Stack Training System - 2023 Forum Member Review

[GolfSpy BOS]

42 minutes ago, Rearviewmirror said:

Vulnerable time...

Has anyone had their full swing/approach play completely fall apart with Stack? I am carrying a bit of a shoulder tweak, so stopped Stack, but in the last ~7 rounds my approach play has been absolutely all over the map. This is usually a strength of my game, but I feel completely out of rhythm and have been playing a lot of military golf (right, left, right).

I'm honestly at a bit of a loss... Everything had been going great, and now i feel like I've really regressed. Ironically my putting and short game have been great (sigh).

 

 

Without playing too much arm chair swing coach, is it possible your playing golf in "stack training mode" versus "play golf" mode?

I ask because I can totally see accuracy falling off a bit if you're brain is stuck in "swing it fast" thoughts versus "get the ball in the hole" thoughts.

[Rearviewmirror]

4 minutes ago, GolfSpy BOS said:

Without playing too much arm chair swing coach, is it possible your playing golf in "stack training mode" versus "play golf" mode?

I ask because I can totally see accuracy falling off a bit if you're brain is stuck in "swing it fast" thoughts versus "get the ball in the hole" thoughts.

Honestly it’s sort of the opposite. I feel hyper conscious of what I’m doing with my feet/weight transfer, and trying to NOT swing out of my shoes. As a result I feel really aware of tempo/weight change etc

[skraeling]

2 hours ago, Rearviewmirror said:

Vulnerable time...

Has anyone had their full swing/approach play completely fall apart with Stack? I am carrying a bit of a shoulder tweak, so stopped Stack, but in the last ~7 rounds my approach play has been absolutely all over the map. This is usually a strength of my game, but I feel completely out of rhythm and have been playing a lot of military golf (right, left, right).

I'm honestly at a bit of a loss... Everything had been going great, and now i feel like I've really regressed. Ironically my putting and short game have been great (sigh).

 

 

Its really hard for me to say.  Ive played a couple times (like 3 since starting speed training) and not each week since well... its winter and winter conditions still (like NO grass depth).  So I cant say just how my approach game will be.  Granted the few times ive played its been s***, but I also havnt played for months before these past few rounds.  ill reserve my opinion till its actually not winter.  My irons have honestly always kind of been my Achilles heel anyway.

Edited February 29 by skraeling

[GregGarner]

3 hours ago, Rearviewmirror said:

Vulnerable time...

Has anyone had their full swing/approach play completely fall apart with Stack? I am carrying a bit of a shoulder tweak, so stopped Stack, but in the last ~7 rounds my approach play has been absolutely all over the map. This is usually a strength of my game, but I feel completely out of rhythm and have been playing a lot of military golf (right, left, right).

I'm honestly at a bit of a loss... Everything had been going great, and now i feel like I've really regressed. Ironically my putting and short game have been great (sigh).

I'm here with you. Irons have never been a strength for me, but they were dialed in through ~October. By December, I was noticing that I was starting to have some lefts creeping in. I can't say for sure that it's the Stack as my irons are 3 years old now and likely need their lies checked, but I do think my path is much more from the inside now. I'm hitting a bunch of sweepy draws and pull draws, especially with longer irons. I'm starting to get it back though, just need to stay with it!

Also, it's definitely helping to have 9i into greens where I used to have 7i just a few months ago...

[skraeling]

2 minutes ago, GregGarner said:

I'm here with you. Irons have never been a strength for me, but they were dialed in through ~October. By December, I was noticing that I was starting to have some lefts creeping in. I can't say for sure that it's the Stack as my irons are 3 years old now and likely need their lies checked, but I do think my path is much more from the inside now. I'm hitting a bunch of sweepy draws and pull draws, especially with longer irons. I'm starting to get it back though, just need to stay with it!

Also, it's definitely helping to have 9i into greens where I used to have 7i just a few months ago...

I want that problem.  Fat fat city here (low point control is just... my kryptonite).  When its not, ive somehow discovered that the toe of my club is now a thing.  Annoying.  If it doesnt improve after a few weeks of golf league ill just eat crow and get a lesson.  Granted I said the same thing last year and they ended up just clicking.   f****** winter.  If I could play year round I might be... okish haha.

Edited February 29 by skraeling

[Rearviewmirror]

25 minutes ago, skraeling said:

I want that problem.  Fat fat city here (low point control is just... my kryptonite).  When its not, ive somehow discovered that the toe of my club is now a thing.  Annoying.  If it doesnt improve after a few weeks of golf league ill just eat crow and get a lesson.  Granted I said the same thing last year and they ended up just clicking.   f****** winter.  If I could play year round I might be... okish haha.

Not that you need another training aid, but I really like the Divot Board. Mark Crossfield has a few discount codes for it as well. I'm planning a Saturday range session to try to get my long game act together along with headphones/tempo work.

[skraeling]

Just now, Rearviewmirror said:

Not that you need another training aid, but I really like the Divot Board. Mark Crossfield has a few discount codes for it as well. I'm planning a Saturday range session to try to get my long game act together along with headphones/tempo work.

you and me both sir you and me both.  I need to hit some real balls in a controlled place and just get some reps in.  try some things... get frustrated... try a few more things.. shelve it.. come back... try some other things.... yell at the clouds... and it clicks.

I think.

Ill actually be going either saturday or sunday as well.

[BreakfastBall15]

By the sounds of it I need to try stack. Sounds very impressive

[buckpillar]

6 hours ago, Rearviewmirror said:

Honestly it’s sort of the opposite. I feel hyper conscious of what I’m doing with my feet/weight transfer, and trying to NOT swing out of my shoes. As a result I feel really aware of tempo/weight change etc

Maybe to many swing thoughts? Just grip it and rip it.

[skraeling]

2 hours ago, BreakfastBall15 said:

By the sounds of it I need to try stack. Sounds very impressive

Its done just absurd stuff for my swing speed.  my shortcomings in other aspects of the game are frankly my own fault. 

to put it in perspective though, i havnt regularly played in maybe 4months or more.  Yet from a tee box farther back im scoring withing a few strokes of my usual on a course in 3 YEARS ive never played from this spot...

ima call this a win.  mechanics I can fix.... power?  I need to gain.

Edited March 1 by skraeling

[BreakfastBall15]

7 minutes ago, skraeling said:

Its done just absurd stuff for my swing speed.  my shortcomings in other aspects of the game are frankly my own fault. 

to put it in perspective though, i havnt regularly played in maybe 4months or more.  Yet from a tee box farther back im scoring withing a few strokes of my usual on a course in 3 YEARS ive never played from this spot...

ima call this a win.  mechanics I can fix.... power?  I need to gain.

That’s very impressive! I’ll have to start stashing some money away. Thing ain’t cheap

[skraeling]

3 minutes ago, BreakfastBall15 said:

That’s very impressive! I’ll have to start stashing some money away. Thing ain’t cheap

A referral code from anyone whos active, will save you 50.00 and also give whoever you use a year sub.  Float through the thread and who ever hasnt gotten a referral yet.. hit em up.

Also.  Please note I do ZERO other exercise.  This has made my winter off season VERY interesting. Already in "winterish" conditions.. ive hit possibly the second longest driver ive ever hit.  The only other longer one being in a 40mph gust situation.

This is fun... like really fun.  It turns working out into a game.

[BreakfastBall15]

2 minutes ago, skraeling said:

A referral code from anyone whos active, will save you 50.00 and also give whoever you use a year sub.  Float through the thread and who ever hasnt gotten a referral yet.. hit em up.

Also.  Please note I do ZERO other exercise.  This has made my winter off season VERY interesting. Already in "winterish" conditions.. ive hit possibly the second longest driver ive ever hit.  The only other longer one being in a 40mph gust situation.

This is fun... like really fun.  It turns working out into a game.

That’s great to know. When it’s time to pull the trigger I’ll have to find a referral

 

 and that is extremely impressive. I’ve picked up some decent swing speed through working on mechanics and strength training but haven’t done any true speed training. 

[skraeling]

6 minutes ago, BreakfastBall15 said:

That’s great to know. When it’s time to pull the trigger I’ll have to find a referral

 

 and that is extremely impressive. I’ve picked up some decent swing speed through working on mechanics and strength training but haven’t done any true speed training. 

I went from a sub 90 to and I have not measured it on course directly... low six figure swing speed.  without trying.  Just translating my new speed to my old swing.

No regerts here.

[Rearviewmirror]

8 hours ago, buckpillar said:

Maybe to many swing thoughts? Just grip it and rip it.

Very likely. I think I need to try to get back to just "target, go" mentality. Hoping some work w/ Tour Tempo brings that simplicity back.

[skraeling]

Progress check in.  I’m faster than this I just wasn’t super warm yet but for being cold?  Not bad.

 

Then I went to the driving range to hit some stuffs.  3w practice got some stuff figured out with it too.

 

Irons were crispy.  Got the tempo figured out. Think this was an 8i.

[GregGarner]

On 2/29/2024 at 11:48 PM, BreakfastBall15 said:

That’s great to know. When it’s time to pull the trigger I’ll have to find a referral

 and that is extremely impressive. I’ve picked up some decent swing speed through working on mechanics and strength training but haven’t done any true speed training. 

They also just released a new "TheStack Radar" that basically looks like a PRGR but with Bluetooth, so it will automatically port your speeds into the app. The bundled price is less than the cost of a new driver and can confirm, you'll get more out of it than a new driver.

[skraeling]

1 hour ago, GregGarner said:

They also just released a new "TheStack Radar" that basically looks like a PRGR but with Bluetooth, so it will automatically port your speeds into the app. The bundled price is less than the cost of a new driver and can confirm, you'll get more out of it than a new driver.

[TCMP]

On 1/4/2024 at 11:39 AM, Dooby said:

Apologies if I overlooked this while scanning this thread.

Question for the testers or anyone else using the Stack - there is a ton of talk about driving distances, understandably so, but are users/testers also seeing increases in woods/irons/wedge stock full swings as well? Or is this not really impacting your swing other than driver/off the tee?

It has helped me hit all my clubs further. 7 iron used to be 140 now it’s a stock 170 yard club. Similar % improvement on all my swinging clubs. I am on the first workout series, “Foundation” and have done 8 training sessions so far with a gain of 11mph and +34 yards on my driver. 

[tdroma98]

One thing that could be helpful to others, about testing products, if we continue to use the items, is to give periodic updates.  I'm really enjoying TheStack System. I took a couple of months off because I thought I injured my left elbow.  It turns out to be a gout-like symptom & not a muscle or tendon tear. I've not gone into a full training session yet, just making sure my left elbow is ok. 

However, I use TheStack regularly, including doing the warmup exercises just about every day. TheStack warm-up routine Dr. McKenzie devised, is excellent.  There are at least three of the warm-up exercises I use before playing a round of golf. 

Has TheStack made a difference?
    Yes! and in a number of ways.  One of course is Speed being first & foremost. 
  For me, TheStack also exposed some swing flaws.  This has been challenging but fun putting a pep back in the step and seeing progress in making the corrections.  Re-training the body to break bad habits. it's frustrating but rewarding.  I haven't made a 30yd improvement like @TCMP which is awesome, but I've seen an improvement of 7-10 yds with many clubs and with more consistency.  

The interesting thing I've learned about testing golf equipment, is if we continue to use it, how does the equipment perform past a 2 or 3-month testing period?  Are we still using 6 months or 1 year from testing? 
If so, are we seeing the same or any new results? 

I've used TheStack club with 70, 100 & 170 grams.  I'm seeing an increase in speed performance by 3-5 mph with TheStack.  

One of the swing flaws I found - as I'm making my downswing, I pull my chest back causing me to come up, losing my spine angel, which keeps my right shoulder from moving downward and to the left.  It's almost like I have a natural fade swing.  2nd flaw, I think contributes to the sort of standing up or pulling my chest back in the downswing, I found I'm not turning properly to start my backswing. Too much movement with my head moving to the right, consequently I found I was not turning, but swaying my body most of the time.  I put 60 grams onto TheStack club, standing in front of a mirror, take my set up and I started looking into the mirror during the takeaway.  Trying to train my body to keep the posture, and engage the hips.  Then took a couple of videos simulating a driver swing with TheStack club, 60 grams, then 70 then 170 grams to make sure I was not moving the head all over the place, causing a sway vs a turn.  Wow, it's a work in progress but it's working.    

TheStack has been quite revealing.  Initially bruised my ego with the loss in swing speed of about 10mph from just 5 yrs ago.  Was it Age? Injuries? Bad habits?  Yea, all three combined, LOL.  Amazing how testing golf equipment changes our perspective about golf & the equipment we use.  Won't bore you all any more this evening.  
  

 

[hckymeyer]

Can't believe it's been 6 months since we started this testing!  I'm still going strong, about 3/4 through my 3rd program.  This one has been a grind.  I was having some bad enough shoulder pain that I went in to the doctor.  Had an MRI and no tears, some fluid where it wasn't supposed to be and some arthritis, but after two attempts at cortizone shots I'm pain free again.  This has been a lingering pain since before I started Stack, so I don't believe speed training caused this at all.  i continued Stack through all of that but you can see my progress suffered.  it was an absolute grind in the middle there, but it sure it fun again now!  Just hit a new PR on the 195g today.  130mph here I come!!

Edited March 23 by hckymeyer

[skraeling]

1 hour ago, hckymeyer said:

Can't believe it's been 6 months since we started this testing!  I'm still going strong, about 3/4 through my 3rd program.  This one has been a grind.  I was having some bad enough shoulder pain that I went in to the doctor.  Had an MRI and no tears, some fluid where it wasn't supposed to be and some arthritis, but after two attempts at cortizone shots I'm pain free again.  This has been a lingering pain since before I started Stack, so I don't believe speed training caused this at all.  i continued Stack through all of that but you can see my progress suffered.  it was an absolute grind in the middle there, but it sure it fun again now!  Just hit a new PR on the 195g today.  130mph here I come!!

You are an absolute beast man that’s awesome.

i got some elbow thing going on that im gonna keep an eye on myself was a problem before training too. Man its sucks getting old.

[GregGarner]

Y'all, I am so frustrated. The new version of the app just sucks. I commend the support team, who have been great, but they had absolutely no business launching this new version of the app yet.

I've now had two sessions in a row get completely erased as though I haven't trained at all. One session was just speed priming, thankfully, but my grit score took a hit because of the extended "time off." Additionally, that session bricked my iPad and I had to have support clear my account. And then tonight, session 19/24 in my current program, when I hit 3 PBs, got erased as soon as I finished...

The defining feature of what makes The Stack so great is the app and to say I'm disappointed right now is an understatement. I really hope they can get this fixed and stable soon, but right now, I just can't recommend it to anyone...

Edited March 26 by GregGarner

[skraeling]

10 hours ago, GregGarner said:

Y'all, I am so frustrated. The new version of the app just sucks. I commend the support team, who have been great, but they had absolutely no business launching this new version of the app yet.

I've now had two sessions in a row get completely erased as though I haven't trained at all. One session was just speed priming, thankfully, but my grit score took a hit because of the extended "time off." Additionally, that session bricked my iPad and I had to have support clear my account. And then tonight, session 19/24 in my current program, when I hit 3 PBs, got erased as soon as I finished...

The defining feature of what makes The Stack so great is the app and to say I'm disappointed right now is an understatement. I really hope they can get this fixed and stable soon, but right now, I just can't recommend it to anyone...

1.24 (493)?

havnt had any issues yet but thanks for the heads up.  I’ll SS stuff along the way so I don’t lose anything.

[Rearviewmirror]

Alright - jumping back in with both feet after a bit of a Stack layoff. My approach play is still  but hoping some speed work won't make it any worse haha.

One quick question - is anyone using the Rapsodo MLM/R-Speed? I just picked up a second hand MLM (non 2 Pro) and wondering if I can hack the speed announcing so that it auto-inputs the number into Stack.

I tried a few Stack swings and it seems to be reading 2-3mph faster than my PRGR. Anyone else have a similar experience? I'm guessing the Stack app compensates for that, but I was curious to ask!

[GregGarner]

On 3/26/2024 at 7:22 AM, skraeling said:

1.24 (493)?

havnt had any issues yet but thanks for the heads up.  I’ll SS stuff along the way so I don’t lose anything.

I was in the regular build of the app but then one of the issues I was having prompted the support team to put me in a beta version so I could provide feedback to them directly. It's... not going well

[tdroma98]

@GregGarner have you used TheStack app for putting? 
The issue I have with the putter app, it freezes up.  I end up finishing the circuit on my own.  I've logged completely out of the app.  Not logged back in nor restarted my phone to see if that remedied the issue with the app. 

[GregGarner]

8 minutes ago, tdroma98 said:

@GregGarner have you used TheStack app for putting? 
The issue I have with the putter app, it freezes up.  I end up finishing the circuit on my own.  I've logged completely out of the app.  Not logged back in nor restarted my phone to see if that remedied the issue with the app. 

I've only done one instance of the putting combine but I've done the 'quick entry' after playing a few times. Haven't had an issue with it yet, but it sounds like there's still hope

[Rearviewmirror]

50 minutes ago, GregGarner said:

I've only done one instance of the putting combine but I've done the 'quick entry' after playing a few times. Haven't had an issue with it yet, but it sounds like there's still hope

Have you found the insights from the quick entry helpful? Wondering whether it's worth tracking. I typically track putt distances and number of putts, but adding break/slope wouldn't be that hard.

[GregGarner]

Just now, Rearviewmirror said:

Have you found the insights from the quick entry helpful? Wondering whether it's worth tracking. I typically track putt distances and number of putts, but adding break/slope wouldn't be that hard.

Too early to tell, tbh. What I'm hoping to do, longer-term, is a) get some insights about types of putts that I need to work on and b) get putter-specific data that compares strokes gained from one putter to another. I'll likely be solely in data capture mode for a while, particularly because you can't get the insights for putt type until you do a couple of the combines.