to do it for sure, but there's more to it than stature. You need the fast twitch muscles to get from where you are now to 130. I have many playing partners who are over 6'5", one of them almost 7' and they don't swing that much faster than me. Possibly slower. Then I have a playing partner who's 5'4" and can out drive pretty much everyone my age. . .

Edited September 10, 2017 by Lihu

[Hacker James]

lots of disagreement between weighted club vs speed training. I have a home made speed stik trainer with a "sliding" sleeve that has given me good results and I can definitely see an improvement after a few swings before taking an actual club in hand.  I may post photos in my practice thread when I ever get my aforementioned batteries for camera. (I know I keep mentioning it, but for some reason do not think about it when I am out and about plus its not a high priority).

34 minutes ago, Lihu said:

That seems pretty reasonable as well. . .but 130 is really fast. You're young enough to do it for sure, but there's more to it than stature. You need the fast twitch muscles to get from where you are now to 130. I have many playing partners who are over 6'5", one of them almost 7' and they don't swing that much faster than me. Possibly slower. Then I have a playing partner who's 5'4" and can out drive pretty much everyone my age. . .

Reminds me of Ian Woosnam. he is short of stature, but long in drives.

[iacas]

On 9/10/2017 at 6:58 AM, RickPro said:

drive for show, put for dough.

Nope.

[djake]

1 hour ago, iacas said:

Nope.

@iacas that's it? "Nope" I mean now really, just that "Nope"

[Ernest Jones]

4 hours ago, djake said:

@iacas that's it? "Nope" I mean now really, just that "Nope"

Yup. 

[iacas]

21 hours ago, djake said:

@iacas that's it? "Nope" I mean now really, just that "Nope"

I've only covered it a billion times by now. Okay, maybe just a million.

[Zeph]

On 10/4/2017 at 5:09 AM, djake said:

@iacas that's it? "Nope" I mean now really, just that "Nope"

Long thread: 

The gist of it is that the long game matters more than what many has historically believed, which means the phrase "drive for show, putt for dough" is incorrect. Those winning tournaments usually gain more strokes on the long game than on putting and short game. Statistics and the recently revealed and all-so-useful 'strokes gained' stat is pretty clear on this.

Edited October 5, 2017 by Zeph

[djake]

On ‎10‎/‎4‎/‎2017 at 7:59 PM, iacas said:

I've only covered it a billion times by now. Okay, maybe just a million.

yeah I know, I just got a kick out of your one word answer.  It literally was a day brightener

 

[djake]

On ‎10‎/‎5‎/‎2017 at 5:56 AM, Zeph said:

Long thread: 

The gist of it is that the long game matters more than what many has historically believed, which means the phrase "drive for show, putt for dough" is incorrect. Those winning tournaments usually gain more strokes on the long game than on putting and short game. Statistics and the recently revealed and all-so-useful 'strokes gained' stat is pretty clear on this.

@Zeph I totally agree with you and I understand the statistics supporting this.

When my Driver is on I score, that plain and simple.  

Last season i averaged 106 mph with the Driver but I was noticing a slight decline at age 54.  I was told that I could not increase my club head speed and to get used to it.  That did not sit well with me.  So last off season I started to study everything I could regarding the Driver and how I could optimize that one club. 

I also started to study how I could increase my club head speed and I set out to build a off season series of work outs specifically targeting Golf.  My goal was to get to 110 mph with the Driver and at a minimum to stop or slow the decay of swing speed due to age.

Well I hit 111mph going into this season and then I got professionally fit for the Driver and my distance off the Tee is further then i have EVER had in my life, at age 54!

Now going into this offseason I feel that I have 2 1/2 more months of additional work out time because I have a solid base to start my workouts with that last year i did not have.  I plan on adding and subtracting to my work out program so that I keep the work outs fresh.

At age 55 my goal for next season is 115 mph with the Driver.

I want to add, taking the time to get professionally fit for the current Driver I have made a significant difference in combination to my work outs.  How tight my dispersion with the new Driver is at a level that i would dream about with added distance.  As well as for the first time in my life I can actually work a Driver.  I get on a tee box and the level of confidence I have is at a all time high and it sure is fun.

Since this topic was about a method increasing club head speed, yes find a method and work it.  If you stick to it the work outs it will make a difference.

I want to add that during the golf season I scale my work outs way back and go to a maintenance level.  to heavy of a work out set while i am in the middle of the golf season actually hurts my game.  I will also do a "taper" (for those who understand that term) before major golf outings or tournaments.

 

 

[Hacker James]

Sounds like one of those Speed Stick Commercials where the claim is that after 15 swings, you will gain 20 yards. Some merit to it however, my "hacker whacker" not withstanding.  

[yourgolfbuddyph]

Golf is all about core muscles. Go do some leg exercises :)