Imagine a world where real golf professionals design real golf training aids.
Born from a need to help real golfers.
Well, thanks to Rypstick, that’s the world we now live in.
The early days of the pandemic, when at-home training was at the top of many golfers’ minds, spurred the creation of Rypstick. The company’s goal was to revolutionize golf training, transforming players’ games with scientifically backed, speed-enhancing technology. But they wanted to do more than just increase speed.
How It All Started
Golf Digest recognized Luke Benoit as Best Young Teacher and Best in State from 2012 to 2022. Benoit is the Director of Instruction at Interlachen Country Club in Edina, Minn. He’s coached state champions, professionals, college players, new golfers and plenty of amateurs.
Guess what they all had in common? A need for more speed and, more importantly, a training program to get that speed without getting hurt.
Benoit has a PhD in motor learning. He probably knows what’s wrong with your golf game before you even take the club out of the bag. He had too many moments on the driving range with students when he reached for solutions and came up with nothing so he took it upon himself to create the solution.
What’s this Rypstick all about?
Distance matters. We can try to sugarcoat this and make slower swingers feel better about their short game but, in the end, hitting it far makes the game easier.
The Rypstick is a training aid designed to help you gain speed (the right way) and hit longer and straighter shots. The driver is the ultimate distance club so the main impacts are seen from the tee box.
However, when you increase your speed, you’ll see results throughout the entire game.
If you have played other sports, chances are you participated in overspeed training. With overspeed training, you perform exercises at speeds faster than normal conditions to enhance neuromuscular efficiency. Sprinters, cyclists, football and soccer players all use this.
Benoit admits that his concept wasn’t new—just new to golf.
How Rypstick Works
At a basic level, the Rypstick is a multi-weighted adjustable golf training tool. You have one stick to deal with and eight weight combinations. There’s also a counterbalanced weight. It’s very easy to keep it in your golf bag and have it with you before a round of golf.
Many consider Rypstick a premium golf training aid. The way we see it, the value is in the training program. Anyone can swing a weight. Those who can do it a few times per week, consistently, methodically, following a program created to avoid injury, will gain speed.
Real speed.
The Rypstick claims you’ll gain 15 to 25 yards in six weeks—and golfers are doing it.
We’ve tried it and had players increase by 12 mph after just one month. Be prepared: extra speed can sometimes throw off your game while you adjust to new club yardages and ensure that the clubface is square at impact. These are good problems to have.
Rypstick Models and Products
Rypstick is a brand that takes this concept seriously: ” If you do the work, it works.”
They offer the complete Rypstick training package which includes the Rypstick and a RypRadar. The radar is simple; it just gives you speed, which you can then record in the app. A new radar is set to hit the market that will have Bluetooth capability and send the speed to the app for you. You’ll need a speed-measuring device to check on progress.
The Rypstick comes in the standard 45-inch driver length model. There are options for senior and ladies (one inch shorter) and a 41-inch junior model. Rypstick has a 38-inch indoor option in case you don’t have room to swing the 45-incher indoors. Additional products are in the works to help with ball striking but the RypBoard is currently available and can be paired with Rypstick to help you work on the lower body, weight shift and crisp contact.
As a brand, Rypstick wants to be the go-to, one-stop shop for golfers looking to get better, but just those who need the tools and are not afraid to put in the work.
Seniors and Women are Welcome …
One of the most interesting things I’ve learned about the Rypstick brand is its commitment to the golfer. When we think about speed in golf, Bryson DeChambeau comes to mind. We picture young guys trying to hit 300-yard drives, swinging out of their shoes. Notably, these are not Rypstick’s only customers.
Rypstick users include women, juniors, 50-year-old men afraid of losing speed, aging players who have lost speed, average golfers tired of hitting fairway woods into greens and just about any other category of golfer you can imagine. It seems speed is a universal benefit.
The Hidden Benefits
“This is a workout.”
That’s the most common first reaction Rypstick receives from users. There are some serious hidden perks to working on speed. They include core strength training, better balance, improved weight shift and even increased wrist strength. Your use of ground forces will improve as you work through the app, simply because it has to. You’ll need to leverage the ground to increase your speed.
Any Pros Using This?
More than 100 PGA Tour Pros are using the Rypstick and, shockingly, none of them is being paid to use it.
When we talked to Sarah Iverson, Vice-President and Chief Marketing Officer of Rypstick, she said, “Some of the most exciting days around here are when orders come in from PGA Tour Pros looking to give overspeed training a try.”
A few notables who have used the Rypstick are Wyndham Clark, Dustin Johnson, Ian Poulter, Bernhard Langer, Annika Sorenstam and Lydia Ko.
My Take On The Brand
As a former Class A PGA teaching professional, I’ve worked with students who just need to feel something in their swing. As their coach, you find yourself looking around the range to see what you have to put in their hands to help them have that “aha” moment. The Rypstick was born from this. It’s what real players need in the moment to improve their on-course results.
Sarah Iverson said, “It works and it’s been incredible to see golfers of all levels reach goals they didn’t think they could.”
Like anything else, if you want to see the results, you must commit. The good things in golf take a little work. If you want 15 extra mph overnight, move on. If you can commit to 30 days (which isn’t all that long), you’ll find it in the Rypstick.
Trackman conducted a study that showed a direct correlation between higher swing speed and lower handicap. Tour professionals average over 110 mph, scratch golfers near 105 and single-digit golfers around 100.
I’m not about to skip my short game or putting practice but I won’t argue with Rypstick on the importance of speed. They went about this process correctly, using science and knowledge from the best in the field. It’s a formula that works.
Final Thoughts
The Rypstick motto summarizes the way this entire process works. “Start 15% lighter to build speed, end 25% heavier to build power.”
The brand is committed to solutions that actually work. You just have to be willing to put in the time. I can tell you this: I’ve never seen a golfer add 15 to 25 yards in six weeks without putting in the time. I’ve seldom seen a golfer add five yards in six weeks without the use of a training program and training aid like the Rypstick.
Rypstick puts in the work when designing their products. Now it’s your turn.
