What are your Offseason Plans for 2024?

[BParshall]

My Plan for this off season is to work on my putting. Tee to green I do ok. I worked a lot on my chipping late in the season and that has gotten much better. BUT my putting is atrocious. I could easily knock at least 4-5 strokes of my score if I could just manage to sink a few puts. 

[cksurfdude]

Fitness.

First and foremost.

For years I've generally been in pretty good shape, but this past year or so things seemed to have slipped some...

I really need to rebuild my overall conditioning and will be working on a combo of things including aerobics, light strength training, dynamic movements for mobility, yoga, stretching and flexibility, lots and lots of hip and leg exercises, more cardio and aerobics, etc etc etc. 

Golfing-wise... will be doing several different things, including..

• lots of rehearsals of the slow motion drill with a weighted club;
• lots of swings with my Orange Whips and some drills with the OW Light Speed;
• chipping, pitching and impact drills into the net in the garage;
• lots of putting in the basement plus time on the ExPutt (indoor putting simulator with Practice, Challenge and Play modes);
• drills from Monte's NTC and will also be rewatching his Use The Bounce and especially Bunker vids;
• going to the range when it's open and weather is reasonable; 
• heading out for 9 here and there if course is open and weather is reasonable .. and/or go to a fun Par 3 not too far away where each hole is a mini re-creation of a famous Par 3 hole;
• reading through "The Four Foundations" and going through a mental game training program I have;
• and etc!

Yeah so a heckuva lot to do but if The Farmer's Almanac is anywhere near right it's gonna be a looong ccccoolldd Winter in the Northeast!!

Good luck to all you other Spies reaching all your goals!

[Kenny B]

41 minutes ago, cksurfdude said:

Fitness.

First and foremost.

For years I've generally been in pretty good shape, but this past year or so things seemed to have slipped some...

I really need to rebuild my overall conditioning and will be working on a combo of things including aerobics, light strength training, dynamic movements for mobility, yoga, stretching and flexibility, lots and lots of hip and leg exercises, more cardio and aerobics, etc etc etc. 

Golfing-wise... will be doing several different things, including..

• lots of rehearsals of the slow motion drill with a weighted club;
• lots of swings with my Orange Whips and some drills with the OW Light Speed;
• chipping, pitching and impact drills into the net in the garage;
• lots of putting in the basement plus time on the ExPutt (indoor putting simulator with Practice, Challenge and Play modes);
• drills from Monte's NTC and will also be rewatching his Use The Bounce and especially Bunker vids;
• going to the range when it's open and weather is reasonable; 
• heading out for 9 here and there if course is open and weather is reasonable .. and/or go to a fun Par 3 not too far away where each hole is a mini re-creation of a famous Par 3 hole;
• reading through "The Four Foundations" and going through a mental game training program I have;
• and etc!

 

Sounds like a plan... I'll just copy all of this!!  Thanks Chuck!    The only difference is that for years I was not generally in pretty good shape.  Better over the past year, but more is needed.  Hopefully, I'll get a little better before my time runs out.

[barney_bogey]

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

I think flexibility work will go a long way, pun intended!

I've been looking at different training devices. The stack seems most interesting right now. Been following the tester thread.

I've also changed my split at the gym to include some golf focused exercises. Core and butt specifically.

Beyond that, I think lessons will improve my sequence and timing.

What am I missing? You have a regimen that's worked for you in the past? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

B

[Hacker60521]

13 hours ago, cnosil said:

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 

Thanks @cnosil  I agree that reading greens isn’t something easy to practice. But I’ll definitely take a look at ExPutt. I didn’t even know it existed. 

[Parshooter36]

I plan to buy the Hackmotion system to work on my game this offseason.  I'm dealing with a medical issue at the moment, but once I see how that's going to play out I will pull the trigger.

[GolfSpy AFG]

10 hours ago, barney_bogey said:

I think flexibility work will go a long way, pun intended!

I've been looking at different training devices. The stack seems most interesting right now. Been following the tester thread.

I've also changed my split at the gym to include some golf focused exercises. Core and butt specifically.

Beyond that, I think lessons will improve my sequence and timing.

What am I missing? You have a regimen that's worked for you in the past? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

B

I’m no expert and not in a position to prescribe my own regimen.  In short: it had been working until some medical issues got in the way that I’m slowly putting behind me.  But, the foundation was speed training with the Stack followed by weights on MWF, then mobility work on Tuesday/Thursday.

Not saying what you’re contemplating won’t work, in fact if done correctly it absolutely will.  But, just recognize that the absolute most efficient means to gain clubhead speed is variable inertia speed training, re Stack, Rypstick, SuperSpeed.

[Emag315]

I plan on pounding balls at home, the range or  TopGolf. Plan on putting at PuttShack

[BMart519]

On 10/16/2023 at 7:29 AM, cnosil said:

 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.   

If this is purely rolling a flat putt then I mostly agree but you can still see miss bias and compare putters. If you are using a good practice station I would strongly disagree. Using a metal yard stick to constrain your start line to a tighter width, tracking your right/left miss patterns and possible tweaking ball position or grip to improve make rates is valuable. As well as comparing multiple putters to hit start lines. 

Bonus points for a mirror to check alignment/eye position. This stuff is the most important putting practice you can do indoors unless you have an exputt or some other way to work on lags/distance control. Also does wonders for confidence if you are in the habit of making 8-10' putts everyday. Also add aspects of pressure by requiring yourself to make 5-10 in a row before stopping. 

[Shrek74]

I have a few things that will be going into play very soon as our season here in the Tennessee Plateau comes to an end.

1. Hang a net from the garage ceiling to hit into.
2. Grab a quality mat to hit off of so I don't do any more damage to my joints
3. Work on stuff from my swing coach in the garage at least 2x a week.
4. Utilize the last few lessons purchased over the 3-4 months before Spring along with my garage practice.
5. Utilize the Peloton App to focus on Stretching, Pilates, and Yoga to make myself nice and stretchy.
6. Correct my eating habits to be healthier to assist in my effort to lose weight and get healthier (and help in the fight against my kidney disease).
7. Get on a schedule to go to the gym 3-4x a week to strengthen my body and lose weight while also helping with that stretchy goal.
8. Less couch time, more action time. If I want to play lots of golf next year, it won't happen chilling on the couch and it won't be good golf just sitting on the couch.

Lots of goals and stuff. But I have the plan in my head to make it all happen without getting overwhelmed. Plus I have a few friends/family that will be doing some of these themselves to help keep us all motivated.

If anyone is interested in any of these more activity-based goals (and even the eating goal) for themselves and would be interested in having an accountability partner to help them stay motivated, let me know. I'd love to help anyone who would want that, plus it helps keep me going too. Lord knows I could use the help.

Peloton is offering a 60-day free trial on their app, which I'll be taking full advantage of (I'm not advocating for it/them or anything since I have no experience with Peloton at all, I just thought I'd mention it since I'm taking advantage of it and I don't need any of their equipment to use it). That'll take me right up to Christmas which works out great, because if I like it and find I use it, a full year membership will be a gift to myself.

Anyway, lots of stuff to get rolling after I get home from my work trip next week.

[cnosil]

1 minute ago, BMart519 said:

If this is purely rolling a flat putt then I mostly agree but you can still see miss bias and compare putters. If you are using a good practice station I would strongly disagree. Using a metal yard stick to constrain your start line to a tighter width, tracking your right/left miss patterns and possible tweaking ball position or grip to improve make rates is valuable. As well as comparing multiple putters to hit start lines. 

Bonus points for a mirror to check alignment/eye position. This stuff is the most important putting practice you can do indoors unless you have an exputt or some other way to work on lags/distance control. Also does wonders for confidence if you are in the habit of making 8-10' putts everyday. Also add aspects of pressure by requiring yourself to make 5-10 in a row before stopping. 

partially  agree.   My point was referencing players that get a mat and roll 100 straight 8’ putts everyday and get their make rate in excess of 90%.  Yes, you can judge startline and evaluate putters but it probably won’t translate well to actual play since you have to deal with speed control and reading breaks.   Additionally, With the block practice things you describe the important part that isn’t acknowledged is there has to be learning associated with that practice…basically what are the movements involved and why did I miss.  

[GolfSpy AFG]

The putting discussion is weighing on my mind.  In my last round with @Ben JoestI putted poorly; I had a quite a few really good chip shots spoiled by short misses with the putter…in most cases I was mis-reading the putt on the low side.

I’m hoping to use Stack Putting to work on my putting on my home practice green, but I’m also thinking about working on green reading, specifically AimPoint Express.  @cnosil, do I remember right that you’ve dabbled in AimPoint?  Thoughts?

[GolfSpy_BEN]

19 minutes ago, Getoffmylawn said:

The putting discussion is weighing on my mind.  In my last round with @Ben JoestI putted poorly; I had a quite a few really good chip shots spoiled by short misses with the putter…in most cases I was mis-reading the putt on the low side.

I’m hoping to use Stack Putting to work on my putting on my home practice green, but I’m also thinking about working on green reading, specifically AimPoint Express.  @cnosil, do I remember right that you’ve dabbled in AimPoint?  Thoughts?

While the results were disappointing for you, it is worth keeping in mind that you are breaking in a new putter. A putter that almost everyone of our testers have reported needs a period of acclimation. FWIW, I didn’t think you putted poorly overall. Your lags were all very good. 

[cnosil]

35 minutes ago, Getoffmylawn said:

 @cnosil, do I remember right that you’ve dabbled in AimPoint?  Thoughts?

I have read a lot about aimpoint and aimpoint express.   I have also read the H.A. Templeton book and taken a vector putting course.   Based on watching the various professional tours it is apparent the approach is widely accepted and used.   Even if you don't take a class just doing some research on how it works would be valuable, IMO. 

 

12 minutes ago, Ben Joest said:

While the results were disappointing for you, it is worth keeping in mind that you are breaking in a new putter. A putter that almost everyone of our testers have reported needs a period of acclimation. FWIW, I didn’t think you putted poorly overall. Your lags were all very good. 

what are you putting with now?

[GolfSpy AFG]

4 minutes ago, cnosil said:

I have read a lot about aimpoint and aimpoint express.   I have also read the H.A. Templeton book and taken a vector putting course.   Based on watching the various professional tours it is apparent the approach is widely accepted and used.   Even if you don't take a class just doing some research on how it works would be valuable, IMO. 

 

what are you putting with now?

Chris, I’m test driving a LAB Mezz.1 Max.  

As you well know, the DF didn’t work for me, but the Mezz.1 Max…so far I’m impressed.

And I think I will dive in on AimPoint.  Thanks.

[GolfSpy AFG]

22 minutes ago, Ben Joest said:

While the results were disappointing for you, it is worth keeping in mind that you are breaking in a new putter. A putter that almost everyone of our testers have reported needs a period of acclimation. FWIW, I didn’t think you putted poorly overall. Your lags were all very good. 

Awww, shucks…

[BMart519]

1 hour ago, Getoffmylawn said:

The putting discussion is weighing on my mind.  In my last round with @Ben JoestI putted poorly; I had a quite a few really good chip shots spoiled by short misses with the putter…in most cases I was mis-reading the putt on the low side.

I’m hoping to use Stack Putting to work on my putting on my home practice green, but I’m also thinking about working on green reading, specifically AimPoint Express.  @cnosil, do I remember right that you’ve dabbled in AimPoint?  Thoughts?

I've used aimpoint express for a number of years... Big fan of the certainty it creates it selecting a target. Makes for some interesting disputes with caddies when you disagree with their reads LOL. 

After looking at some math from Exputt and stimp charts for greens, I also take a read standing parallel to the line of my putt to estimate % uphill or downhill to adjust the total length of my putt that I pace off for the Aimpoint read. This works well for me as I equate distance of putt to length of backswing and have certain checkpoints around my trail foot for 20 & 30 feet then out to 45'. For the "feel" putters out there it probably doesn't work. 

Just the process of pacing off the putt helps me focus on my routine on the green as I have a habit of rushing in general on the course. Gives a rough idea of distance and feel slight variations in uphill and downhill. Also variation hole to hole when you notice a green that is much firmer/dryer and vice versa which might influence things. 

The downside is it requires regular maintenance and intermittent checks that your slope feels line up with the actual read. It's best to plan on spending at least 10 minutes prior to the round to dial in unless you play 1 course repeatedly. Sometimes I'll feel like I need to be to exact picking an intermediate point to roll the ball over on the way to the aimpoint and am trying to visualize a channel closer to the width of the hole now to free things up on shorter putts. 

[cksurfdude]

Also an AimPoint Express user. Attended an in person clinic a few years ago, and it literally transformed my putting!

The key thing is that AimPoint has simplified the green reading and line selection processes .. so that I can focus completely on speed / distance control.

Def recommend looking into it!

[WaffleHouseTour]

Planned off season putting practice : BirdieBall mat to groove the stroke (something I did and improved upon last winter) and standing on an AimPoint slope board to improve me feel so I know where to aim that grooved stroke. I feel aimpoint has helped me this year, but I can get better at correctly feeling that slope. 

[EMJL]

Thanks for making the thread, @Getoffmylawn.

 

I've always lived in a cold (winter) climate, so the offseason was time for my golf game to regress. But no longer. The goals this year are

1) Get stronger. I just finished the 3rd week of Fit for Golf's Winter Strength Workout. 

2) Get faster. I took the plunge on the Stack System and am two sessions into the foundation training.

3) Stop sliding so far forward in the downswing. I am fortunate to have been able to get a simulator this last year, so between that and recording video on my tablet, I should have enough a reasonable chance at making this happen. (The reason to make this change is to cut down on the number of shots I block to the right).

 

A friend of mine who has had a simulator for a number of years gave me some advice. He said to only work on one, maybe two, things over the winter because when he did more than that, he made no progress. Does that line up with all of your experiences or have you successfully made many changes in a single 4-5 month period?

 

 

[cksurfdude]

6 hours ago, EMJL said:

A friend of mine who has had a simulator for a number of years gave me some advice. He said to only work on one, maybe two, things over the winter because when he did more than that, he made no progress. Does that line up with all of your experiences or have you successfully made many changes in a single 4-5 month period?

In my somewhat limited experience compared to many others here, I would absolutely agree with your friend.

But.. my 2¢ .. find that one thing that's the "key" to unlocking your better swing and work work work on that one thing until you completely get it understand it feel it.

Then .. think about swing key #2.

 

[EMJL]

11 hours ago, cksurfdude said:

But.. my 2¢ .. find that one thing that's the "key" to unlocking your better swing and work work work on that one thing until you completely get it understand it feel it.

Then .. think about swing key #2.

 

It is tempting to try to "fix" everything right away, so it's good to hear this message from another source.

 

Whether I've actually identified the key swing issue to work on is up for debate, but we'll see how it goes. 

[Goober]

One more visit to the tour striker academy this spring.And keep on working on what I was taught.Treat each hole I play as a new opportunity and learning experience.

[Muckinfiddle]

My plan is to work on my mechanics and sort out where my distance loss comes from. So far, I've done a little bit on my shot improvement thanks to my mevo+. I'll probably break down and buy the face recognition add-on to see if I'm hitting the sweet spot or not regularly. I suspect I may not be. I also plan to implement a more consistent flexibility regime which I put together from a huberman podcast. I just need to get myself to be consistent with it because I have a tendency to forget to do it. I will still try to get in a few rounds if there's areas near me that don't have snow on the ground and it's not too cold. I canceled the tee time today because it was windy and cold. I thought I was going to be able to put up with it but I was just too concerned that the wind was going to be a problem at 10 to 20 mph and it feels like temperature 33°. It's looking like Thursday might be an option though.

[GaryF]

We don’t really have an offseason here but I don’t enjoy playing when it’s cold and/or wet so I generally shut golf down between mid Dec to mid Feb and work on conditioning which includes maintaining flexibility, core, and just general overall strength.

Actually started the conditioning right after thanksgiving.  Spinning, a lot with a kinesis machine, forward/reverse lunges with weights, weights with upper and lower body but nothing outrageous.  I’ve found the core exercises to be the most beneficial specially for increasing distance.  

Twenty years ago was diagnosed with spondylolithesis (vertebrae forward slippage due to pars fractures years ago in auto accident) at l4/l5.  Two years ago started to have more frequent flare ups (right side) and ended up in pt for the off season.  Again, flare ups have started again but on this time on the left which for 20 years was never the case.  Taking strong anti inflammatory ( meloxicam) and not working.  Going to shut every thing down until new years then start back up.  If still not better will be scheduling a visit to my spine doc and likely get an updated mri. 
 

[cksurfdude]

5 hours ago, GaryF said:

Twenty years ago was diagnosed with spondylolithesis (vertebrae forward slippage due to pars fractures years ago in auto accident) at l4/l5.  Two years ago started to have more frequent flare ups (right side) and ended up in pt

My back not as bad as yours but still have a few different structural problems... Been seeing a new chiropractor, and an acupuncturist, and gotta say I am starting to feel better.

Don't know your opinion on Chiro but in some cases it can help.

And yeah Meloxicam very strong stuff! ..boy if that's not helping...

[Kenny B]

19 hours ago, GaryF said:

We don’t really have an offseason here but I don’t enjoy playing when it’s cold and/or wet so I generally shut golf down between mid Dec to mid Feb and work on conditioning which includes maintaining flexibility, core, and just general overall strength.

Actually started the conditioning right after thanksgiving.  Spinning, a lot with a kinesis machine, forward/reverse lunges with weights, weights with upper and lower body but nothing outrageous.  I’ve found the core exercises to be the most beneficial specially for increasing distance.  

Twenty years ago was diagnosed with spondylolithesis (vertebrae forward slippage due to pars fractures years ago in auto accident) at l4/l5.  Two years ago started to have more frequent flare ups (right side) and ended up in pt for the off season.  Again, flare ups have started again but on this time on the left which for 20 years was never the case.  Taking strong anti inflammatory ( meloxicam) and not working.  Going to shut every thing down until new years then start back up.  If still not better will be scheduling a visit to my spine doc and likely get an updated mri. 
 

After my Dr. visit in October I started physical therapy for my back pain after his referral.  I had been doing core exercises for a year and that's helped.  The therapist told me to stop some of them and added others and that has helped even more, but I always have a slight pain.  The therapist has been working on my hips (right side is particularly tight).  I don't take any medication when playing golf except for a CBD gummy.

I'm not playing as much this winter as in the past (don't enjoy playing in the cold weather anymore.  I will play occasionally with my wife just to get outside, but most golf exercise is taking place in my hitting bay.  I also found out that my new medicare plan also includes a free gym membership, so I will be taking advantage of that for access to training equipment I don't have.

My wife was diagnosed with spondylolisthesis when she was in the 1970's (L5-S1) when she was riding horses.  Bad time to do surgery then, so she lived with it.  Before her surgery in 2008 she was wearing a 100ug/hour fentanyl patch and taking four 10/500 hydrocodone a day.  Now she only takes one 5/300 pill and only when she plays golf.  Unfortunately, the doc said this year that her L4-L5 is getting worse. She doesn't want to do the surgery again, unless it's absolutely necessary for quality of life.

[GaryF]

22 hours ago, cksurfdude said:

My back not as bad as yours but still have a few different structural problems... Been seeing a new chiropractor, and an acupuncturist, and gotta say I am starting to feel better.

Don't know your opinion on Chiro but in some cases it can help.

And yeah Meloxicam very strong stuff! ..boy if that's not helping...

I have seen a Chiro off and on for a number of years.  Mostly see a Chiro for subluxation around t8 that can get extremely painful (brooks Koopka has had that issue in the past) but with proper stretching haven’t had that in a few years.  

IVe done extremely well with the spondy and mostly only take the meloxicam as needed and typically only for a few days at a time.  First diagnosed 20 years ago as a level 1 and did a lot to strengthen core and hamstrings.  Have done amazingly well until 2 years ago I started having flareups with much more frequency.  Saw the ortho/spine doc and got the updated mri but amazing still level 1, almost a 2.  But in addition to the l4/5 spondy, also discovered 4 other bulges and ligament tear at l3/4. I’m 5-9 165 so don’t have any weight issues.

Like @Kenny B (sorry to hear about your wife) was sent for PT. They were amazing and spent a lot of time experimenting on various stretches and seeing if or how the stretches affected strength in my legs.  I can bend forward and being quite and almost touch my palms on the floor but immediately lose strength in my legs. Arching back immediately strengthens.  

Did a lot of core work and in the past 2 years very minimal issues or discomfort and have increased swing speed from around 88 to 95. In the past year, had only taken about 25 meloxicams total.  But now I’m getting strong discomfort and much more nerve pain different from before. I think sciatic nerve. Whenever I golf or go to the range I do quite a bit of stretches and basic yoga which really helps. 

Anyways, likely will see the doc next year if this doesn’t get better.  And one more piece of good news, the head therapist for my PT is TPI certified.  

 

Edited December 19, 2023 by GaryF

[Goober]

Flexibility x100000. I gained some much needed yards this year. No way I want to lose that mojo 

[Shapotomous]

Cold weather stretching for core, legs and shoulders is a continuation of what I did intermittently during the warmer months.

I have added some lighter weight exercises for core, shoulders, forearms, wrists since outdoor work lessens during the cold weather months. 

The core and shoulder exercises are not necessarily golf game specific but to keep from general aches and pains.  Which translates to golf since less aches and pains means a better, more consistent swing from day to day.  The forearm and wrist strength workouts are golf specific.  I believe it helps me to have better control over the club to keep the face square at impact.