BMart519

I'm 6'2" with long arms and a 45.5" driver. I am nowhere close to hitting my 9'6" ceiling in my garage. I have a wood hitting platform at leas 2.5" thick with a mat on top thats about 1" thick.

Western Canada is emerging from 2 weeks of brutal weather with wind chill regularly between -30 to -50. So I was not spending time in the garage and didn't feel bad about it in the least. Between too many holiday beverages and lazing about with family, I wasn't expecting great things (or fast swings). Did my first session in 2.5 weeks of Full Speed Spectrum and set new highs in the first 4 sets, only to slow down for the 195g set and miss out increased distance potential. Found some swing queues that I plan on exploring for the rest of the program. Managed to clock one drive at 155mph ball speed and 265 carry in a garage at roughly 48F.

What was the cost of the playing lesson or was it combined with the range time? Playing lessons is something I want to do more of in the future.

I developed a counting routine to keep my mind off technical thoughts other than my tempo... Once I have addressed the ball and am set I look at target and count 1-2 Then look at a spot on ball and count 1-2 Then begin backswing count 1 at top, 2 at or close to impact. All are done at the same tempo speed. I will also try to do a long exhale through the whole process.

You could also try standing farther away from the ball or having the ball closer to the middle of your stance. My miss is also a pull from closing the face. A forward press can open the face for some players as well. I use a 3' ruler and perform much better when practicing my stroke on top of a putting arc as my "fault" is closing the face with an in to out stroke. But the ruler is only measuring start line which needs to be balanced with speed control and the type/weighting of putter that performs best in the area. If you can't get a 30' putt close to the hole, good start line will only help so much.

Read "Every Shot Must Have a Purpose" to help on course and mental game. Then something like Adam Young's Practice Manual to get some ideas on range work. My game dramatically improved when I substituted 9 hole rounds instead of a bucket of 100-120 balls on the range. (Both take about 2 hours)

What's your driver club head speed?

As an 11.9 handicap, that marketing material on the 223's being for 12 caps and better really spoke to me.

Left dash is great off the tee according to basically everyone. I use a Z star and Bridgestone Tour B XS mostly. I also dabble with BX and B RX and the odd pro V1. Driver distance is a mix of launch and spin which needs to be tested on the course to see ball flight. At the end of the day, I assume you are trying to lower your handicap and shoot the lowest scores. The best ball off the tee might perform poorly around the green for you and on approaches. You need to test balls on the course and see which consistently provide best scores. That is the XS for me even if 1 or 2 balls may work slightly better off the tee.

Played with a guy that swung right handed and putted left. When asked about it he said he always played hockey left handed. Probably a similar situation where he was given RH clubs to learn on when young. I play right handed and putt with a traditional grip. I've tried left hand low and it feels weird. But putting LH and then using a right hand low opposite grip feels great for short putts. Never tried it on course.

The Glide SS grinds work well for me in the sand. If it's packed I used the 60/10 and play it square which was noticeably easier than the 54/12 opened up. I just bought a low bounce 58/6 TS Glide 3.0 as the 60 was 3 years old. Going to experiment with that setup for wet or hardpacked bunkers.

An overhead system is far easier to manage, followed by radar behind the hitting area. Side on camera systems are great for accuracy and reducing indoor space. But switching for lefties is a pain and you wouldn't want a sim being moved back and forth 100X per hour when you have mixed groups. The uneekor systems are similar in price to the GC3 or Launch Pro by the time you add a subscription.

A utility wood by design will never have the same peak height as a fairway wood which will also likely reduce the overall carry distance and roll out.

You can't properly test golf balls on an indoor sim. You exclude all of the aerodynamic performance of the cover which affects the height and overall ball flight.

Before every full swing/practice shot, take a practice swing to P2 and pause then move back to address. Then another backswing to P3, pause in the correct location, and move back to the ball arriving in a position closer to "impact" - hips open, forward shaft lean, side bend, etc. Also doing these slow motion rehearsals without a ball. Doing a P2 takeaway like Justin Thomas could be helpful on course.

I added dots to a dozen balls that are a mix of new Z star and used Tour B XS and Pro V1. I alternate through the 12 balls then go collect them and repeat. If you are concerned about breakage, this is probably a better approach than using 1 ball over an entire session. I hit in the garage which is not climate controlled, so I keep the balls and clubs indoors this winter. I plan to do the same thing with the RCT's to make them last as long as possible given the price.

I used the Bridgestone tool yesterday and BX was the rec for most of my test. I use the BXS currently and could only get that if I chose "Spin" as the priority. BX was the rec for accuracy and distance priorities. Only if I played around with slice shot shape would it go to e12.

You don't need a golf specific yoga. Since most golfers have high disposable income relative to the average, most things marketed towards us is overpriced. You would be better to figure out what areas of your body need the most mobility work or get sore/tight (Hips or T Spine and shoulders are big ones for golf) and search YouTube or Google for videos that focus on that area. Searching "Yoga for golf" yields many results in YouTube if you want something general.

2x 1 putts minus a bird after GIR means you got up an down roughly 1/14 times with 4 GIR, or 7%. Not decent Especially if you had putts or easy bump and runs with the nGIRs. Putting and chipping probably cost you 5-10 shots.

Have you tried lighter steel options? I am in the same scenario with the Ping G700 4 iron I use with their AWT 2.0 shaft and am wondering about the gains going to a graphite shaft that would be around 2" longer.

A driving iron will always have the advantage of a flat face vs the bulge and roll on a hybrid to help lateral dispersion. The driving iron CG is closer to the face than on a hybrid due to the head size, this also reduces gear effect on strikes away from CG. Looking at my own data I consider my dispersion with my driving iron to be around 40 yards on most shots versus 50-55 for a hybrid. This excludes my worst misses.

Figure out the club that produces a 150 yard shot. Hopefully this is relatively straight and begin using this shot off the tee and on approaches. You can now reach any par 4 in 3 (or possibly 2) instead of 4. If you can figure out a shot that goes 200 yards and stays in play you can now reach all par 4s in 2. This doesn't need to be driver. Considering you are chipping to get on most greens a 4 putt shouldn't happen. As mentioned above, putting and chipping are 2 big areas you can learn about online and practice without a coach. It's easy enough to hit 5 yard chips on some carpet in the house to work on contact. Google or youtube will give you endless putting drills for speed. You just need to figure out which you can do based on available practice facilities.

Couldn't disagree more with the sensor comment. I've had mine 4 years and never broke a sensor. This year I gave my cart a push that was just too strong and it hit a power cart and flipped my bag. No issues with the sensors. They look quite worn from rubbing the bottom of my bag but all work. Over those 3.5 seasons I have approx 100 rounds used. Not to mention extra usage at home on short game and in my sim. Using manual putting mode greatly improved the accuracy for me. I may need to adjust a few putt lengths but the number is always correct. Putting is one of the largest differentiators between Shot Scope and Arccos in terms of accuracy. This also contaminates your short game and approach numbers in Arccos unless you get Link to help improve accuracy.

First session in 2+ weeks coming off a back strain from a deadlift mishap. Tied my all time high for ball speed which was on a warm summer day while my garage was around freezing today. (I keep my balls room temp though.) I think rolling the dice on a AD-DI shaft could yield some gains. Although the last time I hit 158mph ball speed my same monitor gave me 281 carry… still a good way to start off-season speed training

Or replace 54 with a 52 deg wedge. Bend the AW 1-2 deg stronger if you don't want to go below 56.