By Ron KaspriskeYou can only swing the club as fast as you can slow it down. Think about that for a bit. I'll get back to that statement.
We're all looking for 10, 15, 20 more yards off the tee and to hit 8-iron where we once hit 7-iron. But how do you get it? A new driver? A new ball? Bigger biceps?
You might squeeze a few more yards out with any of those suggestions. But if you really want more distance, there's really only one thing you can do.
Swing the club faster.
I recently spoke with Tom House about this topic. House is a former major-league pitching coach who is now an athletic-performance analyst for the University of Southern California. He's also one of the world's leading experts on making athletes faster in any sport -- including golf.
The sobering reality is that as we age, we lose the flexibility and muscle mass needed for speed, House says. But you can still train whatever you have left in the tank, provided you first understand one simple, but brilliant concept:
You can only swing the club as fast as you can slow it down.
When House first said that to me, it took a little time for me to believe it. But when you think about it, it's true. Here's an analogy to help reinforce that concept. I believe Greg Rose of the Titleist Performance Institute deserves credit for it: You're driving a Ferrari capable of going 200 miles per hour. But the braking system on the car will only work up to speeds of, say, 180 mph. Now I ask you, what's the fastest you're going to drive the car?
