Increase your golf swing speed today
Increasing golf swing speed is a crucial part of any golfer’s skill. It’s only inevitable that most golfers would aim to gain more distance after grasping the basics of a swing. The greatest way to achieve so is to increase one’s swing speed with proper technique and not necessarily by swinging harder. While it is natural to lose flexibility and muscle mass as one ages, it is still possible to make the most of whatever you have left.
Tom House, a former major league pitching coach lends his expertise, stating that golfers can swing harder by training the central nervous system to develop quicker muscle reaction.
“You can only swing the club as fast as you can slow it down,” House tells, which points to why one has to initially improve the ability to decelerate.
He likens it to a breaker shutting down an overloaded electrical circuit— your brain tries to stop you from swinging so fast that you risk injury because you can't safely stop the driver.
But if you can hit the breaks at faster speeds, your brain will let you swing harder.
That goes without saying that training the muscles and tendons at the back of the legs and the shoulder girdle, the shoulder blades most especially is of utmost importance.
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Accelerating one’s swing speed ultimately boils down to 3 steps:
Training the body to decelerate the club despite higher swing speeds; improving flexibility and coordination—to maximize the power reaps out of a powerful arm swing and body rotation; progressing to heavier clubs to train the muscles of the hands and arms.
These and other vital tips right here:
1. DECELERATION
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Strength-train your calves, hamstrings, tendons, and other muscles at the back of your legs by walking backward on a treadmill or pedal a stationary bike backward.
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Pretend a pencil is in between your shoulder blades and avoid letting it fall by pinching them together. You should feel the bottom of the blades touching. Do this several times a day.
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Stand against a wall, your forehead facing the wall. With your arms out to your sides, press your palms into the surface and pinch your shoulder blades together.
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Turn around and do this similar exercise with your back to the wall, your palms facing away. Do this 5 times in each direction while holding the squeeze for several seconds. This is good exercise for the muscles around your shoulder girdle to better control the club.
WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW THAT DEMONSTRATES HOW USING A CABLE CAN IMPROVE YOUR GOLF STANCE:
2. FLEXIBILITY AND CO-ORDINATION
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Stand straight with your arms in a goal-post position. Cross your right foot behind your left, and step to the side with your left foot.
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Cross your right foot in front of your left, and step again to the side with your left foot. Continue with this alternating pattern while moving laterally to the left for 10 to 20 yards.
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Perform this in reverse, moving laterally to the right. As much as possible try to keep your upper body facing forward. You can start slow and eventually move at a brisk pace. This should improve your ability to rotate your torso and execute a golf swing in proper form.
3. ACCELERATION AND LEVERAGE
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Grab a golf shaft or an alignment rod and get on your knees. Make five right-handed swings and five left-handed ones as fast as you can. Take a 5-iron and repeat. Next, do the same drill with a sand wedge.
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With the same progression of golf shaft or rod, 5-iron, and sand wedge, perform 5 swings from your normal address posture as fast as you can with each time right-handed and then left-handed.
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After that progression, perform 5 swings with each item right-handed and left-handed, only this time take a couple of steps toward the swing’s direction right before swinging.
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It would help if you’ve seen the Adam Sandler flick, Happy Gilmore.
WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW THAT DEMONSTRATES SOME GREAT WARM UP EXERCISES FOR GOLF:
https://youtu.be/VdLdjkVMPIU
MORE TIPS:
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4. When swinging, always relax the muscles in your shoulders and arms. Muscle tension happens to slow down clubhead speed.
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5. When holding the club, grip with minimal pressure. By holding the club too tightly, you prevent the club from releasing. The release is crucial for optimal clubhead speed.
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6. Extend your club back along the target line to lengthen your arc swing. Don’t rush to pick the club up.
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7. Turn your driver upside down and hold it near the head with the grip pointing toward the ground.
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8. Swing the club and make it swoosh at the bottom of the swing. Keep swinging until you notice a higher-pitched swoosh, which is an indication of increased swing speed.
Your next step
This post was written by Jim Cassells who is a golf enthusiast living in Florida.
He's currently with Natural Golf Solutions, a company that promotes healthy water management in golf courses around the United States by means of using Liquid Live Micro-Organisms or LLMO.
When he's not busy, you can find him in the nearest golf course, practicing his swings.
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