The 3 Best Speed Training Aids you will ever use! Distance, and Accuracy Guranteed.

So let's roll back the clock to around 2008. My journey in Long Drive had just begun. The market for training aids for speed and distance was very minimal. Mostly, it consisted of overweighted items like the Momentus, which was basically a piece of rebar with an overweight head on it. Skip forward a few years, and we have speed sticks, a system of three clubs tailored to be used at specific intervals. Thus began the promotion of overspeed training, where lighter objects are swung faster than the body is used to moving, while not hitting a golf ball. Then many variants came around, some apparently better than others, some coming from individuals with highly decorated degrees, promoted by PGA Tour major champions, all having a specific system to follow over time leading to progress. All seem to have garnered mass attention, with one simple flaw: the reliance on human nature to follow a plan specifically designed and tailored to an individual's needs. Now we can all agree, we are all quite different in shape, size, age, training age, and mechanics. None of us swing exactly the same and produce the exact same result. We are going to go ahead and explain why all these systems are great in theory but fail long-term in goal reaching.

Whatever it is, if its marketed well in the golf industry it sells!

First, we can start with the simple factor of "intensity." How can one gauge their ability of intensity? So many things can come into play when they don't truly know how to use their intensity to its full capability. If you take an individual who has a very calm demeanor, hasn't played a super vigorous sport, or has been put into a fight-or-flight type atmosphere, their own abilities will likely be limited until that trigger can be used. So their true potential is still wavering, since what they deem to be an all-out max intensity swing is truly only about 90% of what it could be. Over time, will that produce some results? Sure, but will it produce max results? Likely not. It is something I have come to notice in many individuals at absolutely no fault of their own, but it's somewhat sad there is a governor that has yet to be removed, and the likelihood of it being psychological is quite high. Now, how do we go about giving the best advice on how to fix this issue? Well, setting targeted attainable goals time after time when speed training, not looking for or hoping for something super drastic and beyond measure, but something in the range of 1-2 mph gained without letting the swing become ridiculously out of control (club path and attack angle especially). One thing I do notice is the upper body's ability to catch on faster than the lower body, causing a more over-the-top move, which, when you break it down neurologically, completely makes sense as the signal sent from the brain takes more time (obviously we are talking milliseconds here) to reach a further trigger starting in the feet than it does to the arms, which is the opposite order of the kinetic movement needed to produce the best chain of events (kinetic sequence) for producing maximum club head speed. So the goal is minimal gain over time while keeping proper fundamentals in place. Does this take compliance? Yes. Does the ego need to be checked? Absolutely.

Secondly, the body is the engine behind every speed and distance journey. Even if we have the mental fortitude of a strong mind, at some point our limiting factor will be our ability to put power and speed into the club head. Some people have naturally higher abilities when it comes to power generation; some are like F1 cars, and some are like big diesel trucks. To maximize what we have built, we need to continue to refine. This is another stalling point of speed training equipment, as none truly come with a personalized training plan for what is best for you and how to incorporate it into your speed training. Hence, all the training aids in the world can and will only take you so far, and that's even if you can maintain what you gained in the first place. Yes, I know the marketing says what it says, blah blah xxx mph gained over xxx amount of time, but let's be honest: if that were absolutely true, all you would see on the biggest tours in the world are speed training systems in every golfer's bag since distance is a direct correlation to winning on any major tour. Instead, the longest hitters on tour are generally known to be the most mechanically sound, in the gym regularly, and working on either gaining or maintaining the speed they already have. So the real secret is training on the course, hitting drivers, and training in the gym for explosive power and speed, not in some "training" aid. Again, this all boils down to the individual.

I can only use myself as an example. In 2025, I had a wrist injury, limiting my ability to practice. I took another route into bodybuilding to keep busy, stepped on stage twice within 6 months, and the training was drastically different from what I had been doing for long drive, but it was a nice break and a good change. It brought purpose, discipline, and routine into my life, just in a much different way. By the end, I was less flexible and had certain dimensions that were too large (very wide shoulders and a non-overly rotational t-spine and midsection). Did I perform to my standards right away? No, of course not. By the time I had decided to train for the world championships in long drive, it was the final weeks of August. My schedule was quite busy. I had enough time to book 10 hours of indoor practice and 2 outdoor sessions. Now, between these two things, I had also taken a solid 5 weeks of maybe being in the gym once a week, on vacation at home, playing some golf with friends, and just enjoying my time back home with friends. But I knew when the time came exactly what needed to be done, how much intensity was needed, and how many balls needed to be hit to become competitive and give myself a respectable finish at the world championships. In that time, I gained around 15 mph of ball speed, topping out at 228 during competition, club head speeds into the low 150s, and my 5th top 16 finish in 6 years. Pretty decent for a 42-year-old. All just because I had a plan laid out and I knew how to execute it. No training aids, no silly systems, just time and dedication to hitting balls.

Now this leads to the third biggest factor - expectation vs. reality. If you are of the F1-type race car, your expectations out of the gate could very well reach our reality very comfortably. You're naturally explosive, you have great swing mechanics, and all you need is time and the proper schedule to get you to your end goal. Few and far between here, but generally, we see this coming from the naturally athletic types who have played other sports growing up or for long periods. Baseball players and hockey players come to mind, as their bases are stronger than average, and they have been sports people the majority of their lives. But if you are on the other side of the spectrum and you have just been, at most, a golfer, it's absolutely okay as well. You can get there; just the intensity, explosiveness, and power will likely play a larger role in your progress. Your training could look different, your technique changes might feel a bit more extreme, and mobility work could be different. And I promise none of that is just going to show up from swinging a training aid. Now, I also don't want this to come off as "Oh my god, this is going to be so much work," because with all of it comes so many more general life benefits. You're going to get in better shape, training in the gym becomes purposeful and more fun, hitting balls on the range absolutely becomes more fun and also a workout based on energy expenditure. So overall, not only can you hit the ball further, you are also now set up for a better quality of life along with a most likely longer life expectancy.

My conclusion is simply this: every year, we see a handful of influencer types in the golf space saying something along the lines of, "This off-season, I want to gain xxx mph of swing speed." By March or so, all but a few have given up. The discount code for whatever system is still up, but the gains have ended, and they truly are back at step one. Is it their fault? I wouldn't say so. There are so many out there for whom this is their livelihood, so a check written by whatever company to endorse a product to help feed the family is something I won't ever talk down about. But if there was truth to all of it, it would have happened the first time, and the companies wouldn't need to make updated models, new gadgets, or fluffy systems. Again, all I can say is look at the tour and show me how many bags have them in play. Show me the World Long Drive Tour and how many are truly in play by the best of the best on a regular basis. Even in my past, I have used a few, and the best thing I used it for was force production of my sequencing, and it looked more like a baseball bat than a golf club. But for the average golfer without knowledge of kinetic and kinematic sequencing, it likely wouldn't do much, to just be fair and honest. What truly works is always what's going to be the most difficult: time, patience, hard work, and understanding. Speed training is no different than life; any shortcut taken comes with a price, and in many cases, the price is injury, failing mechanics, cost of time, energy, and finances. Do the work, follow a program and look for consistent results over time.

If you have any topics you would like me to cover feel free to send me a DM, or email, even privately through this site.

Until next time

RG