SuperSpeed Golf - 2023 Forum Review

[GolfSpy_APH]

SuperSpeed Golf is back and we have 9 fantastic testers to take on the challenge that has become so popular over the years on the Forum.

These tests often last several years and members have been great at providing updates, gaining speed and much more!

Please welcome and congratulate our testers!

Slow Swing Speed Category
@SteveGH7
@BobBC78
@fozcycle

Mid Swing Speed Category
@MsWalkrOfSky
@Berg Ryman
@Sluggo42

High Swing Speed Category
@DStar
@tommyb1683
@gavinski91

[SteveGH7]

I’m very excited to be participating in this process, and thankful to MGS and SuperSpeed for the opportunity.  This will be my first test.

A little about me:

I’m 40 years old living in Huntington Beach, California with my beautiful wife and almost 3-year-old son.  I first picked up golf in late 2009.  My sister’s boyfriend at the time (now my brother-in-law), got me hooked and taught me how to play.  My dad was picking it up at the same time as part of his upcoming retirement plans, so between the two of them I was trying to play about once a month.  A couple years later I found a group of buddies through work that I would golf with and still do.  I never took it too seriously, I just wanted to get out and have fun.  I didn’t keep a handicap, try to get better, or research equipment.  It was about hanging out outside for the day, having some beer and relaxing.  I stopped around 2016 after an on-an-off again back injury became more serious and really laid me out, resulting in nerve damage in my foot that I still have today.  I finally had surgery in 2019, and picked the game back up shortly after.  I was recently married by then, and a year later would have my son.  At this point I became much more serious about my golf.  I got addicted to reading about equipment and how to get better, listening to golf podcasts as I napped my baby boy, and practiced chipping almost every day in the backyard.  Now I track my handicap, have taken lessons, and completely updated my bag.  While my scores are still high, I am seeing improvement with every round.  It’s bound to drop soon, right?

I’d say my strength is short game (partly because of that backyard practice I mentioned), and my weakness is approach shots, especially on long par 4s or par 5s.  I have a pretty slow swing speed especially for my age, as my speed is usually mid 80s with my driver.  Some of that is due to form, and some of it is due to an internal governor I’ve seemed to have placed on myself after my back injury.  Which is part of the reason I was interested in the SuperSpeed product.  I’m hoping the benefits of the SuperSpeed program extend beyond speed itself and help with my form and accuracy as well.  I use ShotScope to track my performance, which shows my current driver average at 205 yards.  I use my 6 iron or 5 hybrid for 150 yards, and my pitching wedge for 100 yards.  ShotScope shows I’m hitting 48% fairways in regulation, but only 12% greens.  

My fitness level is fairly active and I try to stay healthy.  I've always stayed active, but was recently diagnosed with a digestive condition so I am paying a little more attention to nutrition now than I used to.  I walk a lot, and do a 10-20 minute full body workout with light weights 3x a week.  I used to do much more gym style workouts, and a few years of crossfit, but the back injury took that out.  And since my commitments to work, my wife and my son limit my amount of free time out of the house, I’d rather use it at the golf course than the gym!

Thanks for reading.  I’m looking forward to beginning this journey and sharing our experiences!

 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

 

The box arrived this past Saturday while my wife and I were out for lunch.  Excited as I was to see it, I had to wait as we were running back out to Home Depot for some errands.  I put the box safely inside the house for   future enjoyment.

Upon arriving home, it was time to open the box.  It was securely packaged and clearly stated it was from SuperSpeed Golf.  Inside the shipping box was a nicely designed black box containing the training sticks, and a small box containing the PRGR monitor.  As I was opening the packages, my son awoke from his nap and assumed that mom had ordered him some more toys.  He immediately took over the unboxing duties.

Inside the long, black box were the three training sticks clearly labeled by color and weight - super light, light, and medium.  I thought the coloring looked pretty cool, and they had nice grips on them as well.  There was also a little one-pager that described the training regimen.

It took some distracting to get the boy away from the clubs, but some snacks and puzzles did the trick.  I opened the box containing the PRGR monitor, but noticed it needed AAA batteries.   I was fresh out, so testing it would need to wait until the next day when I could run to Ace or Target. 

Fast forward to Sunday, and with batteries in place I was able to turn on the monitor.  It’s a great little device and works well, with an option to track various clubs and even sports.  The display shows you your club speed, ball speed, smash factor, and carry.  You can change the carry to total if desired.  Taking some air swings in the backyard it tracked my swing speed in alignment with what I was expecting.  I will be heading out to the range with it to get my official baseline this weekend.

 

 

 

 

Final Review

As a 40-year-old golfer in decent shape, my swing has always been on the slow-end.  As I mentioned in my original intro, some of that is due to poor form, some to prior back and nerve injuries, but a lot of it is due to what seems to be internal governor keeping me from swinging freely and full power in effort to save my back.  No matter how hard I tried to work up a rhythm and increase speed, I would always hover around low 80s when actually hitting a ball.  I knew I needed to commit to some type of training system to re-teach my body and let go of the governor. 

Enter this testing opportunity.  I was thrilled to be given the opportunity to not only test a product, but hopefully gain something that I have been trying to fix for a while and possibly improve some mechanics and accuracy while at it.

When I recorded my baseline at the range after receiving the product, the PRGR confirmed that my swing was in the low 80s range – I topped out at 84 MPH.  However, after the first training session my post session swing (granted, an air swing), was at 95 MPH.  This told me from the start of the program that I had higher speeds in me, I just needed to train my body to let go.  And then eventually do the same thing when a ball is in front of me.

Physical Product (19 out of 20)

The product arrived in a long, thin box and was clearly labeled.  There was no questioning what was inside.  The contents included three clubs, a PRGR tracking system, and some basic instructional material.  I thought the clubs looked great.  Due to my swing speed, I was in the “Senior and Ladies” club category (more on the naming later), so that means I received the yellow “superlight”, green “light” and blue “medium” labeled clubs.  The colors were bright and a little flashy but not over the top, the grips were in good condition (although small), and the PRGR was easy to set-up and use.   My only gripe, albeit small, is the grip size.

Program (18 out of 20)

The program was easy to learn and follow.  I found the online instructional videos very helpful, and the spreadsheets that were provided made it fun to track progress.  We were also provided a warm-up regimen which I’ve found helpful whenever swinging a club, whether for speed training or actually going out and playing.

We began with Level 1, which were we to do 3 times a week for 5 weeks.  It consisted of two movements (normal swing and step-swing), doing three swings with each training club from your dominant-side and your non-dominant.  You then use your lightest club for 3 more dominant-side swings.  We began each session with 5 swings with our actual driver and ended it the same.  By the end of each training session, you are feeling a sweat!

After Level 1 is complete, you re-check your baseline.  Level 2 was fairly similar, only added an additional movement – the heel stomp.  Because of the added movement, and by now being late-July, I found Level 2 exhausting (in a good way).  Not only was I improving my speed, but I was ensuring a workout three times a week.

Overall the program was simple to learn and not a large time commitment.  They also provide easy to follow maintenance steps for after you finish Level 2.  My only issue with the program itself is the naming.  I think it should be labeled light, medium and fast, or something similar.  There are many seniors and ladies who swing fast enough to be in the other protocols, and there are slow, younger guys that can fall into the slower group.  Naming the training protocol based on age and gender could cause some folks to order the incorrect training set based off of the name and not their actual speed

Performance  (39 out of 40)

This was the first speed program I have tried so I don’t have much to compare it to, but I can say that in my case I saw immediate benefits.  The swing increases during the sessions were quick and obvious, and while the jumps weren’t quick as large with a live ball, the speed was still up.  The increase from my very first pre-session driver swing and last post-session driver swing was 25mph.  However, the more practical example would be the difference in my baseline swings hitting an actual ball at the range.  My first baseline was 84, and my final reached 101.  That’s an increase of 17 mph.  The 101 was an all-out max effort though and happened once, and the majority of my swings during that final baseline topped out at 94, which would be a 10 mph increase.

I found the program to be sustainable – you could continue the maintenance program, do it over, or do another program through SuperSpeed.  I do think you need to continue to mix in your range work throughout the session and possibly your swing coach to ensure you are keeping your mechanics strait while trying to max out your swings.

Keep it or Re-Gift (20 out of 20)

All said and done, I plan to keep this set and repeat the program.  I enjoyed doing the program, it’s easy to use & follow, and I found it beneficial.  I think any golfer looking to increase their swing speed could benefit from SuperSpeed, regardless of skill level. 

Conclusion

I began this journey looking to increase speed and play better.  The play better is yet to be determined, but I found that my speed did increase and increased quickly.  It did not take long to train my body to let go of the governor and let it rip.  But keep in mind this is not a magic “fix all” training trick.  It is something I know that will need continued work.  I’ve already found that when I am in a setting with a live ball, be it the range or a round, I can easily regress and hold back.  However, I am finding some  long, strait drives showing up more than they used to.  I feel the more I work with these clubs, the more comfortable I will become hitting my new swing speed potential on a consistent basis.

Final Score: 96 out of 100

 

Edited October 8, 2023 by SteveGH7

[BobBC78]

Bob Merrill from Warwick, RI here. The SuperSpeed test is my first test for MGS and I am really excited to have this opportunity.

By way of background, I started playing golf around 1989 when I was 33 and played one or two times per week (including a Monday evening 9-hole league) thru 2009, at which point life happened and I stopped playing. Upon retiring from a career in corporate banking in 2019, I took the game up again as I missed the challenge and comradery, not to mention needing the fresh air and exercise. I had an index of about 16 when I quit playing (don’t recall the decimal) and was approximately 30 when I started up again in the Spring of 2019. Currently, my index is 22.1.

I would consider myself a casual golfer who is serious about the game and who is trying to get better. I currently play 18 to 27 holes per week and try to practice at the range/practice green at least once. I track my stats using a Shot Scope X5 and develop my practice plan for the next 2-weeks based on what my Shot Scope statistics demonstrate were particular weaknesses.

Among other things, as a result of not playing for 10-years (not to mention being 10-years older) my swing speed fell considerably and is now 72-73 mph. My goal with overspeed training is both to increase this to at least 76-77 mph and to use as a way of maintaining my swing speed in this range, going forward. Thus far in 2023, my drives (Shot Scope PAve) is about 190 yards and I am hoping to increase this to 200 yards.  Generally, I am pretty accurate (48% FIR).

My overall goal is to get my index to approximately 15 and to break 80 and improving my driving is a key component of reaching this goal. Toward that aim, I have worked hard on improving the quality of my strike and now need to increase speed to get my driving where it needs to be.

 

Unboxing/First Impressions

My much-anticipated box from SuperSpeed arrived Saturday afternoon in the midst of a rainstorm, however UPS delivered it to our garage so the package remained dry. Upon opening it Sunday afternoon I found it protectively packaged with ample packing material in the shipping box. As you can see from the photos below, each weight was carefully bubble wrapped, grips sealed in plastic and each stick was in a poly bag. The PRGR was boxed separately from the Super Speed sticks.  

My next step will be to get to the range in order to determine my baseline speed with the PRGR. I plan to establish this baseline and all follow-ups via hitting balls, rather than via air swings, so as to come as close as possible to what I will experience on the course. 

When I post my baseline, I will also include Strokes Gained data from Shot Scope using a 15 capper for comparison pursposes. Looking forward to getting going on this process in the next few days!

 

Setting baseline - May 25, 2023

Set my baseline today at the range at my home course, North Kingstown Golf Course, using the following procedure:

1. Completed a Dynamic Warmup
2. Hit 10-12 wedge shots to warmup.
3. Hit 5 drivers trying to increase intensity with each swing, followed by a 2 minute rest.
4. Hit 3 drivers as fast as possible and recorded the results.

My three "cranked" swings had average clubhead speed and ball speed of 75 mph and 108 mph respectively (using the PRGR launch monitor which came with the Speed Sticks), which was somewhat higher than the Trackman results which I reported above.  This probably makes sense because for the past month or so I have been playing regularly.

As I work through the actual training and provide updates going forward, I plan to augment updated speed data with my PAve driving distance and Strokes Gained (or in my case lost) vs a 15-index golfer. Currently, these values are 191 yards and -2.65, respectively. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited on 9/2/23 to add my review.

 

Super Speed Golf – Overspeed Training System

Official MGS Forum Review by Robert Merrill – September 2, 2023 

Introduction

I completed Level 2 training on August 13 and did my first round of Maintenance training on August 29.  It is a great feeling to have completed the 10-weeks of Level-1 and Level -2 overspeed training which began in mid-May and a sense of accomplishment to see the results.

Being picked to be an MGS Forum Review tester was quite an honor, particularly as I am pretty new to the Forum!  As noted above, I am 67 years old and returned to the game when I retired in 2019 after a hiatus of about 10-years. As a result of not playing for such a long time period and getting older, not to mention having a desk job, my skills in general and distance in particular had significantly deteriorated from that when I had last played in 2009. My objective with doing this training to begin with was to increase my swing speed, and thus distance, in the near term and to set up a protocol to maintain these gains over time. As I will further elaborate below, this training has met these objectives.

Physical Product (20 of 20 points)

The physical product consists of three progressively weighted training clubs, in my case the set designed for slower swing speeds, color coded (lightest to heaviest) yellow, green and blue. Color coding the clubs in this manner is a great design feature as it made it quick and easy to identify which club was up next in training. The clubs are really well made and I anticipate that it will be a long time before they show significant wear and tear, other than having to replace the grips at some point.

Additionally, the PRGR launch monitor included with our training package is really easy to use and reliable. Using it has become part of my normal practice sessions on the range. Regarding its accuracy, there is abundant information available on the interweb of its consistent results with those of (much more expensive) Trackman and GC Quad launch monitors such that I have confidence in the accuracy of the club speed, ball speed and carry. I love the fact that it will measure clubhead speed without using a ball, unlike some other less expensive launch monitors that I have tried.

Program (18 of 20 points)

Clearly much thought and research has gone in to designing the program. In general, I found it easy to follow and execute. Having said that, I did have a couple of “hiccups” which included missing the change in dynamic warmup protocol for Level-2 and that I initially did all of the Dominant swings with each club before moving to the Non-Dominant swings with each club, rather than doing Dom/Non-Dom with light, medium and heavy in order. Additional detail in the “Protocol Visuals” would be helpful, but rewatching the video content on the training website cleared both up quickly.

Doing the Non-Dominant swings was a real challenge throughout the program. Notwithstanding this challenge, or perhaps because of it, I found the that Non-Dominant swings were really helpful and now include some in my pre-round warmup. It was easy to maintain momentum in doing this training because of the ongoing feedback from the data collection. Additionally, this training is a good aerobic workout as doing it got my heart rate up quite a bit. I found myself wishing that I had done it earlier in the year, however, because the humidity made it pretty uncomfortable on some days.

Finally, Tyler Standifird’s involvement and input by e-mail and on the Forum Review thread was VERY helpful!  

Performance (37 of 40 points)

In my case, Overspeed training clearly met its primary objective, as shown in the data points below:

Level 1, first session – Pre-Train, Post-Train and Final Dominant were 73,77 and 82 respectively

Level 2, final session – Pre-Train, Post-Train and Final Dominant were 84, 85 and 92 respectively.

These results represent a 9%-10% increase in my swing speed! Although my post-Level 2 PAvg driver distance only increased by 1-yard to 192, my Avg distance increased by 7-yards to 175, which is the same as my PAvg was for all of 2022! Finally, when I started Overspeed training in May, my SG (last 10 versus a 15 hdcp) Tee Shots was -2.65, whereas it is now -2.20 (and last 5 is -1.59) so solid improvement all around.

My main challenge while doing this training is that I played worse for a period of time, particularly during the early stages of Level-2 phase which I started on July 5. As I got into Level 2, my accuracy took a nose-dive as I began regularly hook tee shots, landing in the left rough, frequently resulting in having to punch the ball out to get it back into play or at worst resulting in OB or lost ball penalties. Furthermore, the time commitment for this training took away from time spent practicing short game, putting and strike quality which didn’t help either. As an additional, but definitely “High Class” problem, I began to hit all of my clubs farther resulting in flying a few greens and hitting more shots through the fairway.

As my recent results noted above show, however, I am now settling in to my new normal and recalibrating my swing sequencing to a higher speed. When practicing on the range with the PRGR, I am seeing swing speeds of 78-80 mph and hitting more draws again with only the occasional pull hook.

I bring this up not so much as a criticism, but so that those who begin this training do so with knowledge that they could play worse for a period of time during the training before seeing the additional distance result in lower scores.

Keep it or re-gift? (20 of 20 points)

The SuperSpeed training clubs and PRGR package are definitely a keeper! As I noted earlier, I plan to continue in “Maintenance” on an ongoing basis in order to maintain the gains that I have seen, or at least slow down the deterioration, LOL!

Statistics make it clear that distance (i.e. get the ball as close to the green as you can in as few as possible shots) is a major part of lower scores. Subject to my caveat noted above, I think this training would benefit most golfers.

Conclusion

The bottom line for me is the Overspeed training via SuperSpeed equipment does what the Company says it will; if you stick with the protocol, you will swing the club significantly faster by the end of your training cycle. The overall program (physical product, protocols, support, etc.) is well designed and works well to get to its stated objective….swinging the club faster.

Final Score = 95/100

Edited September 2, 2023 by BobBC78
increase font size; 5/28 edit to correct SG Tee shots

[fozcycle]

In 1959, the City of Frankfort, Kentucky opened a new park called Juniper Hills,  located just west of the city.  Juniper Hills included a Par 72, 18 Hole rolling terrain golf course and an Olympic size swimming pool.  My Grandfather and his buddies joined the club and began playing every week.  I was only 8 yrs old, but my Grandfather decided I was old enough to be his caddy.  So I began my golfing career pulling a Bagboy pull-cart filled with Powerbilt golf clubs up and down the rolling terrain of Juniper Hills.  As a caddy, I learned the rules of golf and how the game was played.  My first set of clubs were a hodgepodge set of old hickory shafted clubs, leftovers from my Grandfather’s old clubs.  Ones that he took to Africa when he was building a sawmill to harvest mahogany wood for office furniture in 1948-49.  He was a Civil Engineer.  They carved out some land in the jungles of the Gold Coast(now Ghana) for a 9 hole course and played it for their recreation. Sadly, today I only have the putter left, so it hangs on the wall above my desk at home.  I progressed from the hickory sticks to used Powerbilts that were my Grandfather’s.  At age 10, I got my first set of cleats(steel spikes of course).  I felt like I was king of the world when I walked around the clubhouse area going clickety-clack, clickety-clack.  I spent my summers at Juniper Hills, just a mile from my home, caddying in the mornings then either hawking lost balls, putting for pennies or playing in the hot Summer afternoons.  I witnessed a Hole in one at age 13 when one of my friends aced the 140 yard Par 3 #6.  For my High School Graduation, my Grandfather gave me a new set of Powerbilt irons. I got my Ace in August, 1985 at Pine Ridge Country Club in Winnfield, LA.  When I moved to Florida in 1987, I was a 10 Handicap, gaming Nicklaus Muirfield irons.  Unfortunately, I was either working, or playing with my 4yr old daughter so I did not get much time to retain my handicap and watched it slip to an 18.  Fast forward through the years to now, I have been playing with a 6” steel plate, 13 screws & an inch of my left hip bone in my left wrist (ice skating accident in 1998).  The inch of my left hip was to make both arms the same length again.  Because of the injury, my handicap ballooned to the mid 20’s for several years, so I moved to graphite irons to reduce as much vibration as possible.  I was able to get my handicap back down to 13 for a few months in 2011, but that did not last.  For the past several years, I have been an 18.  My course handicap is a 9 as we play from the Senior tees (5,033 yards).  I also have two Ligaments damaged in my Left Ankle(too many ankle sprains).  The Dr’s offered surgery but I declined because I was not ready to stay off of it for 4 to 6 months and the surgery was not a given success.  I am an Accountant(Ky State Univ. 1977) that retired in Jan 2017 after 40 years mostly in healthcare and played 4 days a week wearing an ankle brace.  I got tired of the brace and decided to play without it.  I know when it is weak, I can slap on the brace.  My drives usually range from 185 to 205, with an occasional 220 and my 6i is my 150 yard club.  I am now 72 years old and play golf 3 times every week.  I retired from running the Saturday Game, that routinely had 44 - 50 players.  I joined a different club, Heritage Isles, and play Mon/Wed/Fri with a dozen guys aging from 65 to 83.  

 

• I have previously reviewed Cobra Bio Cell, Cobra F6 irons and Cobra F8 Full Bag Challenge for My Golf Spy.  All were excellent sticks for a mid to high Handicaper.  I also reviewed the Evnroll ER6 putter and Tour Edge CBX119 4 hybrid as well as golf balls by Bridgestone and Maxfli. 

 

• My Bag is as follows:  Vice Cart Bag, Driver: PXG 12* 0811 XF driver with PX Evenflo Riptide Senior shaft; Fairway Woods: PXG 0211 5 and 7 wood with PX Evenflo Riptide regular shafts & Tour Edge E523 9 Wood with Fubuki HD regular shaft. Irons: Titleist T300 5-9 + PW(43*) & GW(48*) with Fubuki MV Senior shafts. Wedges: Edison 53 & 57 with KBS PGI 80 gram graphite shafts. Note: the wedges are 45/50/55. Putter is Nike Method Core Drone 33” and Evnroll ER2 33” both with Evnroll Gravity Grips.

 

• I use the Shot Scope X5 watch for recording my rounds and a MG Golf rangefinder to get an accurate distance to the pin.

 

• My current ball is the Maxfli Tour CG. I also game the Titleist Tru Feel in cooler months.

[MsWalkrOfSky]

Introduction

Hiya everyone! A quick TLDR is at the bottom of this section. My name is Lucy, I’m 31 years old from Terre Haute, Indiana. I’m a business systems analyst for my day job, and I’m ecstatic to have been selected to test a product with data driven results like the SuperSpeed Training System. As for what I do besides golf, I’m a competitively oriented gamer, pc builder, DnD loving all around nerd. I’m also working on designing a custom campaign for the Stargate SG-1 RPG system at the moment.

My Golf Background

I played golf for most of my childhood with my grandpa; I went to a camp with some instruction when I was small, but obviously that degraded, and I ended up with a pretty rough swing. As I got older, I got priced out of golf for years. It wasn’t a huge priority to me, as golf was the fun sport I played with family, not one of my “main” sports. I was relatively athletic all the way up until college, playing sports year around like soccer, diving, tumbling, pole vaulting, etc. However, I hit my college years and became quite inactive and… Ya. I still ate like I played soccer 5 times a week. In 2021, I looked into golf again, dragging my partner Robyn with me by pointing out we’d walk like 6 miles (at first, she was heavily skeptical about even the possibility she’d like golf, she showed me this when it came out saying hey, it’s me the first time we went golfing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auQ3iIj75QU), though we played fairly sparingly that year. In 2022 we played consistently 1-3x/week throughout the season and started taking lessons halfway through the year. 

My Fitness Journey

Starting about 2019, I began a concerted effort to get my weight down. As of today, I’m 5’9” and weigh 162lbs, with a total weight loss of 77lbs from when I started tracking. 

As far as my current fitness level, my cardio could be better, but I hate cardio and haven’t really done much. I started lifting again about 9 weeks ago 3 times a week with a personal trainer for 8 of those weeks to get me started in a way that didn’t damage my body. I started the 5/3/1 for beginners program last week and it has been brutal but satisfying. I may be going down to a program oriented towards twice a week during this review. I’m fairly flexible, and do yoga off and on when free classes come up. It’s satisfying, as a year ago, I struggled with a lot of the flows and now I can crank out almost all of the ones that come up in class (crow pose is unfair, and I still did it for like 5 seconds, don’t @ me).

Why I golf

I absolutely love getting out onto the course and being outside again. I didn’t really do anything outside for a long time before I got back into golf. The fact that golf also ticks my competitive side, making me want to constantly strive to improve, to develop, to learn more, to do more… Enjoying the outdoors, working and developing an impossible to perfect skill set, while spending quality time with my favorite person in the world? All while knowing I can do it for the rest of my life? How could I not love golf?

My Current Golf Game

I’m still mainly walking, and I’ve switched from 5,800 to 6,300 yard tees to 5,000 to 5,500 yard tees when a rating is available on them, throwing my long driving ego to the side in favor of having way more fun! My handicap is from 18Birdies, and is a mix of men’s and women’s tees, as I sometimes play on tees that aren’t rated for women at all. 

I’ve dropped my HDCP from 30 at the very end of last year (got to 30 thanks to a vacation round where I played lights out, breaking 100 for the first time, on a course that definitely should have eaten me for breakfast) to 25.9 now. My favorite executive course isn’t rated (soon they say, soon), so a lot of my rounds don’t contribute to HDCP at the moment. My trend in score at the moment is between 95 to 115, with my best round being a 92 on a wide open course that I can’t lose my ball on unless it’s a dramatically bad hit…… I definitely lost two balls the time I went there before the 92. In 9 holes. Bleh.

Club Specifics

When my normal driver swing is as correct as I can manage at the moment, my swing speed is around 95. When I try to let it rip and let my form degrade (I swing way too much with my arms and too fast in my backswing), my swing speed is 105. These are my measurements taken this past weekend at a local golf store before receiving the SuperSpeed equipment.

My best part of the game is either my chipping or my driving, depending on the day. Some days, my iron game is on point, and others I dread pulling out any iron. My putting is absolutely abysmal; on average over the course of 6 rounds, I putt at a -5 strokes gained compared to 25 HDCP, with a recent 9 hole being at -8. Putting is definitely where I need to put in some hours; I really struggle to do putting practice, as I find it incredibly under-stimulating and boring. 

Distance wise, I hit my pitching wedge for 100 yards, 6 iron for 150 yards, and my 9 wood for 190-200 yards. If you want more details, see my unofficial ongoing review of the ShotScope X5 here:  

I believe my distances may quickly and dramatically change in the near future, as my first lesson of the year fixed my grip (again, but now getting it out of the fingers instead of into them at all, oh boy!). I’ve played one 9 hole since the lesson and had one range day, and managed to finally get swinging with the left arm in to out to click; I now am hitting constant snap hooks with my driver, as my coach has wanted me to do since he started working with me. Unsurprisingly, with the swing and grip changes made, my 9 hole was a bit of a disaster, so we’ll see how it changes going forward (the lesson tomorrow cannot come soon enough).

 

 SuperSpeed Training Program Goals

My main goal with the SuperSpeed Training Program is to increase my swing speed while increasing my driving accuracy. While I’ve always technically been able to torque out a fast club head speed, doing that and hitting the ball well has always been beyond me. I’m hoping that increasing my swing speed will help my control with my longer irons. I also hope that this acts well as assistance exercises for 5/3/1 and helps to build up my general strength, especially my core. I would love for my endurance to increase so that playing back to back days isn’t as rough. I’m looking forward to testing, gathering my data, and seeing the progression over time! 

If there’s anything specific that someone wants checked out, throw me an @ and I’ll make sure to cover it. Or if you just want to shoot the breeze in the comments with me about games, computers, or DnD, maybe hit me up in a side thread Or this one, go wild, the mods will reign us in if need be

TLDR Introduction:

I currently workout, swing speed around 100 with drives around 240, getting better at golf, handicap 26 and falling, my goal with SuperSpeed is to increase accuracy while increasing swing speed, and have been playing regularly for about two and a half years.

 

Initial Impressions and Driver Swing Speed Averages

My equipment actually arrived a few weeks ago. Sadly, I hurt my knee the day after I unboxed and took pictures, so I took a break before getting “official” starting numbers. I did take the PRGR out the day it arrived to get some initial impressions and some not very official testing data (I didn’t do a consistent warm up or anything that could be replicated easily). On that day, I averaged about 103, with a max out of 108. I only bring this up because my break led to some pleasant surprises I’ll get into in a bit.

The initial branding for the box is solid. I appreciate that they at least don’t gender the box and swing-sticks like they do the options on the website. Side-note: why would you even gender the options on the website? The fact that taking the quiz has an option for gender at the start, then recommends I get the “men’s set” is bonkers to me; if it’s about swing speed and club/shaft used, make it about swing speed and club used, gendered branding is just more weird golf gatekeeping that isn’t necessary and can cause confusion.

The clubs themselves have a nice weight to them. The grips feel tacky enough, but have some weird discoloration leftover from what I assume is the plastic that will likely go away with use. The shafts look awesome, and the weights themselves having the logo is a nice touch.

The PRGR feels well constructed. It occasionally has read errors if you really mishit the ball, but not often enough to be an issue. It’s my first launch monitor and using it is actually really fun, even at the range where I can see the ball flight anyway. Having solid numbers right in front of me really helps with feeling when I do something different.

Initial Numbers

I clocked way faster than I did before I hurt my knee! With a max of 112 that actually happened more than once, and an average of 109.2, I gained about 6 MPH over where I was a few weeks ago. The first thing I asked myself was how did I do this? I hadn’t worked out, had barely played golf for the last 3 weeks (yes, this was close to torture). My answer was torn between my swing and having time to recover. I’d changed it slightly in both initial setup and theory over the time I wasn’t really playing and trying to heal. I narrowed my stance a bit in order to allow for an easier rotation. My coach is having me work hard on going in to out, as I go back and then come over the top, so it’s all still in progress, but right now, I’m hitting harder than I ever have before!

My planned workout schedule starts today, 6/20. I’m going to be following the schedule of Tuesday, Friday, Sunday. I’m going to try to hit the range consistently on Tuesdays so that I can get my pre and post training speeds while hitting range balls. I'm looking forward to seeing how much I can gain!

 

Conclusion/Post-Mortem

Introduction:

This fairly lengthy review process has had a lot of ups and downs for me. I fought through injury and pain. I had long gaps in training. I struggled with consistency. With all that being said, I’ve had massive gains from this program. I’ve gone from seeing a max swing speed of 106 to seeing 126 pop up once on the monitor. Even if you are a person who struggles with consistency, who struggles with injury, or struggles with time, I believe this program can provide gains for you based on my experience. Let’s dive into the details. 

Physical Product: 15/20

The product itself delivered exactly what was promised. I felt that the sticks themselves were super solid. The grips were at best okay; I took off 3 points for the appearance of the grips and feel of them. I had to wear two gloves while doing the testing due to both the grip and the rigorousness of the testing. I eventually re-gripped them to have bigger grips, as the program was causing my arthritis to flare up. 

Aesthetically, the product looked nice in the bag and in the hand. I never questioned the durability of it the entire time I used it. I hit the ground slightly on multiple swings and never noticed any damage or issues with it. Re-gripping worked just like with every other club I’ve done. I don’t think durability is any more of an issue with this than any other club in the bag, and I expect it to keep working just fine for many years to come.

The box it was delivered in was well presented. I felt like I was receiving a high quality product. It didn’t go way over the top in this area either, which I felt would have been out of place for the goals of the product. It didn’t come with any real way to store it besides in the box they came in, but considering I’ll generally need at least my driver with me as well, I don’t consider this a flaw in any way. I will throw out that the only way I’d improve it is by including some cheap leather or cloth headcovers to help reduce sound in the bag and prevent damage to longer clubs; I generally just kept them spread around the bag away from my driver.

I am docking the last two points for the recommended PRGR launch monitor. While it was really neat to get to use a launch monitor consistently in my practice, I heavily struggled at times to get consistent readings out of it. If it were not for the review, I would have just let the obviously bad data go. Instead, I would redo the swing and hope to get a better read. I once had to hit 15 balls with driver to start with to get 5 good reads; I found this incredibly frustrating at times, and I still don’t believe the data fully for some of my best swings. I saw a 126 that seemed reasonable at the time, but I still worry that it might have been a misread, as I haven’t come close to that mythical number since that day.

 

Program: 13/20

The program was… interesting to me. I really liked the concept of swinging right and left handed, and I think that the program got that exactly right. I don’t like feeling unbalanced in my workouts, and I think that if I hadn’t done the opposite-handed swings it would have felt strange. I think that including the opposite-handed swings was a real benefit in a lot of ways, from developing an understanding of how to build a swing for someone that is an instinctive person, to balancing out the workout. I actually hit a few left handed clubs for fun and could make real contact and get surprising amounts of distance. I still need to work up to the driver though if I ever want to try a round that way, I could barely make contact with my wild speed swing.

Instruction wise, I want to say that they felt like they were clear, and I felt like I really understood them. However, I was doing step swings incorrectly for the first 3 or 4 weeks! I docked 2 points for that because I felt like I tried to understand how I was supposed to be doing the swings, I read their materials, watched the videos, and I still managed to mess that up. I’ll also say, once I switched to the correct way to do it, I genuinely felt like the way I was doing it before made more sense for what I thought it was trying to accomplish; weight transfer forward in the swing.  

The other 5 points I docked are mainly because the program is difficult to keep up with. When you swing as hard as you can that many times, if you’re at all injury prone (yes, I mean me), you’re likely to cause damage. The instructions specify to swing as fast as possible; even with proper warmup and stretching, this kind of high intensity training can cause damage when you don’t work up to it at all (warming up is not really working up to it). I at different points hurt my hands, my wrist, my ankle, and reinjured my knee. My knee basically hurt the entire time I was doing the program off and on; now that the program is over, I’m hoping it will eventually heal all the way in time for next season.

I also feel that self-motivation is difficult in this program. I have ADHD, so some of this is definitely on me. Keeping to the program when you have cool golf plans is incredibly difficult, as you know doing the program the night before playing is going to make you sore and tired for golf the next day. I tried on occasion to do the program after my cool plans; I didn’t feel this was very effective, as I was already tired from my round. I think a big factor for making this plan easier if you want to do it is to ensure you have a place to put up a hitting area and net somewhere at your house; I had a place that kind of worked to do it at home but it was uncomfortably tight and I tried to go elsewhere 90% of the time, which meant that the time it took to accomplish the workout went up.

I’d like to see a two-week (or other shorter than 5 week) introductory period, where the goal isn’t to swing all out; instead, the goal would be to swing at 80 to 90 percent and try to consistently get the same speed every swing. This would allow time for the player to get used to swinging left handed, and ensure that the body is better prepared for the more rigorous training to come. I can see this being unnecessary if you already are hitting a lot of balls and playing a ton of golf, however when you are hitting a bucket of balls or two a week and playing once or twice a week and then add this program to it, you’re probably doubling or tripling the amount of high intensity driver swings you do in a week.  

Performance: 40/40

Let’s dive straight into the numbers and graphs first!

I had an average of 20% increase between the first week first session number and the last week last session numbers. 

As far as pre and post training driver speeds, I had a lot of variability in an upward trend for the first session. The second session felt very consistent, like I was always around the expected speeds for me, but I never really unlocked more distance during it.

Now a swing comparison. Here is one of my swings from May back when I was just starting the program.

 

 

 

Here is one from July:

 

 

And here is one from late September at the end of the program:

 

 

I’ve had real benefits and gains from this program. I don't think anyone could argue that I haven’t. However, the thing that really gave me the most gains wasn’t a massive increase in muscle strength so much as muscle endurance; for me, there’s a decent chance that the amount of injuries I had prevented this from happening, as it meant that my “10-week program” was instead about 20 to 24 weeks. I think I might have had more muscle gain if I hadn’t had to take so many breaks.

Focusing entirely on swinging a stick and not hitting a ball allowed a massive amount of experimenting! I think I gained more distance from the knowledge I gained swinging than I did from muscle build up. I did not have a mechanically great swing; I still don’t have one that is that good. However, I now have a significantly better understanding of how to add speed to my swing. I learned how to apply a whipping motion. I learned how to properly extend my backswing. By the end I was trying to practice accelerating through the downswing and was starting to get some good results from that before my latest injury. 

I was getting consistent lessons once a week the entire summer from a golf pro friend. I think having him on hand and being able to pick his brain on if what I was doing was correct or incorrect helped a lot, and I’d encourage anyone doing this program to get at least a lesson or two during it to check your swing habits and make sure you’re not building bad ones in your training. 

For anyone that has a higher handicap, I genuinely think that the majority of your gains from a 10-week program will come from knowledge gained. Small changes made over time from swinging a stick instead of hitting a ball, followed by instant feedback that those small changes do increase speed, over 10 weeks, all of that adds up to a lot of knowledge on how to move your body by the end. Without a coach, you still may be adding incorrect things, but your speed will definitely go up if you experiment and try new things. There’s also a lot of consistency in doing the program three times a week that is normally missing from someone with a high handicap.

Previously, my “gamer” drive was about 220 to 240. I could hit 250 or 260 if I went after it and caught a good one, but those were rare and notable, with a high risk of a slice or a hook. Now, my gamer drive is in the 250 to 270 range, with the ability to push to 280 to 300 with my rare and notable drives. I still have off days where my speed is down, but I’ve had a significant increase in my distance overall. I still slice or hook a decent amount, meaning that taking out the driver on a narrow course is a risk at times, but I also now have a safer drive option; slowing down to my previous swing speeds of around 100 to 105 adds a significant amount of control and reduces the amount of left or right spin I apply.

Before I did this program, I did some basic workouts for about 8 weeks. I used those 8 weeks to get my body used to working out again and slowly ramped up the weight. I then started 5/3/1, and promptly tweaked my knee doing squats after two weeks. That knee injury plagued me the entire program and still bothers me a bit today. I feel that for building up swing speed, this program is more effective than any weightlifting program if you’re a higher handicap. I can’t comment really on how much it will help for lower handicaps, as that just isn’t my experience with it, and I genuinely think that the results high handicappers get out of this program is significantly different. My partner continued her 5/3/1 the whole summer, also had the lessons all summer, and she didn’t really make major increases in distance for her drive, so with my two data points (please excuse the horrible science), I genuinely think that just doing this program can give you more improvement than just weightlifting.

I have gained a ton golf wise this season. I’ve shot my lowest score ever, going from a 92 at my local course to an 80. My handicap has dropped from 26 to 22. I’ve learned to compress the ball with my irons this season. And on days my drives are good, I’m now hitting 250 to 270 reliably enough that if clearing water took 235 in the air, I’d go for it every time. I feel I’ve grown a ton as a golfer this year, and the swing speed program was a major part of that journey.

 

Keep it or Re-Gift? 15/20

For myself, if I had the option to go back, I don’t believe I would have done the program the way I did. Honestly, writing a review for the program pushed me to continue at times when I really should have instead let myself heal; I’m hoping my knee will recover over the winter, but there’s a chance the injury will follow me the rest of my life. If I were to do this program again, I’d only do it if entirely healthy, and if doing the program caused any pain in joints or other areas, I’d stop it and probably not resume it. I have a bad history of playing through injuries from my days playing soccer, and frankly, this is very much a “me” problem. 

Even with the hesitancy to do it again, I don’t believe I could give up the knowledge I gained from the program; how to move my body, how to loosen my grip and feel the club whip past my arms, how to add just that bit more of twist to my backswing. It was incredibly valuable, and I’m grateful I had the opportunity to do this. I likely never would have thought to buy such a program, as my drive distance was already very good. 

That being said, I am taking off 5 points for this section because I would likely not do the program as specifically instructed again if I could go back and do it over. I don’t think I’ll continue the program as it is currently designed next spring. It’s not long term sustainable for me. I feel if I continue it, I’ll make my injuries worse over time, or add new ones. I fought through knee injuries from other things, and my training added hand injuries to go along with it. I had days where I could barely open my hand, leading to pauses while I recovered. I got a lot from this program, and I think that I’ll likely try to create my own model or program using the training tools. Three times a week is just too much for me on top of playing golf and other responsibilities in season, so during the season I’ll likely scale back to their recommended maintenance. I would not recommend anyone start this program during the peak of your golf season; I genuinely think it would be a fantastic offseason tool and I’m going to treat it as such.

If you’re wondering if you should buy this program, I think that if you answer yes to any of the following, it would be beneficial to you:

Are you a high handicapper? – yes, just generally a high handicapper, I believe every high handicapper will significantly benefit from this program from knowledge gained alone.

Are you someone with what you feel is a low drive distance?

Are you someone who wants to improve their drive mechanics?

Are you looking for a workout routine that will get your blood pumping, heart rate up, and can improve your golf?

 

Conclusion 83/100

I started this journey with a swing speed of around 100, and if I strained with all my might, I could hit 106. I ended with an average swing speed of around 115, with some swings spiking close to or above 120 on my best days. This program definitely can increase your drive distance, and the equipment that is provided for it is a good fit for the job. I would warn people to be wary of continuing this program through minor injury, as the all-in full-power nature of the training can exacerbate injuries. I’d recommend the program to just about anyone that asked me about it as an off-season training tool, but would be hesitant to recommend it during the season. If you’re lucky enough to have a year around season, just know that it is exhausting, difficult, and you’ll need to plan around your sessions for your golf but that it is incredibly rewarding for your efforts.

 

Edited November 14, 2023 by MsWalkrOfSky
Final Review!

[Berg Ryman]

SUPERSPEED GOLF: The 2023 ... and Beyond Test

Phase 1: The Introduction

"If everything seems under control, you aren't fast enough." - Mario Andretti

I admire Mr. Andretti if I'm honest. To be able to move through life, tempting danger at every turn and to do it on such an impossibly high level must be a thrill many of us will never experience in our lifetimes. To move outside of our comfort zones and stare the unknown and terrifying in the face and say... bring it on.

Hello, I'm Berg Ryman, or Ryan if we aren't using code names. Unlike quite a few in this thread this is not my first rodeo in testing for the forum. I've been fortunate enough to test drivers, putters, irons, and even a driver demo program. I've taken every test seriously and fairly and this is arguably the biggest and most important test I've personally embarked on for this forum. We aren't just testing a new piece of equipment to see how it fits into our current game and swing, we're testing the ability to change something so fundamental to us, to retrain our brain and swing to go faster. A fearful change, but one that must be undertaken with proper care.

Part of that care is realizing what you are, and what you can become. In that picture to your left I am 17 years old, I am an overswinging bomber of a high school player, averaging 270 off the tee but finding very few fairways. I have a swing speed measured in the mid 100's. As I've aged I have slowed down, as you do, but have added accuracy and consistency to the swing. Averaging now a smooth 230 at cruising speeds in the low to mid 90's. I used to be fast, I know I can be fast, I just need to remember how to be fast and that's very possible with the assistance of Superspeed.

The other half of this equation is changing how you function. You can ask anyone who was on the Maryland trip last year, I'm not much in the way of a range rat, I don't properly warm up in the way I should and as such my game suffers a bit I'm sure. As far as fitness, I still feel like I'm the kid who was defined on a local golf forum as "the morbidly obese kid with the yellow driver." That's a true line from someone who later went to play D-1 at Penn State, and I had a Bang Mellow Yellow in the day, so I was the only person who they could have been referencing. I've always been stuck in that mindset and have battled my weight for years. I ballooned up to 419 lbs during law school, have dropped over 100 pounds to settle where I now in the 305-325 range depending on the time of year. My fitness program is minimal if non-existent. I play pickleball, I go to the Y to water walk and do some light cardio, and I carry my bag when I walk. I try my best for myself, but we're going to see what happens here.

So, starting from basically square 1 on the fitness side and square maybe 1.5 on the golf swing side, what's the expectation here? I'm not expecting astronomical gains here. Hopefully I'd like to top out around 105 again. I think we'll see how realistic that is once we get an actual measurement on the PRGR as to where we're starting. I do want to learn effective warmup and do something golf fitness related to help me and try to fight off father time even though I'm on the younger side. I'm also hoping to make this entertaining and informative for all of you. This is a little different that most reviews and I hope you'll be there with us every step of the way. The nine of us are going to give you our best, after all it's what you all deserve.

 

Phase 2: The Arrival

Oh doesn't everyone just love when they get a notification that new stuff is awaiting at your doorstep? We all know the feeling, watching every notification, seeing things come closer and closer and then boom, the UPS box shows up and we're reverted back to being that kid on Christmas Day, unboxing the newest gift to add to the collection. You know though when it isn't as fun as possible? When you're in another state knowing you won't get to crack into that box until you return from vacation. So after a much needed vacation with the wife at the Von Trapp Lodge in beautiful Stowe, VT full of great food, better views, and long drives of the car type, we returned home to see the box from UPS brought in by my folks for me to rip open. I'll save you the boring part of me fanagling with tape and a black box and get to the beauty shots of the good stuff.

First, the inbox and out of box of the PRGR

So first thoughts on the PRGR, it's small! Like shockingly small for what I was expecting. It requires 4 AAA batteries to run, which I will pick up this evening to do a baseline of swing speed before our Zoom call with Kyle and the Superspeed team next week. Also, if you don't think I'm testing the soccer and baseball abilities of this for fun, you obviously haven't read one of my reviews. I love how compact it is, how easy it is to use, and the nice QR code-related card Superspeed stuck in there to assist us with set up and getting things going. In all, a really cool little monitor and a reminder that for all the GC3s or Trackman devices, you can get by with something no larger than an old flip phone... that's wild to consider.

Now, onto the bigger box, the training sticks themselves.

 

Again, from a branding perspective, I love these boxes. It's simple, it tells you exactly what you're getting into and it gets the three-color system right out there as the base of the Superspeed system. Again, I'll always appreciate the personal touch of a card thanking you for going on the adventure with them, and on the back is again a QR code to scan to help you get set up with the plan. The box is sturdy, well sectioned as you've seen before in @tommyb1683's pictures of the inside, and will be good for storage or reshipment if necessary.

Alright, time for the money shots, the sticks themselves

 

First off, let's talk about the build quality, the grips are fantastic and tacky, leaving me assured that they will withstand whatever force is put on them by my mediocre swing. The shafts are a beautiful shade of black that allows the colors for each club to pop so you won't possibly make any mistake as to what club you're swinging. The heads are well made and the paint fill is solid. On first blush, just feeling out the shafts and giving them a wave, they behave as a golf shaft does, so I'm not expecting anything weird to flair up in my swing over time, but it is going to be worth monitoring. 

Now, onto the most intriguing thing here, I do not have "La Baton Rouge" in my Superspeed set. That's right, the 3rd youngest person in this test has been sent a senior set of sticks from the folks at Superspeed. I'll admit, I was a bit taken aback when I saw the sticker on the box side saying senior and then opening up the box and seeing the yellow ultra light stick. Now, some of you might think it has something to do with my swingspeed, but actually it does not. Sure, if you head on over to the Superspeed website you'll see a bulleted point that says, "Choose the MEN'S set If you use a X, S, or R flex driver and/or swing over 90 mph." Now, this fits me to a tee, I use a stiff flex driver and swing over 90 mph, so what gives!?!?!

Well, there's also a link to click to take a quiz to determine your best set, which I did as well, and here's where I found out why I got the senior set. First, you select a golfer category: men's, women's, junior (under 14), or senior (55+). Then you select whether you swing at over 90 MPH, below 90 MPH, or you don't know. But the third step is where I get moved into the senior category. The next step is to identify your driver, and the different spots there are men's length with a shaft 60 grams or more, or an ultralight driver, meaning less than 60 grams. As my current shaft is a 50 gram shaft (57.5 grams raw weight), to best fit the protocols and the weight difference, I move into senior at this point.

So, that's where we sit at this particular moment. I do plan on doing a slight warmup and seeing where my speed sits over the next 48 hours before we get started. I've also watched the videos showcasing both the dynamic warmup of stretches and exercises to do before a speed training session and in my infinite wisdom, I'm going to have my wife videotape my first session of this every week, so we can see how my flexibility has improved from start to week 10. Get ready for a lot of pale wiggling and jiggling everyone... it's going to be a fun summer.

 

Phase 3: The “Final” Review, September 22 by Berg Ryman.

“Speed has never killed anyone. Suddenly becoming stationary… that’s what gets you.” - Jeremy Clarkson

So, admittedly I was a Top Gear fan, BBC style, until the boys took off with Amazon. What’s also true that ol’ Clarkson can be, as the Brits say, a bit of a knob. However, this quote remains something that entered my mind during this testing. I’ve been tasked with reviewing in total a ten week program with SuperSpeed Golf, one that started with me at the very end of May, and given thought to this review and thoughts about the product technically concludes with this post.

Also, before we start with the actual review, I’d draw attention to the use of quotation marks around the word final up there. Obviously, this is a choice, and maybe a spolier. As with the previous SuperSpeed thread, my aim here is to continue to update you as we work through phase two and longer with the program. I began my maintenance work last week and will continue to do it through the winter in New York before embarking on Phase 2 if we decide to in Spring 2024. It likely will come with monthly or bimonthly posts in the thread to answer more questions and show the impact continued maintenance is having on my gains from this testing.

But alright, all that preamble to get to what you’re really here for, the actual review and my thoughts from the program.

 

The Physical Product: 20 out of 20

Look, when you focus on one product as your main product it gives you time to design and develop something that is quintessentially yours and yours alone. Superspeed has done that here with their speed sticks for overspeed training.

First, you know what it is from the outset when you see it, and you know why it is you’re hopefully buying it. It’s just the right amount of professionalism for the product without the potential fear or stigma that can come with other equipment brands in the golf space, or I guess here more appropriately, the exercise space. It’s non-threatening in that way, almost inviting you to learn about how to swing fast.

The grips are great, although I do believe that as time goes on I mill remove them and replace mine with my grip of choice, the Lamkin Sonar Tour Wrap built +3, but likely not with the calibrate for the spine, but if you love that Tour Velvet style of grip, you know what you’re getting into. It’s also nice that the color codes make sense and are easily distinguishable so that way you won’t get confused.

For the actual sticks themselves, they are properly balanced and feel like swinging a graphite shafted golf club, reacting in a similar way meaning so that it doesn’t feel like you’re swinging rebar or something not golf related. They can also take a beating if you do happen to hit them off a gravel driveway for instance… sorry yellow stick. 

 

The Program: 17 out of 20

Alright, let’s get into the actual meat of SuperSpeed, the program. It is laid out as a 3 phase, 5 level program, beginning with the 10 week phase 1, which we have completed here and contain both level 1 (the first 5 weeks) and level 2 (the second 5 weeks). The first 5 weeks is a 39 swing program with the sticks and between 6-10 with your own driver for 3 sessions a week. The second 5 weeks is again, a thrice weekly swing program with 57 swings of the sticks and 6-10 with your driver each session.

Simply put, it’s a lot of swings during the week, regardless if you’re in shape, out of shape, playing once a week or every day. So, that’s something to be considered in taking on the decision to engage in the program. Now, I haven’t played much golf this year, but took this on as really my focus this year in my golf, meaning the feel of swinging isn’t all lost from not playing but once a week compared to the multiple times the last few years. It’s also important to take advantage of your rest days. I know the program says to take at least one day, but I was really happy to have those 2 days break after the end of the training set at the weekend.

But we need to talk about something, and something I think is true of all exercise programs, golf or otherwise, and that’s the time commitment and need to commit to routine. Admittedly, that’s something that for me has never been a strong suit. I work long hours as an attorney, get home around dinner, and then to exercise after a long draining day mentally and emotionally is tough for me personally. For the first bit of the program, it wasn’t an issue. I was actually having fun with my routine. I was doing training in parking lots, my driveway, after rounds, at driving ranges with ice cream as a reward, etc. 

However, as I’ve admitted, I’ve ebbed and flowed throughout the training mentally and physically, and the injury/illness made getting back on the horse after that routine was gone difficult. Also, the time required may seem short when you think about the number of swings, but factor into it the stretching and warmup, getting everything set up, potential missed swings due to poor radar placement, etc, and it can be hard to cut out the necessary time. I understand that this will not be the same for every person and should solely be attributed to my issues, but it may be something to consider if you find yourself going through a similar situation.

So, I guess what I’m saying is that for people of that ilk, maybe there could be something developed called “SuperSpeed Express”. Perhaps taking a shorter version of the protocol, maybe with only two sticks instead of three, less swings but similar fashion of exercises, and a lesser promise of a speed gain. Also, while I do enjoy that everything can be found on SuperSpeed’s free website for all the programs, having something more mobile friendly like app integration or a solo app would be helpful again for the professional on a time crunch.

Lastly, this is something I think is important to note in who I think the SuperSpeed program may benefit the most. The design of this program is so much about working certain muscle groups, interacting with the swing in different fashions, engaging the kinetic chain and learning how to swing fast. Because of that, I believe that people who are taking lessons with a professional or already have a very functionally sound swing or an understanding of the function of the golf swing may see greater and quicker results than me, home taught and generally oblivious to those things. It’s why I think you see so much success with tour players with SuperSpeed

 

Performance: 36 out of 40

I can hear you out there behind your computer screens or mobile devices, Berg, will it help my game? Well brave reader, I am telling you that it helped mine in certain ways, and had a less than positive impact in others. How’s that for a grade one tease?

 I mean, the numbers in the spreadsheet at the top of this thread do not lie. I started this test with a swing speed top out of the driver at 92 MPH,and at the end of 10 weeks, my driver speed measured 101 at the final session. In all that’s a gain of 9 mph with the driver, or 9.8%. When the numbers given on the box are between 5-8% the question as to the worth of the program makes it look like a slam dunk, but the question is really if that 9.8% is actually operational on the course.

So this is where we’re talking about one of the dumbests posts I made in this thread. Stroker Ace asked us early on if people were concerned about tempo. Here is my exact quote.

“I honestly have no concerns of this, Stroker. For me tempo is a natural rhythm and speeding up that rhythm doesn't change it in my opinion... I'm bringing whatever speed and whatever swing I have through the testing, no fear. I'm only coming to embrace that speed and learn to grapple with it on the edge of control.” 

So guess who hasn’t figured out the edge of control yet? That’s right, it’s your boy. My driver consistency has basically completely evaporated this season as to strike location. But, I will say that the speed has filtered down through the rest of the bag, meaning mid to short irons fly likely a half club longer, which I approximate as 7-10 yards of distance on a control even day. The other thing that is nice is that my 3 wood has turned into an absolute weapon off tess and off the turf. It is undoubtedly the best club in my bag right now and the speed training to send that bad boy launching into space is so nice.

As I mentioned earlier in the thread with Tyler, the SuperSpeed program may have not raised my scoring ceiling by much, I do feel as if it’s raised the floor. If my range of potential outcomes has gone from 70-92 to 70-84 that’s enough of a marked improvement in my game to give this bad boy high marks in performance hence the score you see above, although the concerns about tempo can be a problem if you don’t play as frequently as you like.

Keep it or Trade It: 20 out of 20

You see the number, you’ve seen the facts, you’ve heard my gripes. I’m keeping the program. I’m committing to the program going forward through this maintenance phase and hopefully into 2024. What I see myself doing is likely hybridizing the warm-up stretches into a format and style that I think works best for my body and what I know I need, while going through the program’s required levels. I also see myself continually using the SuperSpeed sticks as part of my pre-round routine as well. Lastly, there will be an order before month is out for the SuperSpeed Squeeze, so look for some content with that soon!

 

As mentioned before, you should really look into SuperSpeed if you’re searching for speed. I think if it’s something you can commit to wholeheartedly and know that you can make it work, you’re going to see some dividends. If you have a solid swing or are working with a professional on some of the issues around swing sequencing, I think you might even see more of a benefit due to being ahead of the curve as to comes to some of the motions in the training.

 

Who should pass? People looking for a quick fix, people who can’t commit the time necessary, people who are completely terrified to tempo issues. I think there are options and I think general training can help, but SuperSpeed works if you make the commitment and force yourself into that commitment. If you know you can’t or don’t want to try, you can pass.

 

Final Summation:

I loved my time with the product, even though it seems like I may not have. The frustrations I have are primarily with myself, the way my attitude can affect how I approach things, and just the bad luck of the back to back delay in testing, but those things happen. SuperSpeed works, the product is of high quality, and the program is set up to help you succeed if you put in the effort. Those who do will play better golf and have more fun, because who doesn’t love hitting bombs?

As always, the pleasure was mine.

FINAL SCORE: 93/100

 

[Sluggo42]

MyGolfSpy Premium Review – SuperSpeed Golf

 

By Sluggo42

 

Greetings to my fellow spies, and prepare your self for a mind bending journey into the realm of a future world, soon to be known as Superspeed-Sluggo!

 

Imagine if you will, a little chubby, extremely handsome, elderly gentleman, in the lime light of his wonderful life. I’m one of the lucky ones in life, born with that knack of ability in all things sport. Good, but not good enough to the point of a being a professional, in anything.  And I was always the good teammate, and solid starter, in your local softball or bowling league.  And I was always a golfer, since the age of 8, almost 60 years now.  This is sadly the fondest memory of my dad, who started taking me with him to play as a very young lad, and gave me numerous tidbits of instruction that I still employ to this day. Unfortunately, soon after this, he made the decision to leave the family and pursue a different life, and that was pretty much the end of our games together. Who knows how my game might have been different if life hadn’t taken that turn. “Oh well”, as he used to always say…

 

I’ve always been competitive in everything, almost to a fault, and in golf it’s no different.  I’ve always been the “long ball” guy, and was always in the mix for long drive in corporate tourneys in days gone by.  300-yard drives with the old Titleist 975, were no problem (you young guys have probably seen examples of this driver in museums or in old Goodwill stores). Yes that little headed stick was an amazing new weapon of mass destruction back in the day. It started the point in time that the persimmon drivers on steel shafts began to get phased out. Yes, we old people have seen and experienced things that you youngsters can scarcely grasp. The days of no seatbelts, drinking water out of hoses, and walking to school in the snow uphill both ways.

 

Funny thing is that I’m scoring better now, than I did back in the power days. But I don’t hit it as far by any means. An average round now is probably a 77, and scores can go either way, depending on, well almost anything. I’m extremely fortunate to play amongst a small group of guys that are all shooting similarly, so even though we are all close to 70 years old, we all have the ability to shoot our ages, so the competitive juices are always flowing. The trash talking has become a little kinder, and all in all it’s a very supportive group. I love being out with a group of like-minded players, and trying my best to win the day. I love getting to the track first thing in the morning. I love hitting my little bucket of warm up balls; I love knocking a few putts around on the practice green. And I especially love the first drive of the day. I feel blessed and extremely fortunate to be able to play this game 3-4 times a week, as it is truly the best game ever invented. Each shot, day after day is different from all the rest. The brain is constantly calculating the variables, and the body must follow through with all the components of making a good enough swing to get the ball to the hole.

 

I’m the long hitter of the group and love to talk about all the apartment complexes and strip malls that are going to be build in the space between our drives, but then these old assassins love to throw their irons at the pin, and force me to hit my shorter irons as close as possible. Some days I’m good, and other days it’s a crapshoot. We are all decent putters, but I would say the other guys have a better up and down game. 

The hardest part of my game these days, is the slow march against father time, and the loss of distance, as my swing seems to get slower and slower.

The weakest part of my game is probably the 70 yards and in chip shots. I just don’t get a ton of practice nor a bunch of opportunities, so when one happens, I rarely get that up and down.

 

My current distance using my TM p770 “A” wedge is about 100 yards, a solid 7 iron goes 150 yards, and I must pull my Callaway Epic 5-wood to go 200 yards. And a well hit driver (Titleist TSr2 9 degree) can go 240-280, depending on a huge number of variables, But lets call it 260 for the sake of this topic.

I probably hit 9-10 fairways on average, but rarely miss by much, and our rough isn’t terribly punitive. I probably average 12-13 greens in regulation. Since switching to the “Hanson Hybrid” grip, and getting the Freddy Couples (in my mind) swing, my ball striking is definitely on an upswing.

 

Unfortunately as one gets older, especially in the later 60’s, that our strength we all took for granted begins to slip away. Insidiously actually, as suddenly you find the things that used to be so easy, require a second attempt now. Your “man-strength” has left you, and pulled muscles have become the norm. I was one of the lucky ones who never needed to work out, as a busy and active life-style always had me in very good shape. Well those days are gone, and I am now old, fat, and sassy. Add in a good solid dose of arthritis combined with degenerative disc disease, and you have your average old fart who still loves to play golf and compete with his geriatric buddies.

 

I’m probably a perfect example of one type of player who should try this system out. A decent player, who is starting to lose distance due to the effects of aging. I’m really hoping to see another 20 yards out of my driver as claimed, and perhaps 10 extra yards per iron shot.  And probably more important, is to still have the a same level of accuracy, if not more. I’m fortunate to still have some “pop” left in my swing, and it will be great to demoralize my opponents just a little bit more, as we pull up for our second shots, and my ball is still quite a ways further up.

BAM...

So after what seemed like everyone else receiving their kit, along with two or three centuries, MY kit arrived!

Real exciting I know, I know. But when it’s at at YOUR door, it is.

So out to the garage to open er up and see what all the fuss is about. Now again I get it, not exactly eye candy like a full new set of Cobra stix, however what is in the box will actually be more useful to me than a bag of new clubs. I’ve already got a bag full of new clubs, custom fitted to me no less. But what is in the simple little delivery will theoretically do more for my game than different clubs- yes indeed folks, because what is in this box, is a new swing. Just like the old swing, but faster.

Ill spare you endless pictures of the box, so let’s see what’s inside…

 

Nice! 3 weighted shafts that are color coded, with 3 different weights, and a sweet little PRGR launch monitor. My dog is  very unimpressed…

The weights are color coded, with green the lightest, blue the middle, and the red one is about 5% heavier than my driver

 

The PRGR is really slick- and really small! Smaller than my phone in fact, but thicker in order to fit all the magic space dust that lets it tell you how fast everything is going. It also adjusts up and down for most every iron, wood, etc in your bag. But not a setting for the putter, and I don’t know why not. I mean I swing a fast putter man…

 

So I found this secret door where I thought the magic dust was stored, but to my disappointment, it was only a battery compartment. So, I filled it up, and fired it up. Amazingly , it worked.

So out to the garage to set it up and play with it, as the instructions told me to do. At least that’s what I thought they said… Anyways, got warmed up and whacked a few 7 irons, then busted out the big stick to get my number to beat at the end of it all. A pretty fair representation of a good drive.

i really like this tool instantly, and it’s working inside of my garage

This was a “good” average swing. First few were in the 94-95 mph range, and the “John Daly” swing got up to 101 mph.

Also took a good 7 iron read for a “before and after” comparison as well. 

I think we all want to hit it further obviously, as that makes the next shot easier, duh. But my ultimate goal is that 5% increase in speed (as SuperSpeed claims you’ll get in 5 weeks), under a controlled swing, thus retaining accuracy. Because what good is being 20 yards deeper into the junk?

It all seems a little too simple, as they say it’s only 15 minutes, 3 times a week. And they don’t want you doing more than that as it’s a very scientific process- this will be difficult for me, as when I do these things, I tend to go overboard. But as they say, one must trust the process.

 

Stage Two - Speed Swing Golf – Official MGS Forum Review by Sluggo42, August 28th, 2023

If you really think about it for a minute, one of the main goals in this game of golf is, to get the little ball a little closer to the pin, with each shot. So when you see new clubs for sale all the time, what is one of the most common themes for every new club out there? Well, it’s distance isn’t it? Doesn’t every new club seem to promise that it’s a little longer, and a little straighter than the last one? So, what if you didn’t have to buy a new set of clubs for $2000 or $3000, in order to get a little bit more distance? Is this even possible with the same set of clubs you are currently using? This is where Speed Swing Golf enters into the picture. 

Just follow the Stage One and Stage two swing speed programs, measure, and keep tally of your results with the included PRGR launch monitor, and in 5-10 weeks your golf ball will go 20 yards further, it’s as simple as that. Or is it? 

Physical Product (20 out of 20 points) 

The Speed Swing Golf system consists only of 3 “clubs”, and a little PRGR launch monitor. The “clubs” are actually just shafts with different sized weights on them, instead of actual club heads. They are 3 different weights consisting of light, medium, and heavy.

The light is lighter than your driver, the medium is similar, and the heavy is heavier than your driver. The system has 2 variations in weights. The normal, and another set for people that are a little weaker which basically uses a lighter club, and omits the red heavy club.

The portable launch monitor is a PRGR HS-130A.

It’s a very small and lightweight unit that actually compares favorably to the big boys in distance estimations. It measures club speed, and has the ability to enter which club you are using. It also measures ball speed, estimates a smash factor and distance. What makes this a perfect unit for the swing speed system is it’s ability to measure the speed of their weighted clubs. This is actually pretty cool because my Rapsodo MLM2PRO will not do that.. It does run on 4 double AA batteries, and isn’t rechargeable. I suppose there is a good and bad to this, as you don’t have to be caught dead when the batteries die, because you can simply have replacements in your possession when using it. Bad side is you will use actual batteries instead of being able to just plug it in… it doesn’t come with a case, but I was able to find one on Amazon for like $10 or so, which is helpful for when you want to take it out to the range, if you’re worried about it getting “roughed up” in your bag.

 

Program (18 out of 20 points)

It’s a very easy system to use, and they have on-line instructions and actual demonstrations for use, as well as a great “warm up” video to get yourself ready for your training session. 

You simply do your warm up, and then start your session. You take a few driver swings, and record your best one, then start the first swings, and you simply record your best of 3 swings speed, then move to the next step. You go back and forth from dominate to non-dominant hand, up through the different weighted “clubs”, thru the various types of swings until finished. Then you take 3 swings as fast as you can with the lightest of your sticks, and record the best (fastest mph) swing. Then to finish, you take 3 driver swings with your actual driver, and record the best.

The point of the the data collection is really quite simple, it shows your progress as the weeks roll by.

I’m a daily golfer, and am fortunate to have a large garage in my backyard, so it was very easy for me to come home from my round, and then complete my sessions without any real problems. It was always a continuous game with myself to set a new speed record during every session, and in the first 5 weeks, this happened a lot. The second 5 weeks were not as fast seeing improvements. I’ve always been a highly competitive person, so challenging myself to improve was easy. It does become a grind as the weeks go by, so if you aren’t a motivated type of person, I could see people coming up with excuses to quit.

One part of the system that I found interesting was to use an equal number of (in my case) left handed swings. These seemed very uncoordinated and slow at first, but as time went by, they became faster and faster, and much more coordinated. Think of it as lifting weights with only one arm vs two. You wouldn’t want one arm with bulging biceps and a noodle for your other arm right? I should go on eBay and buy a random left handed 7-iron, and practice hitting it in my sim.

Our goal for this system was to complete levels one and two, or the primary training cycle. I am now into the maintenance program, which is just once a week- this is designed to keep you with your gains up to this point. It’s kind of the perfect place to go into my holding pattern during the heat of the summer, as I plan to go into the second training cycle after the weather cools off a bit as we progress into fall. The long term plan is to complete level 5 training, and then follow with a maintenance plan for once a week until you die. Haha, or whenever you’ve had enough… the main point being it’s a long and extensive program for those willing to see it through. Watch the video blow for a very in-depth explanation of the whole program from thos who actually developed it.

https://youtu.be/JDD9WlWXUIw?si=Nlo1vsZ9jNeQNk96

Performance (36 out of 40 points)

This system is different than a normal work out ie weightlifting, running, sit ups etc. in that it’s not a strengthening program. Rather it’s a way of making the body move faster than normal during a known movement in order to reset the normal neural muscular reaction speed of the body. So the goal isn’t swinging till ya drop, or heavy, heavier, and heavier. It’s all about fast, faster, and fastest.  They want you to swing as flipping fast as you can. Slower speeds aren’t getting the job done, so if you are slowing down during a session, it might be time to wrap that session up.

While it’s not what one would consider a difficult process, I did find myself huffing and puffing, sweating, and definitely elevated heart rates. 

While I initially didn’t view this as a “workout”, it definitely turned into one. And it also jump-started a weigh loss program that I hadn’t been planning on.

My initial driver swing speed was 96 mph at best, and I’ve ended up at 106 mph. The new everyday driver speed is now around 100 mph. My old normal drives used to be in the 240-250 yard range, now a solid strike is in the 250-280 range, with occasional taps close to 300 yds. There are many factors involved with driver distances, so it’s not like every drive is crushed with perfection, but when you do step on one, it’s nice to see it go deep. Another area that I’m quite pleased with is gaining 10-15 yards with my irons. There was  a period of adjustments during the actual training as well as during actual play. 

I definitely over-swung the training sticks early on, attempting to get faster speeds, which resulted in straining my neck every session. I eventually had to back off a bit and use a more controlled swing. And that might perhaps be my biggest enlightenment of the entire process- that I would like to pass on in this review. I think it’s vitally important to stay within yourself, and to use your golf swing every time. I was basically swinging out of my shoes with a backswing to the floor in my attempts to get faster. This is how I believe I was hurting my neck, and making me swing poorly during play. I honestly believe you’ll be better off to stay within yourself during training sessions, and do not over swing. Just swing faster. At the beginning of the process my scoring dipped a bit, as was trying to crush every shot, and over swinging all the time. Now that I’ve completed the primary and am cruising along in the maintenance protocol, I’ve gotten my index down to a 3.1, and I’m convinced the distances I’ve gained are playing a big part in this.

I think the maintenance portion of this system will allow me to sustain my newfound swing speed, and the levels that continue past the initial primary cycle will not only allow me to maintain, but also increase my speed as time goes by. This will be something that happens over multiple seasons, and I’ll pass along future events as they happen.

Keep it or Re-Gift? (20 out of 20 points)

This is an interesting question because I could see it going either way, depending on the user. Some people would probably find it to be too involved, and too much work. They would prefer to just go and play. Other people like me who are obsessed with the game and actually are already consistently working to improve their game, will probably keep it and at least use the maintenance program.

I personally am going to keep it, and slowly work myself higher and higher up the levels. The beauty is that you can always “pause” and go into a maintenance level if you get a little burnt out. The benefits of a longer game is that you hit less iron into every green, you hit more greens, and you score better. It’s quite simple if you break it down to that

Conclusion and Final Score of 94/100

I think if you are not only a serious golfer, but also one who constantly seeks ways to improve your scores, this would be a good way to invest less than the cost of a new driver. A quick way to explain that is to imagine hitting a 9-iron into a green instead of a 6- iron. Think that might help you score better? Heck yea, and you can probably be doing that in 5 weeks. Picking up 5 to 8 MPH of driver speed gives you +/- 20 yards, and youll also pick up a pretty easy 10 yards with your short irons. That’s 30 yards, and typically about 3 clubs. BAM there ya go, and you are welcome.

But if you are lazy with no motivation to actually work at it, then no, don’t waste your time.

Words of advice though, stay within yourself! Over doing it can cause muscle pulls and neck strains. Use your actual golf swing , and not some John Daly crazy swing in an attempt to go faster. Ask me how I know this…

Prepare to get winded, and for your heart rate to increase. Also expect to feel very clumsy at first when swinging off hand. But it gets better.

But also expect to hit second shots from places you have never seen before, and also expect to fly a few greens while you get used to your new distances.

Also expect to experience sessions where you don’t seem to get anywhere, and just trust the process

 

 

[DStar]

A massive thanks to MyGolfSpy and @SuperSpeed for the opportunity to take part in another product testing - I must be doing something right!! 

Hopefully that will continue with this one and you, the readers, find my review interesting and informative - I’ll do my best for you  

I’m super-excited to see if this training aid can help add that extra speed and distance I’m looking for and I know it’s something many players strive for so I hope this review will give you, the MGS readers, some valuable information to help you choose if this is for you. 

Who is DStar? 

Hi, I’m Steve and I’m nearly 50!! How on earth did that happen? I swear I was 40 a couple of years ago…..

I’m happily married to Hannah and we have 2 amazingly bright/funny/annoying daughters - Faith (11) and Phoebe (8). 

I live in a lovely little town called Malvern in the heart of England, a town made famous by its water, Morgan Motors and The Hills.

I’m a CNC programmer by trade which means I have access to some very cool machines  and have dabbled at making my own putters and markers - it’s pretty cool to be able to make something I can use when out on the course. 

My Golf Background

I’ve only been playing golf properly since the start of 2021 after a break of over 20 years.

I played as a junior with my dad then took a break to play football and ride mountain bikes - Golf did not provide the adrenalin rush I was after back then.  

I’m now playing off 11.6 after starting on 24 so my game is coming on well but inconsistency is my main problem. I’m practising as much as I can and would love to get to single figures by the end of this year - that’s my goal. 

I’m quite a physical player, high swing speed around 110mph with the driver and like to attack the pin - maybe I should play the percentages more but I just can’t help it!

I enjoy the long ball and have a reputation amongst my playing partners as being one of the longest drivers of the ball in my club. I’d like to think that after this test I’ll be Numero Uno! 

I’m hoping to add speed & distance but not at the cost of poorer dispersion - I’d like to be on the fairway too (not too much to ask is it?) 

I’ll be adding regular updates so keep checking back. If anyone has any questions or ideas please post them and I’ll do my best to answer or help. 

Unboxing and 1st impressions.

The kit arrived really quickly and in perfect condition. No protective outer box, just the retail packaging with the PRGR tucked safely inside in it's own box.

The obligatory unboxing photo's:

All of the items were nicely wrapped with bubblewrap on the end weights.

One thing I would like to see from retailers is less use of plastic. The design of the packaging seems like it would d o a great job of protecting the clubs so I think there is no need for the plastic wrapping on the shafts & grips or the bubblewrap. 

I have done a base setting after following the recommended warm up procedure which can be easily found on the Superspeed website along with the process we will be following for Level 1 & 2 of the training program.

I was a little disappointed to see my swing speed was a little down at 105mph but I have high hopes of pushing that back up to around 110mph after a session or 2 as I've not been playing much due to a new job and some pressures at home.

Really excited to get going with this test and have a 10 week program to follow! 

Keep an eye out for updates. 

 

The "2 week in" update:

So, I've been doing the level 1 tracking for just over 2 weeks now and thought it would be worth adding in some more info for you guys. 

I've been following the recommended warm up routine ( https://train.superspeedgolf.com/warm-up/ ) before every session (bar one when I was short of time) and I think it's a good warm up. I've taken a few of the exercises to the course with me as a pre-game routine and I do feel better.

The movements really help loosen up the muscles for the hard work ahead. 

Going through the level 1 process is quite hard work and really tests dexterity as well as balance. Using both hands mixes things up and then throwing in a step really does make you think and work.

I have noticed quite a few non-reads off the PRGR but that may be because I'm not hitting a ball. I'm keeping the same process throughout the test but will take the PRGR to the practice ground to see if there is more consistency.

I've not seen much change in my swingspeed yet but this is a 10 week process and I'm confident that I will gain speed as I'm starting to 'feel' faster. 

I'll update again in a couple of weeks but please fire away if you have any questions  

The '5 weeks done' update.

Due to a bit of bother at home recently (my wife has been unwell and I've been working, helping her, dealing with 2 kids, cooking etc...) I have fallen behind by a week or 2 so apologies for that. Things are on the up at home again and I'm back to the routine of Mon/Wed/Fri swingspeed work.

I've completed the 1st 5 weeks now and this is how things are looking. I've noticed a little bit of an increase, which is encouraging, so with the extra steps added in to the next 5 weeks I'm sure there will be more improvements to come.

The testing is good fun, trying to beat the previous speeds but I've noticed that after a tough day at work there is a bit of a drop in performance. I'm doing the testing at roughly the same time each day. Weather conditions have also been seen to make a difference.

 

 

Edited August 1, 2023 by DStar

[tommyb1683]

As a first time tester I want to give a big thank you to MGS for selecting me to take part in this review and SuperSpeed Golf for providing the opportunity to test their products!!

 

Little Ole Me

Being new to the forum I haven’t gotten a chance to know many of you but here is a chance for you to get to know a little about me. I am turning 40 in July and I am fully embracing it. I have been married for 5 years to my beautiful wife Alison and we have two boys Blake and Bradley. A fun fact about our family we are all born in July. My birthday is the 19th, my wife the 27th, Blake who is turning (4) is on the 26th, and Bradley who will be (1) is the 21st. We live in Clinton Corners, NY. We bought our house there almost 2 years ago and absolutely love the area. It’s in the Hudson Valley which is a popular area especially when you watch the seasons change. I have been an Athletic Trainer for a high school for the past five years, and a member of the NY Army National Guard for fourteen years. My job leaves me a lot of free time, my wife takes the kids to school in the morning and I don’t start work until the afternoon. I usually like to spend my mornings at the course if possible, running errands, or yard work. Now it will also be my time to incorporate some SuperSpeed training.

My golf game has been a roller coaster over the years. I had first found golf in my early 20’s, my oldest brother played with his friends. I always wanted to do everything that my older brothers did. They won’t admit it but that is probably why I am better than them at all the sports we did as kids. I played for a few years and then took some time off as I didn’t have a lot of money to play. Golf has been a recreational sport in my life for about 12-15 years, I only recently started taking it more seriously. I am guessing it’s due to the fact that my body can’t handle playing hockey anymore, thankfully golf is there to fill my desire to be competitive. I am currently a 14 handicap and I just joined a club this year (Beekman Golf Course) which I’m hoping will help me reach my goal of being a 10 or lower handicap. My favorite thing about golf is that for the time I am on the course I am only thinking about golf. It’s something fun I love to do as well as a stress reliever. My approach shots have always been the beast part of my game, especially from 100 yds and in. Having a good feel for yardages in my swing has come relatively easy. The not so easy stuff is my driver, I think as my game has progressed and I have learned more about my swing I am doing too much with my driver. I started doing a routine and simplifying things hopefully that helps. Maybe this new fitness routine with the SuperSpeed sticks can jump start that as well. My overall fitness level has been fairly low since I have gotten married (not saying that’s the reason). I have packed on about 40 lbs since that time and I am currently around 265lbs. When I met my wife I was what many would consider a “gym rat”, I would be in the gym 5 days a week at least, strict meal prepping diet and supplement regimen. A little hard work is something I’m used to. I still feel very flexible even with the weight gain and still have a relatively good swing speed in the range of 101-110, I will have a more accurate one once measured with the PRGR radar. I am really looking forward to seeing if I can add the 5% to my swing speed and overall distance like the company claims. My current driver distance averages about 280 yds. The tour average this year is 298 yds right now, I would love to be in that area especially at 40 years old. With my goal of having a handicap at a 10 or below, could this possibly be something that helps me achieve that goal? Longer more accurate drives off the tee equal less distance for approach shots which should translate to lower scores right? A few other clubs and distances that I would love to see a change in are my 5 iron which I hit about 200 yds max, 8 iron which is roughly 150 yds and my 56 degree wedge which I max at about 100 yds. Right now I average 5-6 fairways hit and 4 greens hit per round. Having both those numbers increase would absolutely help lower my handicap. I use a bushnell wingman for yardages and The Grint app to track my stats for each round. I am really excited to get this started and let the numbers speak for themselves. I hope everyone follows along with us on this journey and look forward to sharing everything with this community.

 

 

I think we all feel that need!!

Below added on 5/18/23

Unboxing/ First Impression/ Thoughts on Testing 

Picture this, you’re tired after a long day, 40 minute drive home from work which you don’t get home until roughly 8:00pm. You can hear your wife and kids getting ready for bed inside (kid running around being crazy), you open the door and see this…I spy with my little eye (SUPERSPEED BOX!!!!!)

Instantly you perk up and are super excited. It was late though and I decided not to open the box up until the next day. Which I can tell you was not an easy thing to do. In the morning I get my kids ready for the day and out of the house with their mother. Time to sit down and relax right? NOT A CHANCE!! It’s time to open that SuperSpeed box. My first thought when opening it was that the packaging looks really solid. Well protected with extra packing paper, not a lot of space for things to move around. The PRGR radar was sitting right there when I opened it, we will get to that a little later on. I take out the box with the SuperSpeed sticks in it, which also has really nice packaging to it. The logo and the colors grab your attention. This might be the slowest I have ever opened a package in order to take pictures along the way. I want everyone to come along for the journey of opening everything up.

It’s now time to see what’s inside. All the clubs come in plastic with the heads wrapped in bubble wrap that is held on with a rubber band and the grips have another extra piece of plastic over them to keep everything pristine. Inside the box where the cardboard helps separate the clubs was a little bent down and broken but the clubs were still where they were supposed to be and none of them damaged at all. I prefer my clubs to have a sleek look to them which is why I play all black irons and shafts, so the look of these were very aesthetically pleasing. There is a design on the shaft which shows you easily which club is which. The green is the lightest at approximately 20% lighter than my driver, the blue is the medium or 10% lighter, and the red is the heavy or 5% heavier than the driver. I am going to try and weigh them in order to find out exactly how much lighter or heavier they are. There is a very slight difference in length to each one it seems, i'm assuming that is just the different size heads for weight. They are a little shorter than my driver but mainly due to the size of the head the shafts appeared to be similar in length. 

Getting those clubs in the mail and opening the box made everything very real very fast. We are going to be going through a 10 week review where we will be completing Level 1 & 2 of SuperSpeed’s overspeed training. The first 5 weeks claims to add 5% speed to your swing and the second 5 weeks is supposed to help keep it there. The training doesn’t look too hard but I also haven’t started it yet, update on that once we begin.

I have to apologize because I thought my swing speed was around 110 but after hitting the range today with the PRGR radar I have gotten an average of 119 MPH to which I was very shocked about. The video of my swing is the first radar picture of 119 swing speed and 287yd carry, but most were only a number or two different from each other. I had a few that hit 120 but the majority of them were 119 mph so that will be my baseline for this testing. If I can add 5% to that I should end up around 125 mph swing speed. Then again speed means nothing without control. So can I gain speed with still being able to keep the ball in play? I think that if I do make any gains they will most likely be very small mainly due to my high swing speed already. I also think that this may help my over driving accuracy by having the sequence of my swing better line up through the training. In order for me not to throw the sticks away, aka donate them to a good cause (I don’t like to be wasteful) they are going to have to at least show some improvement in my swing speed even if it’s small and see it actually help my game. (ie: lower scores, more fairways, more greens, you know the important stuff) I am planning on doing a Mon, Wed, Fri training schedule. I normally have the mornings to myself and don’t go into work until the afternoon. This gives me plenty of time to complete the training in the morning. Plus, the body will be fresh in the AM as well. I can save Tues and Thurs as the days I get out on the course.

 

Below added on 8/29/23

 

SuperSpeed Golf Training System  

Official MGS Forum Review by Thomas Bergmann 

5/16/23(selected as tester)-8/29/23(submitting final review)

Intro

Just turning 40 and feeling like there were so many issues with my golf game I was nervous when I signed up for this testing not knowing what it would fully entail. I was also excited since I really dove hard into golf this past year and was looking for ways to improve my game. I feel honored to be selected as one of the testers for superspeed and hope that I lived up to the expectations. When the package arrived it was like christmas morning as a child and getting a new toy, all you want to do is play with it. That is when the true work began though. Getting my baseline swing speed was first, to my own surprise I had a 119 mph club head speed to start and I thought I was in the 105-110 range. I immediately had a thought of, how could I possibly get any faster than that? with the PGA tour average being about 115 mph. My average distance off the tee was about 280 yds before starting the testing as well. Week 1 session 1 was way longer than I expected, I had to watch the video of the warm up a few times as well as pause it to do my repetitions. I also needed to do the same for the training as well. I had to move the PRGR(Radar) from the left side to the right side everytime I switched from dominant to non-dominant and back again. A caveat to that is I did most of my training at the driving range and most of them have specific stalls so it's hard to move your body around the radar so moving the radar was the only option. The first week of sessions most definitely had a learning curve. I needed to get used to the warm up and the different swings I would be making throughout the weeks of training. I noticed a big jump in numbers right off the bat in the second week when compared to week 1,  I think due to knowing the movements better and the training itself. I did end up finding a range that didn’t have specific stalls and would move two range mats together in order to just move my body around the radar. I couldn’t always use the range though as it was quite far from my house. 

Physical Product (18 out of 20 points) 

When first receiving the product I was impressed with the build. The shaft and heads seemed very durable. I also put that to the test when accidentally hitting the ground a few times during training and there wasn’t any significant damage to the heads. Since the speed sticks are built just like clubs I didn’t feel the need for any special case, they fit in my bag well along with all my other clubs. The different colors used make it easier to identify which club you are grabbing which makes training easier and a faster switch. I like that the company asks about your current driver setup and matches the set to your driver, it makes it feel more personalized. I took off two points because I would’ve liked if there were grip options, as I play a midsize dri-tac 2.0. I have a high swing speed and sweat a lot so I did notice grip issues while training during the summer months. I will probably change the grips on them moving forward to match what I play on my clubs to see if that makes a difference. 

Program (18 out of 20 points)

The program itself has a bit of a learning curve in the first week. I watched the video demonstrations of the warm up and speed training a few times during sessions which slowed it down a bit. That can be easily fixed by watching the videos a few times prior to your actual training so you’re familiar with the movements or exercises. The swings are something that I needed to get used to as well, again (learning curve) I felt as if the numbers didn’t change much during the first week since you are learning how to swing those specific clubs. I took off two points because setting up the PRGR was to me the hardest part, there can be a lot of inconsistencies with that. I would measure the distance from where I wanted to swing with the red speed stick every time but making sure it was aimed directly behind was sometimes a struggle. Being that we completed level 1 and 2 of the training I think makes a difference here as well. That is 3x a week for 10 weeks. That can be a lengthy commitment for some people. It seems like an appropriate amount of training time though. Long enough to make you sweat and work hard but not long enough to overwork you. I found it very easy to keep my motivation high for training, seeing your numbers creep higher and higher is a great reason for that. The program has so much more to it than what we completed as well. I plan on entering the maintenance phase which is laid out on their website very clearly and seeing if I can keep the numbers I have gained for a while. 

Performance (38 out of 40 points)

This was the first ever true training I have done with my golf swing. I have always been the guy who just goes to the range and hits a bucket of balls almost aimlessly and proceeds to do the same for chipping and putting. I feel as if this excelled my game this year and now take all my training on the range very seriously. I still have fun with it but when I'm there it's for a reason. I believe anyone can find benefits in this training program. I thought all I was going to gain was some mph in my club head speed, boy was I wrong. I also figured out a lot about the timing of my swing and rotational forces that generate power in my downswing. The training is all what you make of it. When it comes down to raw data you really can’t argue that it works. I was skeptical that I could gain 5% in my swing speed. My pre-training swing speed was 119 mph measured on the PRGR. After 10 weeks I was able to hit a whopping 127 mph swing speed. If you’re using those numbers it would be about a 6.5% increase. I also looked at my new “floor” numbers, meaning that if I tee it up on the course or the range what is my new swing right out of the gate. I took off 2 points because I am at 123 mph which gave me a 3.3% increase in speed when compared to my speed before all training. I consider this a more realistic gain due to that it's what I would be at on the course day to day. Not quite the 5% but I gained about 15-20 yds on my drives and went down a club on all iron shots. To me that is a more significant gain that just percentages. My game has definitely improved over the training period, I went from a 15 handicap to a 9.3. I am hitting more fairways and greens now, the ones I miss aren’t by much anymore. I think if you do the program and stick with at least the maintenance phase you can sustain speed gains but if you stop all together,  you would most likely have to redo the training sessions. 

Keep it or Re-Gift? (20 out of 20 points)

This is too easy of an answer for me, I will absolutely be keeping this product, I might let my friends try it out but not for long. This training was something I didn’t know anything about and I would 100% do it again if given the chance. I am going to continue my training with it and see where it takes my numbers in the future. Like mentioned before I do think there is more to gain from this training than just speed. You might unlock something in your golf swing by learning how to swing faster, you might notice a firing of the hips that you weren’t doing before. These things can be translated into a better golf swing and ultimately better shot and lower scores. This product isn’t just set up for the pros or power players. I think anyone looking to improve on their game could benefit from using these speed sticks. 

Conclusion

Being skeptical coming in I was pleasantly surprised that this training was able to work for me, a 40 year old mostly sedentary what I would consider average golfer. The training claims to gain roughly 5% of club head speed to which I was able to do going from 119 mph to my max of 127 mph. That isn’t all I gained from this training though. I was able to learn so much about my swing and how to generate power. I learned how to fire my hips through the golf ball better which is now resulting in more accurate and consistent shots. If you couldn’t guess that is also resulting in lower scores. I have shot the lowest rounds I ever have this year. I did also take a few lessons to work on my driver swing but I think it’s a combination of both. At the end of the day numbers don’t lie, I gained roughly 15-20 yds on my drives consistently, and went down one club in all my iron shots. For example for a 200 yd shot I would use a 5 iron to which I now use a 6 iron. I had a few issues during training that came up. The first being grip issues, with a higher swing speed and sweating a lot in the summer months the grip felt tough to hold onto at times. I would change the grips to better suit my hands and match my clubs. I also had a neck strain during training, I couldn't pinpoint from what part but I'm guessing when swinging so hard and not being very flexible something is bound to happen. Overall this training was really fun and helpful to my game, I think it can also be helpful to many different types of golfers out there and would highly recommend people give it a try. 

Final Score: 94

[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

 

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Below this point is previous content from my introduction and initial thoughts:

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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.

 

 

Edited November 15, 2023 by gavinski91

[sirchunksalot]

Congratulations on getting selected to test the SuperSpeed system everyone! I think we'll be seeing longer drives in your future. 

[GolfSpy AFG]

Congrats testers!  I’ll be following with high interest. 

[rkj427]

Congrats. to this group of testers!

Looking forward to read about their progress, their comments and reviews.

[Preeway]

Congrats gentlemen. Looking forward to seeing your results and how/if you saw speed improvement. 

[DotesMaGotes12]

Congrats tester! Excited to hear what you all get back from the training.

[brogies]

Congrats!

[GolfSpy_BEN]

Congrats testers! 

[Nettscore]

Congratulations on getting selected for the review. Looking forward to reading about your results

 

[Bogeys ov]

Congratulations!

[MattF]

Congrats lady and gents.

[bumpandrun]

I started using Superspeed golf back in Feb. I've added 7 mph to my driver swing (89 to 96). The key is to make sure you are hearing the swoosh of the sticks on your finish side and not in your downswing. Don't just swing hard, swing hard with a good golf swing. Also, be sure to do the warmups so you don't hurt your back.

A buddy told me the other day that it doesn't look like I'm swinging hard and the ball just jumps.

Congrats and enjoy.

Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk

[Slow]

Congratulations. I will be following this testing.

[Shapotomous]

Congrats testers!  I predict some bombs in your future!!

[Hakr4ever]

Congratulations!

[calvert86]

Congrats! I’m waiting on delivery of mine now to see if can increase speed…currently 104mph with a terrible short game

[Woody83]

Congratulations to the testers.  Look forward to your reviews.

[DMcA]

Congrats to the chosen. Look forward to your reviews. 

[Josh Ross]

Congrats testers! I'm very interested in the results, it's something I want to incorporate into my off-season for sure!

[MaxEntropy]

Congrats, all! Looking forward to seeing the results!

[Nickie]

I need to get faster swing speed these will help out alot.

Edited May 17, 2023 by Nickie