Winter Swing Lab Setup

[taylorjonasher]

Hey everyone! As the colder months are approaching I thought I'd share what has helped me the most over the last year, which is the ability to get in meaningful reps year round. It has by far been the most transformational element to my game. Where I live (Iowa),  snowfall and freezing temps can be present from as early as Halloween to as late as mid-April (yeah, you read that right, that's why binge drinking is so prevalent - just ask Minnesota and Wisconsin), so the courses don't normally open up until mid-April, and there's not a lot of opportunity to work on hitting an actual golf ball, because you know, that whole snow thing. This last year I made the investment in a couple of items that really helped me out this year. All of these items were picked up on Amazon or a local home improvement store, and it cost me a total of about $600. 

The first was a plain old driving net, for about $120 on Amazon. I actually blow holes through the first net that I bought that had a secondary "catch target net" and beat the ever living sh*t out of my garage door, which in turn caused my wife to beat the ever living sh*t out of me #reversespousalabuse. I replaced the net with one that was the same size and less expensive, and it has held up to this day. 

Although the new cheaper net was holding up, it still didn't protect against shanks and skyballs, and after a few close calls with Mrs. T's Traverse, I decided it was time for a secondary net system. I have a 10' x 8' garage door, so I purchased a 10' x 15' net, two 10' x 10' nets, some carabiners, zip ties, garage door track angle, and some threaded eyes, nuts, and machine screws. After mixing them together with several Busch Lights, an easily removable net system was born that protected my garage door, drywall, and myself from future beatings. I can easily unsnap half of the system and pull it off to the side, which allows for plenty of room to pull my 2500 truck in when inclement weather dictates. 

Around January of this year, our brand new puppy was battling apprehension of going outside in -25F weather to go poop and pee, so like any reasonable pet owners, we went to Home Depot and purchased a large chunk of artificial turf so that we could line the inside of an inflatable kiddie-pool for our new dog to defile. Seriously, you don't love your pets enough if you're not willing to hose out an inflatable pool and turf in subzero weather just so that their feet don't get cold while they poop. Everyone does it, just ask my wife. I "accidentally" purchased an extra 8' x 5' section, because "that's how wide the roll is and I am required to buy a whole section of turf that equals the width of the roll". I still don't know how I pulled that one off, but my improving scores appreciate it. 

Even with my newly purchased turf, my wrists and elbows quickly tired of my fat shots into the concrete floor, as as such my almost penultimate purchase came about - $85 worth of interlocking exercise mats and a tube of silicone. The turf was cut to the final assembled size - 8' x 4', and a couple of rubber mat tees were inserted through the bottom to create a pretty robust mat that gets used 4 - 5 times a week. 

A Garmin R10 was also purchased, but due to the erratic readings that I get indoors, it doesn't get used as much as I thought it was going to. It works OK, but that's about it. 

I have links below to every item that makes up this net system (less the hardware), just in case you want to make one just like it. I have several neighborhood buddies who are also fellow addicts and who enjoy coming over several times per week during the frigid months to get some hacks in and down a couple lattes, so I can attest to it's functionality as a community asset. 

But enough about my rig - who else has budget builds or tricked out set ups? Let's see them!!

Driving Net - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0958KKRNG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Side Nets - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BSB6DWB6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BSB61541/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Tees - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08BX8G1Y8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Mat Base - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0719B8HQZ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

(edited for pricing accuracy and item links)

 

 

 

 

Edited September 24, 2023 by taylorjonasher
(edited for pricing accuracy and item links)

[Englhard]

This is a great setup!  I have a mat and a spornia net with the garmin r10, it works well, but I really like how you got yours tied into the garage door.  Do you use that garage or is it fully dedicated?  I'd love to come up with some pull string situation as we only have a two car garage, so I can't make it permanent.

[taylorjonasher]

@Englhard I can unsnap the carabineers on one half and pull my truck in when needed. I've taken it down completely twice, but it's a giant pain to set it back up. It actually works pretty well to leave half of it up. Next time I clean out my garage I'll take pictures.

[GolfSpy_APH]

I will have to post my setup soon enough. Unfortunately it is outside as our indoor space isn't quite big enough. However the weather usually decent enough that we can hit all season long. 

While I will be putting Rapsodo to use, the HackMotion is going to get a significant workout as I work to make some efficiency changes in my swing. 

[CFreddie]

1 hour ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

I will have to post my setup soon enough. Unfortunately it is outside as our indoor space isn't quite big enough. However the weather usually decent enough that we can hit all season long. 

While I will be putting Rapsodo to use, the HackMotion is going to get a significant workout as I work to make some efficiency changes in my swing. 

Jamie - do you find the Rapsodo to work well with a net? I’m getting ready to pull the trigger on it based on the forum reviews / feedback, but the HackMotion has me intrigued as well, especially if you aren’t getting the best data from the LM.  

While it can get cold in Georgia, it’s still possible to be outdoors for most days, so my winter lab setup will consist of an outdoor hitting net, mat, and monitor setup in my backyard turf.  

[GolfSpy_APH]

32 minutes ago, CFreddie said:

Jamie - do you find the Rapsodo to work well with a net? I’m getting ready to pull the trigger on it based on the forum reviews / feedback, but the HackMotion has me intrigued as well, especially if you aren’t getting the best data from the LM.  

While it can get cold in Georgia, it’s still possible to be outdoors for most days, so my winter lab setup will consist of an outdoor hitting net, mat, and monitor setup in my backyard turf.  

I really like the Rapsodo. I'll be having a full writeup soon. It's just a great device and I like the sim function which was missing previously. 

I've using phone a lot, but finally got my ipad unlocked so I can use that along with projector to see how that works soon!

[CFreddie]

18 minutes ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

I really like the Rapsodo. I'll be having a full writeup soon. It's just a great device and I like the sim function which was missing previously. 

I've using phone a lot, but finally got my ipad unlocked so I can use that along with projector to see how that works soon!

Can’t wait to see it! I’ve heard great things - but the HackMotion is intriguing for diff reasons altogether. 

[GolfSpy_APH]

21 minutes ago, CFreddie said:

Can’t wait to see it! I’ve heard great things - but the HackMotion is intriguing for diff reasons altogether. 

Yes very different purposes!

[WaffleHouseTour]

I’m so envious of those with high ceilings…

[Shrek74]

I'm looking to do something similar in my garage. But I don't have a third car like I did in AZ before I moved here to TN. So I'll try and describe what I'm planning to build.

I found a similar net like yours but in 15x20. I'm going to use ceiling hooks to hang it from the ceiling, doubling it over to make it 15 tall x 10 wide to help with the longevity of the net. Plus the extra length and weight will help keep it from flying around at impact (although I'll likely put something heavy on the excess netting on the floor to help too. I like the net you mentioned for extra protection, so I'll probably grab a couple 15x10 nets and double them back to 15x5 and use those for side nets. I'll grab a quality mat for the garage floor along with something like the R10 (I need the club path data as I work on my swing and the R10 is the only one in this category/price point that does that) to help with the details.

I'll likely grab a long/thick dowel type thing to attached to the bottom of the nets so I can roll them up when not in use and hang them on the hooks. I just haven't figured out in what direction I'm going to hit - at the garage door or at the house door.

[MattF]

@Shrek74 I have mine hanging from the ceiling from hooks and I just put the excess under the front of my mat so the net doesn't move around.

Also, instead of rolling the mat up you could do what I was doing in this picture. Now I just drop the net and keep it with the mat on the floor.

[WILSONPLAYER]

Late question for this post.-

How is the hitting area holding up.  I have read that this can be the most important part of the set up.  Getting the right feel under the club at impact is crucial.

I was looking at the same set up, but with some 1" thick mats I found at Dick's Sporting goods.

 

Thanks