My Swing Speed Journey

[Lucifer MorningStar]

I move my driver settings about from time to time. Usually lower is better. I hit this at the range one day and was like, what am I playing at... get that loft lowered. View attachment 59958

I’m baffled by that ball speed and launch angle! And it equating to a total carry if 190 yards, would love to know what that spin rate was and 168ft in peak height

 

[Lucifer MorningStar]

Just thinking about speed and looking at my data from today. I’m currently down about 3mph on normal, possibly to do with the tissue damage I’m getting sorted in my shoulder so I’m protecting a little bit, but my launch angle and delivery really needs work!

My spin numbers good for me but I was coming in on average at 10° the most I managed to get it to on 1 shot was 11°, I need to get that up to around 13°, all the other numbers are consistent with my normal swing but I’m losing around 10-15 yards in carry compared to where it should be!

 

[garyinderry]

I’m baffled by that ball speed and launch angle! And it equating to a total carry if 190 yards, would love to know what that spin rate was and 168ft in peak height

God knows what the spin was. It was probably something absolutely ridiculous

I've always been someone who tees the ball up high and sees best results from low loft drivers. Around 8 degrees.

Just from using 10.5 11 and 12 degree drivers in the past. I know the ball spins like mad and goes absolutely nowhere.

 

[garyinderry]

This was a 6 iron on the same day. It went further than that drive

 

[Lucifer MorningStar]

God knows what the spin was. It was probably something absolutely ridiculous

I've always been someone who tees the ball up high and sees best results from low loft drivers. Around 8 degrees.

Just from using 10.5 11 and 12 degree drivers in the past. I know the ball spins like mad and goes absolutely nowhere.

Reminds of a lad I was a junior with if his driver was set anything above 8° the ball went it to orbit and came down covered in snow , he could hit it miles though when it didn’t go vertical!

This was a 6 iron on the same day. It went further than that drive

View attachment 59961

Leave the driver in the bag that goes further and less backspin

 

[Springveldt]

I move my driver settings about from time to time. Usually lower is better. I hit this at the range one day and was like, what am I playing at... get that loft lowered. View attachment 59958

Has that measured the range ball and not converted it to a premium ball? Would need to be about 8K backspin to get 3 yards of it.

 

[Springveldt]

Back at the studio tonight and annoyingly my report hasn't come through yet, I must have shut the PC down too quickly.

Tested a few different settings and quickly found out the ones raising the loft (9.75 and 10.5) were no good, ball speed dropping, launching too high. Best were normal at 9 and lowering it to 8.25 and setting it to the upright lie (D2). The new Ventus shaft is more consistent, it's giving me better smash factor and around 400rpm less spin, it's averaging an extra 7 yards of carry.

I did some drills to try and lower my dynamic loft as it's too high but when I started hitting up more I was catching a lot out the bottom of the face. As a final test I teed the ball up higher, the equivalent of the orange castle tee and I hovered my driver off the ground and I saw some promising results. Speed was way down as I was probably terrified of skying it into the ceiling (was averaging around 99mph instead of the 104mph I have been) but the spin loft dropped a lot into an acceptable range as I was now hitting up on it between 4-5 degrees while maintaining the same dynamic loft. I saw quite a few carries over 240 with the spin in the mid 2000. I'm back on Friday so going to experiment more with this and see if I can get the confidence to swing harder at it.

Also managed to get the Trackman to monitor the impact location, I had to turn both sets of spotlights to maximum to get it to track the driver which meant the projector was a bit washed out but worth it. I wasn't convinced it was right when I was hitting my 6 iron, I thought I flushed a couple, 1.37 smash factor etc but it was telling me it was 8H. I stuck some impact tape on the iron, hit more and guess what, it was spot on. The ones I thought I was flushing I was actually hitting them slightly heel side, I did manage to get 2 or 3 right out the middle and the smash factor jumped up to 1.41. I was right at guessing out the toe every time but it was only when it went over 10H that I noticed the heel strike.

Oh, also got the green stick to 122.3mph on Trackman, a new PB with the speed sticks.

 

[garyinderry]

Has that measured the range ball and not converted it to a premium ball? Would need to be about 8K backspin to get 3 yards of it.

Honestly wouldn't be surprised if it was 8k. It was going nowhere and stupidly high.

Id played a few rounds with it in that setting and struggled to score and hit any good drives.

A few cranks of the wrench and next time out shot over 4. Result

 

[sjw]

I'm looking at a speed training setup of some description for Christmas, or at least parts of it. There are a few different providers, which have people got and could recommend?

 

[Springveldt]

I'm looking at a speed training setup of some description for Christmas, or at least parts of it. There are a few different providers, which have people got and could recommend?

Depends how much you want to spend. I've got the original SuperSpeed sticks and an older radar that only measures swing speed.

There are much cheaper swing stick options available now, ones that only have a single club and you screw the different weights on and there is also The Stack which is stupidly expensive for what it is but claims to be using AI to alter your training regiment. Think you only get 1 or maybe 2 years subscription with it then they want £100 a year or so.

The only thing I would recommend is that you get some type of radar device to measure your speed (PRGR, Stack rip off PRGR, Rapsodo or whatever) as I think you really need one to make sure you are actually getting faster and to push yourself.

 

[sjw]

Depends how much you want to spend. I've got the original SuperSpeed sticks and an older radar that only measures swing speed.

There are much cheaper swing stick options available now, ones that only have a single club and you screw the different weights on and there is also The Stack which is stupidly expensive for what it is but claims to be using AI to alter your training regiment. Think you only get 1 or maybe 2 years subscription with it then they want £100 a year or so.

The only thing I would recommend is that you get some type of radar device to measure your speed (PRGR, Stack rip off PRGR, Rapsodo or whatever) as I think you really need one to make sure you are actually getting faster and to push yourself.

I was under the impression that most of the systems came with some sort of training plan? Otherwise, how do you know which stick to use? When people talk about getting a PB with green etc, how are you deciding which stick/colour/weight to use?

 

[Orikoru]

Just thinking about speed and looking at my data from today. I’m currently down about 3mph on normal, possibly to do with the tissue damage I’m getting sorted in my shoulder so I’m protecting a little bit, but my launch angle and delivery really needs work!

My spin numbers good for me but I was coming in on average at 10° the most I managed to get it to on 1 shot was 11°, I need to get that up to around 13°, all the other numbers are consistent with my normal swing but I’m losing around 10-15 yards in carry compared to where it should be!View attachment 59960

I'm sure that is the exact interface from The Golf Club 2019 that I used to play on PS4..

 

[morris1819]

I was under the impression that most of the systems came with some sort of training plan? Otherwise, how do you know which stick to use? When people talk about getting a PB with green etc, how are you deciding which stick/colour/weight to use?

The beginner programs I've seen pretty much consist of 3 swings with the light as fast as possible, 3 swings with medium, 3 swings with the heavy - both ways. Then do a step drill doing the same thing, then go for a pb with the light one.

 

[Lucifer MorningStar]

I'm sure that is the exact interface from The Golf Club 2019 that I used to play on PS4..

It is
They’ve got the Golf club set up on screen and also have trackman there! It’s a bit of an odd hybrid set up they have but for £12 for 2 hours you get to have a bit of fun and get your numbers confirmed with the trackman as well.

 

[Springveldt]

I was under the impression that most of the systems came with some sort of training plan? Otherwise, how do you know which stick to use? When people talk about getting a PB with green etc, how are you deciding which stick/colour/weight to use?

They do, most of them it’s just a generic swing this many time this way with this stick and record the fastest speed. The Stack has an app that claims to tailor the training to you, it adds and removes stuff as it thinks you need.

I record all my speeds so I know what my PB’s are with each stick.

 

[Springveldt]

Speed session last night and I thought it was going to be a poor one as I was really having to put a lot of effort into getting the green stick to above 115mph. Fastest one was only 120mph, down 2mph on the last session.

Same thing with driver, for some reason was struggling to get above 102mph. I then started to really feel like I was throwing the club at impact and my speed started going up.

Ended up getting my best ball speeds ever with 2 over 160mph at 160.5mph and 160.4mph. Had quite a few in the 157 and 159 as well.

Seems my playing speed is around 149-151mph, hoping I can increase that to 156mph or so by April, that’s the target.

 

[Depreston]

Speed session last night and I thought it was going to be a poor one as I was really having to put a lot of effort into getting the green stick to above 115mph. Fastest one was only 120mph, down 2mph on the last session.

Same thing with driver, for some reason was struggling to get above 102mph. I then started to really feel like I was throwing the club at impact and my speed started going up.

Ended up getting my best ball speeds ever with 2 over 160mph at 160.5mph and 160.4mph. Had quite a few in the 157 and 159 as well.

Seems my playing speed is around 149-151mph, hoping I can increase that to 156mph or so by April, that’s the target.

What’s the carry numbers with the gaming swings at the minute

 

[Springveldt]

What’s the carry numbers with the gaming swings at the minute

Varies based on strike. High spin weak right ones are around 220-230 and good strikes are around 240-250. Ball speed will be around 141-143mph on terrible strikes and 149-152mph on good ones.

Speed training longest one was 270. Ball speeds on good strikes are between 157-160mph and poor ones are 147-149mph.

 

[Springveldt]

Another session tonight. Managed to get the green stick to a new PB of 124.7mph on Trackman. Blue was 116mph and red was 111mph. Then tested driver with no ball and fastest was 112.4mph.

30 seconds after that 112mph swing I hit a ball and my swing speed was 99.5mph just shows how much you hold back when a ball is there.

Ball speed session fastest was only 158mph, couldn’t get anything over 160mph but I hit way more 260+ carries tonight than I did on Tuesday so I think I was more consistent, I’ll check that when the report comes through.

 

[The Squirrel]

Another session tonight. Managed to get the green stick to a new PB of 124.7mph on Trackman. Blue was 116mph and red was 111mph. Then tested driver with no ball and fastest was 112.4mph.

30 seconds after that 112mph swing I hit a ball and my swing speed was 99.5mph just shows how much you hold back when a ball is there.

Ball speed session fastest was only 158mph, couldn’t get anything over 160mph but I hit way more 260+ carries tonight than I did on Tuesday so I think I was more consistent, I’ll check that when the report comes through.

Yeah I've just restarted speed training as it's now too dark/cold/snowy for golf so much of the time.

Did my initial restart session this week (to be fair in sub zero with a thermal top on - which surely can only hinder speed - that's my first excuse in ). I'm not at your numbers - 106mph for blue (PRGR) which is supposed to be the "like-a-golf-club" level, but driver hitting balls I'm all the way down at 96. Breaking that psychological barrier to swing at what you are already capable of seems far more realistically achievable than adding 10 mph of new muscle power, as a middle-aged bloke with a full time job and family, but not sure what the secret to doing it is...