My Swing Speed Journey

[The Squirrel]

Do not use ChatGPT for things like that, it could say its optimal to do 80/20, 20/80 or burpees with mortal jumps if you make the adequate question.

ChatGPT is not a source of knowledge, but rather model that generate human-like text based on patterns. It doesn't possess factual knowledge or understanding in the way a human does; it doesn't "know" anything, but rather produces text that mimics human language.

This make it unreliable for research topics where there is no consensus. Its generative nature means it can also fabricate information.

BTW, except the first paragraph, all that was ChatGPT XD

Can’t emphasise this enough. Whatever field or area you are particularly qualified or knowledgeable in, ask ChatGPT a few questions - particularly ones that require you to weigh up or filter varying interpretations of the state of current knowledge within the field, or adapt it to specific circumstances - and you will see how profoundly wrong and stupid it is - just in properly written natural language.

For this reason - above all else do not take medical advice off it!!!

 

[Golf is fun]

Can’t emphasise this enough. Whatever field or area you are particularly qualified or knowledgeable in, ask ChatGPT a few questions - particularly ones that require you to weigh up or filter varying interpretations of the state of current knowledge within the field, or adapt it to specific circumstances - and you will see how profoundly wrong and stupid it is - just in properly written natural language.

For this reason - above all else do not take medical advice off it!!!

This is a general danger with AI, you have to be very careful with the prompt you give it, and it's response is only as good as the underlying data set. No doubt many people and organisations will get burnt by this in the future, plus bad actors can "poison the well" by filling the dataset with false information.

 

[The Squirrel]

This is a general danger with AI, you have to be very careful with the prompt you give it, and its response is only as good as the underlying data set. No doubt many people and organisations will get burnt by this in the future, plus bad actors can "poison the well" by filling the dataset with false information.

Yes exactly; the lack of attribution is the real issue. Regular internet search chucks up all sorts, but at least with regular search you were then directed to a website so had a decent chance at critical evaluation (aka working out if you were on the website of a reputable source or of a wee-drinking tinfoil hat wearer).

 

[Springveldt]

Outside speed practice, how does anyone measure their progress? Do you measure your drives on the course? Do you see that you are now hitting it further on particular holes?

With fairways starting to run it’s the time to take a measure — post your numbers!

Mine is running so far, it’s hard to tell. I had numerous 300+ yard drives at the weekend, ShotScope had me at 274 average and 297 performance, just ridiculous numbers and nowhere near my proper distances.

 

[VVega]

nowhere near my proper distances.

If they are on a measured course, they are proper

 

[VVega]

Do not use ChatGPT for things like that, it could say its optimal to do 80/20, 20/80 or burpees with mortal jumps if you make the adequate question

Do you mean eating rocks is not good for you?

In all seriousness, sorry for mentioning it, let’s keep this thread on topic.

 

[Springveldt]

If they are on a measured course, they are proper

Not when the fairways are like concrete. I'm getting 70 yards of run or more on some of these. At the weekend on 2 390 yard par 4's I had 65 yards and 70 yards to middle pins. The first is 330 yards and I hit it off the toe with no spin on it and it was 20 yards from the front edge.

It's all fun hitting driver but when you have 70 yards to a pin and have to hit a 40 yard pitch and hope for a bounce it becomes annoying after a bit. The joys of links golf I guess.

 

[The Squirrel]

Do you mean eating rocks is not good for you?

In all seriousness, sorry for mentioning it, let’s keep this thread on topic.

Fair point.

Inspired by this thread I now have some Superspeed Pro sticks and am starting at (a not very impressive but hey that means I can improve, right?) 110 max for the light green one. Combined with twice weekly gym sessions, although these will be at the less intense end of the spectrum as I have a full time job and can’t work if physically wrecked.

Anyway; 110. I’m in.

p.s. not so impressed that after a near £200 outlay they want a monthly subscription to access many of the protocols. Not taken up so far.

 

[Golf is fun]

Fair point.

Inspired by this thread I now have some Superspeed Pro sticks and am starting at (a not very impressive but hey that means I can improve, right?) 110 max for the light green one. Combined with twice weekly gym sessions, although these will be at the less intense end of the spectrum as I have a full time job and can’t work if physically wrecked.

Anyway; 110. I’m in.

p.s. not so impressed that after a near £200 outlay they want a monthly subscription to access many of the protocols. Not taken up so far.

My personal opinion is that their protocols are overrated anyway. If you have a coach you can probably discuss with them and come up with something better and even if you don't you can search around and find some good ideas.

 

[Springveldt]

Fair point.

Inspired by this thread I now have some Superspeed Pro sticks and am starting at (a not very impressive but hey that means I can improve, right?) 110 max for the light green one. Combined with twice weekly gym sessions, although these will be at the less intense end of the spectrum as I have a full time job and can’t work if physically wrecked.

Anyway; 110. I’m in.

p.s. not so impressed that after a near £200 outlay they want a monthly subscription to access many of the protocols. Not taken up so far.

Good luck and keep us updated with your progress.

I've only ever used the protocols that used to be on the site, not sure if they have updated ones hidden behind the app paywall.

 

[Springveldt]

Back down to earth with a bump after last night's round. Shot Scope has my average drive at 242 yards with a performance average of 279 (p-avg is still very high for me). Combination of the wind being out the north means the first 3 are directly into the teeth of it, most of the next 10 holes have a cross wind (only 1 downwind and it has a ditch across the fairway at 270 so can't hit driver), next 2 are into out the left then the final 3 you can't hit driver downwind on 16 as another fairway ditch at 265 unless you button it or get lucky and have enough speed on your rollout to jump it, 17 is a par 3 and 18 you can hit driver and I hit my longest of the night at 308 yards.

Average was brought down by a skied drive travelling a massive 145 yards into the wind and a huge slice that went 199 yards into the wind and was travelling straight right by the end. Overall though, I think I'm definitely hitting it further, for example on 2 I hit a drive 240 yards straight into the wind which carried into the rough (still not thick yet) and barely got any run, it probably carried 225. Wind was at least 15mph, might even have been more.

 

[Springveldt]

So after getting a new phone I can finally downloaded the SuperSpeed app (old phone didn't support iOS 17) so I logged into it last night and did my first speed session in a while with it. Results were really good, speed is still the same as when I stopped at the end of March. Since then I've only really been swinging the green and red a few times on the first tee to warm up and get the body moving.

Max speeds were green 130, blue 126 and red 118. I'm still faster doing normal swings than step change swings which probably means my sequence is still all out of shape. Now that the training is a bit more gamified with achievements etc hopefully my achievement chasing nature in games kicks in and I continue doing the sessions.

Doubt I'll be paying the £10 a month subscription, I'm beginning to hate every app thinking they can charge you £10 a month subscription.

 

[Springveldt]

Did a session last night and really tried to focus on the step change drill as everything I've read suggests these should be faster than your standard swings but mine are always slower. I'm not sure if I finally managed to do one right or it was a miss read by my radar but I did have a 125 with the red which was a lot faster than the other 2 at 119 and 120.

In the end I had green 130, blue a disappointing 122 and red at 125.

These speeds are all near my maximum ever swings, looking at my spreadsheet the fastest ever with each stick has been G 133, B 126 and R 125.

Also, I drove the 18th at my course on the weekend. Yes, the fairways are rock hard and yes I did have a 30mph wind behind but I still hit the drive 383 yards according to Shot Scope and it's not downhill either, the last 30 or 40 yards are slightly uphill. Easily the furthest I've ever driven a ball anywhere. On the Tuesday before I hit one 308 down 18 with a wind behind and I thought I hit that really well. The one on Sunday I just gave it one of my speed training swings, ridiculously fast backswing, hands feeling really high and just swing left as hard as I could. I was 10 over at the time so didn't care but I managed to find the middle of the face somehow and the thing just went like a missile right down the middle.

 

[Orikoru]

Did a session last night and really tried to focus on the step change drill as everything I've read suggests these should be faster than your standard swings but mine are always slower. I'm not sure if I finally managed to do one right or it was a miss read by my radar but I did have a 125 with the red which was a lot faster than the other 2 at 119 and 120.

In the end I had green 130, blue a disappointing 122 and red at 125.

These speeds are all near my maximum ever swings, looking at my spreadsheet the fastest ever with each stick has been G 133, B 126 and R 125.

Also, I drove the 18th at my course on the weekend. Yes, the fairways are rock hard and yes I did have a 30mph wind behind but I still hit the drive 383 yards according to Shot Scope and it's not downhill either, the last 30 or 40 yards are slightly uphill. Easily the furthest I've ever driven a ball anywhere. On the Tuesday before I hit one 308 down 18 with a wind behind and I thought I hit that really well. The one on Sunday I just gave it one of my speed training swings, ridiculously fast backswing, hands feeling really high and just swing left as hard as I could. I was 10 over at the time so didn't care but I managed to find the middle of the face somehow and the thing just went like a missile right down the middle.

Alright, Bryson.

 

[Golf is fun]

Did a session last night and really tried to focus on the step change drill as everything I've read suggests these should be faster than your standard swings but mine are always slower. I'm not sure if I finally managed to do one right or it was a miss read by my radar but I did have a 125 with the red which was a lot faster than the other 2 at 119 and 120.

In the end I had green 130, blue a disappointing 122 and red at 125.

These speeds are all near my maximum ever swings, looking at my spreadsheet the fastest ever with each stick has been G 133, B 126 and R 125.

Also, I drove the 18th at my course on the weekend. Yes, the fairways are rock hard and yes I did have a 30mph wind behind but I still hit the drive 383 yards according to Shot Scope and it's not downhill either, the last 30 or 40 yards are slightly uphill. Easily the furthest I've ever driven a ball anywhere. On the Tuesday before I hit one 308 down 18 with a wind behind and I thought I hit that really well. The one on Sunday I just gave it one of my speed training swings, ridiculously fast backswing, hands feeling really high and just swing left as hard as I could. I was 10 over at the time so didn't care but I managed to find the middle of the face somehow and the thing just went like a missile right down the middle.

Even with lots of rollout and wind 383 still a big drive.

Do you see much difference between the speed sticks and the driver?
I find I have a bigger range between red and green than you, sometimes over 15mph different, and a real driver swing somewhere around the blue stick. Apparently "normal" is a smaller spread and a real driver swing somewhere around the red stick, or even a bit below.

 

[Springveldt]

Even with lots of rollout and wind 383 still a big drive.

Do you see much difference between the speed sticks and the driver?
I find I have a bigger range between red and green than you, sometimes over 15mph different, and a real driver swing somewhere around the blue stick. Apparently "normal" is a smaller spread and a real driver swing somewhere around the red stick, or even a bit below.

Massive difference between the sticks and the driver but it falls into line with the Superspeed chart from a few years ago. My driver swing speed isn't anywhere near any of these stick speeds but you have to factor in I'm using the blue sports radar, not the PRGR which reads anywhere between 3-5mph faster than PRGR.

I'm surprised with the difference in your speeds as Superspeed used to say that if the red is significantly slower than green then this would indicate you need to get stronger but your already stupidly strong.

The chart used to be on their blog page before they started pushing the PRGR instead of the sports radar so I've always assumed the figures posted were for the sports radar.



As you can see the chart says I should be between 105-110 driver speed and on Trackman in March I was around 104mph when hitting "normal" drives and doing my speed training of lashing at the ball as hard as I could I'd get it up to 109mph which fits nearly perfectly in with the chart.

 

[Springveldt]

Alright, Bryson.

With the conditions on Sunday if Bryson hit driver there he would have put it in the car park 200 yards past the green.

 

[Golf is fun]

Massive difference between the sticks and the driver but it falls into line with the Superspeed chart from a few years ago. My driver swing speed isn't anywhere near any of these stick speeds but you have to factor in I'm using the blue sports radar, not the PRGR which reads anywhere between 3-5mph faster than PRGR.

I'm surprised with the difference in your speeds as Superspeed used to say that if the red is significantly slower than green then this would indicate you need to get stronger but your already stupidly strong.

The chart used to be on their blog page before they started pushing the PRGR instead of the sports radar so I've always assumed the figures posted were for the sports radar.

View attachment 58177

As you can see the chart says I should be between 105-110 driver speed and on Trackman in March I was around 104mph when hitting "normal" drives and doing my speed training of lashing at the ball as hard as I could I'd get it up to 109mph which fits nearly perfectly in with the chart.

I really don't think lack of strength is the issue! Maybe I've lost power, so I still have a high level of base strenght, but only have the speed with a lighter load, just a guess though.

In general strength training it is researched that although women tend to have lower one rep maxes compared to men, but they can do more reps at a higher percentage of their max. That is to say that women can typically do 5 reps of an exercise at around 90-95% of their max, whereas men would be looking at around 85% to do 5 reps. I wonder if there is some physiological equivalent here, although not related to gender obviously.

 

[VVega]

Even with lots of rollout and wind 383 still a big drive.

Absolutely!!! Well done!

 

[mrio]

Massive difference between the sticks and the driver but it falls into line with the Superspeed chart from a few years ago. My driver swing speed isn't anywhere near any of these stick speeds but you have to factor in I'm using the blue sports radar, not the PRGR which reads anywhere between 3-5mph faster than PRGR.

I'm surprised with the difference in your speeds as Superspeed used to say that if the red is significantly slower than green then this would indicate you need to get stronger but your already stupidly strong.

The chart used to be on their blog page before they started pushing the PRGR instead of the sports radar so I've always assumed the figures posted were for the sports radar.

View attachment 58177

As you can see the chart says I should be between 105-110 driver speed and on Trackman in March I was around 104mph when hitting "normal" drives and doing my speed training of lashing at the ball as hard as I could I'd get it up to 109mph which fits nearly perfectly in with the chart.

Nice graph! I didn’t know something like that existed.

In my case, my driver is relatively fast, cruising at around 114 mph, while the red stick is relatively slow at just under 120 mph compared to the green one, which is above 130 mph. No wonder I was told I was hitting the driver quite fast relative to my stick speeds.