In a holding pattern but, still moving forward

Today's stack session was conducted ahead of a ten hole match / competition and, whilst there's no overall speed bump today there were some PB's...

Starting with the comp, it was affected by the weather, as the ground frost means we're currently on temporary greens. This is a very unusual situation for our course and was compounded by the lower section of the course being closed entirely (holes 14-16), with these holes usually part of the ten hole loop we'd play. In lieu of the missing holes we played 17 and 18 first and then back to 1 through 7, across to 13 and then back down 18 to finish but off a forward tee.

I played really well and scored 20 stableford points, with one blob on SI.1 having hooked a couple OB left off the tee I wrote off the hole. I had five pars, the most satisfying of which was on 18 the first time round, as I chipped in from 30 yards. 21 points won the competition, so not far off (if only I hadn't had that blob on 6...), although there was five of us sharing that second spot on the podium by all accounts.

In terms of the stack session it's the first time I haven't seen an eSpeed bump since using the system but, that's not to say there wasn't improvement. In set 1, with the 235g weight on the stack, I PB'd 3 times, starting with the 82, then the 83 before rounding out with three 84's.

I definitely feel like it's having a benefit whilst out on course too, not only off the tee but incrementally throughout the bag.

Let's keep pushing, 110mph here we come!!!

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The journey so far...

Welcome to my blog, a place that I'll use to collect all of my thoughts and explain my golfing journey. So, let's start at the beginning - I'm Matt and I'm a golfaholic BUT whilst I'm hooked this time around (excuse the pun), the same can't be said for when I played golf in my formative years. And, to that end I believe I picked up my first golf club around the age of 7, when my Dad took the family to the driving range so he could practice his own game. I don't remember much about my golf in between then and my teenage years but I do know that I took lessons when I was around 12 and began playing a little too. The problem was, I liked it but I didn't love it. There were other things in my life that I felt deserved my time, including football and school and so I can't say that I ever really gave it my all. I can also confirm that club technology has improved dramatically in the twenty or so years since I last played, which was late in my teens, as bac...

Getting off the struggle bus...

I'm going to admit it, even though I was still having fun with the stack, I was a little irked that over the last few sessions my performance had dropped off somewhat. However, I knew I wasn't alone in this battle as others had seen similar results over the course of their programs too. Another day, another session then and to be fair it's probably the most amped I've been in a number of sessions heading into this latest one, with it also being the last in this phase of the foundation program before moving onto a different set type. I was faced with 8 reps at 205g, 8 reps at 135g and 8 reps at 105g all with full intent (your on course max swing), followed by 4 reps at 195g with max intent (swinging your absolute maximum swing). I started out with a new set record on the 205g at 88mph, then followed that up with a PB of 97mph on the 135g (x3) which also led to a new set record of 95mph. Set 3 saw me hit 100 twice for a PB and nudged the needle on the set record to 99mph ...

Cruising speed

Stack session 14 was the last in phase 3 of the program and saw the use of 240g, 80g and 195g all at max intent. The two 90mph speeds either side of the 93 and 94mph swings in the 195g set didn't see me push the needle in terms of overall gains but, there were gains on the 240g and 80g sets. Not only was this visible in the reps, with a 88mph and 105mph respectively, the set averages were up to 87mph and 104mph, both of which were significant gains. I've noticed that if I become a little more mobile (small jumps up and down on the spot) as the rest period comes to a close before starting a new set I can get moving more quickly. This along with constantly trying to widen my backswing arc without swaying too much off centre seems to be providing a recipe for improvement. And, whilst I've said it before, the gains aren't just showing up in stack sessions, I'm definitely longer off the tee. Now, some of this comes down to course conditions improving but, most of it is...

Somers Golf

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