My Swing Speed Journey

[DeanoMK]

Any of them, even just your driver, will give the bulk of the gains. But gain you will, if you try. Thats the real point.

Absolutely spot on! Having the intention to swing faster is such a big difference, so many people are scared of it but I guarantee if you embrace it, not only will the distance improve but so too will the dispersion.

 

[Backsticks]

Yes, faster swing = better seing. You wont be faster if you dont improve the swing. And being guided by the monitor and trying to be faster = trying to find a better swing. People were hamstrung for decades trying to copy supposedly ideal positions, and looking for a magic move, or secret technique. It did only harm. Its a dynamic motion.
A launch monitor is worth a hundred pros, as a guide to improving your swing.

 

[Springveldt]

Did a Stack session today, even though I am no sticking to its regime. Doing a couple a fast range sessions per week. Still creeping up. About a mph per 6 weeks.

Stack app has a couple of things going for it, that are more psychological/motivational I think, than technical.

One, it has a schedule and gives you a score for how well you stick to it. Mine has plummeted, as of course it is blind to my range sessions with the driver. And it is a key point, regularly pushing for speed, increases speed.

Two, it has a lot of weight combinations, and for each, a Step, Max, Full, and, a single swing and group of (5-8) swings records. It is motivational - 'I just broke a records, so I must be still making progress'. But...has so many combinations (80 ish ?), that I guess part of the algorithm can play with you to maintain a motivational illusion of progress even if its not there. But cynical in a way or not, it keeps you going.

My guess is that if you can hit 30 balls, full out against a monitor, trying to drive the number up, every 2-3 days, ideally with a slightly heavier, and alightly lighter club mixed in, then you have 95% of speed training. Differences between the various systems are minimal. Any of them, even just your driver, will give the bulk of the gains. But gain you will, if you try. Thats the real point.

I remember Sasho saying in a podcast that the real key to speed training is the frequency and being able to be really consistent with it. He said the biggest part of it was being able to do those 3 sessions per week, I guess that's why the Stack tries to gamify it with the schedule score.

It's also the part I'm really bad at, I've not done a session in over a week but should be able to get one in today. I find that if I can get at least 1 per week it's good enough to maintain but I won't gain anything from it.

 

[Neilds]

I remember Sasho saying in a podcast that the real key to speed training is the frequency and being able to be really consistent with it. He said the biggest part of it was being able to do those 3 sessions per week, I guess that's why the Stack tries to gamify it with the schedule score.

It's also the part I'm really bad at, I've not done a session in over a week but should be able to get one in today. I find that if I can get at least 1 per week it's good enough to maintain but I won't gain anything from it.

How long does each session take? I'm guessing it is quite a while (1 hr +) if you are struggling to fit them in?

 

[Springveldt]

How long does each session take? I'm guessing it is quite a while (1 hr +) if you are struggling to fit them in?

LOL, no. About 20 mins for Super Speed. It's been a combination of the rain having the garden like a bog (I'm now doing them on the path in the front garden instead), working late some nights, doing family things, walking dog etc.

With the lighter nights now coming in the last few sessions I've done I've managed to start them at around 8:20pm and finish them at 8:45pm (including a quick 5 minute warm up). Some nights I just cba to do them at that time since I've been up since 6am.

Even on an average workday I don't finish till after 6 due to some homelife stuff, so by the time you have dinner, help clear the kitchen etc it's already after 7.

 

[FormerBigDaddy]

Interesting session yesterday. I knew going in that I was going to struggle b/c I carried my bag for 27 holes the day before and worked out earlier in the day yesterday as well. So going into it I knew my body wasn't primed or rested. Really quite the opposite honestly but I wanted to see what I could do on a day where I knew I wouldn't have it. One thing I did do different is I tried going back to 3 swings per set instead of 4 to be able to save something for my final set of the session. That seemed to have dividends at the end for sure.

130, 124, 119.

Those numbers are 2-3 mph faster on each stick than any recorded session a did last summer. Encouraging.

 

[Orikoru]

Absolutely spot on! Having the intention to swing faster is such a big difference, so many people are scared of it but I guarantee if you embrace it, not only will the distance improve but so too will the dispersion.

I must admit I've been coming to this conclusion lately. Having developed a bit of a two-way miss - last time out I was a bit scared of the big hook left and ended up 'steering' a little, losing speed and strike, and hit some pretty weak fades that the wind ate for breakfast. Once I got to the back nine I gave up trying to steer it, realised I had to free up and just give it a whack - better results. It is difficult to free your mind though after you've hit a few bad ones.

 

[Backsticks]

How long does each session take? I'm guessing it is quite a while (1 hr +) if you are struggling to fit them in?

About 25 mins for a stack. Most if which is rest time. You only make about 35 swings. Minimum 15s between each, the 3 mins after each set of 6-8 swings.

 

[HPIMG]

I started my speed training today took 20mins. I start with hitting 3 balls with driver do the routine then finish with 3 drives. Started at 106mph and ended with 108mph not much of a increase but target is just to get over 110mph consistently.

 

[DeanoMK]

I started my speed training today took 20mins. I start with hitting 3 balls with driver do the routine then finish with 3 drives. Started at 106mph and ended with 108mph not much of a increase but target is just to get over 110mph consistently.

That'll do nicely!

I'm still not training due to my wrist injury, hoping it'll clear up in a couple of weeks and I'll be back on it, it's disappointing but at least I've got a really good base to work from now once I'm back.

 

[TigerTime]

I have been working closely with a coach and we've got my handicap down 1.6 in 2/3 months. Mostly working on ball striking with irons, there hasn't been any swing changes as such, infact I'm convinced I'm just getting quick fixes for the most part, but I think he just wants me to tick over and have a good season as the last couple haven't been great and have questioned my love for the game a lot and perhaps in the winter time we will get down to the grindy swing changes. It's a learning experience, learning about ball striking, recognising where you've hit it on the face, how to adjust for lie and slopes and so on. It's been fun. I can't question the handicap drop but in reality my swing is still the same even if I am hitting the ball a little bit better every other round.

Anyway, I keep saying this to him - but I want more distance. He always asks me why and then I explain it. Some of it is pure ego don't get me wrong, and wanting to beat your mates but there's a part of my brain that goes "If only I had had an extra 20 yards carry throughout the bag, I'd already be off 6 or 7 based on having shorter clubs into greens and a strong short game" Sure, some of that will come with a better swing, better ball striking of course but I am pretty weak in my upper body especially and perhaps have a few mobility issues. I done a TPI test and for the most part I am fine but I do have issues with upper body rotation and hip rotation - thank you desk job!

I play lots of golf with lots of different people at the home club, away club, society events, casual rounds etc - if you were to put all those people into a distance chart, I come near the bottom. Yes my average flat carry distance of 215-220 is perfectly average and very playable, but when I'm constantly playing with guys who outdrive me comfortably by 20/30 yards and sometimes even more if I'm playing with the bigger hitters it can be quite deflating especially when I see them around the green or when they putt. All I think is that if I had their distance I'd be laughing since I'm pretty skilled in the short game department and I'm a very good putter for my handicap. I chip and putt better than most of these guys but they get to the green easy whereas for me it's a chore unless it's a heavy downwind. I play these courses off 6600 yards and longer if I am constantly leaving myself longer clubs into greens which are of course notoriously more difficult to hit. Perfect example - recently played Goswick off the white tees at 6631 yards. I'd hit good drive after good drive, rarely offline and then have a 3 wood or a hybrid/5 iron in most of the time and it gets really difficult, even more so if it's windy.

I don't want/need to smash a driver 300 yards or hit a 7 iron 190, I just want an extra 20/30 yards. It would make all the difference in the world, and working alongside the coach, I feel like it really is the key for me to becoming the player I can be. I had the Stack before as I previously posted, and it absolutely killed any technique I had and I went on to have a season of regression. I am very reluctant to take on speed training specifically. I think for me the best way is to get to the gym, work on mobility and resistance training along with a nice healthy diet and be in the best shape I can - that's where my extra yards are I feel. So, I am joining the thread, although I am doing it differently to yourselves - let's see where I am in a few months time, and perhaps when the winter comes around and we get to work on the swing technique I'll be more mobile in the tough areas and more stronger and powerful to properly unleash it.

Posting my current flat carry distances for future reference:-

PW: 121
9: 130
8: 146
7: 154
6: 164
5: 174
4 hyb: 181
3 hyb: 190
3 wood: 207
Driver: 215, Avg CHS: 96.5mph

 

[Backsticks]

I have been working closely with a coach and we've got my handicap down 1.6 in 2/3 months. Mostly working on ball striking with irons, there hasn't been any swing changes as such, infact I'm convinced I'm just getting quick fixes for the most part, but I think he just wants me to tick over and have a good season as the last couple haven't been great and have questioned my love for the game a lot and perhaps in the winter time we will get down to the grindy swing changes. It's a learning experience, learning about ball striking, recognising where you've hit it on the face, how to adjust for lie and slopes and so on. It's been fun. I can't question the handicap drop but in reality my swing is still the same even if I am hitting the ball a little bit better every other round.

Anyway, I keep saying this to him - but I want more distance. He always asks me why and then I explain it. Some of it is pure ego don't get me wrong, and wanting to beat your mates but there's a part of my brain that goes "If only I had had an extra 20 yards carry throughout the bag, I'd already be off 6 or 7 based on having shorter clubs into greens and a strong short game" Sure, some of that will come with a better swing, better ball striking of course but I am pretty weak in my upper body especially and perhaps have a few mobility issues. I done a TPI test and for the most part I am fine but I do have issues with upper body rotation and hip rotation - thank you desk job!

I play lots of golf with lots of different people at the home club, away club, society events, casual rounds etc - if you were to put all those people into a distance chart, I come near the bottom. Yes my average flat carry distance of 215-220 is perfectly average and very playable, but when I'm constantly playing with guys who outdrive me comfortably by 20/30 yards and sometimes even more if I'm playing with the bigger hitters it can be quite deflating especially when I see them around the green or when they putt. All I think is that if I had their distance I'd be laughing since I'm pretty skilled in the short game department and I'm a very good putter for my handicap. I chip and putt better than most of these guys but they get to the green easy whereas for me it's a chore unless it's a heavy downwind. I play these courses off 6600 yards and longer if I am constantly leaving myself longer clubs into greens which are of course notoriously more difficult to hit. Perfect example - recently played Goswick off the white tees at 6631 yards. I'd hit good drive after good drive, rarely offline and then have a 3 wood or a hybrid/5 iron in most of the time and it gets really difficult, even more so if it's windy.

I don't want/need to smash a driver 300 yards or hit a 7 iron 190, I just want an extra 20/30 yards. It would make all the difference in the world, and working alongside the coach, I feel like it really is the key for me to becoming the player I can be. I had the Stack before as I previously posted, and it absolutely killed any technique I had and I went on to have a season of regression. I am very reluctant to take on speed training specifically. I think for me the best way is to get to the gym, work on mobility and resistance training along with a nice healthy diet and be in the best shape I can - that's where my extra yards are I feel. So, I am joining the thread, although I am doing it differently to yourselves - let's see where I am in a few months time, and perhaps when the winter comes around and we get to work on the swing technique I'll be more mobile in the tough areas and more stronger and powerful to properly unleash it.

Posting my current flat carry distances for future reference:-

PW: 121
9: 130
8: 146
7: 154
6: 164
5: 174
4 hyb: 181
3 hyb: 190
3 wood: 207
Driver: 215, Avg CHS: 96.5mph

Interesting to see how you get on, good luck. Possibly the speed training would then yield results for you without the downsides if you have strengthened up. Speed training alone for me has not only added the distance, but also improved the striking and consistency. But am thinking of going the strength route next winter, depending on how this summer goes.
What lofts are your irons ? Not to go down that rabbit hole again, but your carry distances are spot on with mine...except for the driver. My 7i is 31° for eg which while not outlandish, is on the stronger end these days. But, my driver (11.5°) carry is in the 230s, neutral conditions, CHS 100/101. Your 215 seems low relative to the rest of you clubs. What driver are you playing ? Or is it that the irons are extreme low lofts ?

 

[Springveldt]

First session tonight for a couple of weeks after being on Trackman at the weekend and my driver swing speed only being 102mph I thought I’d better start this up again. I think I’m holding back on driver as I had been hitting it terrible until I changed to an open stance and don’t have full confidence in it yet.

Anyway, it was a really good session with the blue slightly down at 121 but I got the green up to 131 which was good to see and the red to 122 which shocked me as that’s near my fastest ever with it. All my fastest swings felt like a big turn with a slight pause at the top, I know I wouldn’t have been pausing but it felt like it.

 

[VVega]

PW: 121
9: 130
8: 146
7: 154
6: 164
5: 174
4 hyb: 181
3 hyb: 190
3 wood: 207
Driver: 215, Avg CHS: 96.5mph

Interesting numbers, based on the irons I’d expect you to hit the driver 240-250 carry.

I’d venture a guess that you have plenty of speed but having wrong (for you) driver spec (loft/shaft) or issues with the technique for the driver.

 

[Backache]

I have been working closely with a coach and we've got my handicap down 1.6 in 2/3 months. Mostly working on ball striking with irons, there hasn't been any swing changes as such, infact I'm convinced I'm just getting quick fixes for the most part, but I think he just wants me to tick over and have a good season as the last couple haven't been great and have questioned my love for the game a lot and perhaps in the winter time we will get down to the grindy swing changes. It's a learning experience, learning about ball striking, recognising where you've hit it on the face, how to adjust for lie and slopes and so on. It's been fun. I can't question the handicap drop but in reality my swing is still the same even if I am hitting the ball a little bit better every other round.

Anyway, I keep saying this to him - but I want more distance. He always asks me why and then I explain it. Some of it is pure ego don't get me wrong, and wanting to beat your mates but there's a part of my brain that goes "If only I had had an extra 20 yards carry throughout the bag, I'd already be off 6 or 7 based on having shorter clubs into greens and a strong short game" Sure, some of that will come with a better swing, better ball striking of course but I am pretty weak in my upper body especially and perhaps have a few mobility issues. I done a TPI test and for the most part I am fine but I do have issues with upper body rotation and hip rotation - thank you desk job!

I play lots of golf with lots of different people at the home club, away club, society events, casual rounds etc - if you were to put all those people into a distance chart, I come near the bottom. Yes my average flat carry distance of 215-220 is perfectly average and very playable, but when I'm constantly playing with guys who outdrive me comfortably by 20/30 yards and sometimes even more if I'm playing with the bigger hitters it can be quite deflating especially when I see them around the green or when they putt. All I think is that if I had their distance I'd be laughing since I'm pretty skilled in the short game department and I'm a very good putter for my handicap. I chip and putt better than most of these guys but they get to the green easy whereas for me it's a chore unless it's a heavy downwind. I play these courses off 6600 yards and longer if I am constantly leaving myself longer clubs into greens which are of course notoriously more difficult to hit. Perfect example - recently played Goswick off the white tees at 6631 yards. I'd hit good drive after good drive, rarely offline and then have a 3 wood or a hybrid/5 iron in most of the time and it gets really difficult, even more so if it's windy.

I don't want/need to smash a driver 300 yards or hit a 7 iron 190, I just want an extra 20/30 yards. It would make all the difference in the world, and working alongside the coach, I feel like it really is the key for me to becoming the player I can be. I had the Stack before as I previously posted, and it absolutely killed any technique I had and I went on to have a season of regression. I am very reluctant to take on speed training specifically. I think for me the best way is to get to the gym, work on mobility and resistance training along with a nice healthy diet and be in the best shape I can - that's where my extra yards are I feel. So, I am joining the thread, although I am doing it differently to yourselves - let's see where I am in a few months time, and perhaps when the winter comes around and we get to work on the swing technique I'll be more mobile in the tough areas and more stronger and powerful to properly unleash it.

Posting my current flat carry distances for future reference:-

PW: 121
9: 130
8: 146
7: 154
6: 164
5: 174
4 hyb: 181
3 hyb: 190
3 wood: 207
Driver: 215, Avg CHS: 96.5mph

This week's Sweet Spot podcast with Alex Ahlert has thoughts and tips on how to practice for speed whilst maintaining good technique.

Might be worth a listen if you've had problems in the past.

It's quite a long podcast and the bits about technique and practice come towards the end.

 

[Springveldt]

This week's Sweet Spot podcast with Alex Ahlert has thoughts and tips on how to practice for speed whilst maintaining good technique.

Might be worth a listen if you've had problems in the past.

It's quite a long podcast and the bits about technique and practice come towards the end.

Yeah, it's a good listen. Listened to it yesterday while cutting the front and back grass, trimming down 3 trees in the garden and taking the lot to the tip. All the while I was dreaming about playing golf because it was actually a nice warm day for once.

 

[TigerTime]

Interesting numbers, based on the irons I’d expect you to hit the driver 240-250 carry.

I’d venture a guess that you have plenty of speed but having wrong (for you) driver spec (loft/shaft) or issues with the technique for the driver.

Yeah, caveat attached of these are the properly struck distances.

I do feel I don't get as much out of driver what I should, it could be a combo of them all really. But I get it up in the air fine and can hit it out the middle from time to time.

 

[VVega]

Yeah, caveat attached of these are the properly struck distances.

I do feel I don't get as much out of driver what I should, it could be a combo of them all really. But I get it up in the air fine and can hit it out the middle from time to time.

Assuming the carry numbers are from a launch monitor, what are the ball spin and launch angle with the driver?

 

[harpo_72]

Interesting numbers, based on the irons I’d expect you to hit the driver 240-250 carry.

I’d venture a guess that you have plenty of speed but having wrong (for you) driver spec (loft/shaft) or issues with the technique for the driver.

96.5mph won’t equate to 240-250 carry, if you multiply by 1.4 -1.5 that will give you the ball speed. But please consider 1.4+ is a good smash factor and many of us strive to get to it.
My view is about being lazy, I would drop speed to improve strike and get to the 1.4+ region. Less is more definitely holds true.
Just to give you some hard numbers 225 carry to 235 carry ( what it does from there is not mathematically accurate to predict!) are your potential with a 96.5mph SS.
So you need to improve the delivery to step up from 216 carry as that is 90mph swing distance… but I would not stress it or let it bother you, you have enough distance to play single figure golf

 

[TigerTime]

Assuming the carry numbers are from a launch monitor, what are the ball spin and launch angle with the driver?

I had a trackman session last night for some more up to date numbers. I didn't hit the ball as well and was a bit inconsistent but gives an idea.

Carry	Total	Clubhead Speed	Spin Rate	Smash Factor	Height (apex)	Ball Speed	Launch Angle
229.9	246.7	98.2	3290	1.45	99ft	142.5	13.6
214.1	243.9	97.8	2356	1.41	60ft	137.5	11.5
217.2	241	96	3084	1.46	63ft	139.9	9.7
218.9	241.6	98.3	3228	1.44	65ft	141.1	9.3
202.3	221	97.1	3567	1.37	74ft	132.5	12.3
209	232.2	96.5	3423	1.44	60ft	138.9	8.6
211.4	231.7	97.3	2900	1.36	81ft	132.3	14.4
196.3	207.7	96.9	4416	1.35	104ft	131.2	17
217.5	248.7	97.7	2295	1.43	57ft	140	10.8