jaacobbowden

True, there is certainly that aspect of increasing swing speed...that is, getting a big gain right off the bat for those that have been sedentary. But that actually goes for anyone that doesn't practice their speed, even Tour players who have been playing a long time and have been stuck at what they may perceive to be their maximum speed. 30 mph is rare, yes, but still possible. Three that come to mind are 105 mph to 139 mph, 95 mph to 139 mph (4 months), and 93 mph to 138 mph (over 5 months). 20 mph is more common. 10 mph is relatively easy to achieve for almost anyone.

With respect to your comments about increasing club head speed... Yes, increasing range of motion and strength can help with swing speed, but the effects of yoga on swing speed are negligible. Improving balance also has it's benefits and is important, but getting better balance won't necessarily increase swing speed. Hitting the ball in the center of the club face versus hitting off-center has influence on ball speed, but not swing speed. Swing mechanics are obviously important and, yes, certain aspects of various mechanics can lead to higher swing speeds...but a neutral swing path and square clubface won't change swing speed. For a draw, perhaps you accidentally got the numbers backwards because a 2* in-to-out path with a clubface that is 3* open to the target will produce a ball that fades for a right-handed golfer (assuming good contact). I agree with you about shaft fitting and it's potential effects on swing speed. A positive angle of attach can help you hit the ball farther provided optimal launch conditions, but it doesn't necessarily change swing speed nor does it change the spin rate.

Hehe, I know. I get that reaction quite a bit. ;-) Trainers these days do well with general fitness, flexibility, injury prevention, etc...but what lacked was an expert in swing speed training, so that's an area I've been focusing on for years. Not increases in swing speed from technical kinds of things (which is most of what you find), but rather making improvements to what your body can physically do. Believe it or not I've actually had numerous people go up over 30 mph over several months of training and dedication.

Quote: Depending on how much time and effort you're willing to put in, there's quite a few things you can do to increase your swing speed. First, simply practicing swinging fast helps. I know it sounds simple and obvious, but most people beyond professional long drivers don't do it. If you want to get better at something, it only makes sense to practice it. So I would say at least a couple times a week, hit some drives as fast as you can while still staying under control. If possible, use a radar on each swing for the immediate feedback. Personally, the one I recommend on my site and to my pro and amateur students and clients is the Sports Sensors Swing Speed Radar. It's relatively cheap, accurate, and portable. Second, equipment-wise, that sort of depends. There's training aids, of which there are three common types that are good for swing speed training...heavy clubs, overspeed clubs, and wind-resistance clubs. Personally, I don't really favor heavy clubs because you need to swing them fast for building swing speed...which can cause injuries if you are not careful. You don't necessarily need to buy actual training aids if you don't have them. Often times there's homemade type of things that you can build at home that essentially do the same thing. For example, instead of using a Swing Fan, you can cut a 8-10" section of a ribbed pool noodle (will only cost you a few bucks), slide it down your driver shaft, and make fast swings with that on top of practicing swinging your normal driver fast. Resistance bands are not too expensive and nice as well for improving the strength of your golf swing...and if you have a gym membership, there's quite a bit of things you can do there like ballistic training, speed/shadow reps, isometrics, isokinetics, etc. Beyond that there's also sports supplementation (protein, creatine, etc), visualization, body work (Ex. neuromuscular reeducation), etc. If you're willing to put in a bit of effort, it's pretty easy to pick up 12-16 mph in a month. :)

Technique and club fitting certainly play a role in swing speed and hitting the ball farther, but since you said your technique is okay and you have been fit for your clubs, I would suggest doing some actual physical swing speed training...because someone with good technique and equipment who swings at 100 won't hit the ball as far as someone with identical technique and well-fit equipment who swings 110, 120, etc. At that point, it's just about getting your body in better "speed" shape. I started out at 105, not much faster than you...and got myself up to a peak of 139 on a Trackman before I quit competing in long drive. Since then, one of the things I've been doing is training people how to do this. Depending on how much work you're willing to put in, there's a variety of things you can do to build your speed...from practicing swinging faster (simple, but hardly anyone but long drivers do it), to training aid work (typically weighted clubs, overspeed clubs, or wind resistance clubs) to one and two-arm drills, to band isometrics, to ballistic weight training and speed reps in the gym, to isokinetics, to sports supplementation, to visualization, etc. On my site I've got a basic swing speed training program that typically will get people 12-16 mph in a month through a variety of speed drills, strength drills, etc. If you're willing to put in a bit more work, I've also got a lot of the stuff I used to do when I trained for and competed in long drive, including more detail on the things I mentioned above. With these things I've had numerous people go up 30 mph (not a typo) or more after several months of training. I don't want to get in trouble for posting links, so just private message me or search for my Swing Man Golf website if you have questions or want to know more. Hope that helps.

My fastest on a Trackman when I was doing long drive was 139mph, although mostly on the golf course I'll play around the Tour average of 111-112 mph. The Tour Trackman average ranges from 104 (David Toms) to 125 (Bubba Watson). The LPGA average is 94. A lot of amateur women/seniors I train go around 60-85 mph. Most amateur men I work with are 85-95. Jamie Sadlowski, 2-time RE/MAX World Long Drive Champion regularly runs in the mid-140s at Worlds. Joe Miller, 2010 Champ, and a few other guys have been over 150! Got some more averages, numbers, and some swing speed training programs here for anyone who wants to get faster. PM me if you have any questions or anything.

Yes, the distance gaps were just fine for me. Length of the club has a minor affect on distance...but loft is the primary determinant. People that I've talked to that have tried them have told me they've also had sufficient gapping.

A ways back, I wrote an article about my experience with them. I think they are great.

Do you know the specs on the old Tommy Armours? Even though they were same length clubs, maybe there was something objectively in their design that weren't making them sell well.

Yup, glad to help. FYI, I got an email from Tim Hewitt, one of the iMatch dealers...apparently they are sold out at the moment. Every time they do another run at the foundry they use, I think they have to commit to 500 sets. So like a lot of companies they are just waiting for the economy to improve a bit before making more.

Okay. Here is the review link. http://www.swingmangolf.com/1ironGol...lubsReview.asp The only two companies that I'm aware of that currently make same length clubs are 1iron Golf and Pure Fit Golf. I've never tried the Pure Fit ones, but I do have a set of the 1irons. I like that the Pure Fit's are forged and you can bend them, have adjustable weight ports for length and swing weight adjustments, and have a progressive bounce...but mostly I went with the 1irons because I could get a whole iron set, the offset was the same between the clubs, plus they had a money back guarantee. I swapped out the shafts that came with my 1irons for some Dynamic Gold SL-X100s, spine alined them, and put in some Sensicore. Distance-wise, I get the about the same yardages when I compare loft to loft. Length of a club plays a minor role in distance like some people have mentioned, but loft is the primary determinant. Any distance I lost with the long irons, I think I made up for in better contact. It was funny with the longer wedges at first too, but now I'm used to them and really like them that way because of the consistency in setup and swing from club to club. I'd eventually like to experiment with the iMatch's...just haven't done it yet. In either case, I don't think I could go back to a conventional set again. :-p

I have a set of them, although, I switched out the shafts that come with them and put on the grips I'm used to. It took about a month to get used to having them be all the same length, but now I really like them and my iron play is much more consistent. Loft for loft, I get about the same distance as I did with any of my other conventional iron sets. I wrote a review about my experience with them. I don't know if the forum admin's would want me posting the link, so if you'd like to read it...just send me a private message.

Thanks, funny thing was I played better on the 76 day. I think I had 11 birdie putts inside 12 feet and only made 1...didn't putt bad, just caught a lot of lips and nothing seemed to drop. Glad you found something that is working better for you. I'm forgetting which US Amateur I saw Tiger with the cupped wrist at the top...wish I could think of it. It must be one of his earlier ones. Which one are you watching? Jaacob Swing Man Golf

A cupped, bowed, or flat wrist at address, top of the back swing, or at impact are not going to absolutely determine how well you strike the ball. I've seen success with any number of combinations of these. Different people will have different experiences and results based on their own particular swing tendencies and swing styles. One of the reasons why you see pros with a bowed wrist at impact is because with their higher swing speeds they need to arrive with the club de-lofted as such so they don't hit the ball so high that the wind starts dramatically affecting the shot. A problem for amateurs with slower swing speeds who try and copy this position is that they will have trouble getting clubs like 3-5 irons up in the air. These people would do better from a shot-height standpoint to arrive at impact with a more flat or even slightly cupped position at impact. Curvature to the ball is more determined by the path of the club coming in to the ball and the blade position at impact. For example, given good contact an out-to-in path with a closed club face will cause a pull hook/draw, an in-to-out path with an open club face would cause a push cut/slice, etc. Jaacob http://www.swingmangolf.com

Dreamsmith, a swing speed of 90-95 for someone who is 70 years old is fantastic! When training with your Power Hitter and Speed Stik, make sure that once you are warmed up to swing them as fast as you can while still keeping under control. If you spend too much time swinging either of them slowly, you may be building golf swing strength (good), but you may also be building slow-twitch golf swing strength (not so good). When training with weighted devices like these, from a speed standpoint it's important to build fast-twitch muscle fibers. Do make sure to stay under control, though. It won't do any good to increase your speed if you are ingraining sloppy swing habits. Beyond that, if you want to increase your swing speed further...using things like resistance bands, different kinds of isometrics, various forms of weight training (if you like to go to the gym), etc will all help. If you're interested, I've got more details, information, and programs on swing speed training at my website -> http://www.swingmangolf.com . Beyond that, you can get more distance out of your driver with two things. 1) I'm not sure how good your ball-striking is, but missing the sweet spot by as little as an inch can mean a loss of 20 yards. Make sure that whatever swing method that you are using, that you hit the sweet spot as consistently as you can. 2) And I don't know if your driver is custom fit to your swing, but you may check in with a good PCS clubfitter to get your driver optimized. I've hit two similar looking drivers which differed in loft, weight, flex, and length, and literally hit one 50 yards farther with the same degree of accuracy as the other. Hope that helps! Good luck in getting to 250. It's definitely within reach for you! Jaacob