One of the essential traits of any golf player is their golf swing speed. The better and faster speed you have, the farther you can hit the ball. The farther you’ll hit, the lesser number of swings it’d take for you to complete the game.
To hit the ball further, the majority of golfers use a high swing speed. However, as you might have realized, accurately hitting the golf ball at high speed every time is not everyone’s cup of tea.
Having a lower golf swing speed would decrease your chances of winning and simultaneously make you exert more pressure on your body, especially on your shoulders and arms.
However, before we dive into the details of why your golf swing speed is slow, let us first understand the importance of speed and distance in any golf game. You can learn how slow speed affects the overall game as well.
Importance Of Golf Swing Speed In Golf Game!
Multiple factors, such as distance and the golf equipment used, determine the golf game’s result. However, the speed at which you swing your golf club is the most crucial factor.
This is because the speed at which you hit the golf ball directly affects the ball’s speed, which further determines how far your golf ball will go. The length covered by the ball in a single swing determines the number of swings you’d need to play to get the golf ball to the end.
Keeping these factors in mind, having a good or fast golf swing speed would prove much more advantageous for you. It will help you make good shots even under unfavorable circumstances such as windy weather and the ball getting stuck in the sand.
Most importantly, the swing’s speed would also determine the direction of the golf ball by giving it a swing. After all, you must not swing your club quickly in the wrong direction. Doing so will mess up your game and increase the number of shots you’d need to play.
Talking about your golf club’s swing speed, how do you determine that your swinging is slow, fast, or just enough? It will help if you continue reading further to know how you can check and compare your golf swing speed.
Which Golf Swing Speed Is Considered As ‘Slow’?
The main reason you’re reading this article is that you think that your golf swing speed is slow. However, ask yourself: Who did you compare your swing speed with? A beginner, a professional, or as compared to that of an average golfer?
The average golf swing speed values for an amateur male and female golfer are 93.4 mph and 78 mph, respectively. In contrast, professional golfers have a swing speed between 110 mph and 115 mph, with golfers like Mitch Grassing having a swing speed of 157 mph on average!
So, if you swing at a speed of 90 mph under clear weather, your golf ball would be able to cover a distance of around 200 yards easily.
You can easily measure your golf swing speed with the help of various applications like the Golf B-FIT and sports sensor swing radar. If the applications and devices show you a reading of less than 80 mph, you are a slow golf swinger.
Since we are now aware of the speed range that comes under the slow category of golf swing speed, let us answer your question: Why is my golf swing speed so slow?
Why Is My Golf Swing Speed So Slow?
If the speed at which you swing your golf club falls below the range of 80mph and 90 mph, your golf swing speed is slow. This can be due to various factors such as age, wrong grip, equipment, and timings.
Let us now discuss these reasons in detail.
1. Old Age And Absence Of Athletic Ability
As you grow old, your ability to swing the golf club starts to decrease. Your body starts to become stiff. Most of the people might develop arthritis with age, which might not even allow them to play golf.
In addition to that, you might be struggling to coordinate your hands and eyes together. The inadequate coordination would result in you swinging your club too early or too late. Hence, this would lead to compromising with the speed of the golf swing.
Moreover, if you’re not physically fit and suffer from obesity or any other medical condition, it would also result in you not holding the club properly or not applying enough pressure while swinging.
2. Improper Grip
The most fundamental part of playing golf is knowing how to hold your golf club properly and maintaining that grip throughout the game.
If you hold your golf club way too tightly, it will lower your swing speed. This is because the force applied by you would be consumed by your stiff arm through which you’ll be holding the club.
Therefore, while swinging, you should adequately hold your club, let your arms loose, and hit the golf ball quickly. It would result in the pressure being applied to the golf ball, and it can cover a considerable distance.
3. Incorrect Posture And Stiffness
Similar to having a proper grip of the golf club, you must have an upright posture while playing golf. If you slouch and stand in an improper position, you would not swing the golf club properly.
A narrow, stiff, and slouched body posture hinders your arms when you try to swing the golf club. This causes you to be unable to swing faster and thus, decrease the overall clubhead speed.
4. Wrong Timings
You could be an average or an above-average golf player. However, if you are unable to move your golf club at the right time, your golf speed would slow down.
While swinging, you might release your golf club as soon as it comes in contact with the ball. This causes you to miss out on the additional force that is important for a good swing speed.
5. Using Wrong Club Or Clubhead
If you’re not using the correct club as per your height and weight, you will always face difficulties while you swing the club.
For example, if you’re neither a muscular person nor a professional golfer and still use a heavy steel-shafted club, you will have a slow swing speed. This is because you would consume all of your strength in picking up the club, and little to zero energy would be left for swinging.
Therefore, it is suggested that if you want to improve your golf swing speed, you should try using a Graphite Club. Apart from this, there are various other ways mentioned below that can help you enhance your golf swing speed.
How Can I Increase My Golf Swing Speed?
Now that you’re aware of all the reasons that might be decreasing your golf swing speed, you can correct them through lots of training, practice, and going through a couple of suggestions mentioned below.
1. Do Proper Training
If you want to master any sport, let it be indoors or outdoors, you need to be physically and mentally fit. In golf, where you want to enhance your swing speed, you should start by strengthening your upper body and the lower body.
While swinging the golf club, the majority of work is done by the upper body. Therefore, you should work on it by lifting weights. Lifting weights would make your arms strong and would allow you to hold and swing the golf club with ease.
Simultaneously, it would be best if you kept working on your lower body as your torso, legs, and knees need to be strong enough to withstand the pressure.
It is always better if you would take the help of a professional trainer. They’ll guide you throughout the training process and recommend exercises that would fit your body type.
2. Work On Your Grip
As mentioned earlier, if you get a proper grip over your golf club, you would be able to swing it with ease. It is one of the fundamentals of learning and playing golf. There are different types of grips for golf clubs as per the size and strength of your hand.
If you have small hands, you should try the interlock grip type. It would allow you to hold the club by providing you more distance. Whereas, if you have big hands, you should try the ten-finger grip.
The correct grip would make certain that you hold the club in such a way that it’s neither too tight nor too loose. It would allow you to swing it quickly with ease.
3. Correct Your Posture And Flexibility
While you swing the club, make sure that you stand in a wide stance. It would help you relax your body and allow you to turn the club at a faster pace.
In addition to the wide stance, you should lower your head and focus on the golf ball and the hole. Doing so would help you in increasing your clubhead’s speed as well.
Moreover, you should keep your body relaxed while swinging in order to improve its speed. It would be best if you stretched your arms properly while holding your golf club. In this way, you can move and rotate your forearm and hence, your golf club naturally with ease.
4. Use The Correct Golf Equipment
In order to get a higher golf swing speed, you should start practicing with golf clubs that have some amount of weight in them. Weighted clubs that weigh around three pounds can help you increase your regular golf club’s overall swing speed.
If you practice with a heavy club, you would be applying your weight towards the club’s grip that would slide towards the clubhead. As you would swing the club, it would force your muscles to work and make them stronger.
Although you might face some difficulties like soreness while trying these clubs for the first time, they are absolutely worth it in the long run.
Once you’ve practiced with the heavy clubs for a while, you can remove the extra weight and shift towards lightweight clubs. The majority of the golf clubs that are light in weight and allow fast swings are either made up of Carbon Graphite or produced by Drivers.
After practicing with weighted clubs, the average clubs would feel very light, and you would be able to swing them more effectively and faster. However, be careful not to swing it way too quickly to result in the golf ball flying too far away.
Remember, you do not have to swing the golf club harder. You just have to swing it better.
5. Practice The Upswing As Well As Downswing Strokes
In addition to all the tips mentioned above, you should also focus on your swinging techniques. It would be best to begin by doing a backswing at a slower pace and then increasing its speed slowly. Doing so would result in perfect swings that would fly the golf ball through a long way.
Improving your swinging techniques would help you achieve a good swing speed. Hence, you will hit excellent shots without difficulty.
Conclusion
Everyone has a different style and speed of holding their golf club and swinging it. Professional golfers tend to have a higher swing speed and use golf clubs that are made up of iron.
However, beginners or amateurs have a slower swing speed because they are still learning. In addition to that, various reasons such as stiff body and muscles, lack of coordination, and not knowing how to hold a golf club properly also contribute to slowing the golf swing speed.
You can increase your golf swing speed over time by taking proper care of your health, doing proper physical training, and working on your flexibility. Most importantly, you should select the right golf club.
You won’t get immediate results, but you can quickly achieve a higher swing speed if you train yourself consistently.
