[What/How Did You Practice Today?]

Another trip to the range today. Currently in one of those states where I'm unsure if I'm making progress or not. Ball speed numbers have been down slightly the last couple times out, but I think some of that is attributed to it being very cold outside - even if the balls start out at room temperature by the time I'm through the baskets they've sat on cold concrete for over an hour. It was 21 degrees when I started this morning, so I'm sure that has some effect on the ball speeds I'm producing. (Not to mention the fact that they are range balls to begin with...)

Worked on my setup and grip this morning, trying to get a little more secondary axis tilt at address and also ensuring I don't get too weak with my left hand grip. The additional tilt seemed to help ward off the pulls and pull hooks that have been hurting me, so much so that I started leaving stuff out to the right. Oh well.

Still practicing almost exclusively with longer clubs - 2 hybrid, 4 hybrid, 5 and 6 SpeedZone irons. Misses seem to be getting smaller, so "Project Long Iron" is coming along, I think. Weather permitting, hoping to get back out there on Friday and Monday again.

I spent 5-10 balls going all out with the 5 iron again - ball speeds weren't great because I didn't hit the middle as much as the other day, but it was nice to hit 102 MPH on the Mevo with one of my swings, with some others at 100 and 99. SuperSpeed and weightlifting still continuing to pay off.

[GolfSpy AFG’s Speed & Swing Odyssey]

5 hours ago, Getoffmylawn said:

With the weird week that is the space between Christmas and New Years I'll likely only get two workouts in, so I'm using the workouts to find the right weights to train with at a lower rep range, and to experiment with the timing/sequencing of some exercises.  So, yesterday did a SuperSpeed ASD1, then...

Dumbbell Inclines - 85s, reps at 6, 1

Kneeling Landmine Press - 45, reps at 8, 3

Cable Pressdown - 200, reps at 8, 4

Close Grip Chins - reps at 12, 3

T-Bar Rows - 180, 2 x 6

Standing External Rotations - 30, 3 x 8

Standing Internal Rotations - 30, 3 x 12

Med Ball Slams - 10 pound ball, 3 x 5

Box Jumps - 3 x 6

The rotation, med ball, and jumps were interspersed among the main exercises along with abs as part of the "active rest" in between sets and exercises.

Diet-wise, I'm taking a break from calorie counting this week given the wealth of food, just making sure I get enough protein.  

Any feedback/thoughts on the workout above, fire away...

I don't have a good substitute for medicine ball slams, and it makes me sad. Our gym at work has great space to do med ball work and plenty of balls, but at home I don't have anything to throw them against.

For a while I tried using bands to replicate but they're unwieldy. Also tried "throwing" dumbbells (without actually throwing), but they are awkward.

First world problems, I suppose. My current training is pretty much devoid of any particular explosive work, save for SuperSpeed and a handful of max speed balls at the range, and I'm sure I'm leaving yards on the table...

[Sirchunks blade experiment and restoration]

@sirchunksalot These look awesome! Love that red. The red I used on my Wilsons isn't quite that vibrant, but was limited to the nail polish selection .

[2020 Forum Member Review - SuperSpeed Training System]

8 hours ago, ELEL13 said:

Does Superspeed publish an estimate of how each stick translates into swing speed? Ie, if you swing 110 on green that typically equates to ___ on driver swing speed?  Or does say the blue stick generally indicate where you might swing? Just trying to gauge how to best measure swing speed based on how I am swinging the various sticks. I’m on day 3 and have gotten to 110 on the last green swings, up from 100 on the last green swing the very first day. Thanks!

I have an old Instagram post from SS bookmarked that says the following:

"We recommend a goal of 20% faster with the green than driver, 16% faster with the blue and 10-12% faster with the red."

https://www.instagram.com/p/B6ojyEMBkfU/

I made this table which uses those calculations with a range of estimated swing speeds:

These seem to be fairly accurate numbers - I can reach 140+ on the green stick but usually cruise in the 130-133 range. A good, fully warmed up driver can exceed 110 MPH according to my Flightscope Mevo.

[What equipment are you thinking about?]

50 minutes ago, RollingGreens said:

Would you say the paint is more fragile for the yellow compared to the standard white?

Can't comment on MTB-X as I've never played anything but yellow. I did play the the MTB Black in both white and yellow for a bit and do think the yellow is a little more prone to wear, or at least wear is more noticeable.

Last year I snapped this picture of damage after a fairly cleanly played 36 holes:

I'm not one to swap out balls unless I lose them, but after toying with yellow Z-Star XVs this past year I found them to be more durable than the MTB-Xs. 

[My GolfTec lesson ... a positive experience!]

On 12/22/2020 at 8:34 PM, cksurfdude said:

Here's a then-and-now comparison...

Then 2019-11-05 ...

 

And more recently ...

 

Starting to get there....................

That's an incredible change! Nicely done.

[What equipment are you thinking about?]

On 12/19/2020 at 7:25 PM, RollingGreens said:

Thinking about switching to snell mtb x optic yellow golf balls. I already play them in white. Love the ball, not sure about the color. Feel like it will help with tracking shots since my vision and depth perception aren’t great. 

For what my opinion is worth, I've been playing the MTB-X in Optic Yellow since mid-2019. I play the majority of my rounds by myself and also usually at first light. I've found the yellow to be much easier to track in the air than white and usually easier to find on the ground (except during the fall season with leaves on the ground).

I ordered my yearly five dozen on their Black Friday sale, but even at regular prices they are a great value. My only complaint is that the cover/paint can be a bit fragile compared to some other balls.

[edingc's Work In Progress]

4 minutes ago, tony@CIC said:

Just curious do you have the same shafts in both?. I got SZ 7i- GP with Recoils this past summer and they're working really well for me


Sent from my iPad using MyGolfSpy

Both have KBS C-Taper Lite, but the SpeedZones are x-stiff vs. stiff in the PTMs. They feel similar, I still prefer the stiffs over the x-stiffs though.

The swing weights on the SpeedZones are D2 vs. D4+ on the PTMs, so despite the weight/stiffness difference the transition between the two heads is pretty seamless.

[edingc's Work In Progress]

13 minutes ago, Getoffmylawn said:

Nice work.  What's a "stock" 5 iron for you?  (And, just curious, when does your bag switch to the Maltby's...6 or 7?)

The plan right now is to carry 5-7 SpeedZone, and then 7-GW Maltby. They gap out just about right even though I'll technically be carrying two 7 irons.

To be honest, I don't know what a stock 5 in the SpeedZones would be. I honestly didn't hit them all that well this past summer. I know I had two good tee shots each about 200 total with it though.

I'm hoping with more work on the swing with the Planemate, plus practice, that I might be able to carry 200 off the tee, but who knows? I can be a bit mental on the course ... It's easy for me to go hard at the range and then you add in pressure and I get tight.

[edingc's Work In Progress]

If you follow Fit for Golf, Mike is a big proponent of going "all out" for a small subset of swings during a practice session, caring only about club speed and not direction.

I did this for my final 10 balls at the heated range this morning with the SpeedZone 5 iron from a tee. I'm stoked to see the averages over nine of those 10 swings (I removed one badly-thinned effort that had a higher than average swing speed but lower than average ball speed):

• Swing Speed: 97 MPH
• Ball Speed: 136 MPH
• Smash Factor: 1.4
• Carry: 203 yards
• Spin: 4,600 RPM
• Launch Angle: 14.9 degrees
• Height: 105 feet

I've italicized the bottom numbers because while the Mevo is great for ball speed, OK on swing speed, the remaining factors tend to be off to some degree, especially with mixed quality range balls.

As recommended by @Chip Strokes and @BMart519 (and inspired by @Getoffmylawn), I'm just starting my second monthly cycle of Wendler's 5/3/1 and so far have seen some good results. My working weights are nearing personal bests, and I've dropped about five pounds without a drastic change in my diet. I'm also continuing to do small numbers of SuperSpeed reps, and working with the Planemate, in addition to stretching in the mornings. I've found 5/3/1 to complement my off season schedule well, as focusing mostly on the core four lifts allows me enough recovery to also hit two buckets of balls (about 150 swings) once per week without issue.

[What/How Did You Practice Today?]

Another two buckets at the heated range as part of project "Long Iron." Well, they were picking the range when I got there so I started with quite a few pitching wedges because they don't have a protected cart for picking...

Anyway, I took what I worked on last week (right wrist in extension at impact), and sprinkled in some different feelings to improve my rotation. Yesterday I worked a lot with the Planemate in my backyard and got my hip turn better in the backswing. For me, the feel is to keep the right elbow in front of the right hip on the backswing, and that gets me turning really well. That was all fine and great, but then I video'ed myself and noticed quite a slide on the downswing:

 

Today at the range I focused more on keeping pressure on the inside of my left foot on the downswing. My tendency, as shown above, is to roll the pressure to the outside of my left foot which gets the whole sliding thing going (flip hooks and blocks for days...).

This was the best range session I've had this winter, and probably the best I've had since really trying to improve my game. I had a little tailwind, but was landing 6 irons about 195, 5 irons at the 205 pin and clearing that 205 green easily with the Epic Flash 4 hybrid. I even broke out an old Cobra AMP driver with a cut down regular flex 3 wood shaft in it that I had in my basement and hit a couple that landed at or just past the 255 green and rolled out to the end of the range.

All of this work on rotation is really helping me find the sweet spot a lot more. I didn't video myself today, opting to just watch ball flight, strike location and ball speed on my Mevo. I'm pleased, to say the least.

[2021 Fantasy Golf]

In again. Won't miss the draft this year though. Learned a lot last year, namely that having Adam Long as your headliner isn't going to cut it...

[2020 Forum Member Review - SuperSpeed Training System]

I've really cut down the number of reps, but I've at least been consistent in getting out there and swinging 5-10 times with each stick while there is no snow on the ground.

I've been focusing on using the ground better in my swing, and that, along with some weightlifting and stretching, is yielding some good results. 

A few weeks ago I hit a then personal best 141 with the green stick. Today, I hit 142. Meant to grab a picture but I brushed the clubhead past the radar on the way back and cleared my results .

138 will have to do...

 

[GolfSpy AFG’s Speed & Swing Odyssey]

39 minutes ago, Getoffmylawn said:

Here's the main feedback and area to target that did come out of the lesson:

Picture on the left is the good, the right the "bad" and what I need to improve on.  I don't have a good screen grab to show the impact position, but the diagnosis is a tendency that I've fought for a while to get into a squat too much and come into impact with my arms a bit folded up rather than extended.  Honetly, if there is an aspect of this offseason training that hasn't gotten my full energy it's the PlaneMate work, and I think it would help immensely with this so I'll be reattacking that.  I should in turn see a wider overall swing and hopefully some speed as well.

That's some nice trail side bend there. I could use a little more of that in my swing. Do you know what your club path and AoA is like on these swings?

Like you, I've neglected the Planemate a little too much but realized in playing with it again this week that it's a huge help in reinforcing the correct patterns. My biggest issue using it during my active golf season was that I didn't want to "break" what I was working with at the moment.

[Unofficial Review: L.A.B. Golf Directed Force 2.1 Putter]

@yungkory - Any news on your putter? I would guess I got my order in right before a rush. Literally a week or so after I got it, both Shiels and Peter Finch reviewed them, along with a massive social media blast from them.

The goal in getting fitted and purchasing a new putter was to really work on my putting this offseason. It's been a huge help having the EXPUTT simulator, since I can practice putts up to 50 feet indoors without taking up much room. I also enjoy the path and face measurements (even if they're not perfect), as I can see trends with how changes to my setup, grip, etc. effect my stroke.

Anyway, I've made a few changes to my putting setup and have been getting some good results. From tonight's session of 35 putts randomized between 5-30 feet:

One lone putt that was not within a three foot circle, and I made 16 of the 35. Pretty sure the long miss was a seven footer, and I tend to struggle with short distances on the EXPUTT. 

Obviously, this is not the course and I'm hitting dead straight putts, but I'm thrilled to see changes to the putter and my stroke making an improvement.

[What/How Did You Practice Today?]

Two buckets at the range today focusing on improving my club path and also getting my right wrist into extension through the hitting area. Good results. Unfortunately, started to get tired both physically and mentally with about half a bucket left and started falling into bad habits. Need to keep my focus for longer or hit fewer balls.

First swings with my new Callaway Epic Flash 4 hybrid, and it looks like it's going to slot in the bag perfectly between the Super Hybrid and the SpeedZone 5 iron. Ball speeds into the mid-140s on the best swings, pretty forgiving and for me only a slight draw bias. Tensei Silver feels pretty good, similar to the UST Recoil, if anything it felt a little loose but I got used to the feeling as I took more swings. Hit it both from a tee and also from the deck and had good results.

[Tour Striker Planemate]

All of the chatter in this thread inspired me to put on the Planemate yesterday and figure out the long green band. I never spent much time with it earlier in the summer, and when I did, I really struggled with the band snapping underneath my arms on the follow through. That's something Martin specifically calls out in the videos that should not happen.

I rewatched the Advanced Protocols finishing position video and picked up on something Martin mentioned that I had missed previously: feeling the right wrist in full extension with palm facing down and slightly away as the club is coming into the ball.

Ta-da! That fixed the band issue, which came down to my misuse of the right hand in the downswing. Previously, I had been keeping the palm down but actively rolling my right wrist into flexion as I was meeting the ball. This basically yielded a flipping movement at the ball. When my timing was good, I could leave the face just open enough to hit the ball straight, but otherwise it was pull/pull hook city.

I went to the heated range this morning to work on the new feel and was amazed at how much better I hit the ball. Lots of 6 irons with 132+ ball speed, 4 hybrids in the mid-140s, and most importantly a lot more balls hit straight with a slight draw. Toward the end of my buckets I started getting tired and falling back into the old habits, but I'm ready to get back with a very focused range session some time this upcoming week.

This is actually something my coach picked up on two lessons ago (August, I think), but the feel he had me using was to feel my left hand chopping down and left, which achieved this result by putting the left wrist in flexion on the downswing. That feel worked OK, but I find myself to be more right-side driven and so the right wrist feeling is helpful for me.

[Unofficial Review: L.A.B. Golf Directed Force 2.1 Putter]

2 hours ago, Wolfman said:

Just commenting on first post. Just following this thread as am just about to pull the trigger. Looking at same sight lines combined 18 and 19. 

Was curious about your lie angle as if tested with standard putter by remote fitting , to get to the same point with a centre shafted putter the lie angle would have to be flatter which is what your shop fitting was you initially got ,If you wanted the ball in the same setup position or does the forward press eliminate this issue. I was wondering if anybody else has thought about this side of it.

Hope this make sense what I am asking 

Cheers

I understand what you are asking, and what you've said makes sense. I have not really thought about it, though. Going from 33" to 36" was such a dramatic difference that trying to replicate the same position probably wasn't feasible.

I suppose someone going from a "normal" putter to a same length L.A.B. might have a different experience.

[Unofficial Review: L.A.B. Golf Directed Force 2.1 Putter]

L.A.B. is offering 15 percent off gift cards with code 15OFFCARDS:

[Tour Striker Planemate]

2 hours ago, rbsiedsc said:

Thanks. That is interesting with Martin's swing since in the protocols for the planemate, he says to stand it up like an umbrella, which can easily be interpreted as raising your hands high. It almost appears like he makes a simple 3/4 swing but ends up being a full turn with hands level with the shoulders. I wonder how that would feel with the planemate.

 

@edingc and @goaliewales14, have either of you noticed that with your planemate work?

So here's my two cents: 

I have the opposite problem. My natural tendency is to get the left arm too low and around, with the shaft very laid off on the backswing. From that position, the only place I can go to get back to the ball is on a steeper plane than the one I went back on otherwise I'd dump the club into the ground behind the ball (or, more likely I'll early extend to prevent from laying sod over the ball).

When Martin refers to standing up the umbrella, I envision my right forearm staying "on top of" my left arm during the takeaway and backswing. This gets me on a plane that ends with my left arm just about perfectly on the plane of my shoulders. Here's a before/after from one year ago to last weekend that highlights my flaw and correction:

For me, I don't personally feel there is any lifting of the arms in the backswing. The clubs raises as a function of my shoulders rotating around the spine angle I create at address (thoracic rotation).

What @RickyBobby_PR is alluding to is that your hands are being lifted into position at the top of the swing but your hips barely rotate (Ricky, please feel free to correct me if I'm missing something). Without rotation your hands are on a very steep plane back to the ball.

Take a look at these snaps of Sergio and look at how "deep" his hands are and how much his hips have rotated open:

The last video you posted did have better hip rotation. That's something I really, really struggle with as well as I lack mobility in my right hip, especially internally. To compensate, I flare both feet at address. The additional external rotation at address allows for a greater range of motion back internally during the swing.

One thing you might try is to capture some of the feelings caused by the DownUnder Board training aid. Grab a cardboard box or piece of plywood that is somewhere around 14-18 inches on the longest side. Stick the longest side between your feet and press the insides of your feet into the side of the box. Continue to maintain that pressure throughout your swing. Those feelings should cause you to rotate better on both the backswing and downswing.

Just some thoughts. Feel free to ignore as I'm obviously not a qualified professional (and I typically don't give advice for that reason!).

[GolfSpy AFG’s Speed & Swing Odyssey]

44 minutes ago, ejgaudette said:

@edingc@BMart519Have you tried anything to better convert this speed to the "course" as it were when hitting a ball. This is my concern right now when doing this winter with no course play in sight. Would love any advice on how get the translation. Would love to be able to play near the no ball speeds (within two miles and hour say)

This is something that I struggle with a lot. It's one thing to hit numbers on SuperSpeed, but it's another to translate them to swinging with a ball. 

I've gotten better at doing this over the past two seasons largely just by improving my swing and getting more confident in it. When I first started SuperSpeed I didn't swing the sticks considerably faster than I do now, but my driver was only around 100 MPH. By working with my swing coach I am closer to 105-108 cruising speed, and I think I can get another 5+ with some more work this winter.

@BMart519 brings up an important point - I think there is a lot of value in going all out with a group of swings not caring about direction and only speed. 

 

[GolfSpy AFG’s Speed & Swing Odyssey]

29 minutes ago, BMart519 said:

@Getoffmylawn I'm assuming you are monitoring CHS during your superspeed sessions. One thing I added at the end of each protocol is driver swings with no ball and tracked the top speed from 5-6 swings. I will then hit 5-10 balls with driver into a net with no consideration of direction and log that CHS speed as well. No ball has been ~6 MPH faster than hitting a ball in these trials. 

That's an interesting observation, and is pretty close to what my experience has been, too. No ball drivers with the Swing Speed radar can creep up to 116-118 when fully warmed up after a SuperSpeed session. I did a bunch of all out driver with ball swings after getting fully warm at the range on Saturday and my Mevo reported 108-110 top end. Right in that same ballpark.

[How'd you play?]

13 hours ago, Chip Strokes said:

60 degrees in mid december?! bet your ass i got out for an afternoon round. 

i had never broken 90 before today...and i shot an 82!!

40 on the front/42 on the back

we finished up basically in the dark, which made the last few holes a mess. bogey/double/bogey on 16-18, otherwise we might be talking about breaking 80. 

what a way to finish the season up. real winter weather rolls in tomorrow. 30s and snowy. 

Last round of the year always leaves you wanting more! Awesome round, congratulations. Lots of momentum going into the winter for you.

[What/How Did You Practice Today?]

2 hours ago, Lacassem said:

As I’ve said before No gym this past year has been....shittttay. My stretching for the first half of the year was mediocre at best and it shows over the season. While stretching isn’t proactive it’s helloing. Since starting my clean eating diet I’ve been stretching like crazy and it’s paying off. 2 stretches that have been fantastic are:

Don’t know what this ones called but the below is “90/90”

Working both external and internal rotation of the hips! I've been doing the 90/90 a lot, also a modified child's pose with a block (or in my case, cardboard box) between my feet. Stretches the lower back and hip flexors all at the same time.

[edingc's Work In Progress]

Rainy morning at the range today. After a conversation with @ncwoz this week, I took both my SpeedZone 7 iron and Maltby PTM 7 iron to the range to compare ball speeds and estimated distances with my Flightscope Mevo. I was interested to see if I could carry SpeedZone 5-7 irons and then Maltby PTM 7-GW in a sort of split set for the upcoming season. I've mentioned it in other places around the forums, but while I love the forgiveness of the SpeedZone long irons, the PTMs are gapped better in the shorter irons.

I'm still working on my swing. My miss right now is a pull/pull draw. I've been really struggling trying to find the right feels to get the ball starting at or just right of where I am aimed. Below is a pretty good example swing from today, this was a straight draw that finished a little left of where I intended. This would have played just fine, but during my round Thursday I really struggled with overcooking lots of stuff left.

I've noticed that if I were to lay an alignment stick across my elbows, my upper body appears to be pointed quite a bit left of where my feet are. This is something I'm going to focus on the next time out. On this particular swing I feel like my takeaway was slightly outside of my target line, and I think this may partially be because of being a little too open with my upper body.

Anyway, it does look like there is a sufficient gap between the SpeedZone 7 iron and the Maltby PTM 7 iron to run with a split set next season. The ball speed gaps on average-to-great swings are right in the 5 MPH range between the two, which should work out OK.

SpeedZone 7 Iron

PTM 7 Iron

Of interest (and taken with a grain of salt given the Mevo is a little inaccurate with club speed) is that I swing the PTM 7 iron slightly faster on average than the SpeedZone 7 iron. Same length, although the SpeedZone has the x-stiff C-Taper Lites which weight about 5 grams more than the stiff C-Taper Lites in the PTM.