Success increasing club head speed

[Cklguy2013]

Has anyone had any success increasing their club head speed through exercise?

[andygg1986]

I've ordered a Superspeed training system, but am waiting for it to arrive. There are lots of reviews of people gaining around 5-7% clubhead speed. From what I understand, it works by swinging clubs that are lighter than normal to allow your body to get used to moving faster, and then a slightly heavier club sometimes too which should build up some muscle. I think it is more reliant on getting muscles to move faster rather than getting stronger.

[Cklguy2013]

I’ve seen this system, my only concern would be disrupting your swing, ie do you start swinging using all upper body.

[Agent 87]

I agree. Faster is better. I believe the best way to get faster is thru increased strength and flexibility. Try Yoga. It's the best thing for golf. As a matter of fact, most of the golf specific exercises you'll see on line are yoga poses or modified yoga moves rename by the presenter.

[Cklguy2013]

I'd be interested to see if anyone has maintained the speed. Adding 5% would be great though.

I'm thinking of doing a 4 week trial to see if I can add ball speed, I'm thinking of pushups, plank and a jump exercise. I'm curious to see if doing these exercises will increase my ball speed a month out.

[trhuke]

I bumped my driver speed about 5-6 mph over last winter after getting a SkyTrak. Didn't do any particular exercises but hit a metric pantsload of golf balls for 5 or 6 months. It was really startling to be able to bop the ball out there where I could 15-20 years ago. (I'm kind of old-ish)

[Cklguy2013]

Thanks for the input. I'm hoping to use exercise only to increase the speed keeping my swing the same, just faster as a result of better fitness.

[trhuke]

Mine stayed the same I just got stronger and smoother. I understand your idea of golf specific exercises though. (Although hitting tons of golf balls is exercising the heck out of the golf muscles)
I've found, particularly as I got older, that stretching and flexibility were very important, for what's thats worth.

Cheers!

[Agent 87]

That's interesting. 5-6 Mph sounds good to me. Is that across the bag? I'm oldish as well. Really oldish.
Anyway, I'm using Yoga with Adreine.to increase my flexibility and strength. Also, I make practise swings with a wedge trying to swing it as fast as I can. I can swing that thing about 76mph. That's translated into a normal wedge of about 72 mph. Having said all that, I find that a relaxed grip and dropping the club correctly doesn't hurt either. BTW I'm 5'7" and under 170lbs and did I say really old. LOL. Finally, I think the real number to watch is ball speed.

[FaultyClubs]

Power needs strength and speed. If your strength is good then might not be worth the effort compared to speed training. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=V8bWdjitTaw

[Taco]

Kinda late to this but I think it’s important to add. The bottom line is stronger is longer...always. Remember, we are applying force to the club and the club is applying force to the ball. We are not applying speed, we are applying force. We also know for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction, so as we apply that force to the club, it’s applying an equal and opposite amount of force on us. The stronger we are (everywhere), the more force we can create. and the more force we can absorb. There’s a reason all the long drive guys are built like lumberjacks.

speed is certainly a component, but like sprinters, a lot of us either have it or we don’t. College football players train for months specifically for the nfl combine and at best may shave a 1/10th of a sec on their 40 but they can make relatively huge strides in strength pretty quickly. Super speed will help, but my understanding is that once you stop training with them the speed gains go with it.

So, in short, get stronger.

[FaultyClubs]

Kinda late to this but I think it’s important to add. The bottom line is stronger is longer...always. Remember, we are applying force to the club and the club is applying force to the ball. We are not applying speed, we are applying force. We also know for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction, so as we apply that force to the club, it’s applying an equal and opposite amount of force on us. The stronger we are (everywhere), the more force we can create. and the more force we can absorb. There’s a reason all the long drive guys are built like lumberjacks.

speed is certainly a component, but like sprinters, a lot of us either have it or we don’t. College football players train for months specifically for the nfl combine and at best may shave a 1/10th of a sec on their 40 but they can make relatively huge strides in strength pretty quickly. Super speed will help, but my understanding is that once you stop training with them the speed gains go with it.

So, in short, get stronger.

The human muscle is not a constant force device so the force-velocity curve of muscle plays a huge role in the power production needed for distance. Also the brain has all kinds of speed governors built in to protect from injury. So "stronger" is not always longer. It may not be relevant. Depending on the individual it may even be detrimental.

The goal is golf specific power that supports the kinematic sequence without injury. Absent an evaluation who knows what the OP should be doing.

[Andrago94]

I used the Drive 400 workout program and added 15 MPH of ball speed with my driver (~10 MPH club head). It's actually a good overall workout program for golf, combines stretching, weightlifting, and swing speed drills.

[Cklguy2013]

Very interesting. How long does it take to do the workouts?

[Cklguy2013]

Just to follow up, I've been on a swing catalyst, and my vertical force was poor, at about 140% of body weight, my instructor said that I've maxed out horizontal and rotational (i.e. torque) forces and gains will have to come from increased vertical forces, so putting more force into the ground.

[Burtgolf]

Cklguy2013 I have searched for this "swing catalyst" and find a few videos from Foley and Peterson but nothing showing where to find this locally. I am guessing this is the same thing your talking about where your measuring your pressure of your stance throughout the swing??? This is something I am very interested in so if you could share where your able to use this "swing catalyst" it would be most appreciated!!

[Cklguy2013]

The Swing Catalyst is a pretty amazing piece of technology, showing how you interact with the ground. I've been on it at The Golf Lab at King Valley Golf Course just north of Toronto.