Golf Drill and Warmup: Increasing Clubhead Speed

For golfers looking to add distance to their game, working on clubhead speed is crucial.

Clubhead speed measures how fast the clubhead moves on your swing — the faster the speed, the farther the ball can travel.

Symetra Tour player Gabrielle Shipley offers a drill that can help increase clubhead speed and distance on your swing. This is also a good way to warmup. Remember to keep your body still and move your arms to make your swing go faster.

• Start by hitting the ball with 25 percent clubhead speed
• Follow this with a swing at 50 percent clubhead speed
• Next, increase to 75 percent clubhead speed
• Finish with a swing at 100 percent clubhead speed

“Doing this drill will help you be aware of your clubhead speed, resulting in farther distances,” Shipley says.

Remember to add more velocity to each swing as you go instead of starting off full throttle at 100 percent. This can be compared to how athletes in other sports warm up — baseball players don’t take the field throwing as hard as they can. They gradually increase the velocity on their throws.

You should do the same with your swing.

“You want to remember when you’re doing this drill, it’s not speeding up your body. It’s speeding up the clubhead,” Shipley says.

To do so, it’s important to remember to limit any lower body movement. Your arms are the key to clubhead speed.

By working on this drill regularly at the driving range, you could help increase the distance of your swing the next time you hit the links.