I definitely notice an effect whether I do a work-out before or after the session, always a bit faster if I’m not fatigued. And instead of rushing between sets I noticed taking a minute and hitting 5-10 putts on the Perfect Putt gives a reasonable break to ensure max intensity on the next set.
The rest of my game is struggling a bit while I focus on speed, but once I get to my target speed I’ll be able to focus on getting everything else dialed back in.
After hitting balls on Friday and not being able to find the middle of the face for most of the session, I found myself being more cautious with the Speed Sticks. Trying to make sure I am swinging hard while not losing significant form.
I’m not in a great place right now with the speed sticks in full disclosure.
Quick question here:
While using the speed stick training do you guys trying and stay with a 3:1 tempo?
I have my set and realize I may be swinging at a quicker tempo, which for me, instills a bad habit transfer to the course. Tempo is my major struggling point and I never really thought about the correlation until this weekend.
Everything I’ve ever read from the super speed guys says to just swing as hard as possible.
I think if you are trying to get 10mph faster while also expecting your on course performance to not deteriorate temporarily then you might be in for a bit of a shock.
Yeah that’s what I remember hearing and reading too, and what I’ve been doing. Just wondering what any other users were doing. Swinging as hard as possible without care of tempo, or at hard as possible on tempo.
Mike Carrol talks about speeding up your back swing as part of increasing your swing speed… I’m not sure you have to focus on tempo, but I’d look at how fast you are taking back the club.
If you want to keep tempo AND swing faster, your backswing will also have to be faster… it also helps create more 'whip" tension in the club head as you are pulling the handle through before the head has stopped moving backwards.
This is where some experimentation and having a radar comes in handy (cc: @Golfer_Jake_78) . The goal is to swing as fast as possible. That is not the same as swinging as hard as possible.
I noticed that there is a peak violence to my swing that makes me fast, but if I backswing too fast I over-extend and get out of position and off balance which causes me to lose speed though it is more effortful.
This is the off-season. Focus on speed for another month or 2 then dial it back in. Don’t worry about the bumps in the road.
So I think the key point here is that I’ve figured out I was generating (or at least feeling like I was generating) speed via swaying off the ball and getting all out of whack. I’m trying to stay more “over the ball” which results in feeling slower. Though if I had a radar I bet I’d be the same speed.
But my confidence is currently cratered because I’m a mental weakling.
This is what I’m trying to figure out as well. There seems to be a line in the sand where extra effort starts translating to poorer mechanics, and the extra swing speed is negated by poor impact conditions.
Speaking of which, the 47” driver showed up today 
I acknowledge that I was an idiot for not getting a speed radar.
How do you and @golfingbrock discern when you’re sacrificing mechanics for the sake of speed? Do you have to?
Having the numbers really helps. When I took the PRGR to the course my good swings were consistently around 116-117. I got to 119 a couple times but the strike wasn’t as clean and ball speed was similar to that of my 111 fairway finder swing but without the control.
I was also surprised that my swings with ball were as fast if not faster than my hard swings without the ball.
Yes, I think the feedback helps a lot. For me, the line in the sand is when my impact and face control start suffering. If I start missing the center of the face significantly and/or I’m starting to lose control of where the face is pointing at impact (big push or pull), then I know I’ve “crossed the line”
What I’ve found interesting is that I’m really not capable of adding significant speed with crazy swings. If I try and do one of those long drive/all-out swings, it really only adds a few mph, and usually, the impact stinks. So I really try to think about two kinds of speeds for me, my normal “cruising speed” and then “let’s give it a rip.” The “ludicrous speed” swing just doesn’t work for me!
I really hope this was a Spaceballs reference!
how can it not be???
Phew! Glad it wasn’t just a coincidence.
When will then be now?
Soon!
I love Spaceballs.
Progress Check
I started Superspeed Training in earnest on October 20, 2020. I was working with the standard men’s set with PRGR (red eyes) Portable Launch Monitor. I performed the training as prescribed for 7 weeks. Each session would begin with a warmup of iron/wedges swings just to loosen up my body then some dynamic stretching focusing on rotation and hip mobility (my hips and pelvis are very in-flexible relative to the rest of my body). After warming up each session would proceed as follows:
My results:
10/20/2020 | Before Session 1 protocol: 105.81 avg / 110.96 max | After session 1: 111.1 avg / 113.2 max
I completed 17 sessions over the course of the following 7 weeks and saw massive gains. I mostly attribute these gains to improvement in my sequencing as I struggle with early extension and casting the club in the downswing, coupled with a new intent of trying to swing aggressively through impact. My driver has always been difficult to control which would lead me to have more of a guided swing with my driver which didn’t result in hitting it any straighter.
After 7 weeks of the Level 1 protocols plus one 1 of the Level 2 protocols I saw my average Clubhead Speed with a Driver while hitting a ball jump to 120.1 mph on the PRGR while experiencing a Personal Best 126.6 mph.
Since 12/1/2020 I have not completed a single session of the protocols but I have utilized the light stick
and heavy stick in warming up to remind myself of these sequencing improvements.
I was very hesitant to trust the swing speed readings on the PRGR and through following @Fit_For_Golf on twitter assumed that my average swing speed was likely closer to the 114-116 mph range. Last Friday (3/19/21), I went for a Driver Fitting at my local pro shop and recorded average Driver swings of 119-120mph on the Flightscope X3 and after considerable warm-up actually recorded a swing of 125.2 mph.
This process has not resulted in a widened dispersion pattern in fact I have found my fast swings typically produce my straightest shots. I am working on centering facestrike to maximize my efficiency and expect that my ball speed gains will continue to occur while maintaining current levels of swing speed.
for reference I am a 33 year old, 13.1 handicap (been playing for 15 years) with above average fitness (thanks @Fit_For_Golf)
This is awesome. Congrats on the progress and hopefully the handicap starts dropping with the extra distance.
