Top Speed Golf

The Only 5 Golf Swing Pieces That Really Matter

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Welcome to Clay Ballard's Top Speed Golf Instruction

I founded Top Speed Golf in 2015.

Here's what it's all about...

When you analyze the swings of any top player in the world -- whether it's Jim Furyk, Adam Scott, or anyone else -- there are 5 aspects they all have roughly in common:

1. Stable & Fluid Spine

2. Power Turn

3. Top Speed Lag

4. Compression Line

5. Straight-Line Release

I've found that these 5 pieces will give you 95% of your results.

My Top Speed Golf system teaches you those 5 aspects in a step-by-step, course-based fashion.

"Does it work?" you may be wondering...

Click here to get started with the 5 components of the Top Speed Golf System!

Or check out all my latest content below...

clay 11111 smallerSome of My Highlights...
Handicap: -4
Top Swing Speed: 126.8
Lowest Round: 61
Given Over 6000 Golf Lessons
Instructed Many Professional Golfers
Played Division 1 College Golf and Mini Tours
Most Consecutive Birdies: 6
Certified FlightScope Professional
Swing Catalyst Certified
T.P.I. Certified
Named by Golf Digest as a top instructor in Florida
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G043. How to Launch Your Fairway Woods

In this video, you’ll learn how to launch your fairway woods nice and high.

TSG Instructor Robin Rosado joins me to demonstrate how he crushes his 3 woods.

There are 3 crucial keys for hitting these high shots that ride the wind…

#1: Ball up in Your Stance

Make sure the ball is up in your stance about 1 ball ahead of your normal ball position.

This will help you swing up, or at least level, into the ball.

The higher launch angle results in higher ball flight.

#2: Place More Weight on Your Right Side

Shift a little more weight on your back foot.

Also, it doesn’t hurt to push your back foot out a little for a wider stance.

These moves will help you swing with a higher launch angle.

#3: Full Finish

After impact, continue your swing with a full finish.

Come all the way around.

If you were to draw a vertical line through your front ankle, most of your body would be behind that line.

Alternatively, if you want to hit a low shot, most of your body would be on, or stacked on, that line.

Watch this video now to discover the 3 crucial tips for crushing your fairway woods high!

S009. Hit Consistently Powerful Golf Shots | Sumo Drill

In this video, you’ll learn how to hit consistently powerful golf shots.

TSG’s Robin Rosado will lead you through the Sumo Drill, which is great for improving your consistency.

So, if you feel like you’re wobbling around a bit and you struggle to swing with a solid base, then you’ll love this video.

The Sumo Drill

First, stand with a really wide, exaggerated stance.

You’ll feel similar to that of a baseball infielder getting ready with a wide, athletic stance.

Next, focus on a stable spine tilt away from the ball.

Maintain that spine angle as you swing.

Take a few rips with the sumo stance.

Feel the difference of having more stability in your swing.

Just keep in mind that this is an exaggerated drill designed to help you get the feeling of more stability.

Narrow your stance a little as you feel comfortable.

The goal is to avoid being too narrow in your stance which can cause you to make inconsistent swings.

Watch this video now to improve your consistency with the Sumo Drill!

L013. World’s Best Lag Drill | 4 Minutes to Crazy Lag

In this video, you’ll discover the world’s best lag drill.

In fact, all you need is around 4 minutes to get crazy lag.

I’m joined by Top Speed Golf Director of Instruction in Orlando, Robin Rosado.

He’s no stranger to getting tons of lag and crushing the ball.

So, I’m thrilled to have him help show you tips on getting more lag in your swing.

In the video, you’ll see Robin demonstrate the Arrow Drill.

Imagine you have a pouch of arrows and you reach back and pull an arrow out.

This motion is similar to how you want to add lag in your downswing.

Try this…

With your left hand only, go to the top of your backswing and let the driver rest on your shoulders.

Pull the driver away from your body as you start your downswing.

You’ll notice as you swing down that you’ll create crazy amounts of lag.

Do that drill 5 to 10 times then switch to your right hand only.

After that, do the drill with both of your arms.

The goal is to start ingraining the feeling of creating lag and getting rid of any casting habit you may have.

Watch this video now to generate massive lag in your swing…

And start crushing your drives!

S008. Golf Alignment Myth | Why Your Feet Lie

In this video, I bust a popular golf alignment myth.

A lot of golfers get confused about their alignments, so I want to show you what’s important with your alignment, and also what’s not.

You’ll really learn how your feet can lie.

I’m sure you’ve heard that to hit a draw, you need to align your left foot ahead of your right foot.

Sure, that can make it easier to hit a draw or a hook, but is that all it takes?

And should you mess with your feet alignment to hit the ball straight or left/right?

No.

As you’ll see in the video, it’s not that difficult to hit a slice when your feet are aligned for what most golfers would think would result in a draw.

To hit nice, consistently straight shots, focus on performing The Move in your downswing.

The Move refers to shallowing your club and rotating your clubface square.

This is much more important for your ball flight direction.

Don’t get me wrong…

Your alignment does matter for making a consistent swing…

But don’t focus on some crazy foot alignment.

What’s really affecting your ball flight direction is your club path and clubface.

Watch this video now to bust a popular alignment myth and focus on the moves that matter most for your ball flight!

G042. Proper Wrist Hinge in the Backswing

In this video, you’ll learn the proper wrist hinge in the backswing for building and releasing tons of speed in your swing.

Top Speed Golf Director of Instruction in Orlando, Robin Rosado, joins me in the video to demonstrate the correct moves.

Robin can crush the ball.

His first swing in the video reaches a carry distance of 295 yards and a total distance of 344 yards!

Now that’s some crazy distance.

In the video, you’ll get a close look at his wrist hinge to learn more about how to get more speed in your swing.

The first key is to keep your arms and wrists nice and soft in the takeaway.

There shouldn’t be much wrist hinge in the takeaway, and you’ll want to create a wide path.

From there, increase your wrist hinge all the way into the downswing.

In the downswing, the lag angle is maxed out around when the left arm is parallel with the ground.

Next in the video, you’ll see how to fully release the club.

Past impact, your arms should fully release.

Here are the key points for getting proper wrist hinge in the backswing…

  • Relaxed arms and wrists in the takeaway
  • Lag is still increasing as you start the downswing
  • Wrist is nice and flat as you start the downswing
  • Whip the club through impact into a full release

Watch now to build power in your swing and release all that power with tons of speed!

G041. How to Cover the Golf Ball

In this video, you’ll learn how to cover the golf ball.

You’ve probably heard at your local club about players “covering the golf ball.”

Or you’ve heard about it on TV when talking about a PGA Tour player’s swing.

But what the heck does “covering the golf ball” mean?

And if it’s such a good thing, how do you do it?

Find out in this video.

You’ll learn the 2 moves to help you properly cover the ball and get tons of ball compression.

Move #1: Chest and Body

To cover the ball, your chest and body moves down toward the ball in your downswing.

I see the opposite with many golfers when they stand up out of their posture and move their hips forward too early in the downswing.

This causes you to flip the club and lose your lag.

Move #2: Delofting Your Clubface

To cover the golf ball, you’ll also need to make contact with forward shaft lean.

It’ll feel like the clubface is covering the ball.

Note that you actually won’t completely cover the ball; it’s just what you’ll feel.

PGA Tour players deloft their clubs roughly 30%, depending on the club.

For example, a pro hitting a pitching wedge with 45 degrees is actually making contact with a clubface angle of around 30 degrees.

So if you’ve ever wondered…

“How do the pros hit it so dang long?”….

Delofting the clubface is one of the reasons.

Watch this video now and find out how to cover the golf ball like a pro.

You’ll learn…

  • What covering the golf ball means,
  • How to move your chest and body to cover the ball, and
  • How to deloft your club and compress the ball with power!

G040. How to Start Your Downswing in Golf (“The Move” in 3D)

In this video, you’ll discover how to start your downswing in golf.

What’s really cool about this video is that it features MySwing 3D training…

Which is a series of 17 sensors that creates a 3D avatar and can measure a ton of different things in my swing.

For this video, you’ll get a close look at The Move in the Top Speed Golf System.

This is essentially when the club path shallows in the downswing.

This allows the club to accelerate in the downswing naturally using it’s own momentum.

Another part of The Move is bowing the left wrist and closing the clubface.

Getting the clubface to square up earlier means you don’t have to release as hard and struggle with timing issues.

Next in the video, you’ll see my 3D avatar in action.

You’ll see how the club shallows in the downswing, and you’ll get a great look at how the clubface squares up in the downswing.

Watch this video now to get a closeup look at The Move using MySwing technology.

You’ll clearly see the swing moves that are tough to see with normal video!

C014. How to Hit a Fairway Wood off the Tee | High Elbow Drill

In this video, you’ll learn how to hit a fairway wood off the tee.

I’ll discuss the checkpoints of hitting a high and long 3 wood off the tee…

While Top Speed Golf Director of Orlando Instruction Robin Rosado demonstrates the swing tips.

First, make sure you tee up the ball correctly.

Grab your ball with the tee and stop pushing the tee into the ground when your finger reaches the ground.

To check if it’s the correct height, the ball should be about half way above the crown of your fairway wood at address.

Avoid taking a divot with the 3 wood off the tee.

It’s OK to brush the ground, but you want to hit the ball similarly to how you’d hit your driver (not with a negative angle of attack).

Through impact, make sure you finish with your arms nice and high.

This will help you complete your Power Turn and get more distance on your shots.

Watch this video now to club down and still get great distance off the tee.

Have fun now that you know exactly how to hit a fairway wood off the tee!

G039. Why Not to Put Pressure with the Right Hand

In this video, you’ll learn why not to put pressure with the right hand.

My students often ask questions about how much pressure to apply with the hands and also how to apply pressure.

Should you feel like you’re pulling with your left hand…

Or should you feel like you’re pushing the club through?

In the first part of the video, you’ll see a demonstration of what the club is doing in the downswing.

The butt end of the club accelerates up through impact as the clubface whips through impact.

This happens so fast that the right hand has a difficult time keeping up.

For that reason, I recommend that you not try to apply much pressure with your right hand.

Doing so will likely slow your club speed.

Pros such as Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh swing with little pressure from the trailing hand.

Their trailing hands are barely holding onto the club.

So where exactly should you apply pressure on the club?

Feel like you’re applying pressure with the bottom three fingers on your left hand.

This will allow the club to whip through contact fast without your right hand slowing it down.

Now, don’t think that your right hand doesn’t do anything.

As you start the downswing, your right hand helps pull the club down and it helps stabilize the club.

Just remember not to let your right hand hold back your speed.

Watch this video now to learn how to apply pressure to the club to maximize your swing speed!

D019. Golf Tip | Why You Should Swing Harder

In this video, you’ll learn why you should swing harder.

I know, it sounds a little weird…

But here’s what you need to know:

Golf instruction has a huge problem.

Every tiny move in the swing has been analyzed and beaten to death by instructors.

There are so many details in the swing being taught that it makes the typical golfer’s head spin.

Think about it…

If you’re thinking about checkpoint 1, 2, 3, all the way to checkpoint 100, you’ll struggle to make an athletic swing.

You might be able to make a great looking swing…

But focusing on all the small swing details – some of which don’t even matter much – will slowly chip away at your athleticism.

I recommend that you take a break from focusing on all the tiny details and “grip it, and rip it” to change things up.

Why?

Because focusing on your athleticism will help you add speed to your swing.

In the video, I make a few swings while concentrating on keeping my head still and swinging under control.

The results aren’t bad, but there’s way more in the tank.

Next, I make a few practice swings starting with my feet together, then shifting my weight in the downswing.

The point is to relax a bit and use the athleticism that you have (all of us have it).

Finally, you’ll see me take a few athletic swings with the ball.

Immediately, I gain clubhead speed and distance.

In conclusion…

Don’t give up your athleticism by focusing all your training on the small details.

You may not have a picture perfect swing like Adam Scott…

But Bubba Watson and Phil Mickelson don’t either!

Watch this video now to learn some great athleticism drills and why you should swing harder.

Let ‘er rip and get more speed in your swing!