Why most golfers never find their real speed…

Speed Work Framework · Part One

By Phillis Meti · PGA Certified Coach · Five-Time World Long Drive Champion

I've been hitting golf balls for a over 25 years - thanks to my dad’s endless push. In recent times, I’ve been hitting balls trying to figure out how to explain and teach what I’ve taken for granted for so long - speed. And the number one thing I've learned—from my own swing and from coaching hundreds of others—is this:

Speed isn't something you chase. It's something you allow. And most golfers never allow it, because they've never been taught how to build the foundation that makes it possible.

Before I ever ask a student to swing faster, I spend time on things that most coaches skip entirely. Things that happen before the swing. Things that most golfers have never had assessed in their lives.

And when we find it—when we identify what's been holding their speed back—it almost always surprises them.

The Part Nobody Talks About

There's a reason some golfers pick up speed quickly and others work at it for years without breakthrough. It's not talent. It's not athleticism. It's not even practice frequency.

It comes down to whether the foundation was ever built correctly in the first place.

I assess several things before a student takes a single swing. Things specific to their body—not a generic template, not a one-size-fits-all setup. Their body. Their mechanics. Their natural tendencies. Fyi - This isn’t a process I’ve invented…it has been adopted.

What I find in that assessment shapes everything that follows. The grip. The posture. The path. All of it. And when those things are aligned correctly for that individual—not for some idealised golfer in a textbook—speed becomes available in a way it simply wasn't before.

The setup isn't the boring part. It's the most important part. And getting it wrong is why most golfers plateau.

The ball is your best feedback…

Here's something I tell every student on their first session: the ball is always giving you feedback. Most golfers just don't know how to listen to it.

Every shot you hit is a diagnostic. The direction it starts, the way it curves, where it lands—all of it is data. And once you understand what that data is telling you, you stop guessing and start solving.

In my Speed Work Framework, I teach golfers how to read their own ball flight so they're not dependent on a coach standing behind them every time they practice. That self-sufficiency is what makes improvement stick.

But it starts with the setup. Because if the foundation isn't right, the ball flight will keep telling you the same thing, and you won't know where to look.

Speed Is a Result, Not a Goal

This might be the most important reframe I can offer you.

Golfers who try to swing faster get slower results than golfers who try to swing better. Speed is a byproduct of doing everything correctly—the right structure, the right path, the right sequence. When those things are in place, speed shows up on its own.

That's what the setup phase of my Speed Work Framework is designed to create. Not just a starting position. A launchpad.

When the foundation is right, you don't have to try for speed. You just have to get out of its way.

Want the Full Framework?

The open-loop version of this idea is interesting. The full framework is transformative.

In the Phase One download—The Setup—I walk you through my complete assessment process, the specific things I look for in every student, the self-feedback cues that make your practice self-correcting, and the coaching script I use in live sessions.

It's the difference between knowing there's a better way and actually having it in your hands.

→ Download Phase One: The Setup — Full Framework & Coaching Guide

Or if you'd prefer to work through this with me directly, I offer diagnostic sessions online coaching through The Unshakeable Golfer.

Next in the series: Part Two — The In-Swing. Why the shape of your swing matters more than you think, and the one thing a loose backswing costs you every single time.

Phillis Meti · phillismetigolf.com · The Unshakeable Golfer · Pathway to Pars