Somers Golf

  Switching things up again this week, with a solo post for session 14 in the full speed spectrum program, as I think it's worth showing the direct comparison with session 13. Once again it was a 5 set session with two sets at 220g's acting as the bread in a two step set sandwich, one at 80g and one at 20g. Interestingly, the 20g is the lowest weight you can have on the stack and it's the first time I've swung with so little on there. It's also the first time I've been over the 110 mark, I believe, with a 112mph being the highest achieved in that set. As always, there was a low effort thrown in there, where I just didn't time up things in the kinetic chain correctly, which obviously has a bearing on the average. The good thing about having the same weight in set 1 and 4 is that you have a target in mind too, as I'm pretty much always going to be slower out of the gate in that first set but it's nice to see another 3mph gain between the two set averag...

  OK, I decided, given I knew I had a week where the golf I was playing was going to have an impact on my speed training, that I was going to post three session results in one go. Sessions 11 and 12 also had to be completed after rounds, which I've now come to the conclusion doesn't work for me, or my body and so from now on I will try to avoid this method. However, that said, whilst the all important 195g wasn't where I'd like it to be (91mph overall / 277 yard distance potential) there were still some gains on the other weights, with a 99mph on the 95g step set in session 11, a 101mph on the 65g in the step set on the 12th and a new record of 87mph and set record of 85mph on the 235g in session 12. You'll also note that I really pushed the boat out on the 7th, as I also did a speed priming session ahead of the round to try and get my body moving. I also felt that whilst the headline number on the 195g wasn't moving the needle, my body was responding well to th...

Decided it's probably best to start pairing some of my blog posts together, as you might have noticed, as progress is starting to become a little more difficult, at least on the 195g. Furthermore, it's worth noting that both of these sessions were done after a round, as they were scheduled competitions and fell on the day of my training. Also, I've been wanting to try out different solutions to see how my body reacts in those situations but I think it's fair to say that doing speed training after 18 and 16 holes respectively didn't work out on this occasion. Again, that's probably because I'm looking at the fact I haven't pushed the needle forward on the 195g but as you can see there's still plenty of infill happening with the other weights, as in session 9 I had new records on the 80g and 205g, whilst improving on my previous best set record on the 205g by 3mph. Today was a similar story, with a new record of 91mph on the 225g and a new set record a...

  So, I had to take another break from Stacking as I was away for a few days and decided to use the return to form option once again, just to ease back into things. The thing with the return to form session compared with the current phase of the full speed spectrum program is that the swings are full speed, rather than max, meaning they're going to come off as a little slower and that's ok with me. Dipping just below 100mph out the gates, essentially at on course speed is fine with me, as it still gives me a distance potential north of 260 yards. Anyway, a couple of days later and it was time to get back into the swing of things, fully and it wasn't a bad session by any means, I just didn't feel like I was ever going to reach out and touch the absolute top numbers and again, that's fine, sometimes you just aren't going to be at your best. Two more days followed and it was time for session 8 in the program - same drill, five sets all at max, with the exception of...

It's been a while since I've posted on my YouTube channel, given the challenges posed by filming in windy conditions on a links style course. However, a few weeks ago I armed myself with the camera's and did just that, whilst also trying my arm at some on course commentary too.  Let me know what you think of this style of video, as I'm thinking it might be the way forward and already have a lapel style mic setup for future efforts, rather than having to talk into the phone off camera. It's also worth bearing in mind that since my last video I've taken nearly 3 shots off my handicap 14.6 > 11.9 which bodes well for when the weather improves...

Two more sessions in the book on the stack before I have to take another short break from the program, as I'm going away for a few days. Both sessions saw me continue to average 93mph with the 195g, equalling 102mph eSpeed and a distance potential of 283 yards. And whilst I'm not shifting the needle in a meaningful way with the 195g there's still progress elsewhere, which will eventually bleed its way toward the main metrics. Hitting 94mph in the first two reps of set 5 in session 6 I thought I was going to move things forward but dropped off by trying to go faster. I know this because I swung three more times afterwards and hit 94 all three times - next time eh.. 😂 Anyway, once I'm back from this break I'm going to smash it out of the park...

  It had been over a week since the last time I partook in a Stack session, owing to some time away with family. But, that's not an issue with the Stack app as it carefully plots your course towards hitting big bombs... Arriving at the course to complete what I thought was going to be the fourth session in the full speed spectrum program I was greeted by a message from the app, asking me whether I'd like to complete a special, return to form session. Given that the fourth session was the first in a new phase I figured it might be helpful if I didn't leap right back in, especially as I wasn't at 100% health / energy that day. The return to form program was a three set session, with the 195g, 240g and 145g weights all at full swing (on course speed). I was relatively pleased with the numbers I posted, even if they were a little adrift of my maximums during phase 1, as I felt like this was simply a bridge that I'd needed to cross before getting back on the horse. Two d...