Let’s talk strength and maximum force production. We want to work on these two aspects first, then focus on speed. So how do we improve power through speed? Well, a common term that gets thrown around a lot is plyometrics. Plyometrics are quick ballistic responses off the ground; quick action type moves. It’s interesting to say, but this is where the misconception is for a lot of people training for golf. If you are working on cardio, getting on a bike, or getting on a treadmill for 30-45 minutes and neglecting strength or speed work, you’re really missing the boat on what actually happens in golf. With that being said, if you’re going to walk 18, you need some sort of endurance and cardiovascular output for sure, but that’s not what the typical individual is lacking. The typical individual is lacking strength and the ability to produce strength quickly.

Titleist Approved Power Through Speed Training

At the Titleist Performance Institute, they actually say what they’ll start with, in terms of how to improve speed, is just plain old sprinting. So, taking a 40 yard dash, 30 yard dash, 50 meter dash and saying, “Get good at doing it as quickly as you can, even if you’re in your 40s, 50s, 60s.” Obviously, we have to be safe about this thought. We have to screen people and make sure they’re ready for things like that. The ultimate goal is to move as fast as possible for a short period of time. That’s what the golf swing is. For instance, you walk to your next shot, five minutes, and then it’s maximum force production. You get around the green and maybe it’s not maximum anymore, but those first couple of shots on most holes, it’s explosive quick force production.

We want our body and central nervous system to get used to that pattern. So, first thing is explosive use of the legs. The golf swing starts from the ground, how we use our legs, how we interact with the ground. If you can’t do that, you’re kind of missing the boat on a lot of other things. This is almost the prerequisite when I start working on improving power through speed with our golfers.

Exercises for using the ground to gain power through speed:

• Jumping Variations (see videos above):

  • You can add some jumping in terms of going straight up and down

  • You can add jumping in terms of going side to side

  • You can add jumping and leaving the ground in terms of rotation

• Sprinting:

  • Bursts of high intensity running followed by time to recover

• Triple extension drills:

  • Anything where you go from a squat pattern or multiple joints are flexed and then you go to standing up

Rotational Exercises to maximize power through speed:

• Med ball work:

  • One of the best things to do is take a lighter medicine ball, four or six pounds, depending on body size, maybe we’ll work up to eight or 10 you are just seeing how quickly can you get that ball out of your hands in a rotational fashion.

  • Seeing how far you can throw the med ball. You are trying to produce as much as possible into the wall rotationally. With a lot of the rotation stuff, you want to be working both directions.

Upper body plyometrics to create more power through speed:

 Yes, just because it’s arms and hands doesn’t mean that you can’t do plyometrics as well. So very, very straightforward. We try to take our push and our pull examples and we add some speed to them. And there’s very easy ways to do that, to try to get the upper body going. I think I talked in the strength section about the bench press. So the pressing movement in any capacity is a very, very big predictor for club head speed in terms of the upper body. So, we want to at least be doing something ballistic and rapid, quick action wise with the upper body.

Specific power through speed training:

Not a lot of stuff that I’ve explained really looks like the golf swing, but from a speed standpoint, it would behoove us to actually work on swinging faster. There’s a lot of skepticism. And again, when you talk to the golf gurus and swing instructors, you get into the idea of club head speed and the little bit of a misconception with it. When we work on speed training, we’re looking at people pump out 125-130 miles per hour, (which are big numbers on club head speed) but they’re not doing it with the necessary intent that when they actually get driver in their hand in a tournament situation, they’re going to swing as hard as they can for 130. But what it does is it makes their cruising speed automatically a little bit higher. If you get really good at swinging with intent and with purpose, as hard as you can in a training situation, then when you actually go to the course, you’re normal, comfortable, not swinging out of your shoes. You find yourself having a more balanced swing.

As long as you’re using the ground, automatically your new cruising speed is going to be higher. You’re still not swinging out of your shoes, not coming out of balance, and still not changing a lot of things in terms of the mechanics or technique. Now your club head speed is automatically higher because you’ve raised your normal cruising speed. That’s where the specific power through speed training principles come into play. You can kill some of those misconceptions of those myths that we’re trying to train as fast as we can, because when we get to the tee box, we’re going to swing as hard as we can. That’s not exactly what the point of it is.

Resources You May Be Interested in:

1. Read Dr. Eric’s “7 Golf Tips To Ease Pain & Swing Easier” book

2. Read Dr. Eric’s “15 Extra Yards With 5 Simple Golf Fitness Strategies” book

3. Check out the golf services Motus Rx Physical Therapy provides.

4. Listen to episode 15: Upping Your Golf Game Now Without The BS

5. Listen to episode 16: The Top 3 Things You Should Be Doing For Golf Fitness