Speed training?

Interesting article but not surprising conclusions. Personally, I think it is best to look at golf as a 'transfer of energy' activity. So you want to build up energy, contain it, then explode. If one wants to look at speed in an isolated way as the most significant factor in distance (ceteris paribus -- and that is a very big ceteris paribus clause BTW), my view is that you need to first break down correctly what factors contribute to maximizing clubhead speed, holding other things constant. Recent studies suggest that the following factors are the most salient. 1. The highest hand speed 2. The location of the hands along the hand path when that speed is reached. 3. The distance of the clubhead to the ball at that point. So, e.g. for a given maximum hand speed, clubhead speed is maximized at that speed as a joint function of the distance of the clubhead from the ball and the point along the hand path where that speed is reached. Continuing, assuming two players with the same max hand speed and that it is reached at the same point in the downswing, e.g. left arm parallel, the clubhead speed at impact will be directly correlated with the position of the clubhead to the ball, how up and back or behind it is in relationship to the hands or butt of the club. Finally, for a given distance from clubhead to ball the higher up the hand path (or closer to the back shoulder or left arm parallel the hands are) the greater the clubhead speed at impact. The relationship of the clubhead then is directly related to extent of 'early' casting, that is, increasing the angle So what the mathematics and the 3-D motion capture shows, I believe, is that contrary to conventional wisdom, what a golfer should be trying to accelerate from transition through impact is hand speed and holding the angle. Now we are all taught these days not to hold anything, and I agree. So we don't focus on holding the angle; instead we should focus on widening the swing and we do that by widening slowly the angle at the elbow. And now we run into another bit of what may be a myth. That if we unhinge the back elbow we will simulatneously unhinge the wrist (ulner deviate/cast). Yes and no and who cares. If we unhinge the elbow but don't speed up the arms that will happen too soon. But what we are trying to do accellerate the hands early so we will be moving the arms quickly as we unhinge the elbow and that will mean that the better able we are to do this, we will get ulner deviation, but after the hands reach their max velocity which is EXACTLY when we want it. We never hold on and we shouldn't, but what we have to do is speed up the arms and thus the hand speed early in the downswing. That will also likely have a tremendous impact on pressuring the shaft which will increase its energy so not only will we be accelerating the club at impact we will be maximally transferring energy. So when someone asks me about speed training, my answer is a question: do you know what needs to speed up most and when in order to maximizing club speed. And once you know what that is, the training you will undergo to maximizing its speed is completely different than what is being taught. Or so I have come to believe based on the mathematics and physics I have studied and had explained to me

The long term effects on joints and ligaments research needs to be done to see if the speed gain in the short term is worth the risk of injury and how will speed training effect the players longevity later in life. If the player body can’t handle the speed increases is it worth the risk. It will be interesting to see how the power players of today body will fair 20 years from now. I think speed training is good to teach people how to use their body correctly when swinging the club it should not be used solely to increase club head speed. We would never put someone on a race track in a F1 car and say go as fast as you can that would be setting them up for disaster.

I did a winter fitness program for about a dozen juniors (2 boys and 10 girls ages 13-18). Approximately half of them are fairly advanced in skills and the other half have played for a couple years and are just starting to get into it. The program consisted of a good dynamic warm-up; then stability exercises and we would finish with "superspeed" protocol level I (I did the certification...) and we did this on Tuesdays & Thursdays for 6 weeks. We tested the swing speeds at the first workout, end of the 3rd week and on our final day. Everyone's speed with their own driver increased ...Ranging from 5 mph to 19 mph increases. The biggest reason for such large jumps seemed to be because most of the less experienced players didn't know how to create the speed with their body initially and through the program ,with coaching, were able to make the connections and generate the speed. It was interesting to see how they got more athletic with the movement throughout the program. Also, one afternoon we were able to get outside and we did the program. With the time left ,we did the step change (ala Happy Gilmore swings) hitting range balls and it was pretty impressive how they adjusted their swings to hit with power. With all that being said...I think there is a time, place and person that overspeed training will help (I do a lot of rope work also). I do not believe it should be the only thing done and feel a good/moderate fitness program would help anyone. When fitness programs go to extremes, that is when injuries seem to occur and bodies break down. The program to me was a success. Plus, it gave an opportunity to educate them on how to create power. Next we are getting into the technical side and blending the parts as Spring approaches.

+Tyler F The superspeed program consists of swinging 3 different weighted clubs (20% lighter; 10% lighter & 5% heavier club versus your normal driver). They do have sets that are lighter and for people with slower swing speeds (less than 85 mph); all the way down to all star junior sets and junior sets. Once you determine which set that student fits into you can begin the dynamic warmup then move into the protocols. If that is all you do, it should take about 20 minutes to complete and is recommended performing 3x per week for 6 weeks with a rest day in between. Once you get past the 6 weeks, it is thought you can go down to performing as little as 1x per week (same protocol) for maintaining the current speed acquired. Keep in mind their are 5 levels/protocols that you could work through. Here is what is required for level 1 protocol: (always try to make the next swing the fastest & rest if necessary). Note: all swings are performed 3 reps normal side and 3 reps opposite side (right / left handed) and make sure hands switch accordingly. Normal stance & swing: so light club 3/3; medium 3/3; heavy 3/3 Step Change swing: light club 3/3; medium 3/3; heavy 3/3 Normal stance & swing: LIGHT CLUB ONLY from normal position only--3 swings as fast as possible