Do speed sticks work for senior golfers?

They can help, modestly. In a six-week case study of 47 golfers aged 58 to 89, average driver speed rose by about 4 mph, just over 5%. However, there was no control group and the study was published by the manufacturer. Independent research on older golfers is limited, so expect a few mph rather than a dramatic change, and combine speed work with mobility and strength.

How often should a senior golfer do speed training?

Two short sessions a week, with at least a day of rest between them, is a sensible starting point. Research on power training in older adults suggests low volume and infrequent sessions can still be effective, provided each movement is done with the intention of moving fast. A small randomised trial found a reduced dose of about 60 swings a week produced most of the benefit.

Is overspeed training bad for your back?

There is no good evidence that overspeed training itself damages the back, but lower back pain is already common in golfers, and fast swings load the spine and hips. Warm up first, start with a small number of swings, keep your finish balanced and stop if you feel sharp or lingering pain. If you already have back pain, check with a GP or physiotherapist before starting.

Can you increase swing speed at 70?

Yes. In a randomised trial of men averaging about 71 years old, eight weeks of flexibility, core, balance and resistance training raised driver speed from about 79 to 83 mph. In a speed stick case study, age did not predict who improved most among golfers aged 58 to 89. Gains are usually a few mph, and consistent training matters more than age.

Do I need to buy speed sticks to train swing speed?

No. A study of skilled golfers found a warm-up of explosive bodyweight movements raised club head speed and carry distance by a similar amount to a speed stick warm-up. At home, brisk sit-to-stands, quick wall press-ups and fast swishes with your driver held upside down are a reasonable start. Speed sticks add structure and variety, but they are not essential.

Golf Speed Training for Seniors: Does It Work, Is It Safe?

Golf speed training can work for seniors, but the honest gain is a few mph rather than a transformation. In the largest senior case study we could find, 47 golfers aged 58 to 89 added about 4 mph of driver speed in six weeks of speed stick training (SuperSpeed Golf, 2022). It is reasonably safe for healthy golfers who build up slowly, warm up first and stop at any pain, though no study has yet tested its injury risk in older golfers specifically.

This article looks at the speed training methods themselves: weighted and lighter "speed sticks", overspeed swings and explosive bodyweight work. If you want the wider picture of why speed fades with age and every lever for winning it back, start with our guide on how to increase swing speed for seniors.

What golf speed training actually is

Speed training means practising moving faster, on purpose, in short and focused sets. Strength training builds the engine. Speed training teaches you to use it quickly.

In golf, it usually takes one of three forms:

Overspeed training. Swinging something lighter than your driver as fast as you can, so your body learns to move faster than it normally would.
Weighted swings. Swinging something a little heavier than your driver, to load the muscles that produce the swing.
Explosive bodyweight work. Quick, controlled movements such as brisk sit-to-stands or fast arm swings, with no club at all.

Commercial speed stick systems combine the first two. SuperSpeed, the best known, uses a light, a medium and a heavy stick, swung from both sides of the body in short sets two or three times a week, with sessions of 10 to 15 minutes (SuperSpeed Golf, senior speed training page).

Why speed is the right thing to train after 55

As we age, power (how quickly you produce force) tends to slip faster than strength itself, and the golf swing is almost pure power. That is the case for training speed rather than only stretching or lifting.

A 2016 systematic review from the University of Oxford found that muscle power was a slightly better predictor of physical function in older people than muscle strength. Across the studies that compared the two, 10 out of 13 reported that power training beat traditional strength training for either power or function (Byrne et al., Sports Medicine, 2016). Importantly for golfers, the review highlighted that light loads, low volumes and infrequent sessions could still work, as long as each movement was done with the intention of moving fast.

A separate meta-analysis of 11 trials and 377 people over 60 reached a similar view: power training was feasible for older adults and had a small advantage over conventional strength training for everyday function (Tschopp, Sattelmayer and Hilfiker, Age and Ageing, 2011).

Does overspeed training work? What the evidence says

The evidence on speed sticks is thinner than the marketing suggests. Most of it is small, much of it comes from the companies that sell the products, and very little involves older golfers. Here is what we could verify.

The senior case study

At a golf club in Arizona, 47 golfers with an average age of 70.3 (range 58 to 89) followed six weeks of speed stick training: one supervised group class a week plus two sessions on their own. Men gained an average of 4.1 mph of driver club head speed and women 4 mph, an overall increase of just over 5%. Individual gains ranged from 0.5 to 13 mph, and age did not predict who improved most (SuperSpeed Golf, 2022).

Two cautions apply. There was no control group, so some of the gain may have come from simply practising and being measured more often. And it is published by the company selling the sticks. Its senior product page also quotes a larger headline figure than the written case study reports, so treat any single number on a product page with care.

Less may be enough

A review of two small randomised studies run by Par4Success, a training company linked to SuperSpeed, found that in a six-week trial of 29 golfers training twice a week, the group swinging only the medium stick gained about 5% in club speed. Groups using only the heavy or only the light stick saw almost no change. The difference between the medium-only group and the full three-stick protocol was not statistically significant, in that trial or in a second, eight-week trial of 17 golfers (Plugged In Golf, 2021).

The medium-only group made about 60 swings a week, around a third of the full recommended volume. For older golfers that is encouraging: a smaller dose may deliver most of the benefit.

Speed sticks as a warm-up

Using speed sticks just before you play gives a short-lived boost. In a study of 13 skilled male golfers, a warm-up with speed sticks and a warm-up with explosive bodyweight movements both raised club head speed and carry distance compared with a normal warm-up, and neither beat the other. Ball speed and total distance did not change (Bliss, Livingstone and Tallent, Journal of Sport and Exercise Science, 2021).

A University of Waikato study of 12 low-handicap amateurs found a weighted club warm-up added 2.6 mph of club head speed, but ball speed did not change significantly and the effect had gone by the second set of swings, after a walk equal to one hole (Wardell, University of Waikato, 2019). Speed sticks are a training tool, not a first-tee trick.

The broader picture

Speed training is one form of physical training, and the wider evidence supports physical training for golfers. A 2026 meta-analysis of 33 studies and 798 golfers found that, in controlled studies, training improved club head speed by an average of 1.05 metres per second (about 2.3 mph) and carry distance by 9.33 metres (about 10 yards). The authors rated the certainty of that evidence as low (Johansen et al., Sports Medicine, 2026).

For older golfers, one of the best-designed trials did not use speed sticks at all. Eighteen men with an average age of 70.7 were randomly assigned to an eight-week programme of flexibility, core, balance and resistance exercises, or to no training. Maximum driver speed in the training group rose from 127.3 to 133.6 km/h (about 79.1 to 83.0 mph), while the control group did not improve (Thompson, Cobb and Blackwell, Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2007).

How much distance could it add?

TrackMan estimates that each extra 1 mph of driver club speed can add up to 3 yards (TrackMan). On that basis, the roughly 4 mph average in the senior case study would be worth up to about 12 yards, if the strike stays centred. The two warm-up studies are a useful reminder of that "if": extra club speed only helps when it reaches the ball.

You can estimate what a few extra mph might mean for your own game with our driving distance calculator.

Is golf speed training safe for seniors?

The short answer is that it appears reasonably safe for healthy golfers who progress gradually, but nobody has properly studied injury rates from speed sticks in older players. The 2011 meta-analysis concluded that power training was feasible in people over 60, but that no firm conclusion could be drawn about its safety (Tschopp, Sattelmayer and Hilfiker, Age and Ageing, 2011).

What we do know is where golfers get hurt. In a survey of 1,170 male golfers with an average age of about 55, more than a third (37.3%) reported lower back pain in the previous seven days, with the shoulder and knee the next most common problem areas (Murray et al., BMJ Open Sport and Exercise Medicine, 2023). A US emergency department study of upper body golf injuries from 2011 to 2020 found golfers over 60 were among the most commonly injured, with the shoulder (24.8%) and wrist (15.6%) the joints most often affected (Twomey-Kozak et al., Sports Health, 2024). Those are the areas fast swings load hardest, so they are the ones to protect.

The sensible risks to manage are doing too much too soon, swinging hard while sore, and swinging without a proper warm-up.

Who should check first

Speak to your GP, surgeon or physiotherapist before starting speed work if any of these apply:

You have had a joint replacement or spinal surgery, or any operation in the last year.
You currently have back, shoulder, elbow or wrist pain.
You have been told you have osteoporosis or a heart condition.
You have not exercised regularly for some time, which the NHS also flags as a reason to speak to a GP first (NHS, 2024).

A cautious way to start golf speed training at home

This progression is built around the research above: short sessions, low volume, maximum intent and plenty of recovery. You can follow it with a speed stick system or with your own driver held upside down, gripped just below the head. Make sure you have plenty of clear space and nobody nearby.

Measure a baseline. If you can, record your driver speed or carry on a launch monitor or personal radar, so you can judge progress honestly.
Warm up for five minutes first. Gentle trunk turns, arm circles and a few easy half swings. Never start speed work cold.
Start with one light club and a small dose. Take 5 fast swings from your normal side, rest for 30 seconds, then 5 from the opposite side. Repeat this two or three times.
Swing fast, not wild. Aim for a balanced finish on every swing. If you lose your balance, slow down a touch.
Train two days a week, with at least a day between. This matches the twice-weekly schedule in the Par4Success trial and fits the NHS advice to do strength and balance work on at least two days a week.
Add explosive bodyweight work. Two or three sets of 5 brisk sit-to-stands from a chair (stand up quickly, sit down slowly) and a few brisk wall press-ups. The 2021 warm-up study suggests this kind of movement can be as effective as speed sticks. Our guide to golf exercises for seniors has step-by-step versions.
Build slowly and retest after six weeks. Add a set only when the current dose feels easy the next day. After six weeks, re-measure, then drop to one session a week to maintain what you have gained.

Stop rules

Stop the session, and rest for a few days, if you feel sharp pain, pain that lingers into the next day, or pain in the back, shoulder, elbow or wrist that you did not have before. A fast swing should feel like effort, never like strain.

Make your turn the foundation

Speed training works best on a body that can turn. A shorter turn means the arms and lower back try to make up the difference, which is exactly where fast swings can cause trouble. Evergreen, coming soon to iPhone, focuses on that foundation: a short in-app assessment asks where you feel stiff, then builds a personalised 10-minute daily mobility routine for the hips, mid-back and shoulders, with illustrated demonstrations, a timer and nothing more than a chair and a wall. It tracks your driver distance alongside a stiffness check-in, so you can see whether your turn and your speed are moving together. Read more about how Evergreen builds your daily plan.

When to see a professional

See a GP or physiotherapist if pain from swinging lasts more than a few days or keeps returning. See a doctor promptly if you notice pain spreading down a leg, numbness or tingling, pain at night or at rest, pain after a fall, chest pain or breathlessness during exercise, or any loss of bladder or bowel control.

This article is general information, not medical advice. If you have pain, an injury or a medical condition, speak to a GP or physiotherapist before starting a new exercise routine.

Golf speed training for seniors: does it work, and is it safe?

What golf speed training actually is

Why speed is the right thing to train after 55

Does overspeed training work? What the evidence says

The senior case study

Less may be enough

Speed sticks as a warm-up

The broader picture

How much distance could it add?

Is golf speed training safe for seniors?

Who should check first

A cautious way to start golf speed training at home

Stop rules

Make your turn the foundation

When to see a professional

Sources

Common questions

Make it a 10-minute daily habit.

Keep reading

Golf after hip replacement: when you can play again, and how to swing

Golf posture for older golfers: how to set up without straining your back

7 wood distance: how far it goes, and why it suits slower swings