How to Increase Clubhead Speed for Beginners

I’ll guess that you already understand from experience that swinging as hard as you can and out of control won’t do your scores any favors. Hitting a bomb 300 yards but hooking it into some woods or out of bounds surely won’t leave you any better off than the guy who hits a controlled drive 240 yards into the fairway.

Pro golfers like Jordan Spieth and Dustin Johnson will tell you that there is a difference between “swinging hard” and “swinging fast.”

Swinging fast is about clubhead speed reaching high miles per hour at impact while still maintaining your timing and control of the golf swing. Swinging hard is just muscling everything you got into the golf swing without control or effectiveness.

Resource: Practice Routine Challenge..Can You Pass This?

Many golf professionals appear to swing slow or “effortless” but in reality their swing speeds are notching 115 to 120 mph, which is faster than the golf swings of amateurs.

Their smooth flowing swing is successful because they understand better than anyone else how to generate the most clubhead speed at the right time. That time being at the very bottom of the swing, timed perfectly with impact.

We’re excited to teach you in today’s lesson, the 3 quick fixes for increasing clubhead speed and adding distance to your golf game.

Resource:

• How to Break 70 Golf Training Plan
• How to Break 80 Golf Training Plan
• How to Break 90 Golf Training Plan

3 Easy Ways to Increase Clubhead Speed & Driver Distance

Clubhead Speed Rule #1: Understand Clubhead Speed

Before you can increase clubhead speed, you need to understand it! Increasing clubhead speed is essential to increasing your distances you hit your golf clubs because more speed means more energy at impact.

Let’s go throwback to high school physics. Force equals mass times acceleration. The more speed your club (mass) has at impact, the more force the ball is struck with.

Do you know your current average clubhead speed?

If not, Trackman and other golf technology systems can analyze your golf swing using sensors and show you what your swing speed is at impact. You’ll need a starting data point to begin with so you can see if you’re swing speed is improving and increasing over time.

The best golfers in the world have clubhead speeds between 110-120 mph. They often swing faster than amateurs by 10-20 mph which creates a huge difference in distance! A 1 or 2 mph increase in your clubhead speed can add several yards to your golf game.

The key to generating clubhead speed is timing. As mentioned, your golf swing builds up energy throughout the swing, and the best golfers in the world know how to release the power at impact with great timing so their clubhead accelerates into the ball at maximum speed.

We wrote an article you should browse through on generating lag in the golf swing in order to build up power that gets released right before impact. Check it out if you have some spare time to help you golf swing from a new perspective.

Your wrists hinge during the golf swing and then release before impact, throwing the club into the ball essentially.

The best golfers in the world have mastered this lag and can hold it off until last second, creating enormous power.

Those who release early, known sometimes as “casting,” fail to maintain the energy and power they built up in their wrists.

Once your clubhead makes impact with the ball, this energy transfers to the golf ball creating ball speed which is another metric these distance tracking systems can analyze. Ball speed turns into how many revolutions your ball spins and how far it will carry and roll based on launch angle. This can also increase your distance but it’s for another day in another article.

Overall takeaway for part 1 is to practice generating lag in your golf swing and properly timing the release at impact to deliver the most power and clubhead speed possible into the golf ball. You’ll need to stay in control through the golf swing in order to maximize your power and lag, hence why wild swings with no control and fluidity tend to fail at generating clubhead speed.

Clubhead Speed Rule #2: Exercise & Muscle Building

Not to call out females here but muscle can certainly play a role in the golf swing. Men are typically stronger than women and therefore have the ability to produce more power which is why we see male club distances being greater than female club distances.

However, those with strong legs and strong core can generate a lot of power in the golf swing. When you get to the bottom of your swing, you’ll rely on your torso or core area to power you through the ball. Hence why some women with strong cores and leg muscles, in addition to a good golf swing, can out drive men.

I’d recommend integrating a core strengthening program into your weekly training sessions at the gym to build these muscles. Additionally, work on leg strength and balance which are essential to having a controlled powerful golf swing. Your legs are the base of your golf swing so be sure to take balance exercises seriously.

You can also build golf specific muscles by swinging a weighted golf club. You can pick one ($199 or so) on Amazon and use it at home in the garage or basement each day.

Clubhead Speed Rule #3: Adjust Your Grip

Your grip is difficult to change but it can fix your swing in many ways as we’ve seen with people who tend to slice, hook, etc. as a result of poor grip fundamentals.

Adjusting your grip can help you release the club through impact, thus freeing up the clubhead to achieve maximum speed at the right time. Here is a good video for working on your grip:

Golf Practice Guide’s Resources

Make sure to check out more articles linked below as well as our step by step practice plans which come with worksheets and other bonus downloads.

• How to Increase Lag in the Golf Swing
• How to Hit Your Irons Further
• Best Practice Routines for Beginners
• The Golf Mental Game Guide

Or click here to see the step by step practice plans with worksheets for tracking your results.

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