gavinski91

2023 Review Check out the video for the full review! Here are my scores with some key quotes: Physical Product: 20/20 The Swing Sticks "The training sticks are really high quality. The shaft is a nice clean design … the grips worked just fine … and the metal heads were well machined with a nice logo." PRGR Launch Monitor "At this price point, I don’t think you’ll find a better launch monitor than this. If you mishit a shot the unit will give you very incorrect numbers for distance, but on well-struck shots where the ball flies in the expected window for the selected club you can get some pretty accurate numbers that are sufficient for training." Program: 16/20 Getting Started "SuperSpeed has done a great job setting up their website where you can create an account, identify which training protocols you’re working through, and look at different levels with warmups, tutorials, and key tips to keep in mind before you get started." Pro Tip "I recommend using two golf gloves to ensure that you have a solid grip on the club when swinging with the opposite hand." Instant Feedback "Getting the instant feedback from [the radar] on which swings are effective and which aren’t was a key component of the training program. Swings that feel fast might not always reflect fast numbers, and realistically it’s the result that matter." Issues with Training "My understanding is a good fitness training program has two key characteristics: first, it has a diverse set of movements that works different muscle groups, and second, the majority of workouts are done at less than maximum effort. With that in mind, I think that doing the SuperSpeed training program as a standalone workout is a bad idea. During the 10-week training protocol I actually injured myself twice during the swings." Performance: 32/40 Worth the Time? "Over the course of the training program I did see a few miles an hour of swing speed gain, but overall I think my time would’ve been better spent on specific focused practice on other parts of my game, alongside more general strength training or yoga." Seeing Improvements "I think my swing is in a better spot now than it was at the start of the program, and some of the things that I learned while going through the SuperSpeed training program probably contributed to that." Keep it or Re-Gift?: 13/20 "As we head into the offseason in the PNW I don’t think I’ll be picking up the SuperSpeed sticks very often. Instead, I’m going to spend some targeted time practicing on other parts of my game, including with the PRGR launch monitor." Conclusion "If you have limited time to train, I don’t think SuperSpeed is the best way to spend it. However, for the more serious amateur or pro golfer I think that speed training is an essential part of training in the modern golf world – but in that case speed training would be only a part of a larger training regimen. The results from both male and female golfers on the college and pro circuits using SuperSpeed are testament to the fact that you can gain speed, and you can maintain that speed through a tough tournament season." Final Score: 81/100 --------------------------------------- Below this point is previous content from my introduction and initial thoughts: --------------------------------------- Previous Introduction Hi everyone! Gavin here, excited to be back on another test, especially one that should help improve the worst part of my game! For those of you who don't recognize my facepalm profile photo, I'm 31 years old and live in the far Northwest corner of Washington State (about 5 miles from the US-Canada border) with my wife and our dog and cat. I’ve been around golf for most of my life, but didn’t start playing seriously until 2016, after I finished grad school. Prior to that I played a lot of team sports, and the biomechanics from growing up playing baseball and hockey are still evident in my swing today – a 10-finger grip and out-to-in path that hits a high baby fade when my swing is going well, and a badly blocked slice when it isn’t. Right now I'm sitting at a 14.0 handicap, but I think it's possible to get that down into the single digits with some commitment to practice and improvements in the right areas. Off the tee at Wine Valley Golf Club in Walla Walla, WA. : Thin2win I think any review of the SuperSpeed system will inherently dive into questions of both fitness and mechanics. My personal approach to exercise is that it is a means to an end, the end in this case being able to enjoy my hobbies, of which golf is one. My other hobbies include rock climbing, backcountry skiing, mountaineering, and trail running, so my fitness routines tend to focus on building and maintaining a strong aerobic base via running, hiking, and other cardio-focused exercises (I don’t know when the last time I visited a gym was). Right now I’m weighing in at around 6’1” and 195 lbs. Given the lack of golf during the winter season in my area and the direction my training takes, the result is that it takes a few months at the beginning of each golf season before I get my speed back up to where it was at the end of the previous year. Me nearing the summit of Arete des Cosmiques in Chamonix, France. As far as my golf game goes, Arccos stats show that I get better the closer I get to the hole. Most of the strokes lost off the tee for me are actually due to penalties. Over my last 15 rounds I’ve hit 46% of fairways, and 31% of greens in regulation. My driver clubhead speed sits around 105 mph, so when I hit a fairway I’m usually in a good spot to hit the green with a short iron, but when I miss the fairway the ball goes a long ways offline (often into the water or out of bounds). Research on SuperSpeed claims that most golfers will not only gain speed and distance, but also greater accuracy from improved mechanics. My goal is to gain 10 mph of clubhead speed, while also hitting more fairways, by the end of the training protocol. I’m going into the test with an open mind, but have two main questions. The first is What will the speed progression look like? I suspect that it won’t be a linear improvement, but I plan on putting together graphs to visualize how the training protocol impacts my swing speed (both on standard driver swings, and on what I call my “long drive” swing). In an age of instant gratification, if it takes multiple weeks before improvements are noticed I would expect a lot of people to not stick with the program. The second question is How easily will swing mechanic changes from the training protocol translate to on-course performance? Since swinging the sticks obviously only measures swing speed, and not swing path or where you hit the ball, I can see how a change to swing mechanics that leads to more speed could lead to less accuracy. As I stated earlier, my training philosophy is that gains made in the gym need to translate to improved on-course (or on rock or snow) performance or it’s not worthwhile, so tracking that will arguably be the most important part of the test. First Impressions For those of us located in the US, the sticks shipped via UPS. The set arrived in a logoed shipping box that was slightly larger than the box for the SuperSpeed sticks. The PRGR Launch Monitor was in the same box, with a bit of loose packing paper to keep it at one end. A pretty standard shipping practice (like what you would see in most packages from Amazon), but not one I'm a fan of when shipping electronics - I would've liked to see something that held the PRGR in place in the box a bit more securely. The SuperSpeed sticks themselves were very well packaged inside their box. The metal heads were wrapped in bubble wrap that was secured with a rubber band. Once the bubble wrap was removed you could like the stick out of it's plastic sleeve, and under that the grips were shrink-wrapped as well. I'm confident in saying that outside of the entire box being bent in half and snapping the sticks, the sticks can handle the worst abuse that any UPS sorting facility or delivery driver could throw at them. The grips appear to be standard sized. I can see how some people might want to regrip them with the same size grip that they use in their clubs (as far as I can tell they could be regripped no problem) but given that there is no need to control face angle I don't feel a burning desire to do that. At first usage at the driving range the PRGR Launch Monitor appears to be fairly accurate, especially given its ~$200 price tag. The numbers I was getting out of it on well-struck balls seemed to match my on-course experience, and when I let the folks next to me at the range try it they found the same thing. It relies on you inputting your club before swinging, since it appears to only measure club-head and ball speed and makes assumptions on launch conditions based on the club you are using in order to determine carry and total distance. In one case I thinned a 3-Wood that bounced down the range, and the PRGR told me that it carried 220 yards (despite the fact that it first bounced about 30 yards away from me). I'll be putting the PRGR up against a GC Quad later in the test to see how it holds up. Baseline and Ongoing Progress The first step after getting the equipment was to head to the driving range and determine my baseline swing speed. For the purposes of this test I'll be tracking both club-head speed and ball speed, and will get a new set of data every 2 weeks and update it here. The data represents 10 consecutive drives after a brief warmup. For those unfamiliar with box and whisker plots, they show the full range of the data points. The line across the middle represents the median, and the 'x' represents the mean (average). So for my baseline (in blue), my average club-head speed was 110 mph and maxed out at 111 mph, and my average ball speed was 157 mph and maxed out at 163 mph.

Thanks Rob for putting this together again! I decided to try something different this time around, since my picks inevitably end up being pretty bad. I just went with TUGR rankings for my picks in each category - we'll see if it pays off! I'm projecting the cut line at +4, and Spieth at +1.

Very late to the game (got busy with work the past couple months) but I finally sent @RichL85 the first place prize. Display it with pride - you earned it!

Back on the bottom of the first page of this thread @GolfSpy TCB posted a screenshot. Just click the "Post Score" button at the top of the weekly thread and there will be a form to fill out (requires course handicap, net score, net birdies, etc).

You Cobra testers these days don’t know how good you have it. Back when I tested, we had to wait months for stuff to arrive. Months! Quit your crying!

I’m never going to be able to think about my black bucket hat the same way again…

Seems like this is a good sign for the testers - AeroJet on to the finals in the TXG bracket challenge:

Good group of testers here, looking forward to following this one!

What shaft is on the Ping?

LFG! Congrats guys! I'm looking forward to laying the beatdown on all of you on behalf of the CCC4 crew!

Date 04/23/2023 Course Name Homestead GC Gross Score 89 Course Handicap 13 Gross Strokes over/under par 17 Net Score to Par 4 Net Score 76 Net Birdies or better 5 Longest Drive 244 Out with my dad today. We played match play, and I kept stroke play score for myself on Arccos, so I probably could’ve shaved a few strokes if I was focused on that. His shot of the day was this recovery - a tight window, but he managed to thread the needle with his 3 hybrid and put it up by the green. IMG_0391.MOV

And Talor Gooch is putting on a clinic out there this weekend. Back to back rounds of 62.

I do the same. I’m looking at face angle at impact to make sure that my start line is good, and from there it’s all distance control work.

I know we've seen some knocks on low attendance at LIV events, but that doesn't seem to be an issue in Australia!

I've been thinking about changing up which ball I use - interested to see the results on this!

Sounds good - I’d be down to combine 9-hole scores from different weeks if that’s allowable. Probably makes sense to gross half the total points (only entering a score every other week) for playing half as many holes so I think that’s a good alternative.

Any consideration to allow 9-hole scores to be adapted for the competition? With my work schedule I can’t get out more than once a week, and rarely for long enough to play a full 18. I’m thinking something like take your 9-hole score and multiply by 2.1, and no multiplication factor for net birdies. So for example my 9-hole gross 44 today with 3 net birdies would count as a gross 92, still with 3 net birdies. Would allow people to post a weekly score when they could only get out for 9, but would give a distinct advantage to 18-hole scores. Apologies if this was discussed last season and I missed it.

A good group here - looking forward to seeing how these play out for the testers!

Rahm trying to add a bit of drama on the 18th here

A prescient republishing of a 1999 GOLF magazine article about tree health at Augusta: https://www.halphillips.net/if-a-tree-falls-or-falls-ill-at-augusta-national-does-it-make-a-sound I'm sure by the time the 2nd round resumes tomorrow morning, there will be no evidence that those trees ever existed.

Doesn't look like play will resume after 2 trees fall into the gallery. Reports are that no one was injured.

So apparently the pros are allowed to have their phones - just got a funny shot of JT taking his hat off so that face recognition would recognize him and unlock his phone. The pros - they're just like us!

So you're saying it's your fault...