What are your Offseason Plans for 2024?

[GolfSpy AFG]

So, you southern boys may not fully appreciate this, but us Northeasterners and Midwesterners are rapidly running out of golf season.  In my case, I'll play if it's above 40, and there will probably be the occasional day of that without snow over the winter, but my Ohio golf season is dwindling down.  So, I'm turning my attention to how I'll get better during the winter.  (My goals for next year I'll save for another time, but suffice it to say:  get much better.). As you may have read in the What Have You Bought Lately, I'm suddenly a country club member with a wife encouraging me to play more, so damn it I'm going to be ready next year.

First, this will be the first offseason ever where I'll actually be able to take full swings at home.  No, no launch monitor, but I've taken some inspiration and advice from a while back from @Tom the Golf Nut, capitalized on a suddenly extremely cooperative spouse, and converted an upstairs room into a makeshift hitting bay.  

Now, it will be whiffles only, no real balls, but that's okay, because I also bought this...

If you're not familiar with Adam Young (of The Practice Manual fame), he's a big proponent of working on skills versus technique, and The Strike Plan is loaded with drills designed to work on the skill of center-face contact.  My main goal is to wear those drills out to move my contact into the sweet spot on a far more consistent basis.  I'll take 1-3 lessons as well as more of a diagnostic, but the plan for the coming months is to really focus on strike quality.

Oh yeah, and plenty of this as well...

So, those are my offseason plans.  What are yours?  And by all means, give me your feedback on my own plans!

[cnosil]

2 hours ago, Getoffmylawn said:

If you're not familiar with Adam Young (of The Practice Manual fame), he's a big proponent of working on skills versus technique, and The Strike Plan is loaded with drills designed to work on the skill of center-face contact.  My main goal is to wear those drills out to move my contact into the sweet spot on a far more consistent basis.  I'll take 1-3 lessons as well as more of a diagnostic, but the plan for the coming months is to really focus on strike quality.

Please provide your thoughts on this;  I've thought about signing up a few times to also work on strike quality.  

[Vegan_Golfer_PNW]

12 minutes ago, cnosil said:

Please provide your thoughts on this;  I've thought about signing up a few times to also work on strike quality.  

I have both strike and accuracy plans and go back and forth on ideas to mix into my practice sessions after technical work. I really like it. Try to catch some of his discount codes to make it more worth while

Edited October 14, 2023 by Vegan_Golfer_PNW

[Vegan_Golfer_PNW]

BTW, I love these threads. Thank for starting. 

My offseason plans are as follows:

Full swing technique work. My coach has me working on my sequencing. To get things to click, planning on lots of slow deliberate moves with foam balls most the off-season until they click. Some NTC feels in there  

speed work. Going at it differently this go around. Focusing more on my swing technique, pausing at points and then trying to swing fast after the pause point. 
 

Short game. I am going to try to get to the putting green at a course once a week to keep short game in check and help my putting work. Going to use the rain drop aid to make sure my start line is good along with speed. 
 

gym work. Continuing fit for golf. Going to do the off-season work outs (last year did both that and winter strength). Wanting to keep my stabilizers in good shape, hence skipping winter strength. 
 

mental game. Lots of daily meditation. Almost done with Breathe Golf. Highly recommend it. Hopefully leads to even less swing thoughts and more playing golf on the course. 
 

golf play. Can play year round here. May try to get one-two nines a month to try and stay sharp. 

[cnosil]

33 minutes ago, Vegan_Golfer_PNW said:

I have both strike and accuracy plans and go back and forth on ideas to mix into my practice sessions after technical work. I really like it. Try to catch some of his discount codes to make it more worth while

I've been following his social media for a while and watched/read some of the content he has provided.   Having seen my numbers on a launch monitor, my path is pretty good;  I need to work on face control and impact location so I am ideally looking for feedback on if the strike plan does help improved those aspects of the swing.  

[GolfSpy AFG]

1 hour ago, Vegan_Golfer_PNW said:

BTW, I love these threads. Thank for starting. 

My offseason plans are as follows:

Full swing technique work. My coach has me working on my sequencing. To get things to click, planning on lots of slow deliberate moves with foam balls most the off-season until they click. Some NTC feels in there  

speed work. Going at it differently this go around. Focusing more on my swing technique, pausing at points and then trying to swing fast after the pause point. 
 

Short game. I am going to try to get to the putting green at a course once a week to keep short game in check and help my putting work. Going to use the rain drop aid to make sure my start line is good along with speed. 
 

gym work. Continuing fit for golf. Going to do the off-season work outs (last year did both that and winter strength). Wanting to keep my stabilizers in good shape, hence skipping winter strength. 
 

mental game. Lots of daily meditation. Almost done with Breathe Golf. Highly recommend it. Hopefully leads to even less swing thoughts and more playing golf on the course. 
 

golf play. Can play year round here. May try to get one-two nines a month to try and stay sharp. 

Nice.

I think you’ll find the pause in the speed training will actually help your speeds. Plenty of people, myself included, report faster times when they let everything “set” so to speak at the top of the swing before firing.

And I should have added the meditation work to my regimen as well.  Daily use of my Waking Up membership.

[GolfSpy AFG]

1 hour ago, cnosil said:

I've been following his social media for a while and watched/read some of the content he has provided.   Having seen my numbers on a launch monitor, my path is pretty good;  I need to work on face control and impact location so I am ideally looking for feedback on if the strike plan does help improved those aspects of the swing.  

Chris, it’s too early for me to offer feedback on any improvements or not, but I can tell you the quality is good.  Lots of demonstrations of ball flight laws and why things happen, then lots of drills to work on to improve strike quality.  Worth $60?  Debatable; some of the video is pretty much reiterating what he’s already put out in The Practice Manual, and the drills are not revolutionary or unique to him.  But, so far I’m optimistic it was a good investment.

[cnosil]

11 minutes ago, Getoffmylawn said:

Chris, it’s too early for me to offer feedback on any improvements or not, but I can tell you the quality is good.  Lots of demonstrations of ball flight laws and why things happen, then lots of drills to work on to improve strike quality.  Worth $60?  Debatable; some of the video is pretty much reiterating what he’s already put out in The Practice Manual, and the drills are not revolutionary or unique to him.  But, so far I’m optimistic it was a good investment.

I figured it was too early, but wanted to let you know we want status reports

 

Edited October 14, 2023 by cnosil

[cksurfdude]

5 hours ago, Getoffmylawn said:

First, this will be the first offseason ever where I'll actually be able to take full swings at home.

Nice! Just an fyi SKLZ has a 7 ft pop-up net at a reasonable price...

https://sklz.com/home-driving-range-kit.html

They used to have rectangular ones called "Quikster" but this newer one looks pretty useful and easy setup/takedown.

 

[GolfSpy_BEN]

This coming off-season, my approach will be similar to last. I plan to do the following:

Golf Specific

• Virtual Golf League at the Top Tracer Range near me. This is a good way to keep the swing in shape and the competitive juices flowing throughout the winter. It is once a week, as it fits into my schedule. The only drawback being that there is no putting, because it is played at a driving range.
• Nightly putting on the mat, with an emphasis on speed control within the limitations of the mat. May look to upgrade to a birdie ball mat this winter, so that I can incorporate longer putts than the current 9' max, as well as adding break into the putts, so that I can work on picking out the line. 
• Continued work with the net and Rapsodo, working on face control and maintaining swing path for desired shot shape and impact location.

Golf Adjacent

• Mobility and Strength training to gain back some of my lost speed - Regimen TBD
• Explore Yoga for mindfulness and flexibility

One other aspect, will be upgrading to the MLM2 Pro from the original MLM. Because it is a superior unit, but also to take full advantage of the Virtual features.

[GolfSpy_SHARK]

This coming off season I’ll be getting back into my plyometric routine as well as a lot of core specific training. The plyos help me so much in flexibility and overall strength, do not feel like I need a ton of weight training to get the speed gains.

other than that I’ll be putting up a hitting net underneath the porch for the off season to get some weekly swings in outside of the simulator down the street. Bring on 2024 baby!

[Placasse61]

Definitely core work and flexibility. I preach this to my track athletes as that is their power and engine stability. I have noticed this year that hips and lower back tighten up way too much and alters my swing enough that I end up pulling or pushing shots because of the tightness! I went from a 22 to a 20 (at one time in the 19's) this year and hope to get down to an 18 in 2024!

[funkyjudge]

I live in Eastern PA (20-25 miles north of Philadelphia and 10 miles from Trenton, NJ), and there is no "golf off-season" for me. My team is playing in the semifinals of the NJ Senior Golf League Championships on Tuesday, and if we win the Finals are on Tuesday, 10/24.  The Winter Golf Tour that I play on (24 events in NJ and one in PA) begins on November 2 and goes through early April.  I also play in two indoor leagues on simulators from November through March.

[cnosil]

Don't have much of an off season in southeastern VA.  I continue to play until if gets to about 40*F.    Also MGS most wanted testing typically starts up in December so that helps get me through the winter season.  

[barney_bogey]

Central VA here so not much time off but 500 balls a week in the garage is entirely within reason.

Flexibility training and continued strength training. I'm going to pick up 5 miles per hour this winter!



B

[Hacker60521]

I’d really appreciate anyone’s thoughts on my winter regimen but here are my general thoughts. As a matter of background I already do cardio three days a week and strength training three days a week. 10-15 minutes of stretching each evening. 
 

In terms of golf I want to break my work into different days  Luckily I have an indoor simulator 

Day 1: Hybrids, woods, driver 

Day 2: Chipping, Pitching, Putting

Day 3: Full swing irons

Day 4: Full wedge shots

Day 5: Full 18 holes on simulator 

Thanks in advance for any thoughts. 

[BMart519]

McGill big 3 and other mobility work.
Resistance training featuring “the big hitters manual”
Clay Ballard’s 20 minute distance fix and possibly the stack

Exputt for lag putts, and rolling balls down a yard stick for start line.

Approach mode for 40-100 yard partial wedges on sc200 launch monitor. Trying to hit a target painted on my hitting net with driver. 

[GolfSpy AFG]

8 hours ago, Hacker60521 said:

I’d really appreciate anyone’s thoughts on my winter regimen but here are my general thoughts. As a matter of background I already do cardio three days a week and strength training three days a week. 10-15 minutes of stretching each evening. 
 

In terms of golf I want to break my work into different days  Luckily I have an indoor simulator 

Day 1: Hybrids, woods, driver 

Day 2: Chipping, Pitching, Putting

Day 3: Full swing irons

Day 4: Full wedge shots

Day 5: Full 18 holes on simulator 

Thanks in advance for any thoughts. 

Well, I’m in no position to say it’s right or wrong, but I’m not sure I would relegate myself to just one particular group of clubs per day like that.  That seems very heavy on block practice vs random. In which case perhaps each day should be spent on block practice working on a particular drill or technique issue, and then more random practice in the second half of the practice.

9 hours ago, barney_bogey said:

Central VA here so not much time off but 500 balls a week in the garage is entirely within reason.

Flexibility training and continued strength training. I'm going to pick up 5 miles per hour this winter!



B

Any speed training planned to help pick up that 5 mph?

[cnosil]

 

2 hours ago, Getoffmylawn said:

Well, I’m in no position to say it’s right or wrong, but I’m not sure I would relegate myself to just one particular group of clubs per day like that.  That seems very heavy on block practice vs random. In which case perhaps each day should be spent on block practice working on a particular drill or technique issue, and then more random practice in the second half of the practice.

my questions were along the lines of what was the approach to the practice?   The debate of block versus random is always interesting.  If working on technique, figuring out carry distances, building stock shot, or dispersion patterns block might be a better way.   For dialing in distances on command random is obviously better.   There was a hack it out podcast with Adam young where they discuss the benefits of each.   

11 hours ago, Hacker60521 said:

In terms of golf I want to break my work into different days  Luckily I have an indoor simulator 

Day 1: Hybrids, woods, driver 

Day 2: Chipping, Pitching, Putting

Day 3: Full swing irons

Day 4: Full wedge shots

Day 5: Full 18 holes on simulator 

Thanks in advance for any thoughts. 

 

my question would be what is the intent/approach to the practice?  For example how are you going to practice putting and what are you trying to achieve?  Why separate “full” wedge and distance/finesse wedges?  What is you evaluation approach to see if you are getting better?   What does the simulator measure?  

 

 

[russtopherb]

I'm going to work on my fitness and cardio like every winter, and I'm going to read a lot of books and play Red Dead Redemption.

My clubs go in the closet at the end of my season (which lately has been well into November thankfully) and they stay there until March or so. I rather enjoy the downtime. 

[Hacker60521]

3 hours ago, Getoffmylawn said:

Well, I’m in no position to say it’s right or wrong, but I’m not sure I would relegate myself to just one particular group of clubs per day like that.  That seems very heavy on block practice vs random. In which case perhaps each day should be spent on block practice working on a particular drill or technique issue, and then more random practice in the second half of the practice.

@Getoffmylawn thanks for your thoughts. I like your idea about random practice and was thinking the simulated round would do a bit of that. Maybe I’ll try to add a second day of a simulator round or add some random work to the second half of the practice like practicing punch shots, etc Much appreciated 

[Hacker60521]

37 minutes ago, cnosil said:

 

my questions were along the lines of what was the approach to the practice?   The debate of block versus random is always interesting.  If working on technique, figuring out carry distances, building stock shot, or dispersion patterns block might be a better way.   For dialing in distances on command random is obviously better.   There was a hack it out podcast with Adam young where they discuss the benefits of each.   

 

my question would be what is the intent/approach to the practice?  For example how are you going to practice putting and what are you trying to achieve?  Why separate “full” wedge and distance/finesse wedges?  What is you evaluation approach to see if you are getting better?   What does the simulator measure?  

 

 

@cnosil these are great questions. I don’t want to get overly detailed but my broad goals for the winter are:

• Staying “game ready” so when the courses open up I’m closer to my regular season form. This is probably random
• Working on consistency in terms of ball contact, flight, distance, dispersion - so this is probably more block type work
• Following up from you and @Getoffmylawn I should probably add time to mix in those random shots we all have to take during the season like punch and run, etc

To your questions. For putting it’s all about getting my percentages up from within 3’, 5’ 8’. Separating my wedge work is arbitrary. There’s no reason I couldn’t combine the work. I have an AboutGolf simulator at home, so it measures pretty much everything although the one thing I don’t collect is where on the club face the ball is hit.

[cnosil]

4 minutes ago, Hacker60521 said:

 

To your questions. For putting it’s all about getting my percentages up from within 3’, 5’ 8’. Separating my wedge work is arbitrary. There’s no reason I couldn’t combine the work. I have an AboutGolf simulator at home, so it measures pretty much everything although the one thing I don’t collect is where on the club face the ball is hit.

Club face location is easy to check.   Dry erase marker on back of ball (just don’t do this if you hit into a white screen), Impact tape, foot spray.   I love all things putting so going to ask more questions.   How are you going to work on those percentages and what are they?   Do you have startline issues? Read issues? speed issues?  Impact location issues? Consistent aim issues?   How are you going to build those skills?  In my opinion mindlessly rolling a straight 8’ putt on a mat isn’t going to do a lot to improve your putting since you really aren’t building skills.   

[GolfSpy AFG]

Just now, cnosil said:

Club face location is easy to check.   Dry erase marker on back of ball (just don’t do this if you hit into a white screen), Impact tape, foot spray.   I love all things putting so going to ask more questions.   How are you going to work on those percentages and what are they?   Do you have startline issues? Read issues? speed issues?  Impact location issues? Consistent aim issues?   How are you going to build those skills?  In my opinion mindlessly rolling a straight 8’ putt on a mat isn’t going to do a lot to improve your putting since you really aren’t building skills.   

Agreed.  And, if you’re a DECADE believer (like me) you’ll generally agree that starting a putt on line is probably the easiest of the requisite skills for successful putting.

[TylorJudd]

On 10/14/2023 at 12:51 PM, Ben Joest said:

This coming off-season, my approach will be similar to last. I plan to do the following:

Golf Specific

• Virtual Golf League at the Top Tracer Range near me. This is a good way to keep the swing in shape and the competitive juices flowing throughout the winter. It is once a week, as it fits into my schedule. The only drawback being that there is no putting, because it is played at a driving range.
• Nightly putting on the mat, with an emphasis on speed control within the limitations of the mat. May look to upgrade to a birdie ball mat this winter, so that I can incorporate longer putts than the current 9' max, as well as adding break into the putts, so that I can work on picking out the line. 
• Continued work with the net and Rapsodo, working on face control and maintaining swing path for desired shot shape and impact location.

Golf Adjacent

• Mobility and Strength training to gain back some of my lost speed - Regimen TBD
• Explore Yoga for mindfulness and flexibility

One other aspect, will be upgrading to the MLM2 Pro from the original MLM. Because it is a superior unit, but also to take full advantage of the Virtual features.

+1 on yoga. I do this before each round, if I don't I find my legs/back get too tight and I find my back leg gets to active in my downswing, and I'm guessing here, the tightness springs the leg forward and forces my swing path out and hosel follows quite quickly. I was able to drop 34lbs, so now I'll start go to the gym to work on the frame I have and my swing knows. Medicine balls and kettle bells are in my future

[Hacker60521]

26 minutes ago, cnosil said:

Club face location is easy to check.   Dry erase marker on back of ball (just don’t do this if you hit into a white screen), Impact tape, foot spray.   I love all things putting so going to ask more questions.   How are you going to work on those percentages and what are they?   Do you have startline issues? Read issues? speed issues?  Impact location issues? Consistent aim issues?   How are you going to build those skills?  In my opinion mindlessly rolling a straight 8’ putt on a mat isn’t going to do a lot to improve your putting since you really aren’t building skills.   

I’m definitely thinking about impact tape knowing that ball flight and stuff won’t be accurate. So thanks for reinforcing that. 
 

I completely agree with you that I don’t want to just stand there and roll putts mindlessly. I really try to start each putt new from grip to setup, etc..in terms of putting, my speed / distance is pretty good in that I can usually two putt my way off the green. Very small data set (five rounds) from ShotScope but my 0-3’ is 96% (no gimmes), 3-6’ 72%, 6-9’ 52% with an average of 29 putts / round. I like rolling a ball down a yardstick as a drill.

Reading greens is probably my weakest area. 

[TitleistMike]

I live in metro Atlanta so I can play golf comfortably most weeks Nov to Feb. 

Otherwise, once a week at PGA Superstore practice bays off the launch monitor.  

[Swood1994]

I think this off season I’ll be working on strength training and cardio along with a lot of indoor putting drills with a couple of simulator visits sprinkled in. I’m also hoping to go south for a golf trip one weekends this winter. 

This is all dependent on schedule and what life throws my way. Currently my work out room is buried with everything from my second floor that is still under construction. I need to get that done with the plan to be competed before the new year. We’ll see if I can make that happen

[cnosil]

9 minutes ago, Hacker60521 said:

I completely agree with you that I don’t want to just stand there and roll putts mindlessly. I really try to start each putt new from grip to setup, etc..in terms of putting, my speed / distance is pretty good in that I can usually two putt my way off the green. Very small data set (five rounds) from ShotScope but my 0-3’ is 96% (no gimmes), 3-6’ 72%, 6-9’ 52% with an average of 29 putts / round. I like rolling a ball down a yardstick as a drill.

Reading greens is probably my weakest area. 

Not horrible make percentages and seem to be the right ball park.   29 putts doesn’t tell you a lot without more data like how many greens you hit and/or proximity to hole.   Reading greens is something that is difficult to do at home; unless you want to do something like the Tour Read app and learn/practice the formulas or setup an adjustable platform that you can create you own breaks.  Unfortunately, other than the basics it is hard to really practice putting at home.   I use the ExPutt simulator and it has been great for practicing speed control 

[Byrnzee]

Offseason plans include:

1. Simulator work - New PGA Superstore opened up not too far from me. They charge $29/hour for their sims, which is fairly reasonable compared to their competitors. Going to try to go once a week or so just to stay sharp and get some reps in.

2. Lessons - Going to be continuing my swing change journey by getting a few lessons over the winter. Hoping to make even more progress in order to get more consistent next season and keep lowering that handicap.

3. Travel - My fiancée's parents have a condo in Florida and I'm planning on taking full advantage when I can. Hoping for at least one or two trips down there in the offseason to enjoy some nice weather, get some rounds in, and forget that I live in the arctic. 

Edited October 16, 2023 by Byrnzee