Welcome to Play Smart, a regular GOLF.com game-improvement column that will help you become a smarter, better golfer.
As a golf-swing sicko, I love the offseason. Sure, it means less time on the course, but it also means plenty of time for tinkering with my swing.
During these dark and cold months, I love going to the simulator a couple of times a week and taking inventory on what works and what doesn’t. It’s a time when I can experiment with swing tweaks and make meaningful changes. This time lets me hit the ground running in spring, with months worth of practice in the bank.
Last winter, I was a stickler for fundamentals. Aim, alignment and grip were my guiding principles. It wasn’t the most exhilarating practice, but it established a solid foundation that I leaned on all season long.
My practice is a bit more fun this year. Heading into the 2026 season, my goal is adding swing speed.
I’ve gone through this exercise before, and I added tiny bits of speed here and there in the past. This time around, though, I’ve got a rock-solid plan and I’m sticking to it — and the gains are already showing. So far, my max swing speed is up around 7 mph since the end of last season.
Here’s how I’m doing it.
1. Refining technique
Hitting the ball longer isn’t just a matter of swinging faster. It’s also important that you hone in your technique in order to swing the club efficiently.
For help with that, I turned to GOLF Top 100 Teacher Jonathan Yarwood at the end of last season. During our session, he noted that I was “lifting” my arms during the backswing far too much and not getting deep enough. So, we shortened my arm swing and set my wrists my earlier.
The result was a more on-plane swing — and one that generated much easier speed.
2. Over-speed training
Now this is the fun part. Getting in the simulator and swinging out of your shoes, with no regard for where the ball goes.
Over-speed training is a method that long-drive pros swear by — and one that I’ve found to be effective, too. The idea is that you swing as hard as you can throughout a speed training session, getting your body used to the feeling of going fast. Eventually, you break through the mental barriers holding you back, too.
One thing I’ve found helpful in these over-speed training sessions is turning off the shot tracer. The only numbers I care about are club speed and ball speed. As soon as I do that, I let go of the outcome of the shot, or caring about where the ball goes. That’s when I start to really pump it.
3. Hitting the gym
I was never much one for the gym until last year. But ever since I started going to the gym a few days a week, I’ve become hooked.
Best of all, it’s been great for my golf game. Under the guidance of PGA Tour strength coach David Sundberg, I’ve been strength training for golf over the past few months — and the gains have been noticeable. Not only have my club and ball speed jumped up, but my stamina has increased as well.
If you really want to hit the ball longer, you’ve got to build your engine in the gym.
4. Sticking to the process
My swing speed gains have not been linear — and that has been a bit of a frustration. Some days, I set a new personal best. The next day, I seemingly trend in the wrong direction. As I look back through my stats for the past several months, though, the trend line is going in the right direction.
It can be easy to get discouraged when you have a poor speed session. It happens to me quite frequently! The key is to not let one bad day get your discouraged. Good processes yield good results, and as long as you stick to your plan, the speed gains will come.
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