TaketheCannoli

I'm not sure, maybe I misunderstood him. Maybe it was the additional cost over a standard driver. I do remember something about a $900 driver.

Those are good points! A few things have changed in those two years. I'm 68 and clearly losing clubhead speed. On top of that, I've been in lessons since March of this year and my pro has been making some significant changes in my swing. I guess there is a good chance my swing is a bit tentative due to the ongoing swing changes. Hopefully as time goes on, I'll get more efficient and recover some speed. I used to have an enterprise launch monitor, but something broke inside of it- I understand it's a bad motherboard. When I got my Flightscope I was really excited. After about 6 months the buzz wore off and I rarely used it- like maybe once per year to check my club gaps. I'm not willing to buy a maintenance agreement for over $1,000 per year for something I doubt I'll use very often. I may buy an inexpensive personal launch monitor, something like a Rhapsodo or a Mevo but I doubt I'll use them very much. I am certain my swing has been fundamentally flawed for many years. As you suggested, my physical condition has been neglected. I think any length I used to have was the product of strength overcoming poor technique and poor conditioning.

I'd love to get fit by a reputable fitter. I'm not sure who the reputable fitters are in either Central Ohio or Southwest Florida. We have True Spec and Club Champion, but from what friends have told me both are out of my price range. One buddy told me he paid $400 for a driver fitting at one of those. My golf club does fittings. Iron fittings are $150 and I would pay that. It's done by our club's pros. I'm just not sure if they are good fitters. Is anyone familiar with fitters in Columbus, Ohio or the Fort Myers/Bonita Springs/Naples Florida areas?

I have a few pair of white golf pants. I rarely wear them anymore, because for the most part I wear shorts.

As I age, I keep losing distance. There's no surprise there. I moved up a tee a couple of years ago so a well struck driver ends up in reasonable positions. I've noticed lately I've lost about a club and a half on irons and hybrids. I've played my current irons for about 7 years or so. They have reasonably strong lofts and 85 gram R flex steel shafts.About two years ago my 7 iron with a steel R shaft carried an average of 153 yards ( based on a Flightscope X2Elite launch monitor), now just 2 years later my 6 iron with a steel R shaft will come up 5-6 yards short of 150 yards. I hit the ball pretty straight - with a tight draw with the current irons. I'm considering getting fit for new irons and wonder if I'll get any additional distance from a lighter shaft with probably senior shafts. What should I expect? I'm pretty satisfied with my current irons, I just have begun to hit them about 15 yards shorter and it's making golf much harder for me. Has anyone made this switch to lighter softer graphite shafts? What kind of results did you see? Do you have any advice or suggestions?

I belong to two clubs, one in the north, one in the south. Neither one has yardages on the sprinkler heads anymore. The northern one does have plaques in the fairway at 100, 150, 200 and even 250 on par 5s. The Southern one has no markers for 100-150-200. I use a laser rangefinder, but I would be fine with just yardages marked to the center on sprinkler heads and pacing off the distance from there. When I took up the game in the 80s, I just used the 100, 150 yards bushes. For distance to the pin, I just assumed if a pin was in the back I should play and extra 8 yards from center, likewise a front pin I took off 8 yards. I've never been good enough that being off by 3-4 yards made much difference The advantage to today's distance finding technology is it helps me play a little faster.

How do you use it as a hip rotation tool?

Great questions all. I'm against counterfeiting. It's just blatant theft. I would want people to know somethings was counterfeit before they bought it. I'd like to dry up the demand for counterfeit goods. I doubt I'd say anything to someone who has a counterfeit club, unless they knew it was counterfeit. I would be nice and let them know I think it's wrong.

Like @revkev I'm older than most posters. I've had lots of instruction and unfortunately very little coaching. When I've played my best for extended periods of time, seasons or years, I had the luck to have a good coach. I also think the PGA teaches pros to be instructors, how to teach the golf swing, how to fix a golf swing. Beyond that, they teach them how to run a business. I think as a student, getting a coach requires they are available to you, perhaps to go out on the course somewhat regularly. I think it's getting easier to coach due to the availability of simulators. FWIW, my first coach put together a terrific program. I was a beginner with a 36 handicap. He had me take a driving range lesson weekly, he gave me a playing lesson weekly and we would play 18 holes weekly. He even took me to the local PGA pro-ams 3-4 times. When we started, I couldn't break 100. After 6 months of this, I shot 78 in a pro-am and my handicap dropped to 12. Obviously the 78 was an outlier :). The second coach played 18 with me about once a month, gave me playing lessons about every six weeks, and a handful of driving range lessons. This dropped my handicap from 11 to 5 over one season. Unfortunately, as I got older my game got worse and I am no longer a single digit player.

Great find @cnosil. Thank you for posting it!

I agree with @revkev A good instructor, alignment sticks and a launch monitor. In addition to those, I've had good success with the Tour Striker Planemate and Smartball and a golf club for stretching to increase flexibility and ability to turn.

@OHgolfer2Nice post! What do you think is the reason for the extra 15-20 yards? Is it better contact or higher clubhead . speed? and assuming the OH in your handle means Ohio? If you are interested, there is a strong Ohio group on here. Regular outings etc. @Lacassem@Getoffmylawn Are you having any challenges integrating each separate movement into one smooth swing? Did you have any problems with the relax portion, especially in protocol 3?

Is the Planemate beginning to run it's course? This had a lot of discussion here and around the interwebs and a lot of discussion on social media for about 18 months. I noticed there doesn't seem to be much buzz around this online anymore.

Sure! Sounds fun I think we're going to need to start an Ohio Golfer - Florida Gulf Coast chapter

We also head to Florida for the winter. We're a little south of Ft. Myers in Bonita Springs. If you'd be willing to let an old hacker join, I'd love to play if possible.

Congrats! That's an impressive effort for a great cause!

Nice 2nd Protocol review! Do you think the clubhead speed variances between the different weight clubs was more due to your move and the weather? I was a little surprised the different clubs didn't increase at the same rates over time. @tony@CIC

Have you incorporated that feel in your on course swing? If so, have you noticed any difference in ball striking or length you hit clubs doing that?

Good review. It's well thought out and easy to follow. You have clearly become a Raving Fan! How long did it take you to stop losing shots to the right? What did you do to fix it?

I haven't been posting my results mainly because I'm still in the intro protocol for another two weeks and because I'm really more interested in what others have to say. I'm only five weeks in and I took a week off when my back was in some pain. I just want to share that I'm a senior in my late 60s and I've lost a lot of speed in the last several years. In July, I checked my clubhead speed with my driver and it was 75-79 mph. I even took out an old Callaway Razr Hawk driver that is my wife's old driver and only swung it at 78-79 mph! I looked at my old data from 2016 and found my 9 iron was 78-79 mph at that time. I got the Super Speed system and a Swing Speed Radar. I had a hard time the first session getting the GREEN club to 80 mph. Now five weeks in, I have the yellow and green club hitting 101-102 and the blue club going 99-100. I checked my Ping G30 and am swinging it around 89-91 mph. That's easily 10 mph +. Like so many have said, I find this system works, even for old guys.

Well written review @MaxEntropy , Thank you for posting it. You hit on something at the end that I was just thinking about. I used to have a lot of lower back pain and I thought it was exacerbated by practicing. Once I started on Super Speed a month ago, my lower back pain has disappeared, just like you mentioned in your review. Oh and while I'm just in the intro protocol I've gained more than I expected when I do the workout.

That's interesting. I think I'm gaining a little off the tee, but I can't be sure. Columbus has been in a dry spell for a while and the ball is running in the fairway. My instructor mentioned he thought my clubhead speed is higher in a lesson when I was hitting a 6 iron. I think my carries haven't changed much. Time to get on the Flightscope I guess.

I'm using a Swing Speed Radar.

Are you seeing a difference in how far you hit your irons?

Haha- one of the things I've learned from using the Super Speed sticks is that my backswing is consistently at 25 mph on the radar unit. I never even thought about backswing speed before.