Speed Sticks and Overspeed Training: Do They Work?

Speed training products are now common in golf bags: weighted shafts and systems built around swinging lighter and heavier implements as fast as you can. The claims are large. The evidence is more modest and still useful.

How it is supposed to work

Swinging something lighter than your driver lets you move faster than normal. Swinging something heavier adds load. The aim is to teach the body to organize itself at higher speeds, so your normal swing gets faster.

What the research says

A 2026 article in the UK Strength and Conditioning Association's journal compared a speed training product with players' own drivers in NCAA Division I golfers. Its review of earlier work noted some supporting evidence that speed sticks can produce short-term improvements in shot data such as clubhead speed.

Two cautions:

• Much of the evidence is about immediate effects in a session. Long-term results are less studied.
• Speed training teaches you to use what you have. It does not add much physical capacity.

Who benefits most

• Golfers who have never tried to swing fast often gain quickly.
• Golfers who are strong but swing well below what their strength suggests.
• Golfers already doing strength and power training, where speed work helps the gains show up in the swing.

For someone who is weak or restricted, strength and mobility will usually do more.

Using it well

• Warm up fully first.
• Keep sessions short. Every swing is a maximum effort. Quality drops fast.
• Two or three sessions a week with rest days between.
• Swing both directions if the program calls for it, to balance the load on the body.
• Measure. Use a radar or launch monitor so you know whether speed is going up.
• Stop at pain, especially in the lower back, lead wrist or elbow.
• Keep contact in check. Hit balls regularly so new speed comes with centered strikes.

Where it fits

We treat speed training as one part of a program, not the program. Strength raises the ceiling, mobility lets you reach the positions, and speed work teaches you to get there fast.