Speed Toad Review: 8 Takeaways After 12 Weeks of Training
I gained 8 MPH using Speed Toad. Here's why you'd be foolish not to do the same.
Any golfer would be foolish not to train with the Speed Toad.
Sure, that’s just my opinion, but I gained eight miles per hour of club head speed pretty quickly with less than an hour per week of training with Speed Toad. Considering Speed Toad costs about as much as two dozen premium balls, and will give anyone who uses it more club head speed and more distance, I’m not buying any excuses – assuming your driver has a removable head – not to use it.
I’m 12 weeks into my Speed Toad training, and here are my eight biggest takeaways from the Speed Toad so far.
Speed Toad Overview, Pros & Cons
FIND AT SPEED TOAD
Typical Price: $124.99
Fits: Callaway, Titleist, TaylorMade, Srixon, PING, Mizuno, PXG, Cobra, Krank
In case you haven’t figured it out, the Speed Toad is a speed training device. It weighs about 25% less than a driver head and attaches to your driver shaft. Those elements are important because training with your own driver shaft helps translate speed gains in training into gains on the course without compromising your technique, and reduces the risk of injury.
It’s accompanied by an app that details each training session. Training sessions are typically two days per week and I completed them in around 25 minutes, hence less than an hour per week of training.
Here’s a quick and dirty list of my top eight takeaways, broken down into pros and cons:
Speed Toad Pros:
- Training is straightforward and effective
- Training sessions and quick and only twice a week
- Gaining speed is low-hanging fruit for improving your game without deliberate swing changes
- I never experienced soreness or injury from training
- Better value compared to competitors
Speed Toad Cons:
- Radar or launch monitor required to get the full benefits
- Guidance on technique or speed concepts would complete the system
- Don't Skip the Speed Toad App Tutorials
1. Speed Toad’s System is Straightforward and Effective
Speed Toad training consists of two parts: warm-ups and swings. Both are incredibly simple.
I’ll go into some less-than-perfect elements of the Speed Toad app later, but for the primary function of the product – the actual speed training element – it was flawless at delivering my trainings seamlessly.
At only two days a week and about 25 minutes per training, I never felt like I couldn’t fit a scheduled training into my day. And yes, those trainings were effective.
My swing speed with the Toad went from 117 mph on Day 1 to 122 mph just one month in and up to 126 mph after two months.
Meanwhile, my dry driver swing speed (driver with no ball) went from 107 mph during my first session to 115 mph after three weeks. However, it continued to hover at or below 115 mph despite gains in other areas, and while I’ve peaked at 115 multiple times since then, I have not yet beaten that high-water mark.
During my initial testing, I didn't do any strength training to gain muscle while speed training, but I suspect doing so would assist speed gains. I am incorporating strength training for the remainder of the golf season, while continuing Speed Toad training, so when I update my results after the season, I'll address the impact adding strength training has on speed gains.
2. Training is Easy to Incorporate Into Any Routine
In a way, Speed Toad is like any gym membership. You only get the benefits of it if you actually use it regularly. This is another area where Speed Toad excels.
Training session only take about 25 minutes, and they’re only twice a week. So for less than an hour of your time each week, you can gain serious distance.
If you’re looking to get better, there’s really no excuse not to do it.
3. Speed Training is Low-Hanging Fruit to Improve Your Game
There are a lot of ways to improve your golf game. You can improve by perfecting your swing, making more mid-range putts, sharpening your short game for more up and downs, or adding distance, among countless other options.
Of all those options, adding distance is actually the easiest to do and delivers the quickest results.
By gaining 8 mph of club head speed in three weeks, I should expect to see around 20 yards of extra distance off the tee, assuming I’m not making perfect contact (or around 24 yards with maximum efficiency). That means on a hole I used to hit 7-iron into the green, I’ll likely now have just a 9-iron. That’s a huge advantage.
It’s a fact that players who start any speed training program are guaranteed to gain speed. That’s just how our bodies and brains are wired. Data from places like Shot Scope and Arccos proves that more distance and shorter approach shots lead to lower scores.
You don’t have to make any technical, deliberate changes to your swing to realize these gains, but as you train with the Speed Toad, you’ll notice improved sequencing in your swing. That can lead to better mechanics and a more efficient swing without you having to think about it.
I plan on continuing training with Speed Toad through the golf season and I fully expect that my speed and distance will continue to improve.
4. No Soreness or Injury From Training
One concern many golfers have with speed training is pain or injury. I experienced lower back pain from golf the whole second half of last year, and it got so bad that it was hard to get up and walk across the room some days.
A huge benefit of the Speed Toad compared to popular competitors is that you never train with anything heavier than the driver you already swing. That puts less strain on your body while maximizing speed gains.
I’ve logged over 20 Speed Toad sessions so far and never felt back pain from training or soreness in the days following training.
5. Excellent Value
The Speed Toad costs $125, which alone is less than half the price of the Stack System, and $75 less than SuperSpeed’s latest speed sticks, to make direct comparisons to the most popular competition.
Consider that the price includes lifetime access to Speed Toad’s app (many competitors eventually charge an annual subscription for their apps), and the value really isn’t even comparable.
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6. Need Radar to Get the Most Benefit
We mentioned that Speed Toad isn’t perfect, and I want to outline what I feel are the biggest drawbacks.
First, to get the most out of training with the Speed Toad, it’s best to use some sort of radar or launch monitor that measures your swing speed.
Sure, you can train without it, and you will still gain speed, but measuring your speed with a launch monitor lets you track your gains, and helps you understand the sequence of an efficient swing.
The most basic system that delivers reliable data is the PRGR launch monitor, which is a popular option for speed training but still sets you back about $229.
7. Technique Guidance Would Make Speed Toad The Complete Package
My biggest recommendation for the Speed Toad would be to add guidance in the app to help users learn how to use their bodies to unlock maximum speeds.
I mentioned that during my training, I gained 8 mph of club head speed in just three weeks. From doing other speed training programs, and from previous conversations with Speed Toad co-founders Sam Attanasio and Bryce Mooney, I understand that there is a push-pull component to speed training where either your top end or bottom end speeds are improving, but they aren't both simultaneously improving all the time (this is often misinterpreted as a plateau).
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Still, after not breaking that early high water mark for weeks, I started to get frustrated.
I completely understand if Mooney and Attanasio – who literally broke the world record for club head speed – want to stay as far away from swing instruction as possible, but these guys know how to move it. Meanwhile, I couldn’t help but feel like my technique was holding me back from faster swing speeds, and would have liked to find some tips for to swing faster in the app.
8. Don't Skip the Speed Toad App Tutorials
My first impression of the Speed Toad app is that it's good, but not great. I eventually learned, perhaps unsurprisingly to those who know me, that most of my setbacks in the app were simply user error, not the app's fault.
The good news is, there are tutorials within the app that demonstrate how to get the most out it, the training, and tracking your progress. To avoid making the same mistakes I made, I recommend checking them out when you begin the program.
The app is perfect for reminding you when you’re supposed to train, and easily viewing, logging, and completing training sessions without any additional tutorials.
I had issues loading the video demonstrations for the swing drills during training. I suspect this is because after warming up, I step outside to take my swings, which means I have a weaker connection.
I later learned that all those videos are included in the video library in the app, so if you have the same issue, you can watch the demonstration anytime.
Beyond that, the app tracks performance gains in the various exercises it prescribes. Since I skipped the app tutorials, and didn't see any data on this tab after my workouts, I assumed I needed to head to the Stats tab to see my stats, where I could access them after manually re-entering them.
Again, I later learned that I just needed to choose which exercise I wanted to see stats for from the Performance tab.
The point is, if you're going to use Speed Toad, it's worth taking a few minutes to familiarize yourself with how to use the app properly to avoid making some of these mistakes and false-assumptions.
Taking the Leap
There aren’t many golf products out there that, after testing, I feel like are for everyone, but I think any golfer who wants to improve their game would be foolish not to start using the Speed Toad.
It’s as simple as this: adding any sort of speed training is guaranteed to add club head speed and distance. Adding distance is statistically proven to lead to lower scores.
So for $125 and less than an hour a week, why wouldn’t you do it?