The Speed Revolution Nobody’s Talking About: Why Tour Pros Are Ditching the ‘Low and Slow’ Myth

After 35 years covering professional golf—and a good chunk of those years carrying bags for some of the best players in the world—I’ve learned that the fundamentals don’t change. Grip, stance, posture, alignment. These are the pillars. But every generation or so, someone challenges a piece of conventional wisdom that’s been gospel for decades, and suddenly the sport recalibrates.

That’s what’s happening right now with swing speed and the takeaway, and frankly, I wish I’d understood this dynamic back when I was caddying for Tom Lehman in the ’90s.

The “Low and Slow” Fallacy

For as long as I can remember, golf instructors have preached the same mantra: take the club back low and slow. It’s about control, they’d say. It’s about rhythm and tempo. It’s about not getting ahead of yourself. I’ve heard it at every range I’ve ever visited, and I’ve repeated it myself in countless conversations with amateur golfers trying to improve their games.

But here’s what I’m learning: it’s incomplete advice at best, and potentially limiting at worst.

Bernie Najar, one of the sharpest speed-training minds in the game and a coach to some of the longest hitters on tour like Kyle Berkshire, cuts through the noise with a simple but counterintuitive observation:

“What’s important to realize is that energy into the club happens early in the backswing. It’s not ‘take it back slow.’ One of the most popular adages in golf is that you should take the club back ‘low and slow.’ But if you are trying to hit the ball longer, well, that’s a load of BS.”

Now, I don’t typically see respected instructors use language that colorful in print, which tells me Najar feels strongly about this. And having watched hundreds of tour rounds over the decades, I think he’s onto something real.

What the Data Really Shows

Think about Bryson DeChambeau’s swing—and I mean really watch it frame by frame sometime. His takeaway isn’t tentative or measured. It’s explosive. That’s not by accident; it’s by design. When you watch the longest hitters in the world, you notice their backswings generate energy immediately. They’re not easing into it like they’re settling into a rocking chair.

“To get the maximum amount of energy into the golf club — and generate more speed — it’s important to put that energy into the club as soon as possible.”

The physics here is actually pretty straightforward, and it’s something I probably should have connected decades ago. Clubhead speed is measured at impact—that’s the moment of truth. But achieving maximum speed at that crucial moment requires building momentum long before you strike the ball. If you’re taking it back slow, you’re essentially leaving speed on the table.

What strikes me is how this connects to tour trends I’ve observed over the last 15 years. As players have gotten stronger, more athletic, and more deliberate about power training, we’ve seen a corresponding shift in swing mechanics. The slow, methodical backswings of the 1990s have given way to more dynamic, energetic movements. It wasn’t random; it was evolution informed by better understanding of biomechanics and speed generation.

The Psychology of Control

Here’s where I think amateur golfers—and I’ve talked to thousands of them—run into trouble. There’s a psychological component to this that goes beyond mechanics. Taking it back slow *feels* controlled. It provides the illusion of being in command of your golf swing. When you rip the club back quickly, it feels wilder, less predictable. Our instinct is to resist that feeling.

But that’s exactly the trap Najar identifies:

“We’ve got to get you putting more into the golf club early. Putting more into the golf club means you really have to rev it up a little.”

The counterintuitive truth is that building speed early in the backswing actually gives you more control, not less. It creates a rhythm and momentum that your body naturally wants to maintain. It’s almost like the difference between a slow jog where you’re fighting gravity with each step versus a natural running stride where momentum carries you forward.

What This Means for Your Game

I’m not suggesting every golfer turn into a speed demon overnight. There’s still a place for tempo and rhythm. But if you’ve hit a plateau with your distance—and I’ve talked to plenty of golfers in exactly this situation—this might be the unlock you’ve been missing.

The beauty of this insight is that it’s accessible. You don’t need new equipment or expensive coaching. You just need to challenge a belief that’s been hardwired into your swing for years. In my experience, that’s often the hardest part of improvement: unlearning something that feels right in order to discover something that actually *is* right.

Having spent decades around the best players in the world, I’ve learned that the biggest competitive advantages often come from seeing the game differently than everyone else. Najar’s work on speed training represents exactly that kind of paradigm shift. It’s not revolutionary in the sense of being completely new—the tour’s best players have been doing this intuitively for years. But making it explicit, codifying it, and helping amateurs understand the “why” behind it? That’s genuinely useful information.

The game evolves. The fundamentals remain, but our understanding of how to maximize them deepens. And that’s worth paying attention to.