The Stack System Review and Progress Thread

[edingc]

Well, I've gotten out for two back nines this weekend as my first real-world test of my offseason work.

Conservatively, I believe I'm about 1/2 club longer or even a bit more with my irons. The only par 3 on the back nine was playing about 146 to the stick both yesterday and today, so I opted for a full but not nuked Hogan PTx Pro pitching wedge (46 degrees). Yesterday I flushed it and flew the stick and went off the back of the green. Today I mis hit the ball quite a bit and still ended up pin high after a short hop.

Better indication is that I had 126 yards to the flag on two separate occasions today, and opted for a full bore 54 degree wedge (I love full wedges - it was wet and I need the height to stop it). Both times I flew the flag by five yards. 

Driver is still a work in progress, but on No. 17 I hit one middle toe that ended up 285 yards in the middle of the fairway. Last year that would have been in my top 5 drives on the hole.

One session left in my Neural Drive program and then onto maintenance for the year. Today I set a new personal best at several weights, including the 195 gram weight. I'm now up to a driver eSpeed of 119.

[GolfSpy AFG]

14 hours ago, edingc said:

One session left in my Neural Drive program and then onto maintenance for the year. Today I set a new personal best at several weights, including the 195 gram weight. I'm now up to a driver eSpeed of 119.

Great progress Cody.  I'm kind of surprised to read this though...why go into maintenance?  Do you think it will hurt your game to continue on with another training program?

[edingc]

20 minutes ago, Getoffmylawn said:

Great progress Cody.  I'm kind of surprised to read this though...why go into maintenance?  Do you think it will hurt your game to continue on with another training program?

Time commitment, mostly. One of my goals for this summer is to continue to be active in the weight room. The last two years I've completely stopped working out until the offseason, and while I've made some gains overall, I end up spending two months building back up to where I left off in the spring.

Combined with chores around the house taking up my summer evenings, I'd have to give up range time to fit three workouts in each week and still lift. And I'd rather have the range time at this point.

I do plan on doing the speed priming sessions a few times a week as well before my 18 hole rounds.

We'll see how all this goes. Perhaps I will be really motivated and will jump into another program, but that will be a tough balancing act with everything that goes on in the summer.

[MrKSTOKES]

8 minutes ago, edingc said:

Time commitment, mostly. One of my goals for this summer is to continue to be active in the weight room. The last two years I've completely stopped working out until the offseason, and while I've made some gains overall, I end up spending two months building back up to where I left off in the spring.

Combined with chores around the house taking up my summer evenings, I'd have to give up range time to fit three workouts in each week and still lift. And I'd rather have the range time at this point.

I do plan on doing the speed priming sessions a few times a week as well before my 18 hole rounds.

We'll see how all this goes. Perhaps I will be really motivated and will jump into another program, but that will be a tough balancing act with everything that goes on in the summer.

I’m kinda in the same boat, thinking about e-mailing Sasho regarding in season work as from next week I’ll finally be getting out on the course and then it’s 5 months of solid golf, I can’t see how I’d be able to squeeze in any programs apart from the speed primer and have concerns about how fast the gains will drop off, will report back on what get’s recommended 

[edingc]

19 minutes ago, MrKSTOKES said:

I’m kinda in the same boat, thinking about e-mailing Sasho regarding in season work as from next week I’ll finally be getting out on the course and then it’s 5 months of solid golf, I can’t see how I’d be able to squeeze in any programs apart from the speed primer and have concerns about how fast the gains will drop off, will report back on what get’s recommended 

I'll be curious what he says. From late May to early July I try to play five or six days a week and am curious if the speed priming is supposed to be used daily. I like taking the swings as it really helps to loosen me up.

[DonnieGolfs]

All of you without even knowing it helped me commit to my workout last night without even knowing it so I thank you.(The Guilt of saying I would do something on this thread was motivation enough last night at 11:30 to do my session.) Not much changed from benchmark session to session one, but I do like seeing the speed difference swing to swing and seeing how easy speed can be if I swing the club correctly.

[MrKSTOKES]

1 hour ago, edingc said:

I'll be curious what he says. From late May to early July I try to play five or six days a week and am curious if the speed priming is supposed to be used daily. I like taking the swings as it really helps to loosen me up.

Tried the speed primer before my club fitting session and worked a treat, was at full speed from first swing so it definitely worked for me

[WaffleHouseTour]

2 hours ago, edingc said:

I'll be curious what he says. From late May to early July I try to play five or six days a week and am curious if the speed priming is supposed to be used daily. I like taking the swings as it really helps to loosen me up.

Ditto -since you are supposed to have "rest" days, and I try to play four days in a row once the season starts I'm not sure how to even do a Stack program during the season.  Or do you take twenty minutes after your round every other day to do a session?

But I hear you on time being a critical component.

[Feynman22]

It is really difficult to fit it all in around day to day life. I've heard Sasho saying he himself trains with the stack mainly through the winter and then prioritises playing in the months with the good weather for golf as that is obviously going to benefit your game the most. Distance will taper off ever so slightly, but it's about enjoying playing and shooting scores at the end of the day. 

I've just hit the mythical 120 driver eSpeed (no idea if I'll see this when hitting balls any time soon) so am really motivated to crack on and see out this next program. This takes me into June - after that I'll decide what to do as well. 

[Hoyoymac]

Completed my Baseline this past Sunday Morning.  Starting the Foundation Program tomorrow.

 

 

[MrKSTOKES]

In Season Training Update

Received a reply from Sasho regarding in season training, sent me a link to a video on the Stack website that delved into what you should try to do during a busy playing schedule.

Really interesting video, far too much detail to explain here so recommend watching if like me you have concerns about how to maintain gains when you enter a busy playing period.

It's in the App Support section of the website under "Questions that arise during training"  "should I modify my stack training during the season I'm playing golf frequently" 

Main takeaway for me was to try and maintain 3 program sessions over 4 weeks (instead of the normal 3 per week) and use the speed primer sessions in between as this will maintain your grit score.

Maximum of 5 days break between a program or priming session, 

lots of other options on timings but I think I'll try the 1 program session and 2 speed primer sessions a week for the next month or so as my tournament schedule starts next weekend and then it's flat out for the whole summer.

[Hoyoymac]

First session of the Foundation workout completed today.

A little quicker than my baseline.

 

[Althouse99]

On 4/17/2023 at 9:34 AM, MrKSTOKES said:

I’m kinda in the same boat, thinking about e-mailing Sasho regarding in season work as from next week I’ll finally be getting out on the course and then it’s 5 months of solid golf, I can’t see how I’d be able to squeeze in any programs apart from the speed primer and have concerns about how fast the gains will drop off, will report back on what get’s recommended 

I saw a Twitter post from Sasho saying that most of his tour players do their Stack session after a round if they don't think their speed will suffer.  He did preface it with the fact that they are in really good golf shape and can get away with doing it this way.  

[Feynman22]

Starting to feel like the stacking and gym work is paying off. Peak 7 iron speed tonight:

Feels like there's a bit more in the tank as I wouldn't say I was 100% fresh after training yesterday. My downswing is slightly steep at the moment as well, and I tend to pick up a couple more mph once I shallow it back out, so hopefully hit the 100 mark soon 

Still pretty happy as last time I got on a sim, in March, I was maxing out at 95. I was probably hovering around 88-90 mph when I first came back after not playing for a while in November and am now cruising at 93-95, so works out a few clubs worth of extra  distance.

TLDR / In summary - Sasho is the man!

Edited April 20, 2023 by Feynman22

[GolfSpy MPR]

Winter is hanging on here longer than even usual. For better or worse, I should have time to finish my current program (Full Speed Spectrum) before our course opens (which I'm guessing will be early- to mid-May).

For fun, I did screen grabs of my full progress chart since I began The Stack back in November and aligned them on the same scale:

For those who'd prefer to see everything in one place, here's a quick Google Sheets summary, with the light blue line being a moving average (6 instances):

Like @edingc said above, I'm planning to switch to the maintenance for the summer, until the course closes in the fall.

[Feynman22]

1 hour ago, GolfSpy MPR said:

Winter is hanging on here longer than even usual. For better or worse, I should have time to finish my current program (Full Speed Spectrum) before our course opens (which I'm guessing will be early- to mid-May).

For fun, I did screen grabs of my full progress chart since I began The Stack back in November and aligned them on the same scale:

For those who'd prefer to see everything in one place, here's a quick Google Sheets summary, with the light blue line being a moving average (6 instances):

Like @edingc said above, I'm planning to switch to the maintenance for the summer, until the course closes in the fall.

That's brilliant progress. Looking forward to seeing if everyone finds they are generally scoring better when the season kicks off with the extra yardage. All the stats say it should make a big difference but it will be good to see it with your own eyes.

I'm trying to convince my brother in law, who is a scratch golfer, of the merits of it but I still don't think he's a believer haha.

[GolfSpy MPR]

28 minutes ago, Feynman22 said:

That's brilliant progress. Looking forward to seeing if everyone finds they are generally scoring better when the season kicks off with the extra yardage. All the stats say it should make a big difference but it will be good to see it with your own eyes.

I'm trying to convince my brother in law, who is a scratch golfer, of the merits of it but I still don't think he's a believer haha.

Working mostly now on incorporating this into my gaming swing. Biggest point of focus: making a full backswing turn. On the course, I find that I regularly do not—and when I do, I hit a slinging hook. For me, I've found that a full turn with the thought of hitting a cut generally results in a straightish ball.

[WaffleHouseTour]

For you podcast listening Stackers... the Sweet Spot pod had Dr. Greg Rose from the TitlePerformance Institute on this week. While much of the pod is how to protect yourself from injury he also delves deep into the science of speed, strength and the difference between the two.  He discussed how you might test your capabilities to know if you are maxed out without increasing strength, and if you are currently getting more speed than what you safely should be doing without injuring yourself.  The science and equations went beyond me but its worth a listen.  The Spotify link is below, but you can find it elsewhere - just look for the 4/17/23 episode 

 

 

[Backofthecup]

We're in full golf mode here in Austin. This is my 3rd program and while I've struggled to gain distance I think I'm starting to see some progress. The max intent swings are finally feeling great to me now. In the first two programs I struggled with them terribly. I had soreness in my upper back. I took some time off from the program to strengthen those muscles, finished Neural Drive and now I'm in phase 3 of Full Speed Spectrum. I plan on continuing my training as usual even though I'm playing 3/4 days a week. Full Speed Spectrum, though difficult with some heavier weights in phase 2, seems to be the program for me. While others have stated curbing back I plan on continuing full speed ahead now that I've found some momentum. I have found that a lot of the speed training is actually learning the proper sequence. I can't stress this enough. My ball striking on the course is really coming around where as before my iron game struggled during speed training. Now things actually feel in unison. This a complete 180 from how I felt a few months ago. My goal is to get to 100mph cruiser speed on course (94 right now). My smash factor is consistently at 1.50 or better with the PRGR which leads me to believe its a bit generous on ball speed.  

 

[MIHIGO26]

On 4/14/2023 at 2:05 PM, MIHIGO26 said:

It's the foundations program. Just completed my 8th session.

Yeah so last week I started working out at the gym 3x a week also. Previous to that I did not work out.

 

Time for another update. Have now fully settled into the 3x gym sessions a week and recovering well from them. Will be interested to see how much of a difference that may make in the long term in terms of speed. I'm in this for the long haul and I'm going to crack on all the way through the year with this so by the end of the year I'd have completed a few programs I imagine and will be very interesting to see my results coupled with the gym progression. I think it's safe to say I was quite disappointed after reaching a high speed wise then seeing it drop. After reading the helpful posts on here and having a bit of a internal reality check safe to say I'm actually progressing fairly well.

 

First 'Phase 2' session today of the Foundation program. Was okay.

 

What gave me the biggest reality check was looking at my baseline numbers again. 

Now looking at those and comparing the weights there with the weights from my personal best screen, I think it's safe to say I've already gained a little bit of speed. Shotscope has my average drives as 5 yards longer in 2023 compared to 2022 also. Very keen to get to the next baseline but I'll try get on a Trackman between now and then.

 

[Feynman22]

3 hours ago, MIHIGO26 said:

 

Time for another update. Have now fully settled into the 3x gym sessions a week and recovering well from them. Will be interested to see how much of a difference that may make in the long term in terms of speed. I'm in this for the long haul and I'm going to crack on all the way through the year with this so by the end of the year I'd have completed a few programs I imagine and will be very interesting to see my results coupled with the gym progression. I think it's safe to say I was quite disappointed after reaching a high speed wise then seeing it drop. After reading the helpful posts on here and having a bit of a internal reality check safe to say I'm actually progressing fairly well.

 

First 'Phase 2' session today of the Foundation program. Was okay.

 

What gave me the biggest reality check was looking at my baseline numbers again. 

Now looking at those and comparing the weights there with the weights from my personal best screen, I think it's safe to say I've already gained a little bit of speed. Shotscope has my average drives as 5 yards longer in 2023 compared to 2022 also. Very keen to get to the next baseline but I'll try get on a Trackman between now and then.

 

The extra gym work is a huge help in my opinion. I feel, for me, it allows me to keep or reach higher speeds more easily. Big fan of med ball slams!

Some mobility work is great too. Helps with any aches and pains. I think people could pick and choose some small bits to do here and there that would help. Doesn't have to be full on if it doesn't appeal to you.

Edited April 24, 2023 by Feynman22

[DonnieGolfs]

Three sessions down and I'm still taking a break from the gym, juat been doing some yoga/streching, playing golf and doing the stack. Im happy with progress so far. I had a hard time playing on Sunday the first 2-3 holes figuring my distances, a few sailed greens until I started dialing it in. From hole 4-12 I had a stretch of 5 GIRs in regulation, 2 holes where I hit the green and the ball spun hard and rolled to front of the fringe, and a sailed a an elevated green at 191 playing 201(I havent had this shot in the bag confidently in awhile). What I have been mosted impressed with is the speed is up, but the control/ tempo is what I doing better with. I feel like Im giving it my 85-90% swing but Im generating more speed and consistent contact with less effort. 

[edingc]

I finished up my Neural Drive program this past weekend and did my progress check tonight.

Overall, I'm not surprised to see my numbers not be tremendously different in the progress check. I'm happy to see gains in some areas. I had a lot of ebbs and flows during the Neural Drive program, with a few really high speed sessions and a few that were less than spectacular. As we're hitting spring in Michigan I've been busier than normal, my grit score has fallen quite a bit and generally I'm doing more manual labor around the house, yard and garden so all of these things contribute to losing a little of my Stack speed.

That being said, during the MGS Offseason Speed Challenge, my final check-in with driver was around 117 MPH, a gain of 3 MPH since October. Nothing to sneeze at!

I have not yet played a lot of golf this season (27 holes so far), but last night I filled in for a league with my brother-in-law on a course I had never played before. The scorecard listed the course at around 3,300-3,400 yards from the tees we played, with a couple of 420-yard par 4s, longer par 3s and some short par 5s. I made pars on two of the longer par 4s hitting hybrid from the tee, something I would have not have been able to do in the past. Both hybrids were perfectly placed in the fairway and about 240 yards each.

I hit four drivers last night: 

• 250 yards (first tee jitters, a little too much cut, hit a tree and dropped straight down)
• 277 yards (sweeping draw that had some run on it)
• 295 yards (mashed, dead straight, ball ran out up a hill and through fairway)
• 284 yards (pushed right and clipped a few trees)

When I started speed training back in 2018, my brother-in-law and I were pretty even in total distance throughout the bag. I think I'm about two clubs longer than him now. Some of that is technique and practice, of course, but even from last season I can tell I've gained some speed on him.

The Stack gets a huge thumbs up from me. 

[Feynman22]

What the stack predicts...

 

What I topped out at hitting balls at the range today...

 

Technique isn't quite where it needs to be at the moment. I really struggle to make all out MAX swings as well either with the stack or a club, but it's still slowly trending upwards . Pretty happy!

First round of the year this weekend. I'll take the PRGR out for some tee shots to see what the in game speed might look like for info and will report back 

Edited April 28, 2023 by Feynman22

[MIHIGO26]

Hit a new PB with the 195g in yesterdays session. Back at my best.

 

However my golf is suffering really badly, not because I have some new found distance that I can't control. It's just massively ruined my ball striking. I think I will take a break for summer after the foundations program, and maybe use the priming option occasionally to keep things ticking along. But I am playing worse than I ever have, and come to think about it, the downward spiral on the course started very much around about the time I started using the Stack.

[Backofthecup]

20 hours ago, Feynman22 said:

What the stack predicts...

 

What I topped out at hitting balls at the range today...

 

Technique isn't quite where it needs to be at the moment. I really struggle to make all out MAX swings as well either with the stack or a club, but it's still slowly trending upwards . Pretty happy!

First round of the year this weekend. I'll take the PRGR out for some tee shots to see what the in game speed might look like for info and will report back 

That's awesome. I'm not anywhere near close to what the Stack predicts. I'm a good 10mph below the eSpeed on the course.

[MrKSTOKES]

40 minutes ago, MIHIGO26 said:

Hit a new PB with the 195g in yesterdays session. Back at my best.

 

However my golf is suffering really badly, not because I have some new found distance that I can't control. It's just massively ruined my ball striking. I think I will take a break for summer after the foundations program, and maybe use the priming option occasionally to keep things ticking along. But I am playing worse than I ever have, and come to think about it, the downward spiral on the course started very much around about the time I started using the Stack.

Have you had a pro look at your swing?

Adding extra speed to sound mechanics would generally result in extra distance.

extra speed with fundamental issues could definitely lead to worse golf.

I say this as someone who spent 6 months this winter working with a pro to make sure my swing could function with the new speed I was starting to achieve with the stack 

 

[Hoyoymac]

My progress so far.

[Backofthecup]

2 hours ago, Hoyoymac said:

My progress so far.

Great work but it's impossible to gain 29 yards in 4 sessions. I'm starting to question this app. 

[Backofthecup]

18 hours ago, MIHIGO26 said:

Hit a new PB with the 195g in yesterdays session. Back at my best.

 

However my golf is suffering really badly, not because I have some new found distance that I can't control. It's just massively ruined my ball striking. I think I will take a break for summer after the foundations program, and maybe use the priming option occasionally to keep things ticking along. But I am playing worse than I ever have, and come to think about it, the downward spiral on the course started very much around about the time I started using the Stack.

Your experience is emulating mine. I started the Stack System as a +1.1 and now I'm a 2.4 and going up. My ball striking has fallen off tremendously.