Speed kills. It’s a phrase used in every sport. If an athlete is faster than their competition, more often than not, they have a significant advantage at whatever athletic challenge is put in front of them. A quick first step as a basketball player drives down the lane, explosive acceleration through the hole and into the secondary for a running back in football, or the ability to generate so much power in a tennis serve it leaves your opponent frozen on the other side of the court. All of these are examples of how much of an advantage speed is to an athlete. The same holds true in golf. With the fastest players on the PGA Tour reaching club head speeds of 120-130 mph consistently, speed is at the forefront of everyone’s mind.
The third fundamental we coach at GPC is speed. Once you have shown the ability to use the ground, maintain good static and dynamic posture, and have developed the ability to rotate, you are giving yourself the best opportunity to be able to generate speed. Speed is created most efficiently through the proper sequencing of your body segments and the subconscious execution of each of the initial Primary Fundamentals mentioned above.
The SuperSpeed Golf Training System has become wildly popular on Tour with over 600 touring professionals now using it! Most notably, Phil Mickelson has adopted the training in the past few years as he has demonstrated the ability to not only maintain, but increase his driving distance to keep up with the younger competition. SuperSpeed is a tool we use with our athletes (juniors and adults) on a regular basis to help them train their nervous system to create more speed in their golf swing. You may be saying ‘wait a minute, the nervous system?’ Yes, the nervous system is the driver that allows the muscles to fire at the rate and in the pattern that they do for any particular movement. Once the nervous system has accepted the new found speed, there are ways to hit the “save” button, if you will, to transfer that speed into your sport.
SuperSpeed has done the research to determine what weight each club should be to maximize the principle of overload or “overspeed” training. They also have appropriate sets for juniors of all ages to be able to take advantage of the speed windows that occur throughout development and we will be ramping up our SuperSpeed protocols in the coming weeks as we head into the next phase of training with our Junior Academy.
Adult Members! Keep an eye out for our Power and Speed small-group classes coming soon. SuperSpeed training will be an integral part of that program to help you turn the strength you’ve gained this winter into longer drives this coming season!
See you in the Zone!
