Speed vs. Power — which is it that you actually want in the golf swing?
Many golfers believe they need to generate more "power" in their golf swing to hit the ball farther, and this misconception has led to fundamental flaws in both golf instruction and the average golfer's perspective of the swing. This age-old question has been given many answers over the years, but as with all things RST, there is a logical, science-based answer to put this myth to rest.
Much of the confusion around the idea that you need "power" in the golf swing comes from those who try to equate it with a baseball swing. However, there is a significant difference between these two sports.
In baseball, the ball is traveling at speeds exceeding 90 mph; therefore, it carries a tremendous amount of kinetic energy. Even though the baseball only weighs 5.12 ounces, it effectively weighs 87 pounds when traveling at 95 mph.
A golf ball, on the other hand, is stationary when struck — it has zero kinetic energy. Its mass is only 1.6 ounces. Compared to the effective mass of the baseball at 87 pounds, it should become immediately clear that the parameters for properly striking each ball are vastly different.
Observe the picture above of a major league slugger hitting a home run next to long drive champion Jamie Sadlowski hitting the equivalent of a "home run" in golf! Notice how the baseball hitter has his lead arm draped across his chest, while Sadlowski's lead arm has clearly separated from the upper torso at impact. For a complete data-driven analysis of how your own swing mechanics measure up, try a free AI swing analysis.
If you've struggled with hitting the ball as far as you think you should, read on....
Because there is so much kinetic energy involved with a baseball, a hitter's lead arm is often across the chest at impact to help support the arm and transmit energy from the rotating torso.
In golf, this would be the equivalent of a "stuck" position at impact.
We don't need to absorb the tremendous loads that a batter does. In fact, we need the arms to release off the chest in order to allow them to accelerate faster and transfer power into speed in the golf swing.
While a major league hitter swings the bat at 70+ mph, a long driver of the golf ball like Jamie Sadlowski generates club speeds exceeding 140 mph — double the speed of a baseball bat.
A portion of that speed comes from the length of the golf club vs. the bat, and another portion from the golfer's hands accelerating to well over 20 mph vs. the batter's more modest 14 mph. When you understand that hand speed and lag are the two most important determinants of how far you can hit a golf ball, you start to realize that the phrase "power in the golf swing" is less important than thinking in terms of "speed".
In this video, I discuss the concepts of speed vs. power in the golf swing and demonstrate a simple drill that will immediately change your perspective on what the swing should feel like.
If you feel like you're working hard in the downswing with your body, you are not moving efficiently and need to work on this drill to get the club head moving faster than you ever thought possible! To practice with real-time AI coaching, check out a free AI golf lesson.
Checkpoints for Practice
Hitting the ball farther is affected more by speed than raw power
Gain more speed by improving your wrist release at impact
Practice with a light stick or by holding your club upside down to feel the release
Video Transcription: Speed vs. Power
{josociallocker}
One of the most common misconceptions in the golf swing for golfers trying to hit the ball farther is that they need more power. While power is certainly relevant, understanding what actually makes the ball travel farther is the real key.
I have a stick here — it weighs almost nothing, very light. I'm using it to illustrate a critical point: it's not power that you need in the golf swing. When most golfers think of power, they start thinking about taking their entire body — hips, torso, everything — and driving all this mass into the ball.
While that feels very powerful, it isn't. In fact, it actually impedes the release of the golf club and can cost you speed in the golf swing while putting far more wear and tear on your body as you work harder to rotate through impact.
What you need to understand is that you're really looking for speed rather than just power. Speed is what makes the golf ball travel farther — assuming square club face contact and all those other fundamentals are correct for the purpose of this golf instruction video.
When you're searching for more golf swing power, what you actually want is golf swing speed. Just by sitting here and getting a little snap in my wrist, I generate a tremendous amount of speed with virtually no effort. I could do this all day long, and you can hear the stick whipping through with incredible velocity.
That should be your concept of power and speed in the golf swing. You're not trying to flip it with your wrist, but the wrist release provides the vast majority — anywhere from 65 to 80 percent depending on whose research you follow — of your clubhead speed.
When you realize that even the fastest, longest hitters on the PGA Tour move their hands at only about 21 miles an hour at impact with a driver while producing 124 miles an hour of clubhead speed — now that's efficient power. Five to six times the speed that the hands are moving at impact is how fast the club head is traveling. Part of that can be attributed to shaft length — the longer it is, the faster the tip moves — and the rest comes from the release of the wrists.
He's not trying to drive his body into the shot because all that would accomplish is maybe moving his hands slightly faster while delaying the release of the golf club. What he's doing is getting his hands to impact and then letting them release. The release is the key to real golf swing speed.
This should be your feeling of the golf swing — not "I'm going to rip through it as hard as I can." If you don't have a stick handy, a great way to start changing your concept of how you swing the golf club is to flip it upside down during warm-ups. Start making your swings and develop the feeling of a true release.
This is what we're really after. It doesn't take a tremendous amount of power. My body isn't doing much to generate dramatic force, but I can produce incredible clubhead speed by focusing not on moving my body fast, but on moving it in the right sequence to accelerate the club through impact.
And speed only matters at the bottom of the arc. I don't care how fast your follow through is, or your backswing. I'm trying to produce speed at the moment of impact. That means sequencing is the key — not just driving your body through as hard as you can in an all-out effort.
Rather than thinking about producing power with the big muscles in your body, focus on using your body to move in the right sequence to achieve the right alignments and positions.
At the bottom, learn to release the club with speed. Simply practicing with the club upside down gives you the feeling. Notice how quiet my body is, yet there's a tremendous amount of speed — and that's exactly what you want to feel in your golf swing.
{/josociallocker}
In the image above you can see the difference between power and speed. For the baseball player, having the lead arm smashed across the chest allows him to use his upper torso to absorb the force of the ball. With golf, the force of impact is far less severe, and the lead arm separates from the chest to allow the hands and arms to move much faster than the rotating torso.
It is speed, not power, that we need at impact
Shaft length affects club head speed
Wrist release produces speed
Get a feel for the speed by holding your club upside down
Want to Feel This in YOUR Swing?
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We're after one thing: Real Results - Real Fast.
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RotarySwing was founded out of frustration with the current state of golf instruction. Quinton knew a better way had to exist to learn this game we all love.
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Don't worry, you can easily switch back at any time and will see a new
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What are the main advantages of the new program?
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Faster progress - you will see improvements in your scores incredibly
fast and this will immediately begin to spill over into your full swing,
even while working on just your putting!
There's a reason that Earl Woods taught Tiger how to play the game
from the green back.
I admit, at first, even I didn't think it was necessary. I thought I
could skip ahead and learn the full swing without building a solid
foundation in putting, chipping and pitching.
All this belief did was cost me MORE time than had I started
at the beginning just like The GOAT did. Over the past 20 years of
doing golf clinics, my observations of thousands of students was
always the same - those who started the slowest at the beginning
always got there the fasted in the end.
In other words, the students I observed being diligent with the
small things like grip, setup, posture and the basics of controlling
the clubface on day 1 were always WAY further ahead of those who
didn't on day 1.
In the post above by member Everett, he said it all in a nutshell.
Go through the program exactly the way it is laid out and you
will have extraordinary results. Skip to the end and you'll end up
with the exact same swing you started with.
This is a system, not a grouping of random tips.
There is a method to my madness deeply rooted in learning psychology
and over 30 years of teaching hundreds of thousands of golfers
just like you how to hit a ball with a stick. Slow down and you'll
get there faster...
In the image above you can see the difference between power and speed. For the baseball player, having the lead arm smashed across the chest allows him to use his upper torso to absorb the force of the ball. With golf, the force of impact is far less severe, and the lead arm separates from the chest to allow the hands and arms to move much faster than the rotating torso.
It is speed, not power, that we need at impact
Shaft length affects club head speed
Wrist release produces speed
Get a feel for the speed by holding your club upside down
