Five Tips to Boost Your Swing Speed

More speed = more distance off the tee. 

When you can hit the ball further, it usually leads to lower scores — shorter shots into greens being the biggest reason why. Depending on your age and ability, however, there are several factors to consider when implementing a speed program. 

For a senior golfer, the emphasis should be on safety and avoiding injury while creating speed. For a junior, the emphasis should be on creating speed while maintaining good swing efficiency and avoiding the reinforcement of bad swing habits and patterns. 

To find some solutions for PGA.com readers, I reached out to highly decorated golf performance coach, Scott Shepard, who is the owner of Driven Golf Fitness based in Lake Mary, Florida, and the Golf Performance and Therapy Director at Orlando Health Jewett Orthopedic Institute.

First, I wanted to ask an important question: What’s the biggest misconception regarding creating speed in the golf swing? 

Below are Shepard’s top five tips for creating more swing speed the right way.

Own the positions of the golf swing first.  Activation exercises with bands can help golfers get stronger in certain swing positions and be able to harness power in the swing.  You can use resistance bands  with some positional holds— start with lighter versions and work your way up — to achieve this. Try 2-3 sets of six reps with five-second holds in a few swing positions, like your takeaway or top of your backswing.

Overloading certain golf swing movements help golfers get stronger through the motion. They may look a little goofy, but don’t underestimate exercises like taking a band and pulling it down towards impact or loading a band from the top and performing a dynamic band pull-down. Both are actually very beneficial to overload the swing movement and train the golfer to stabilize and transfer the load under control. Remember, load forces you to stabilize, and stability is key to transferring speed.  Try these band movements  for 2-3 sets of 10-12 reps each.

Using a light medicine ball of 2-6 lbs, you can work on developing some swing-specific power by throwing or slamming the ball into the ground as fast as you can.  The focus is on using the arms, not the trunk, to drive the ball down towards the ground.  This will help the athlete learn to deliver the arms and hands down towards impact with high speed.  Try 2-3 sets of five to six throws.  

The golf swing requires a power movement with some vertical, lateral and rotary movements.  You can train power and speed in all of these planes with the same medicine ball you used in No. 3 (2-6 lbs.)  Try these throws against a wall or toss to a parent or friend for more power in all the planes of movement.  Try a 2-3 sets of six or eight throws each direction.

While medicine balls and resistance bands can help you gain some power and strength patterns, there is no substitute for swinging light objects to get the club moving faster.  When you swing an object lighter than a club, your body learns to move faster, and this will transfer over to more speed with the heavier object, as well.  

Try doing some swings with an alignment shaft, club flipped upside down, or light training aids.  Try for 3-4 sets of six swings a couple times per week.  And don’t forget that you also need to dedicate specific range practice to hitting some max speed drivers.  Try for 10 max drivers a couple times per week with the goal of swing as fast as you can within good mechanics and balance.