Paco Chan

A bit late to this thread ... There is LOTS of golf in Thailand! The women pros have quite the cult following there, so the whole ecosystem is quite strong. Depending on which city in Thailand you head to, there can be quite a number of potential recommendations. Let me know if you need help!

Date 04/26/2024 Course Name Marina Bay Golf Course Gross Score 87 Course Handicap 14 Gross Strokes over/under par 15 Net Score to Par 1 Net Score 73 Net Birdies or better 0 Longest Drive 0 (Marina Bay White Tees 68.9 /121) Nice to start posting on VCT again! Today was a scorching hot day here in Singapore. We are trying to cram as many rounds in at our only public 18 before it's shut down at the end of June. After that, we can only hope more tee times are made available at a semi-private course. Today I tested out my friend's KZG irons to replace my Sterling single-lengths. I think I might have to go back to regular clubs. the driver was a little more erratic than usual, but the irons saved the day, putting me within striking distance every time. Just need to tighten up the putting. (Sharing a photo of the only Par 6 in Southeast Asia!)

I've been on Garmin since my Fenix 6s about 3-4 years ago. Then added the CT10 tags about 2+ years ago as I've changed watches. Currently on the Approach S70 watch. Love how the watch and tags work together. However, I really don't like how the Garmin Golf app presents the data. It feels like it's giving me a teaser and then leaves me hanging. The Strokes Gained data is the most UNHELPFUL out of all the data points it shows. I've resorted to manually tracking data points for Golfmetrics, as well as manually tracking for Stack putting. I feel these two give me more actionable stats for me to improve on.

Wanted to continue sharing the line graph I had started building off to show the growth. Here's the updated graph after having completed the Neural Drive programme and starting on Full Speed Spectrum programme. As you can see from the 2 trend lines, the increase in speed continues at more or less the same pace.

Hey @KJK76, I've also generally found the estimations and extrapolations of the eSpeed to be suspect. I've internalized it two ways: Like you, I look at the Stack performance relative to itself... so seeing the improvement there creates it's own self-motivating loop. "I'm swinging this thing faster!" I cross-reference that by recording 6-iron clubhead speeds (at the driving range) and see that similarly, those data points are also trending upwards. According to Stack, my eSpeed is supposed to be 114mph, which I find to be a load of rubbish on the course. However, I've definitely seen longer drives on the course, so I know something is working and it's literally translating into real life.

That's right. I think the speed has somehow helped reduce any last-minute tinkering by my hands. I used to have a fairly even split of 33/33/33 between left/fairway/right, but now it's closer to 30/59/11. While the block right isn't gone completely, it definitely shows up less often and I can then manage the course better.

@OHgolfer2 I've probably gained about 6-11m off the tee on average now after completing 2 programmes. While I haven't seen the handicap move down yet (problems have gotten worse elsewhere), I am now in a better position to hit more GIRs. If I isolated the driver only, my strokes gained on driving dropped from -4.8 to -0.9 (I'm using Golfmetrics to track), so it's a significant improvement. And for improving those other parts of the game, I really recommend using the Stack Putting programmes too! It really forces you to work on the stuff you suck at, and I've (just) started to feel more confident when staring at those downhill right-to-lefts that I just hate. Good luck on your journey and stick with it!

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!

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 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!

Agree with @hckymeyer - it's the software that makes or breaks speed training. I bought the same Big Crazy head that @jolter1 bought and tried to follow the Superspeed training protocol. I got a bit stronger, but the lack of the UX to push different training programmes to me, and the data UI that shows my progress, resulted in me just being less motivated to train. I randomly bought the Stack System for my brother's birthday, and after trying it for a week, and loving the interface, I ended up buying one for myself. I'm particularly interested in how the programmes are tweaked based on how other users are performing and what seems to be effective. It's kinda like being in a massive group experiment where we help test different training approaches to help everyone else find the most efficient approach. So while my brother and I are on the same Neural training programme, our actually sets and weights are not the same.

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!

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!

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!