fourwaymiss

Wanted to share another update after about 3 months. It took me a while to get through the 2nd half of the Neural Drive programme with work ramping up again and the holiday season. As I had previously mentioned, I felt like I was plateauing and just stuck around 101-102mph. Started doing more specific strength training that Mike Carroll suggested on his Fit For Golf blog and started engaging the bigger muscles more (core, shoulders, etc) rather than my arms.
So between strength training with FFG and Stack training, I just finished the progress test. Very happy the data is showing what I feel - it's definitely faster. And for those wondering if this actually translates onto the course - I've gained about 7m (8yds) on average off the tee over the last 3-5 months. So while it isn't as far as what the Stack estimates, I'm definitely able to bring some of that speed over to the course!
(Now... if I could only score better. 😜)

Date 02/01/2024 Course Name Marina Bay Golf Course Gross Score 89 Course Handicap 14 Gross Strokes over/under par 17 Net Score to Par 3 Net Score 75 Net Birdies or better 5 Longest Drive 260 SIM Round? It was nice to be back in the tropics. The round started out really well - 24 footer to save par, followed by a GIR par 3. After 6 holes, the round was looking really good at +2!
Then the threesome I had joined up with asked if I wanted to bet drinks with them - I thought it rude not to partake on such a low-stakes game. Whoops.
Finished holes 7/8/9 at +4 to round the turn at 42. 🤦‍♂️
As I let the game get to my head (both figuratively and literally), I finished the back 9 at +11 to finish the round at 89. So obviously kicking myself for not staying the course, but I will admit those blokes were quite a riot to play with, despite it killing my round.
But I'm also really happy that a "round killer" was still only an 89. Ball striking was generally good. Lag putting was what saved the day today, even after 6 beers. It sets me up for some good scores going into 2024!

Slow but steady. Nine months in.  Goal for 2023 was to hit 100. Goal for 2024 is 110. 

Date 01/25/2024 Course Name Stillwater Country Club Gross Score 79 Course Handicap 5 Gross Strokes over/under par 9 Net Score to Par 4 Net Score 74 Net Birdies or better 3 Longest Drive 297 SIM Round? First full round in forever! Glad to be back!
Our course is just thawing out but all the water hazards were still frozen and you could easily find golf balls sitting on top of the ice which I found very comical! 

Date 01/25/2024 Course Name The Golf Club at Bear Dance - Colorado Gross Score 73 Course Handicap 0 Gross Strokes over/under par 1 Net Score to Par 1 Net Score 73 Net Birdies or better 3 Longest Drive 263 SIM Round? SIM I do enjoy mountain and scenic courses.  Drove and played well in 3 birdie round.   



 

Date 01/25/2024 Course Name Long Bien Golf Club Gross Score 98 Course Handicap 21 Gross Strokes over/under par 26 Net Score to Par 5 Net Score 77 Net Birdies or better 4 Longest Drive 246 SIM Round? Great to get back onto the course after a 2 month hiatus for ski season! ⛷️ First round for 2024!!
I squeezed in a round while on a business trip to Hanoi, Vietnam. Unfortunately, January is the coldest month here, and having played in the tropics almost exclusively for the past 17 years, it was quite the adjustment to play in 10°C (50°F) weather. 🥶
Gorgeous course - conditions were surprisingly good. Greens were slick as glass. On 4 different holes, I missed my putt from 18-24 ft only to find myself with a 35m short-sided chip back up onto a elevated dome of a green. 🤬 (Imagine Donald Ross on a vindictive streak.)
All in all, I'm generally happy with how I struck the sticks despite the cold weather and zero play over the holidays.
Can't wait to get back to some warmer temps!
 
 

Date 01/25/2024 Course Name Long Bien Golf Club Gross Score 98 Course Handicap 21 Gross Strokes over/under par 26 Net Score to Par 5 Net Score 77 Net Birdies or better 4 Longest Drive 246 SIM Round? Great to get back onto the course after a 2 month hiatus for ski season! ⛷️ First round for 2024!!
I squeezed in a round while on a business trip to Hanoi, Vietnam. Unfortunately, January is the coldest month here, and having played in the tropics almost exclusively for the past 17 years, it was quite the adjustment to play in 10°C (50°F) weather. 🥶
Gorgeous course - conditions were surprisingly good. Greens were slick as glass. On 4 different holes, I missed my putt from 18-24 ft only to find myself with a 35m short-sided chip back up onto a elevated dome of a green. 🤬 (Imagine Donald Ross on a vindictive streak.)
All in all, I'm generally happy with how I struck the sticks despite the cold weather and zero play over the holidays.
Can't wait to get back to some warmer temps!
 
 

Date 12/17/2023 Course Name Tanah Merah Country Club - Garden Gross Score 85 Course Handicap 15 Gross Strokes over/under par 14 Net Score to Par -1 Net Score 70 Net Birdies or better 6 Longest Drive 267 SIM Round? It's been monsoon season here in Southeast Asia as the winds start blowing from the northeast and bring torrential rains, especially in the afternoon. My last 5 rounds were all cut short by t-storms, and I was lamenting that I had no more rounds left for 2023... Until my friend called to see if could complete a foursome today. 👏
I wasn't optimistic about my 12:55 tee time, but the sun was shining when we teed off. Storm clouds gathered as we putted out the 8th green, but other than a drop or two, the rain stayed away. My front 9 wasn't great, but I was playing bogey golf despite a collapse on 6 that put a triple on the card.
Making the turn at 45, I figured I would just enjoy the rest of the afternoon and my last round of the year. Despite the strong headwinds on most holes on the back, the big stick managed to behave and I was still poking them 230-240yds into the fairway (thanks Stack!).
After bogeying the 18th, I tallied 5 over on the back, helping me match my best on this course and lowest differential for the year! Really happy with how things came together after a year of deliberate training. And honestly, posting regularly to VCT also helped with the mental game and trying to share a good score with all y'all every week. So thanks to all of you!
Looking forward to 2024, just want to publicly state my goals:
Get another 10yds off the tee. Improve my Strokes Gained (Approach) from -4.5 to -2.0. Break 80 at least once. Keep scores in the low 80s. Drop to a 10 handicap. Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday season and a happy new year! 🎄🍾

Date 12/17/2023 Course Name Tanah Merah Country Club - Garden Gross Score 85 Course Handicap 15 Gross Strokes over/under par 14 Net Score to Par -1 Net Score 70 Net Birdies or better 6 Longest Drive 267 SIM Round? It's been monsoon season here in Southeast Asia as the winds start blowing from the northeast and bring torrential rains, especially in the afternoon. My last 5 rounds were all cut short by t-storms, and I was lamenting that I had no more rounds left for 2023... Until my friend called to see if could complete a foursome today. 👏
I wasn't optimistic about my 12:55 tee time, but the sun was shining when we teed off. Storm clouds gathered as we putted out the 8th green, but other than a drop or two, the rain stayed away. My front 9 wasn't great, but I was playing bogey golf despite a collapse on 6 that put a triple on the card.
Making the turn at 45, I figured I would just enjoy the rest of the afternoon and my last round of the year. Despite the strong headwinds on most holes on the back, the big stick managed to behave and I was still poking them 230-240yds into the fairway (thanks Stack!).
After bogeying the 18th, I tallied 5 over on the back, helping me match my best on this course and lowest differential for the year! Really happy with how things came together after a year of deliberate training. And honestly, posting regularly to VCT also helped with the mental game and trying to share a good score with all y'all every week. So thanks to all of you!
Looking forward to 2024, just want to publicly state my goals:
Get another 10yds off the tee. Improve my Strokes Gained (Approach) from -4.5 to -2.0. Break 80 at least once. Keep scores in the low 80s. Drop to a 10 handicap. Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday season and a happy new year! 🎄🍾

Reminds me of a friend who is notorious for shooting everything. Luckily, he never holds up play, so no need to fault him. But that doesn't mean we don't give him grief for it. 😂 😈

(This was posed as a joke - Hanoi, Vietnam, 2022.)

Reminds me of a friend who is notorious for shooting everything. Luckily, he never holds up play, so no need to fault him. But that doesn't mean we don't give him grief for it. 😂 😈

(This was posed as a joke - Hanoi, Vietnam, 2022.)

Reminds me of a friend who is notorious for shooting everything. Luckily, he never holds up play, so no need to fault him. But that doesn't mean we don't give him grief for it. 😂 😈

(This was posed as a joke - Hanoi, Vietnam, 2022.)

Awesome writeup!  Thank you for sharing all of the details.  I saw a very similar plateau in Foundation, for about 2 weeks I couldn't seem to move the needle, and then all of a sudden everything jumped up.   It was frustrating during that period for sure, so simply doing a +1 on your sentiment to stick with it!  

Quick update as I'm now a little more than half-way through the second programme (Neural Drive). Speeds continue to go up and I am seeing the delta on the course as well. At the beginning of Neural Drive, I felt that the speed gains in the app weren't really translating on the course (from ~201m off the tee to ~207m). Then suddenly around session 6 or 7 of the Neural Drive programme and my distances have jumped significantly. Now, my minimum off the tee is 210-215m, and I'm regularly getting 230-240m when everything syncs up nicely.
For those who are wondering why they're plateauing, just hang in there and keep on working on it. Building strength takes time. Your body then needs time to figure out how to utilise that strength, so that takes additional time to sync everything up in your swing. The one thing my coach constantly reminds me is that even though I'm stronger, I CANNOT go out on the course and try to murder the ball. Continue to make your "normal" swing, and let the new strength and speed take care of itself.
Sharing the results of the Foundation programme and the Neural Drive programme (everything now normalised to MPH since I'm the only idiot using KPH on this forum 😉) :

I saw some comments about losing speed and then feeling like they couldn't hit a previous personal best, so I've graphed out the 2 programmes together in a line chart for easy comparison. (I've also added the trendline to help folks see the progress without the whiplashy noise).

Finally, I wanted to add my vote to the discussion around warming up prior to doing your Stack session. It is SOOOO critical that you get your body warm before you start swinging. @NB54 and @Hacker60521 said it best - you don't have to follow their warm-up routine, but please make sure your muscles are warm to avoid injury. For me, there are 3 areas that hurt the most after a session if I haven't done a full warm-up, and now I make sure I give those 3 areas extra TLC before I start my session: 
thighs and outer thighs (squats/lunges help warm these up, and knee-hugging stretches them out) neck (head rolling and looking left-right help stretch and warm up the neck) upper back/shoulders (the Stack has a great swinging hug drill that I found really useful, especially the part about changing the angle of your arms) Hope these real life data points help anyone who's quietly wondering whether or not the system helps. But like any workout programme/tool, you gotta stick with it!
 
 

Date 11/14/2023 Course Name Key West Golf Club Gross Score 83 Course Handicap 13 Gross Strokes over/under par 13 Net Score to Par 0 Net Score 70 Net Birdies or better 3 Longest Drive 185 After six months or so, today I had my best iron striking day.  I had four greens in regulation, which is 2-3 times more than usual.  When I missed, it was long-left which got me in trouble twice with penalties (but they both were solid strikes).  My fairways in regulation was slightly misleading as when I missed, it was by only 2-3 feet off the fairway and on two holes, I preferred to be to the right in the rough versus in the fairway and blocked by a tree on my approach.  If I could have putted a bit better, it would have been a sub-80 round.  I hit the edges so many times, the group behind me had a larger cup to putt to!  For the most part, my speed was perfect as most first putts a foot or so beyond the cup.  Of my two putt greens, 10 were within 1 foot of the cup and 5 were within two foot.  
Overall, I can hope that I figured something out on my iron play and though the total number of putts didn't really reflect how well I putted, I was happy with today's round. 
It looks like the Florida Keys will be getting 2 plus inches of rain on Wednesday and Thursday, so Thursday may be a wash out.  Keeping my fingers crossed for a dryer end of the week so I can get another round in on Saturday!

Date 11/13/2023 Course Name Spanish Hills Club Gross Score 83 Course Handicap 7 Gross Strokes over/under par 12 Net Score to Par 5 Net Score 76 Net Birdies or better 4 Longest Drive 295 Oh man - talk about an unbelievably good day for golf.  Mid-70s, on a private country club in the hills of Camarillo, CA - absolutely stunning day.  
Played in a shotgun-start 'open' event, sponsored by a local Facebook golfing group I'm a part of, so got the chance to play a bit of a bucket-list course I've heard great things about.  Rumor has it that Travis Mathew (either the company or the man himself) is one of the owners - who knows? 
What I can say is that playing from the white tees was a GREAT choice for a course we'd never played before - I got to pair up with the forum's own @Syks7 (man can that guy roll the rock) - and we played with two other awesome guys (one of whom rolled in four birdies - super impressive).  The white tees made the course MUCH more accessible and straight-up fun.  It's situated up in the hills, so a ton of the holes have these INSANE views of the surrounding valley.  Truly beautiful. Add in the natural birdie (net eagle) on our final hole of the day (Hole #2 in reality), and it was a perfect ending to an awesome day.
I played OK - better than anticipated, and after having had a few weeks off, a pleasant surprise all things considered.  Putted ok - certainly better than my last (NINE three-putts, lol) - misread a bunch of putts, but that's not a huge shock considering it's a first-time play of the course.  Greens were lightning, but true, which made for a really great experience. 
Attached are some shots from the day!

(View from the practice range.  Absurdly pretty.)
 
Getting the work in (or checking your phone - however you get ready for a round - I don't judge (too harshly) )
 
Getting ready to tee off on 1

(The green is just right of the two bunkers you see - about 50 yards below you.  Tempting to take driver and give it a whack, but everything runs away to the left, so best to hit 3-iron (driving iron for me) and give yourself 100 yards in. Crazy cool first hole.)

(3rd fairway (that's my drive about 90 yards out) - our first hole, uphill tee shot - managed to hit a good drive (not great, but ended up well positioned) and set myself up for an easy par.)

(One of our playing partners teeing off on the 4th - downhill par 3 with a hell of a view)

(View of the clubhouse from the 10th tee)

Another crazy elevated tee (our tee box was actually behind and above where I stopped to take this).  Managed to mash a drive (into a nasty headwind) between the two sets of bunkers - settled for another par)

(Syks7 in a tough spot - lots of carry with a steep lip - got out, which was all that mattered 🙂 )

(Legit one of the most beautiful par 5's I've ever played.  Undulating, not terribly long, incredible views - really a pleasure to play.  Birdied this one.)

(17 green - blind uphill tee shot from behind the hill, then downhill to a green with a NASTY front pin placement)

View from the top of the 18 Fairway - tee box is all the way down the hill (where those three small trees are in a row).  Hit a gem of a tee shot to the top of the hill and couldn't believe the view when I got up here.  This is backwards, towards the tee box...

(And this was in front of us, the tee surrounded by rocks and a pond.  Just a stunning finishing hole. (Par here, too!))
Alright, that's all I've got for you 🙂 If you're ever given the chance, highly recommend checking this course out - a gem, and despite fast greens and some (in all honesty) cruel pin positions, a pretty getable course.  Especially from the whites 😉
-GolfSpy SAM
 
 

Date 11/13/2023 Course Name Dragon’s Fire Gross Score 75 Course Handicap 5 Gross Strokes over/under par 3 Net Score to Par -2 Net Score 70 Net Birdies or better 2 Longest Drive 223 Beautiful, sunny but cool day. Loving that I can still play outdoors, but probably not much longer. Played well with 2 birdies. 

Date 11/13/2023 Course Name Indian Ridge Gross Score 79 Course Handicap 6 Gross Strokes over/under par 7 Net Score to Par 1 Net Score 73 Net Birdies or better 4 Longest Drive 262 First score posted this week! It pays to get out of bed.
Started poorly (I was cold, waited out a frost delay), with five straights 5s (5 over), but then birdied three out of the next four, and almost went four for four, just underread a 7 footer. Considering the start I made, finishing +7 for a net +1 for my first round in almost two weeks, I'm happy!

Date 11/14/2023 Course Name Forest City Golf Resort - Legacy Course Gross Score 86 Course Handicap 14 Gross Strokes over/under par 14 Net Score to Par 0 Net Score 72 Net Birdies or better 6 Longest Drive 254 Drove up to Malaysia to get a round in at Forest City Golf Resort today. Was really looking forward to the round, because I just received my new custom-fitted wedges (PW, GW, SW, LW) and wanted to start getting familiar with them.
The big stick was very well-behaved, which was quite surprising, and I hit 11 of 14 fairways. Wedges were generally on fire (I felt comfortable enough to fire at every single pin position today), and I had legit birdie looks on 4 holes today (only managed to convert 1 though). There are 3 strokes that I genuinely wasted on the green today, so today could have been even lower.
But I'm very happy overall - driver was putting me in play on every hole (except one) and I just couldn't convert, so I'll blame the process of getting used to new clubs.
Looking forward to the next round!

Date 11/14/2023 Course Name Forest City Golf Resort - Legacy Course Gross Score 86 Course Handicap 14 Gross Strokes over/under par 14 Net Score to Par 0 Net Score 72 Net Birdies or better 6 Longest Drive 254 Drove up to Malaysia to get a round in at Forest City Golf Resort today. Was really looking forward to the round, because I just received my new custom-fitted wedges (PW, GW, SW, LW) and wanted to start getting familiar with them.
The big stick was very well-behaved, which was quite surprising, and I hit 11 of 14 fairways. Wedges were generally on fire (I felt comfortable enough to fire at every single pin position today), and I had legit birdie looks on 4 holes today (only managed to convert 1 though). There are 3 strokes that I genuinely wasted on the green today, so today could have been even lower.
But I'm very happy overall - driver was putting me in play on every hole (except one) and I just couldn't convert, so I'll blame the process of getting used to new clubs.
Looking forward to the next round!

Date 11/14/2023 Course Name Forest City Golf Resort - Legacy Course Gross Score 86 Course Handicap 14 Gross Strokes over/under par 14 Net Score to Par 0 Net Score 72 Net Birdies or better 6 Longest Drive 254 Drove up to Malaysia to get a round in at Forest City Golf Resort today. Was really looking forward to the round, because I just received my new custom-fitted wedges (PW, GW, SW, LW) and wanted to start getting familiar with them.
The big stick was very well-behaved, which was quite surprising, and I hit 11 of 14 fairways. Wedges were generally on fire (I felt comfortable enough to fire at every single pin position today), and I had legit birdie looks on 4 holes today (only managed to convert 1 though). There are 3 strokes that I genuinely wasted on the green today, so today could have been even lower.
But I'm very happy overall - driver was putting me in play on every hole (except one) and I just couldn't convert, so I'll blame the process of getting used to new clubs.
Looking forward to the next round!

So as promised to @CFreddie, I'm putting together a WITB post. But before I do that, I thought I should share a bit how my bag has evolved.

I used to play blades and MBs because I liked the look and it was a carryover from my collegiate days. But after graduation, I literally didn't play for 6 years because of work. My college swing took a permanent sabbatical and I couldn't hit my old clubs. But I thought technology could cure my technique and the latest MB tech could make me swing better. (Not!) I tried all sorts of different off-the-rack configs, hoping that I'd find the technological breakthrough. We all know how well that particular kind of search goes.

The great thing about Singapore is that there is a vibrant 2nd hand market, including a great golf "mall" with multiple 2nd hand shops for you to browse. Add to that a local version of eBay and it's really easy to get your hands on used clubs.

We like to joke here that Tuesday or Wednesday is the best day to go to the mall. Why? Because after a horrible round over the weekend, golfers will throw their relatively new clubs into the 2nd hand shops first thing Monday and go buy a new set for the following weekend. So by Tuesday or Wednesday, all that fresh stock has been sorted and placed on display for us bargain hunters! More often than not, we can find some fantastic deals on clubs that have maybe seen only 2 or 3 rounds before they show up at the mall!

(Photo credit - Greenfield Golf's Facebook page. Look how nice that Vokey SM7 looks! I get most of my 2nd hand clubs from Greenfield.)

I got to try all sorts of clubs for cheap - it was sort of like renting clubs for a few weeks. But eventually, I realised that I needed a proper fitting. I went the cheapo route first - some retailer was offering a fitting for free and I jumped on it. Later, a friend was convinced I was fit wrongly and ask his fitter to take a look at my set up for free. We noticed that I had a different swing for every iron and he suggested that single length could help, by building a set based on my best swing plane. That's how I landed on the Sterling Irons.

With a trusted fitter, I figured that I could buy 2nd hand woods just for the heads and custom the rest. That's how I randomly came across an A Grind hybrid in the mall that I fell in love with, and then asked the store owner to help keep an eye out for more A Grinds coming in as I built out the hybrids and woods.

As for my wedges, I can't quite remember how I learned about Edel. But as I learned about the brand and their fitting process, I decided I needed them in the bag. It's unfortunate that David Edel is no longer associated with his eponymous company, and I hope the new owners keep the same level of quality as Mr Edel had.

My putter is the oldest club in my bag, having survived since college. I got the Studio Design 1 when it first came out in the late 90s and it's hard to switch to anything else when I'm so dialled in on the feel of the soft carbon steel. To @TimT's questions in another post about which club we rely on, it's definitely my putter.
Photos of my clubs are below. Let me know if there are any questions and hit 'em good this weekend!

That’s awesome! Of course some deadlifts and squats would be great but can get some extra work in with bands, med ball, and some dumbbells. I added some pictures below from recent studies + speed training process flow. I would definitely explore some weighted jumps, depth jumps, box jumps, jump progressions, various med ball throws, and other ballistic/high velocity work. Helped me definitely push through some plateaus 

I’ve been at this since February and finally hit my goal for the year - progress check this weekend was 100 mph.  Can’t wait to see what I can do by the time the snow melts in the spring.

 Lots and lots of days with seemingly no progress.  I know I have some swing faults that rob me of speed. But progress is progress. 
 
the one thing I’m going to do different over the winter is incorporate some light weight circuit into my regular exercise routine.  Elliptical machine and yoga have been my healthy habits but time for a little more to fight off Father Time. 

Sorry, I remembered a series of short videos from a golf strength coach I follow named Mike Carroll, who runs the Fit for Golf online training program.
He recently shared in a blog post that he was also plateauing and incorporated a bunch of new exercises specifically meant for increasing swing speed. You can refer to the post here.
Enjoy! 💪