How to Gain Ball Speed in Golf: 5 Drills for More Distance

Gaining more ball speed and distance with your driver is easier than most people think.

Understanding where power comes from is what pros know best. Identifying which aspect of the swing you need to improve will allow you to dial in your practice routines and focus on what you need to improve most.

Once you’ve done that, you can incorporate the drills below to speed up the process of gaining more ball speed.

Putting in the time is essential, but using your time efficiently will help you achieve your goals more quickly and with less frustration.

Key Takeaways

If you’re on your way to the course right now and don’t have time to practice, keep these quick points in mind to give yourself the best chance of producing high ball speed tee shots.

• A shallow or optimized swing plane will reduce spin and increase ball speed immediately.
• Efficient wrist lag and rotation, as identified by Hackmotion, increases distance without sacrificing distance.
• Hit the gym and start stretching, even on days when you don’t golf.
• Use your whole body, not just your arms.
• Use key elements of the baseball swing to create power.
• Optimize the release of the clubhead through impact with correct wrist and forearm rotation.

How to Increase Ball Speed

Increasing ball speed is one of the tougher aspects of golf to improve. To do so will require practice and concentration.

In order to expedite this process, focus on these tips that the pros already do and amateurs don’t know about.

Shallow the Swing Plane

A high spin rate is the biggest enemy when trying to increase ball speed, and the best way to create spin is with a steep swing.

Shallowing or flattening your swing plane will help the club pass through the impact zone from a more neutral angle. This reduces spin upon contact.

It all begins with the backswing. When you take the club back from the ball, do so slowly and low. This will encourage full extension in the arms and get your club started on the correct path.

On the downswing, allow your hands and arms to drop from the top of the swing. This keeps a wide arc and will get the club to approach the impact zone on a flatter plane and with more speed.

Rotate Wrists to Release the Club

Creating a “whipping” motion through the ball will increase ball speed, and the only way to do that is to rotate your wrists efficiently.

Using a Hackmotion is the best way to monitor this, as the sensor provides instant feedback when your wrists either rotate too early or too late.

To achieve optimal role of wrist angles in the golf swing, it’s important to understand the two aspects of wrist hinging.

• Bowing—Too much of this causes the clubface to close, de-lofting your driver, and producing hooks. 
• Cupping—Excessive cupping causes the clubface to open, which adds loft, increases spin, and leads to slices.

If you don’t have a Hackmotion, use a mirror to ensure your wrists are in a neutral position and can release through the ball.

Keeping your wrists hinged for as long as possible is called ‘lag’ and is a powerful weapon when creating more ball speed with your driver. 

Stretch and Workout

Many amateurs don’t want to hear this, but an effective way to increase ball speed is to improve your physical health.

Building muscle and increasing your range of motion will allow your body to naturally pick up speed without having to make technical changes.

• Wood chops using the cable machine by mimicking your golf swing
• Squats to improve core strength
• Medicine ball throws against a wall are also for core strength
• Vertical push using the bar while kneeling on one knee
• Club across your chest for a complete shoulder turn

Custom Fit your Driver

Ensure the driver you’re using fits your swing style and speed. Too many people use a shaft that is either too stiff or too whippy.

Or they use a driver head that has the incorrect loft. Check these specs and have your driver fitted by a professional to optimize its performance and get the most out of it.

• Shaft—Having the correct frequency will allow your driver to kick at the right time through the impact zone
• Loft—Too much loft creates too much spin, and not enough loft will not produce enough air time
• Driver Design—Better players will benefit from a smaller clubhead to produce speed, while newer golfers will benefit from a larger head and sweetspot for forgiveness, which produces distance

Utilize the Body and Rotation

Many amateur golfers tend to rely too heavily on their arms. The majority of your power resides in your core.

Always ensure your hips and shoulders are involved in the swing. They don’t need to rotate much to produce more ball speed with your driver.

If you imagine a baseball pitcher during his wind-up, he’s turning away from the batter and coiling his whole body before uncoiling and releasing all of that energy.

As golfers, we can draw upon this technique, but in a more controlled manner. Below is what a driver sequence with proper rotation should look like.

Drills to Add Speed

Knowing how to increase speed is only half the battle. You have to train your body properly to see results.

Use these drills to start hitting the longest drives of your life without sacrificing accuracy or injuring yourself.

Sway Prevention Drill

We talked about the importance of rotating your body before, but there is a fine line between rotating and swaying.

Swaying causes mis-hits and inconsistency, while rotating produces higher ball speeds and longer drives.

Identifying the difference can be done with this drill, and to increase its effectiveness, try doing it in front of a mirror. That makes it easier to spot the differences immediately.

• Video timestamp – 4:50 – 8:39

Get Full Release

Releasing the club too early is a common issue with amateur golfers.

This is a ball speed killer, as all the energy produced by the backswing is released too early, and the club just passes through the ball with no power.

A proper release is created by a lag in the swing, where the wrists stay hinged for as long as possible.

The Hackmotion sensors are specifically designed to identify when your wrists release and will tell you if you’re releasing the club too early or too late.

You don’t need the Hackmotion for this drill, but it certainly helps.

• Video timestamp – 3:04 – 7:55

Baseball Drill

Picking up the club and swinging too steeply kills ball speed and is all too popular amongst amateur players.

Steep swings produce too much spin, and with the driver, you want as little backspin as possible to create a penetrating ball flight that will have a high ball speed.

Hackmotion helps to identify this and will alert you when your club gets off plane, but using the baseball drill is the old-school way.

Before Hackmotion, golfers used this to keep their swing on plane and attack the ball from a shallow angle to maximize ball speed.

• Video timestamp – 1:37 – 4:35

Final Thoughts

There are multiple ways to create more ball speed, as you can see. Combining all of the above gives you the best chance, but some of you may already be doing a few of these things correctly already.

Hackmotion is the best tool for identifying the correct wrist release, rotation, and swing plane, which will help you increase your ball speed most efficiently.

By increasing your ball speed, you can hit more greens in regulation, give yourself more birdie opportunities, and lower your scores much quicker than expected.