mynerds

Are you me? You sound like me! Unless you’re losing stroke in a very specific spot of your game, I wouldn’t put all of your eggs in one basket. For me, the biggest improvement came from “lessons” in so far that I subscribed to Me and My Golf at $149/ year. You could probably get the same lesson content for free on YouTube if you know what to look for, but I didn’t. Having an easy way to get lessons for the absolute beginner was an appeal to me. Everyone has their own style though, so it may not be the way option for everyone. I would also get a tripod for your phone to self-record your swing for your own evaluation with the M&MG plans, if that’s the route you go. Budget $25 for something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Extendable-Wireless-Compatible-Aluminum-Lightweight/dp/B07VWFYJK1/ With the remaining $475, I’d skip the personal launch monitor unless you already have a hitting mat and net. I’d be tempted to look for deals on a tempo trainer like an orange whip or lag shot. You’ll quickly eat up those funds with a fitting (unless you book Club Champions full bag fitting deal at $100 which expires tonight). You might be able to test drive some used clubs at a place like Golf Galaxy or Dicks Sporting Goods to see if you hit any clubs there well, and put it towards whatever club(s) spark joy. All this from someone who probably is equally bad, so take with a grain of salt I suppose. At the end of the day, figuring out what you need to work on is probably a good first step and then follow your nose from there. That, and making sure you enjoy the journey along the way!

Appreciate all of the feedback! I'm going to start with a free shot tracker (MyTaylorMade OnCourse) to get me in the ballpark. From there, I'll see if there is a desire to further refine with either paid apps or other tech. I generally know how far I carry at the driving range based on the yardage markers, but its not much awareness beyond "this club lands closer to the 125 sign on the range, and that club lands closer to the 150 sign." I've sailed a few balls over the par 3 greens using the distance markers without being a particularly strong ball striker. Even a slightly higher fidelity on my carry seems like a point of improvement for relatively little effort. As an aside, I can appreciate the appeal to tradition and going gadget free but my interest aren't such to be enamored by hickory clubs and the old ways. A partner at a firm I worked at in the early 00's had an antique set of clubs in his corner office and he lit up whenever he had the chance to talk about them. As a child of the tech age and as someone who works in product development, I feel the same when looking at gizmos like rangefinders and PLMs - I see as much craftsmanship in the hardware and software as that partner saw in those clubs. I don't think either of us would say the other is misguided though, and that's one of the things I like most about the sport. To each their own!

Title more or less says it all. If I can’t learn it at a place like Top Golf because of poor accuracy and range balls carry differently, what are my best options? Should I find a trackman to rent time at, use a personal launch monitor on the course with my ball of choice, track my yardages with a stroke tracker/GPS, or something else entirely?

Range today was rough with the irons. I'm not sure what causes the issue but I'm really fighting a tendency to shank or top my shots. Usually I just end up forcing the issue which makes for an unproductive session. Instead, I stopped trying to move through my bag after my 8-iron and went straight to my 3 wood to mix things up. Then played with the driver for a bit before dropping back down to the 7-iron. Things went better after that, but still having some consistency issues. One thing I picked up on today is that I can generally predict how well the shot is going to go depending on how the backswing feels. I've backed off a few times when things felt wrong and not swung through until the backswing felt right. That worked for me today, so I'm going to spend some time in front of the camera to see if I can figure out what's going sideways on me. Last, I'm learning that I'm not a big fan of the new Jumbo CPx grips I put on my irons. The midsize CP2 Pro on my 3W feels much more comfortable, and the CPx diamonds just don't spark joy like I thought they would. I might regrip my stock driver and hybrid grips with a Midsize CP2 wrap to compare the two CP2 models, but I'm fairly sure I'll leave the CPx behind in the future.

Seems like a hot thing to be thinking about since you're both in my brain apparently. I'm really trying to be mindful not to buy in to any ongoing subscription services, but also want to be able to track my progress over time as a numbers junkie. Combine that with how many products seem cross functional with capabilities (e.g. looking at shotscope H4 and r1 smart range finder, and some features overlap) and it's definitely drinking from the fire-hose.

Somehow signed up for Club Champion emails despite never fitting there before and received an offer in my inbox that they're doing $100 full bag fittings if you book the appointment this weekend. The appointment can be in the future, but it has to be booked this weekend with the "100Club" discount code. Fine print from the email: *Terms: Get a Club Champion full bag fitting for $100 when you book the fitting May 13 – May 15, 2022; fittings booked during this date range can be completed at any time in 2022 pending store availability. Promo code 100CLUB must be used at time of booking. Applicable at Club Champion stores only. Exclusions apply. Fitting must be completed in one appointment. Discount not valid on any other fitting type. Not valid on prior fittings or purchases. Not valid in conjunction with any other offer or discount. Not valid in conjunction with Member Rewards benefits. Club Champion reserves the right to remove or modify this promotion at any time. Appointments are limited. I wanted a second opinion on my Golf Galaxy Iron fitting, and at this price point its a no brainier for me plus the added benefit of trying other new clubs. Looks like I have plans next weekend now.

Newest addition to the toy box is the large PuttOut mat and blue pressure putt trainer. Weirdly, I ordered the mat directly from their site but it was packaged and delivered by Amazon. I wanted the patriot range edition pressure putt trainer which is out of stock online, but found it at Golf Galaxy. GG also had the masters edition gear available in store still, so if that’s your thing then check out their stock. Ignore the chaos that is my basement

Took a look at the manual to try and get a better understanding of what the UI looks like and saw they have a 10% off your next purchase discount code "THANKS10" printed in the manual: https://www.precisionprogolf.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/R1-Pamphlet-Print-Ready-Spreads.pdf I'm still reading through the rest of this thread so apologies if the code is duplicative with someone else's post!

Fellow terrible golfer here! I'm with @Riverboat here and in the "it depends" camp. I did a fitting at Golf Galaxy that I wrote about in a different thread and honestly did not have a great time. The short is that I think the fitting process benefits from a consistent swing, even if it's a bad one. I really appreciated the forum recommendations to ask to try no-upcharge shafts, and to know a few club heads that you might be interested in prior to the fitting. I also think it's important for folks like us to prioritize dispersion over distance (e.g. I'll take short, consistent hits over longer shots that are all over the place). The fitting did benefit me in that I now know I prefer the feeling of a lighter graphite shaft over a heavy steel. This helped me when browsing used clubs and helped me find my new (used) 3W. It also forced me to be my own advocate during the process (e.g. I was fitted with a 75g Regular flex graphite shaft for Stealth Irons, which is not in fact a no-upcharge option despite asking for that). It was VERY discouraging to hit shanks for 45 minutes though. Go in with realistic expectations though and I think it can be a positive experience. I was born and raised in Vegas and cut my teeth at the Las Vegas Golf Center / former Callaway Golf Center / former TaylorMade Golf Experience back when it had water features and grass tee boxes. Loved watching the planes land at McCarren while there. If I make my way back home in the near future, I'll happily stink up a course with you

20mph sustained winds and 40mph gusts at the range today. On the bright side, I was able to rip into my driver and new 3 wood since the wind was directly into my face. On the downside, by already poor carry yardages were made that much worse. Still had a blast though! I really struggle hitting my 3i and 4i. Might look to permanently replace them with some kind of hybrid or wood, and get a 5-PW in the next iron set. Also feeling less in love with my Jumbo CPx's now that I have a Midsize CP2 Pro in the bag. I will probably regrip my Driver and Hybrid with the CP2 Wrap to be able to compare the 3.

Stopped by a Play It Again Sports that’s pretty far out of the way to look for a 3 Wood to play with. Found a leftie (!) with a light graphite regular flex shaft (!!) and a midsize (!!!) grip. Very seldomly do I find leftie equipment at all, let alone lighter clubs with bigger grips. Seemed like destiny so I pulled the trigger at $70. Absolutely loved it on the range both off the tee and mat. Very excited to give it a spin on the course, and the midsize CP2 grip might win me over my brand new jumbo CPx’s.

Thanks for sharing this! I've never traveled with clubs before, and considered transporting my clubs in some manner when traveling home to Vegas this year. Things like this just make me want to buy a cheap boxed set so I don't lose/break any club in transit that's important to me.

I've been slowly donating my golf balls to the OB and water hazard gods. I picked up a box of Maxfli Tour Matte White balls yesterday as a preemptive refill to my go-to Softfli matte white and matte red balls. I can't imagine I'll notice much of a difference at this point in my game, but the glowing reviews and price point made it a no-brainer to at least try a box.

Regripped my 14 year old, second hand, standard sized stock grips on my irons to the jumbo Golf Pride CPx. I really like the psuedo-alignment feature with the different textures but I don't know that I'm in love with the overall feel. I was debating whether to go with the CPx or the CP2 Wrap and went with the CPx on a whim. I might try the jumbo CP2s on my driver and rescue hybrid just to be able to try the different feels out on the course. Hit a personal best at my go-to municipal course. If I can shave off a few strokes on these long par 5's that usually take double digits for me, I'll be a happy camper. My short game feels really good and makes me feel like I could break 50 on a 9-hole this year if I can reliably get to the green in +1 of regulation. I'm also planning to check out the local Play It Again Sports for a used fairway wood to play with at the range. I still plan to get fitted, but I've decided to not go in cold turkey given how poorly the fitting at Golf Galaxy went with an off-swing day. I want to maximize my chance for success, so getting a cheap FW first makes sense to me.

Beat my personal best by 3 strokes on my go to local 9-hole. Still a 58, but racing my own race. Had a great drive off the tee on the par 4 6th. Shanked my second in front of a tree. Hit a beautiful pitch over a tree to get within 15 feet, and two putted for bogey. Felt like a save for par for me, and that pitch made me feel like a million bucks. Only lost three balls!

That one good shot really is addicting. The recovery moments are as well. I had a TERRIBLE shot off the tee on a par 3, second into a bunker and still made bogey. I was elated!

Appreciate the input, as it validates much of what I've been doing already. I've been teeing off the short holes with the 5 iron at best. Agreed that new clubs are not needed - they're a belated treat and a commitment to myself keep at the game. I told my playing partner this weekend that my reasonable goal is to treat my real "par" as a double bogey. Shaving 10 strokes on a 9 hole would be a huge accomplishment for me and to be honest, making par feels like making eagle for me No convincing needed to practice chipping and putting. They're the one thing I really enjoy doing and are as much of a strength as they can be for a noob. As for whether swing changes would benefit me over the short game, I'll challenge you there. If it takes me 8 strokes using my 5i-9i to get within 75 yards of the green, but I chip on to the green and two putt for an 11, where would you spend time improving? That's been my game for the past month.

Updated with a link to the complete 30 day challenge, hitting a 62 on the 9-hole, starting the M&MG Beginner Golf coaching program, and Golf Galaxy fitting updates. Here's a rundown on how things went at Golf Galaxy: Golf Galaxy Fitting Recommendations: 1) Callaway Rogue ST Max OS, 65g Regular Graphite, Standard Length, Standard Lie; 2) Taylormade Stealth, 75g, Regular Graphite, Standard Length, Standard Lie Fitting Experience: 0/10 I checked in to the service desk and headed back to the fitting booth. I was met by the fitter and what appeared to be a fitting trainee. I had no issues with multiple sets of eyes on the process, and the interview started. I was asked how long I had been playing and said a few years but only very very casually. I was asked what brands I was interested in and said I was brand agnostic but liked the looks of the Rogue ST, Stealth, and JXP921s. This would prove to be more impactful of a statement than I thought, as these would be the only brands I would be shown. I also mentioned I was interested in stock or no upcharge shafts (at the advice of this forum – thanks all!) because I didn’t think I was good enough to warrant the premium cost. I also mentioned I was really interested in trying grips of different thicknesses. I have standard thickness stock grips and have never been in love with them. He said that they didn’t have any different thickness to demo but by looking at my setup he could tell I might benefit from a midsize or jumbo grip. Ok, I guess that’s it then? I’m not sure if this is typical but I was surprised that there wasn’t at least a collection of Golf Pride grips on steel shafts to swing around. He also asked if I typically draw or pull my shots and I said that when things are going well, I do. I’ve been told my grip is a little on the strong side before, so this made sense. Keep that in the back of your mind for later though. I was told to warm up with my 7-iron and I was all over the place. I typically warm up at the range starting with my PW and moving towards the driver, so I was thinking I was just out of a routine. The fitter recommended moving the ball a half ball back from middle (weird, but ok). I started getting better results on my swing, so fine, I’ll stick with it. Maybe something about the room makes it look like I’m setting up somewhere that I am not. Who knows. I first tried the Rogue ST Max OS, 65g regular flex graphite shaft, standard length standard lie. I saw an immediate improvement with a fairly tight 10-yard dispersion ring. The fitter commented “wow, we might not need to go much further than that.” I agree, and the clubs feel great. I then switched to the Stealth, 75g graphite, regular flex, standard length, standard lie. This setup is closer to my current club weight. I see a similar result to the Rogue ST Max OS but a little wider dispersion to the left and right. The club also doesn’t feel as good in my hands with the heavier weight. Then I switched to JXP921s 85g steel regular flex, standard length and lie, and the wheels come off. Dispersion is all over the place. I’m shanking or slicing everything I hit. At this point, the fitter says that all of my numbers (whatever they were – I felt like I was drinking from the firehose with the trackman data) were all on the low side of optimal. He then steps away to talk to the training employee out of ear shot, and then comes back and says he wants to clear off all of the previous data and start fresh. I didn’t take a picture before the data was delete and regret it, because I never had any regular dispersion after that. I tried the Rogue ST Max OS, 75g regular graphite, standard length and lie. Shank, shank shank. Switched to Rogue ST Max OS, 75g regular graphite, -1/2 inch length, standard lie. Shanks and slices. Tried the Rogue ST Max OS, 75g regular graphite, standard length, -2 flat. No change. Then Rogue ST Max OS, 75g senior graphite, standard length and lie. All awful. At some point the trainee asks if there are other club faces to try and the trainer says in response “I don’t know of any other super game improvement irons to try.” I’m not sure if that was a polite way of trying to get me out the door since I clearly was struggling, a reflection of a lack of lefty-selection equipment, or limited knowledge by the fitter of new equipment. They certainly sell more game improvement irons than those three and I’d be surprised if I happened to pick the only three they had available. Oh well. The fitter then watched my swing straight on and had me hold my hands at my side. He pointed out that I had some internal chest rotation (which I knew about) which encourages a weak grip, which he claimed might explain some of the open slices I’m having. Wait a second, didn’t we start this whole thing identifying my strong grip? Also, I'm no expert but I don't think my grip is what's causing my repeated shanks with a closed club face. He asks me try try a quick grip change to see if that helps. At this point, I’m in a fitting session using a new set up and a new grip. To the surprise of no one, it doesn’t help and likely made things worse. The fitter says something to the effect of “yeah never mind, you probably shouldn’t change anything right now anyways.” A few other gripes during the session - On more than one occasion, both employees left the bay for a few minutes to assemble a new club combination and came back with a righty configuration. I get the mistake happening at the beginning of the fitting but after the third time, I started to wonder if they were paying attention. I also had other employees walk up to my fitter while he was assembling a club and make small talk. One started making light about someone else getting their lie analyzed saying “what does this look like to you? Flat? Upright? I’ve been trying to tell this guy what it is and he’s just not listening” while chuckling. The trainee employee was also taking practice swings behind me while I was taking swings. I’m sure it wasn’t the cause of my swing woes, but it was distracting all the same. I just about threw in the towel and walked out with 20 minutes left on the session and in hindsight, I should have. I probably needed to work at the range more with the recent changes to my swing, or warmed up differently, or taken a 10-minute break, or something. I don’t blame the fitter for my poor swing mechanics, but I don’t think they were equipped to help in that moment. All in all, I think I’d be ok with the Rogue ST Max OS recommendation, but the experience was so rough that I’m not confident in the outcome. I am confident I will never go back to Golf Galaxy for another fitting though. I’m glad I intended to try out multiple fitters, otherwise I’d be upset to have paid for what felt like a mostly worthless time. My confidence took a pretty big hit as to whether I’m at a point where a fitting is worth it though. I’ll hit the range a few more times before making a decision one way or another.

Baseline/Week 0 Prior to the challenge, I played a 9-hole par 36 and shot a 61. I plan to play that same course at the end of the program and compare the results. Unfortunately, I did not keep the scorecard, so I won’t be able to compare hole-by-hole. For week 0, I warmed up at the driving range and recorded what is a typical shot for me with my 6-iron and driver: Week 0 - 6-Iron - Rear.MOV Not setting any distance records, but I can play a round with that shot and not be completely embarrassed. Week 0 - Driver - Rear.MOV Yikes. Week 1 After warming up and recording the Week 0 video, I watched the Week 1 “setup” lessons. One video discussed set up with irons and the other focused on set up with the driver. They also discussed how to upload the video into their app for analysis using their drawing tools. For the most part, set up with the irons did not introduce any new concepts to me except for some nuance on foot angles. For the driver set up, everything was new. Here is where I ended up after about an hour of slow, mindful practice: (If I can figure out why my iPhone wont let me export my rear-view Week 1 videos, I'll update them here) Week 1 - 6-Iron - Front.MOV Week 1 - Driver - Front.MOV I immediately recognized some things to work on after reviewing my footage. In terms of my goal to be more intentional with my swing, I'm already seeing progress! First and probably least important is that I felt like I could do a better job with camera positioning and lighting. This is less an issue of A/V OCD and more recognition that I don’t really know what’s happening with the club once it’s above my waist. Second, I’ve known for a while that my baseline swing is mostly arms and that it severely limits the distance of my clubs. After a minor change to the angles of my feet, allegedly to improve rotation, I saw an increase carry of my 6-iron from 115-125 yards to 125-135 yards. Perhaps those gains were merely from warming up more. However, If a such a small adjustment has a measurable change in distance then I was very curious what the next 3 weeks would look like. Third, while I’m glad to finally have a routine for setting up a driver, it is clear that the set up isn’t the only issue I had. I nearly always top or duff with the driver and I still don’t feel like I know what I’m supposed to be doing. It doesn’t feel smooth, it doesn’t feel natural, and it clearly doesn’t get results. I trust the process and look forward to improvements in Week 2’s lessons. Week 2 Week 2’s lesson focuses on sway and rotation during the backswing. Competent golfers who watched my initial videos likely saw my sway and rotation issues, but I am only now aware of what to look for (and how). Again, score more points toward swing intentionality. This week’s lesson also came with a drill to help encourage a better pivot. I practiced the drill a few times at home and noticed a lot of stiffness in my back and hips. I’ll go ahead and blame the I’ve-been-carrying-around-a-toddler-for-nearly-2-years-dad-bod for that but it is clear I will need to supplement this challenge with regular stretching exercises. I have access to stretching, yoga, and Pilates classes through services like Apple Fitness, but that could impact progress made in the swing. Would my swing be benefiting from the Me and My Golf program, or by a third-party stretching routine? Because the challenge was available to anyone with a membership to Me and My Golf, I decided it was fair to participate in their “Full Body Freedom” plan which is also available to members (I reviewed that in a separate thread for anyone in a similar boat). At worst, any combined benefits will be the result of a single membership program. Not ideal for evaluating the merits of the lessons in isolation but I think it meets the spirit of the challenge. After a few days of stretching and of the recommended drills, I headed back to the range to practice. The first balls I hit were… awful. No problem, we’re making changes, there is bound to be a learning curve. 10 balls, still terrible. I re-watched the videos to see if I missed anything and don’t see anything obvious. 20 balls, and something starts to hurt during the early follow-through that didn’t hurt before. 30 balls, I’ve slowed my swing WAY down and the follow-through is no longer painful but I’m still chunking shots. 40 balls, 50 balls, this is the worst. I’ve yet to hit a ball straight, or over 30 yards. I’m so frustrated and about to leave the range, and then something mentally slips into place as I’m trying to deliberately engage my trail leg: Week 2 - 6-Iron - Front.MOV Zero points to myself for framing the full swing, but I was focused on the "pivot" anyways. I’ve heard people talk about the “fluidity” of a swing, but I don’t think I’d experienced it up to this point. My legs and hips felt for the first like they were a part of the swing rather than just a point of stability for my arms to swing around. Additionally, the club head felt like it was sweeping the ground instead of clunking just before the ball. Two things that I hadn’t been previously mindful of were my hamstrings and my follow-through. For my follow-through, I’ve always thought “anything I do after I hit the ball isn’t going to affect the ball in the air, so what does it matter?” As my pivot changed, my follow through started to hurt so I was forced to slow things down and smooth it out. If that changed anything earlier in the swing, I am not yet conscious of it. For my hamstrings, I had been coached to take an “athletic stance” during previous in-person lessons but my quads tended to dominate my hammys as a general rule. If I’m mindful to drive my heels down in the same manner that I would during a squat, I can fully engage my back leg which seems to engage my lower and upper back in a manner that I had not felt before. I still see a long way to go. I was getting clean contact maybe one out of every 3 balls and I clearly can still increase my pelvic range of motion. However, the contact I made felt GOOD and I would carry my 6-iron between 135-145 yards. My driver is still a mess, but now I’m seeing a filthy slice instead of topping and duffing. Any change to the driver is progress in my book. I am VERY sore but feeling VERY encouraged. Week 3 This week felt a little bit more intimidating, as I hadn’t fully committed the new backswing pivot to memory. I spent a few days practicing the pivot sans clubs at home before watching the move away lesson and headed to the range. Week 3 - 6-Iron - Front.MOV Week 3 - 6-Iron - Rear.MOV The good news: My initial move away was not as bad as I had originally thought, and I was close enough to meeting the recommended checkpoints that I didn’t have to make too many adjustments. I also performed a stretching session from “Full Body Freedom” before going to the range. I felt a noticeable difference in my range of motion during the backswing pivot and did not have the same pains during the previous range session. The bad news: I hit terrible shots. I warmed up with some chipping which went well enough. Swings became progressively worse as I moved up the bag to my trusted 6-iron. Out of 50ish balls with the irons, I think I had 3 clean strikes at no more than 60% power. My max carry with the 6-iron was 120 yards. The adjustment to mindfully include the backswing pivot has thrown my (albeit terrible home brewed) downswing out of whack. Unlike the previous week, things never clicked for at least a short amount of time. I also picked up on issues with my head movement, my shoulder position on the irons, and hips/arm sequencing. I probably need to step back and commit the pivot to memory or else I’m going to get swing-thought-overload. The neutral news: My driver is still unplayable, but I’m slowly getting it a little bit higher off the deck and not completely topping it every time. Generally, I’m either striking with an open face (see first) or hitting a poor-man's stinger (see second): Week 3 - Driver - Rear Open.MOV Week 3 - Driver - Rear Stinger.MOV I plan to keep practicing some drills at home to help with the backswing pivot and move away until the next and final range session but my mood this week is significantly lower than last week’s. C’est la vie in the life of golf though! Week 4 Hot off the disaster that was week three, I was anxious to watch the final lesson of the challenge. On the one hand, I knew I needed more help to fix my new issues. On the other hand, I didn’t want to add another thing to thing about to my already busy mind. Fortunately, the downswing lessons seemed to dovetail nicely into the backswing pivot lessons I was still working to commit to memory. Again, I spent time working on drills at home before heading to the range for the last time. We’ve had some gross weather in Chicagoland for the better part of a month now. Since we managed to have a sunny day in the low 70’s, I decided to give a smaller driving range a try over Top Golf. Maybe it was the change of environment, maybe it was the at-home drills, but I had a much better time here than any of the other sessions. Unfortunately that means I don’t have a readout of my carry distances. Some swings were better than others, but here are typical examples of how the sessions went: Week 4 - 6-Iron - Front.MOV Week 4 - 6-Iron - Rear.MOV 6-Iron Week 4 - Driver - Front.MOV Week 4 - Driver - Rear.MOV Driver Focusing on the good, I’ve never hit my iron in a way that felt this good. More often than not in the past, I would feel a shock in my hands and wrists with my irons. I’ve never been able to make contact with the ball on the downswing despite my best efforts. Now my hands rarely feel like they’re slamming into the ground. Occasionally, I’ll make contact with the ball seemingly without feeling it. Swinging at what feels maybe 70% power, the ball was making it just shy of the 150-yard sign. Is it the different mats? Is it the different swing? Whatever the cause, it is a deeply, deeply satisfying feeling to make clean contact. Also, I’ve never struck my driver with any regularity before. Heck, previous videos should serve as proof that “shankapotomus” would have been far too kind of a nickname. I don’t care that the ball carries 200 yards at best. I’m hitting it significantly better than a month ago and I am hopeful that it will build to a reliable swing in the coming weeks and months. Despite the swing feeling much better and getting some consistent contact, I can see some areas that have regressed. The sway has returned, I’ve introduced a hip slide with my downswing, I can get more consistency in my setup, and my head is much more mobile than ever before. The swing is workable in the meantime though, and I have a few drills in my pocket to help tackle those issues. Overall, this was the most confident at the range I’ve felt during the challenge. A good note to end on for sure. Results & Final Thoughts Overall, I can see a positive transformation in my swing and am satisfied with the results of the challenge. The aspect of my game that most changed is my ability to review and assess my swing with even some basic competency. This mostly contributes to my goal of improving my swing intentions. Before the challenge, I could tell you that my swing wasn’t perfect but I wouldn’t have been able to tell you what was wrong or how to correct it. Now, I have a method to evaluate my swing and some drills to start improving. I also have a means to identify relevant lessons from the Me and My Golf catalog (or anywhere else for that matter) to further improve my swing. If this had been the only improvement over 4 weeks, I’d have been content. As far as improving my iron striking goes, I was pessimistic going into Week 4 with the frustrating Week 3 session. Once I incorporated some changes in the downswing, the previous 3 weeks of lessons seemed to all slip into place. I now feel that I am making better, more consistent contact with my irons. While my videos only showed my 6-iron, I was able to reliably hit up to my 3-iron by the final week. I still see room for further improvement but in the meantime, I am extremely happy with how my irons feel now. Whenever I end up scheduling a fitting, I will feel less self-conscious about my fully homebrewed arm-centric swing. The goal that I still need to work on the most is my driver. I think I could make an argument that I now have a functional driver swing, but I want to work on it a bit more before feeling confident taking it out on the course. I might risk it on a wide-open par 5 fairway, but probably nowhere else in the meantime. I am happy with how far my driver has progressed though, so this goal is a mixed-bag result. Again, due to timing constraints, I wasn’t able to upload any of my swings for analysis by Piers and Andy. I am not upset about it though and honestly I don’t think I would have been able to absorb any additional feedback during the timeframe. I can see how more experienced golfers with more nuanced issues to correct would get value from individual analysis, but it was beyond my needs and capacity at this time. I think the program is appropriate for casual players like me with an existing swing to correct, but extreme novices would be well served to have completed at least the early lessons of “How to Play Golf” before taking the 30-day challenge. In that way, this being a “Swing Transformation Challenge” and not a “Swing Development Program” is right on the money. And for whether or not the transformation on the range translates to the course, remember that I shot a 61 back in March on a par 36 9-hole. In April, I shot a 62. You'd think that would count as a resounding failure, but the 62 felt better than the previous 61. For one, I forgot my putter at home and had a few 4-putts using my PW on the green or my playing partner’s putter. For another, I felt that I knew what went wrong with each mistake and had a mental note for something to drill the next time I was on the range. A weirdly positive feeling for a decidedly worse round. Nevertheless, I feel like I’m on a better track than a month ago.

Buckle up for a long one folks. Summary I participated in Me and My Golf’s 30 Day Golf Swing Transformation Challenge. Here is how my swing was transformed: Before: Week 0 - 6-Iron - Front.MOV Week 0 - 6-Iron - Rear.MOV 6-Iron Week 0 - Driver - Front.MOV Week 0 - Driver - Rear.MOV Driver After: Week 4 - 6-Iron - Front.MOV Week 4 - 6-Iron - Rear.MOV 6-Iron Week 4 - Driver - Front.MOV Week 4 - Driver - Rear.MOV Driver I’ve gained around 20-30 yards in the carry of my 6-iron, and proportional gains through the rest of my irons. I went not being able to hit my driver at all to being able to at least make regular contact with the ball. Most importantly, I can recognize areas of improvement on my own and continue working towards a better golf swing. My best strikes are better than what I've captured on camera, but I feel this is a fair representation of my typical outcome. Overall, I can see a positive transformation in my swing and am satisfied with the results of the challenge. Background I am an early 30’s predominately right-handed-but-lefty-golfer in the Midwest. I’ve owned a set of clubs for ~15 years now but have played double-digit total rounds of 9-hole golf in my life. I’ve never played a round of 18. My golf outing of choice has been at driving ranges for social occasions or chipping whiffle balls into a net in the back yard. I’ve had an on-again-off-again relationship with golf that is primarily driven by the number of friends I have who are interested in golfing too. I recently learned several of my neighbors are avid golfers, and decided to fully embrace the stereotypical suburban dad trope and pick the game up properly. I discovered Me and My Golf on Instagram and subscribed as a member in November of 2021. I’ve watched some lessons in their “How to Play Golf,” “Golf at Home,” and “Winter Golf” plans. Chicagoland weather is not incredibly supportive of winter golf so I had not been able to implement much. I therefore started the challenge as a pretty blank slate. I saw Me and My Golf’s announcement of the 30 Day Challenge back in late February and registered with the intent to document my experience and better capture my own progress to see if the lessons were driving (no pun intended) meaningful change in my swing and improving my enjoyment of the game. Goals I have no illusions of going on tour. I am not looking to bomb 350-yard shots off the tee. I do want to improve my game to the point where I don’t feel like a liability to the people I am playing with. During a round in March, I topped the ball with my first four swings on the first hole and limped my way down the par 5 fairway to finish with 11 shots. I was with friends, but it was embarrassing to take shot after shot while they waited for their second. On the second hole, I was on the green in 2 and 2-putted for par. This extreme feast-or-famine outcome makes it hard for me to enjoy the game and discourages me from playing with new people as I don’t know which version of my game they’ll have to endure. Further, I love the short game and would have a more enjoyable time if I could close the distance to the green more reliably. Lastly, my bag is incomplete and made up mostly from second-hand purchases at Play It Again Sports. I never played consistently enough to warrant getting fitted. I would like to develop at least some foundational skill to warrant the cost and maximize the value of a fitting if the challenge materially changes my swing. To this end, I have three goals over the next 30 days: 1) Develop a basic driver swing I cannot hit my driver, plain and simple. I’ve had three in-person lessons with professionals in my life and all were 6 and 7 iron centric. The club in my bag with the most distance is my rescue hybrid. It hits reliably straight, but only if I don’t top it. I have been told by playing partners that a driver swing is fundamentally different from an iron swing. I’ve been told to do more, do less, lean more, lean less, twist more, twist less. Nothing has helped from armchair amateurs, so hopefully professionals can offer guidance. 2) Improve reliability of iron striking When things go well, I carry my go-to 6-iron 115-125 yards straight down Broadway. I know that’s well on the low end of average, but I’ll take short and consistent over long and chaotic. Often though, I end up striking the ball off the heel to Lord-knows-where or top the ball 10 yards at a time. I am not to the point where I am concerned with shot shaping. I would be happy to hit a straight shot up a dogleg fairway and leave a greater distance to the flag if I had a straight shot in my repertoire. Any distance increases would be a bonus, but not a primary goal of the challenge for me. 3) Improve intentionality of my swing I have no illusion that I am going to remove all of my swing struggles in 30 days’ time. I will still top the ball with my irons and driver. I will still have heel strikes. My goal is that when these things happen, I will be aware of what went wrong and have an approach to address it. My goal is not to eliminate my problems in 30 days; my goal is to have a routine to strive for with each swing. Approach The 30 Day Golf Swing Transformation Challenge is a 4 week program with one topic of focus for the lesson each week. The intent of the challenge is to follow the lessons each week, record your swing using the Me and My Golf app, and improve your swing based on self-developed and instructor-driven feedback. For self-driven feedback, the lessons provide instructions for using the app to recognize what is going well and where things can improve in the swing. For instructor-driven feedback, one available element of the challenge is that you can upload your swing videos to a private Facebook group and the instructors (Piers Ward and Andy Proudman) will review and provide feedback. Participation in uploading videos to Facebook isn’t required for the challenge, but it is highly encouraged. My plan was to take videos of my iron and driver swings to establish a pre-challenge baseline. I then watched each lesson and implemented the recommendations for a session of at least 50 balls. I then took a video at the end of the session to capture any immediate changes. I tried to capture my "typical" shot for the session instead of my "best" shot - this was a pain point for me in previous lessons. Many coaches would film me several times until I made a quality strike. If I hit it great 1 out of a hundred times, I assure you I care more about the 99 misses than the 1 success. In this way I am trying to capture an honest view of my swing and (potentially lack of) progress. Any yardages stated here are as measured by the technology at Top Golf if that’s the range I find myself at. Perfectly accurate? No, but I’m not yet skilled enough to warrant purchasing my own launch monitor. I’m a big believer in “fake it ‘til you make it” so any golf terms used are based on my limited knowledge and google-fu abilities. If I use a perfectly cromulent word incorrectly, please feel free to correct me! The challenge is structured in a 30-day time frame, but work and family commitments made it so that I couldn’t play on a regular schedule. While I didn’t take the classes on a strictly week by week basis, there were at least 4 days between sessions to try and create a clean break between integrating new lessons and focus areas. I won’t share the content of the lesson as that’s ultimately the product being sold, but I mention the topic of the week as the “challenge checkpoints” are listed on the public page of the challenge and talk generally about my experiences. Additionally due to timing issues, I wasn’t able to upload any videos to Facebook for Piers and Andy to review. Honestly, I don’t think my brain would have been able to handle additional feedback anyways, so this serves as a review strictly of the digital lessons and not their personalized coaching.

-11 for T-14th. I’ll take it! Thanks again for putting this together- found myself paying closer attention since Thursday because of it.

Edited summary post to reflect completion of "Full Body Freedom" coaching plan, and linked to the review post over on the unofficial review page.

Summary I took Me and My Golf’s “Full Body Freedom” coaching plan to supplement another one of their golf instruction programs. After taking all six classes over the span of a few weeks, I feel a noticeable increase in my range of motion and have incorporated two classes into my golfing routine. I would highly recommend the program to any existing Me and My Golf subscribers, or as a standalone product for golfers that do not have a go-to stretching program. However, golfers with existing mobility routines or chronic wrist issues may not be a great fit. Background I am an early-30s male and come from what I would characterize as a competent-active background. I can pick up and play nearly any sport well enough to never be picked last in a pick-up game but not so skilled to be first choice. I have a basic level of fitness to support longer walks, runs in the yard with the family, and moderately intense manual labor around the house. I consider myself sure-footed with a strong sense of balance and rarely, if ever, trip or stumble. I have been working from home for a few years which is a largely sedentary lifestyle. My home contains exercise equipment such as a treadmill, rower, and free weights that mostly go unused save for the Peloton which scratches a competitive itch. I’ve been trying to include more activity in my life, including golfing, and recently started taking lessons from Me and My Golf. During those lessons (which I’ll post a review of in a different thread), I realized my lower back and hips were much more restrictive than I’m accustomed to. In support of my golf lesson program, I also started taking the “Full Body Freedom” coaching plan. Approach Full Body Freedom contains six classes which generally focus on stretching, body-weight strength training, and balance. I took each of the classes generally in sequence, with two exceptions. First, the “Supple Shoulders” routine proved extremely helpful with persistent shoulder soreness and diaphragm tightness, and “Restore and Recover” served as an effective cooldown stretch following driving range sessions and Peloton rides as well. Both classes were repeated over the course of a few weeks. Since the classes are products being sold by Me and My Golf, I’ll limit what I share to the information available on their public webpage (such as the class names) and generalities about their content. Positives As I alluded to above, the courses which focused on stretching and mobility were extremely helpful not only for my golf activity but general well-being. I’ve heard from the more… well-seasoned folks that us youngin’s should take care of our bodies and maintain flexibility however we can. Making good on good advice is sometimes easier said than done though and I’ve admittedly ignored my well-intentions for a while. Without getting into the details of the routines, suffice it to say that the mobility benefits were incredible for me. “Supple Shoulders” now serves as a pre-range warm up routine and alleviates significant stiffness in my backswing pivot. “Restore and Recover” works well for me both as a post-range recovery and end of day stretch for my more active days. The program has also helped me loosen up after prolonged hours at the computer screen. The balance sequences were not particularly challenging for me, but I can see how they may help others establish a solid foundation for dynamic movements. Unfortunately I have one less thing to blame my poor swing on! Areas of Improvement I am skeptical of the strength training aspect of the program. To be clear, this was a minor fraction of the overall program. The overwhelming majority of the classes are focused on mobility and balance. Having said that and acknowledging that I’m not a fitness expert, I don’t think the strength elements are comprehensive enough to prevent all but the most common stress injuries. Additionally, some of the movements were so demanding on the wrists that I wonder if they may cause issues for those with chronic wrist issues. Generally though, I don’t think the classes will cause harm but I don’t think I will be revisiting the few strength-centric classes. The only other area I had a real issue with were the verbal cues for movement changes in the routine. Verbal instruction, especially when maintaining positions where you can’t see the instructor, is necessary to keep on program and not overwork one side or the other. This is an issue with every digital service I’ve tried so I appreciate that it’s not a challenge for just Me and My Golf. It’s discouraging to hold a position for what seems like an extended period only to look up at the screen to see the instructor has moved on. There were also a handful of occasions where “left” and “right” cues were clearly incorrect, leading to me giving up midway through some sequences. It takes away from the routine, and it makes me not want to repeat classes with the issue. Conclusion Overall, I enjoyed Full Body Freedom and would recommend for a few types of people: Recommended for anyone who is already a Me and My Golf Subscriber. It is included as part of the subscription and is a no brainer to complete at least once to see if a specific routine benefits you. Recommended for golfers who are not regularly stretching, particularly those without a warmup or recovery routine. I am noticeably more mobile at the range after a 30-minute warm up stretch, and noticeable less sore after a 30-minute recovery routine. Stretching works, who knew? Recommended for golfers who are already taking regular mobility and strength training programs and find that you have golf-specific mobility issues, then this may help resolve those issues. For anyone already taking regular mobility or strength training classes with no noticeable issues, Full Body Freedom may be redundant with your existing activity. I would not recommend for absolute fitness beginners. Full Body Freedom requires some basic mobility and highly beneficial to have familiarity with basic yoga poses (e.g. downward dog, child pose, etc…) and foundational strength training (e.g. planks). Minimal, if any, modifications are offered for novices to alleviate difficulty.

This was exceptionally helpful and insightful! I want to do an iron fitting in the coming weeks and want to compare a smaller fitter with one of the larger fitters. Two questions for you: Would you recommend a different large fitter (e.g. TrueSpec, GolfTec, PGA Superstore, Cool Clubs) to avoid the pushy business model of CC or is that just the nature of the beast? Do you have any advice for a relatively inexperienced player on narrowing club head and shafts prior to the fitting? I expect that game improvement or super game improvement irons will work best for me so a fancy shaft seems about as helpful as a turbo on a minivan. Is that enough to keep things on track or do I need to further narrow down to specific brands to try?

-5 after round 1. I’ll take it! You three sitting at -11 are monsters