3 Drills to Increase Your Swing Speed

What it fixes

Distance that's stalled not because of poor contact, but because your swing simply isn't generating much clubhead speed. These three drills target speed specifically — they won't fix a mishit, but they will raise the ceiling on how far a well-struck shot can go. Run them as their own short session, separate from ball-striking or accuracy work; mixing speed work with precision work usually makes both worse.

Drill 1: Step-Through

Set up to a ball as normal, but as you start your downswing, step your back foot toward your front foot, finishing with your feet close together or even crossed — similar to a baseball throw or a tennis serve. This forces your lower body to lead the swing and transfer weight aggressively, which is where most amateur swings leave speed on the table.

Hit 8–10 shots this way, focused purely on the feeling of your body driving the swing rather than your arms. Distance and contact quality don't matter for this drill — some shots will be ugly. That's expected.

Drill 2: Whoosh Drill

Take your normal club (or a lighter club if you have one) and make full practice swings without a ball, focusing on generating an audible "whoosh" sound as the club moves through impact. Pay attention to where in your swing the whoosh happens — for most amateurs, it happens well before the point where the ball would be, meaning peak speed arrives too early.

Make 10 practice swings trying to move the whoosh point later — closer to, or just past, where the ball would sit. This retrains your sequencing to deliver maximum speed at impact instead of before it.

Drill 3: Light Grip Pressure

On a scale of 1 (barely holding the club) to 10 (crushing it), many amateurs grip much tighter than they realize — often high enough on that scale to restrict wrist speed and hinge. Hit 8–10 shots gripping at a 3 or 4 instead, focusing on keeping your hands soft through the entire swing, not just at address.

Expect this to feel uncomfortable at first, and expect a few shots to fly off the clubface unexpectedly — that's the tension leaving your hands, not a sign you're doing it wrong. If the club is genuinely flying out of your hands, you've gone too light; back off slightly.

Common mistakes

Doing all three drills at full effort from the first swing — ease into each one with a few slower reps before trying to swing hard, especially the Step-Through drill, which can strain your back if you go from zero to full effort immediately. The other common mistake: judging these drills by ball flight instead of by feel. Speed work is about how the swing feels, not where the ball goes — that connection comes later, once the faster swing becomes repeatable.

Progression

Once each drill feels natural on its own, chain them together in a single practice swing: step through, generate a whoosh late in the swing, hands soft throughout. Then hit a few real shots trying to keep that same feeling while aiming at an actual target — this is usually where the speed gains start showing up in real distance, not during the isolated drills themselves.