Golf Swing Speed: Everything You Need to Know!

Your comprehensive guide to golf swing speed.

What does golf swing speed mean to you
Importance of swing speed
How much swing speed do you need
Different ways to improve golf swing speed
Choosing the right golf equipment
Perfecting your golf swing technique
Tracking your progress
Myths surrounding golf swing speed

In recent years, swing speed has become an important victory factor in golf. Many enthusiastic golfers are trying to understand more regarding golf swing speed, how it affects performance, and how to improve it.

Golf swing speed mainly affects the length of distance traveled by the ball. Hence, if your golf swing speed is more, the distance is increased. If it is less, then it is decreased. So yes, it has a huge impact on your performance.

Professional golfers are often much better than the average golfer mainly due to the distance factor; pro’s hit the ball farther.

So, this article will cover everything related to golf swing speed, its importance, ways to improve it, and some myths related to it.

Golf Resource: Foy Golf Academy Practice System + Practice Plans

What Does Golf Swing Speed Mean?

First of all, let’s understand what golf swing speed stands for. In simple terms, the speed with which you swing your clubhead is known as golf swing speed or clubhead speed.

Over the years, golfers have tried their best to increase their golf swing speed for better performance.

However, why does golf swing speed hold so much importance in golf? Does an increased swing speed affect the performance in a good way?

For this, let’s understand the importance of golf swing speed.

Importance of Swing Speed In Golf

One of the major reasons why you need to increase or improve upon your golf swing speed is because it has a huge impact on the distance the ball covers. For this, let’s understand a bit of Physics first.

First, you need to remember that the energy of an object is directly proportional to the square of speed. So, in simple terms, you can say that when there’s a twofold increase in speed, the energy is increased by four times. Now, how does this relate to swing speed and distance?

Well, you need to remember that the faster your swing speed or clubhead speed is, the farther the ball will travel. This happens because the energy from the clubhead travels to the golf ball.

Now, as mentioned earlier, if the speed is increased, the energy also increases. So, if you increase the clubhead speed, the energy also increases significantly.

This increased energy is then passed on to the golf ball. Thus, helping the golf ball to cover a longer distance.

For instance, if you increase your golf swing speed by just 1mp, the driver distance easily increases by three yards. This is how important golf swing speed is.

Resource: Golf Club Distance Worksheet

How Much Swing Speed Do You Need?

Now that you know how important swing speed is, let’s take a look at how much swing speed you need.

On average, a male golfer usually has a swing speed of 93.4 mph. But, that’s not all. You may also find that golfers having lower handicaps have a swing speed of 110 mph. As for PGA Tour players, the average is near 113 mph.

Now, how much swing speed is good enough for you?

As you may know, now anything between 90 to 100 mph is an average swing speed. So, you should always strive to have a swing speed of more than 90 if you want to play just for leisure. However, if you want to play exceptionally well, aim for more than 90 or 100 mph.

Different Ways to Improve Golf Swing Speed

If your golf swing speed isn’t good enough or is average, then don’t worry because there are ways to improve it!

Excessive Training

If you want to train your body to hit an impressive golf swing speed, then it is important that you start training.

Strength Training

Strength training is one of the most popular and the most effusive ways of increasing your swing speed. This type of training can be called weight training.

The benefit of strength training is that it helps in building and strengthening muscles. However, the main focus here is to find and work on the proper muscle groups.

There’s often a misconception that working on muscles like shoulders, biceps, and chest will help in increasing swing speed. But, let’s debunk that theory right now!

To increase your swing speed, you need to focus on areas like the abdomen, forearm muscles, and hips. These muscle groups are responsible for an increase in golf swing speed.

Pros:

The pros of strength training are quite obvious that is it can increase golf swing speed greatly.

Cons:

Strength training is time-consuming and requires a lot of discipline, along with dedication. Moreover, to see the best results, you need to pair it up with flexibility training.

Fitness Training Articles:

Flexibility Training

Golf isn’t just about those big muscles but also about flexibility. Hence, it is important that you pair strength training with flexibility training to actually see some improvement in your swing speed.

With flexibility training, you’ll be making your muscles more flexible to adapt to the position that can generate more swing speed.

Pros:

First of all, you don’t need to combine flexibility training with any other training. Moreover, It can significantly increase golf swing speed as it is one of the most effective training for increasing swing speed.

Cons:

There aren’t any major cons to flexibility training. But, know that straining muscles too much may lead to injury. So, avoid doing that.

Overspeed Training

The basic principle of the overspeed training is that you train your body to heavier weights before shifting to lighter ones.

For instance, in the case of golf, you can simply put some weighted donuts on the club. Then, swing your club till you get used to the weight. Then, remove those donuts and swing normally while playing.

As your body is used to a heavy club now, when you remove the donuts, it would be able to swing at a much faster speed and easily too. Hence, in this way overspeed training can help you out.

Pros:

Overspeed training is the quickest way to increase swing speed
Extremely simple to practice

Cons:

Practicing overspeed training may ruin your actual swing technique.
Various veteran golf players and coaches are against this type of training.

Hence, these are some of the training techniques that can help you improve your golf swing speed.

Choosing The Right Equipment

Other than training, it is also important that you find the right equipment to increase your golf swing speed.

For instance, you should definitely find an excellent driver. The best drivers can easily cover more distance and they may also help while you’re practicing for getting more swing speed.

You can also consider buying the right shaft. As most of the shafts are quite lightweight and flexible, they can help in increasing the swing speed. Make sure that you find a shaft that is of proper length to see the best results.

Finding The Right Technique

No matter how hard you try, if you don’t know the right swing technique, then nothing will work for you. So, it becomes extremely important to find the right swing technique.

Keep in mind that there’s no exact right technique as different golfers have different kinds of bodies and capabilities.

Hence, it is up to you to find the technique you feel is working for you. Or, you can also consider visiting a reliable golf instructor to help you with swing techniques.

When you’re trying to find the right technique, make sure you remember the below-mentioned points:

Proper Full Rotation:

To increase your swing speed, it is essential to work on your shoulder and hip movements. These can help with a smooth and proper full rotation which increases golf swing speed.

Downswing:

It is also important that you focus and work on the downswing. Sadly, many golfers are impatient and hit the ball too hard. Thus, this leads to wild and improper downswing and backswing. So, try to avoid this from happening.

Tracking Your Progress

Lastly, you wouldn’t know whether your swing speed has increased or not. Hence, you need to track your progress to know if a specific training or technique is effective for you.

To do this, you can consider getting a golf swing analyzer. A golf swing analyzer can help you in the following ways:

It can measure various things such as clubhead speed, spin rate, carry distance, etc.
It can give feedback on the areas where you can improve.
It can analyze your progress and help you get better.

If not swing analyzers, you can also consider going for a launch monitor. Both of them have the same function. The only difference is that the swing analyzer is usually on the club whereas the launch monitor sits behind the golf ball.

Various Myths Regarding Golf Swing Speed

Due to the popularity of golf swing speed, many myths have come up. But, now is the time to know what’s true and what’s untrue when it comes to golf swing speed.

Myth 1: It Is Impossible To Change Golf Swing Speed

Many golfers seem to believe that you’re just born with speed and there’s no way to improve your golf swing speed.

However, if you’ve read above, then you may already know that there are many training options, techniques, and even equipment, that can help in increasing your golf swing speed.

Myth 2: Slow Training Can Increase Your Speed

When you are training, you need to remember that slow training can actually kill the speed of your swing.

It is because when you’re training slowly, it can increase muscle strength. However, not the one that you need to target. So, if you want to increase your speed, you need to focus on strengthening fast-twitch muscle fibers instead of slow-twitch ones.

Myth 3: Swinging Hard Means Swinging Fast

Lastly, keep in mind that swinging hard doesn’t mean swinging fast. So, if you swing hard instead of swinging fast, you may risk missing the main spot on the driver. Moreover, you may also lose balance.

Hence, try to swing faster instead of swinging hard with rigidity and tension.

In conclusion, golf swing speed is a major deciding factor in golf. Due to this reason, it becomes imperative that you pay more attention to it, understand how it works, and find out which techniques help you increase the speed.

Once you have increased and mastered it successfully, there’s nothing that can stop you from standing out as an exceptional golf player!

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is The Average Swing Speed Of A Woman?

The average swing speed of a woman golf player is around 78 mph for amateur players whereas it is 94 mph for LPGA players.

What Is The Use of Golf Training Aids?

Golf training aids assist golf players to improve their techniques. For instance, swing training aids can help in improving the player’s swing speed.

Does Swing Speed Decrease With Age?

Yes, the swing speed of any golfer decreases with age. This may have to do with the fact that as we grow old, our body loses both flexibility and strength required for an excellent swing speed.