Monday, March 30, 2009

Power Hitter has arrived!


My Power Hitter arrived today! I went to to practice and hit about 50 balls with it and I can already feel a little increase in distance since I started with this project.

On the range today I warmed up as normal and then I started to hit 10 balls with my normal driver then I switched to the Power Hitter and hit 25 more balls. I repeated that process twice and I think Im on the right track to longer shots.

I also ordered a new Krank Golf 7.5* 48" X-Stiff UST V2 shaft today and I'm really looking forward to take it out to the course!

Here are the absolute latest swing scene with my Callaway driver.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Latest swingscene

Here's the latest swingscene. I have felt bad and week tha last couple of days so I havn't been going to the gym. I think I have a cold/flu which makes me tired.

I played today and the last driver was about 270 carry and it ended up about 320 on the par 5 450 yards. Up on the green on the second shot to about 15 feet and then I made the putt for eagle:)

Well, now I'm heading to bed. I hope this cold will be over soon.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Increase

Today I played at Breakers West, a beautiful course in West Palm Beach.

The long drives started of already from the first tee. Stuart and I only played from the white tee box, that was the directions from Coach!

290 carry on the first hole which also split the fairway into two pieces. Many other drives was at least +280 and with the new teqnique I can feel how I have increased my distance.

On some drives I hit them with too much spin because of the 9.5* lofted clubhead. I think that it will make alot of difference in distance if I switch to one with lower loft and stiffer flex.
Sometimes I was amazed over my really long ones, actually there was only one ball that went really "off-line".

Today I was talking to Dave and as a result of that I got the opportunity to borrow two longdrive clubs from him. One of them has 6* of loft while the other is 7.5*. Here I come distance!

However, I played pretty well, started of with a birde, I hit some greens but didn't really get the score where I wanted it to be. But afterall I am satisfied with my round and todays golf.

I can't wait to get my Momentus Power Hitter!

Monday, March 23, 2009

First longdriving lesson


Today I had my first meeting with Dave, who has been a professional long driving-player for several years.

First of all we had a talk about equipment, height and other factors that the golf swing is dependent on.

We took a check on my equipment which is a 45" Callaway FT-I 9.5* with a stiff shaft and the conclusion is that less loft with a stiffer shaft gives me more roll because it is also creating less spin on the ball which is what we are looking for.
After some few balls with my own driver we change the power from 85-90% to about 100%, he told me -Swing the club as fast as you can and don't save on your power, do not care about where to ball ends, just hit it long.


He gave me a chance to test his Krank golf driver, Cobra, Taylormade and his weighted Momentus Power hitter. The power hitter help me with the tempo and after hitting about 5 balls with the Momentus driver my own club felt light as a pen.


I really enjoyed to hit with the Krank driver and now I'm thinking of not only switching to long driver head but also my my driver longer. Or maybe just begin to make my own driver longer by 1" or 2".


As a result of today's lesson I can already get a feeling of how far I can reach. Those 30 extra yards will be reachable within the next 1 1/2 month.


I will continue with my practice and today I actually bought a 310 grams Momentus Power hitter myself which I hope can improve my swing speed with all clubs.


To round up the post I will show you how to hit the ball +330 yards straight. A little bit of eye candy:) This drive was amazing!

Thanks Dave for a great lesson!

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Cancelled Q-round

Due to excessive raining the last night was our Q-round out at the Fountains course was cancelled. Instead we practiced some putts and shortgame, which I love.

Stuart and I went out to play 18-holes on a "raincourse" after nicely asking the starter if we could go out and play. Without warmup, Stuart and I started our round on the slightly wet course.

I hit some pretty good drives out there today, some of them came out with too much backspin which resulted in short distance. But there was actually some really good ones also. My goal is to be constistent above 275 yards which at this point would be equal to a 20-25 yard increase.

However I played pretty well on some holes and started to make some important putts, but as the round continued I lost concentration and strenght. I think this was because of the bad food intake that I had during the morning.

After the round I went to Stuart's parents for supper. I enjoyed the supper with the chicken and the fried chips "pommes frites". Thanks for the dinner:)

I could really feel how the weighted stick from yesterday's fitness session helped me today, the driver felt really light and easy to swing.

Tomorrow it's time for some rest and homework. I think I will go to the gym though and swing about 75-100 swings with the weighted 9 lbs stick, and also swing with a shaft to increase speed and not only the muscles.

See you everyone!

Friday, March 20, 2009

Practice

It was practice today again. Didn't feel sore from yesterdays workout and it the ball okey today. Actually I drove the first hole today. We played a shootout from the red tee box on the first hole, 242 yards into the wind. I hit it solid and it carried just short of the hole and stopped about 10 feet past the hole.

This evening I workout on my lower body and I also swing about 50 swings with the 9 lbs stick.

I got in contact with a longdriving professional today and we booked up a meeting on Monday. It will be fun to see what he says and also see if how far I can reach. I believe that I can get out at least 25 yards more from where I'm standing today.

Tomorrow will we play at Fountains Course and it will be fun to see if there are any Xtra long drives hiding out there tomorrow.

I'm glad that the longdriving guy called me and looking forward to the meeting on Monday at a secret driving range!

Till next time, stay positive and hit it far and straight!

Workout

Three days has gone since I started the experiment.

I have tried to get in contact with longdriving guys in the area but so far has no one answered.

I have played seven holes the past 3 days. I was a little bit sore after the lower body workout that I did on Tuesday.
I found a weighted stick in the gym which I will use to strenghten the golf specific muscles.

Yesterday I worked in the upperbody plus some abs. Afterwards I used two golfclubs to loosen up the muscles, and also swinged with just a shaft so build up and create more speed.

The seven holes that I played was OK, played pretty well even if I was really sore. I just need to keep working on te speedtraining and the distance will inrease. I started to sky some balls but I think thats just and effect from the past workouts.
Keep working! Pictures from gymworkout!


Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Stat and workout check

At the moment would I say that my very best drives is about 270 yards while the less good ones are about 240 yards. When I really pound the ball I am about the 270 yards that I want to be consistent at. What I want is to be consistent on +270 yards.

I don't really know what my swingspeed with my driver is but I know that my irons are about 86-89 Mph

My equipment is a Callaway FT-I Tour model with 9.5* loft and a stiff tourflex.

For the next following weeks in the gym will I focus on strenght training. I will follow this program:

Monday: Upper Body
Bench Press: 4 sets of 6-8 repetitions
Bent Over Row: 4 sets of 6-8 repetitions
Dumbbell Shoulder Press: 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions
Bicep Curl: 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions
Rope Tricep Pull-downs: 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions

Tuesday: Lower Body
Front Squat: 4 sets of 6-8 repetitions
Deadlift: 4 sets of 6-8 repetitions
Lunges: 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions
Hamstring Curl: 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions
Standing Calf Raises: 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions

Thursday: Upper Body
Incline Bench Press: 4 sets of 6-8 repetitions
Lat Pull-down: 4 sets of 6-8 repetitions
Barbell Shoulder Press: 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions
Front Lateral Raises: 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions
Dips: 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions

Friday: Lower Body
Back Squat: 4 sets of 6-8 repetitions
Stiff-Legged Deadlift: 4 sets of 6-8 repetitions
One-Legged Squats/Leg Press: 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions
Hamstring Curl: 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions
Seated Calf Raises: 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions

Except for this will I end all sessions with excercises that are similar to the motions in the golfswing. Example pulling ropes with light weights. I will not forget to workout my abs but this part of the body will be worked on 3 days a week. After every session will I also swing with one or several golfclubs to make the muscles become used to the swingmotion.

Here is a video where I'm just trying to hit it as far as I can. It ended up at about 275 yards. Balance isnt the best here but I was just looking for distance at this moment.

My own distance increase blog!

After following the "Driverblogg" that the Swedish golfmagazine has presented during the last 2 months, has I now made a choice to make my own blog about the same thing. This might be hard for you to understand what is going to happen without any background information, therefore, let me begin with a short summary.

For about two months ago the Swedish golfmagazine announced a competition where the winner would practice with one of the best longdriving guys that Sweden has to offer. The guy who's name is Marcus Edblad, believs that almost anyone can gain 30 yards of driving distance. With very good swing teqnique together with the right workout training in gym would this be possible.

The choosen to this chance was one amateur with the handicap of 17 while the other one was Catrin Nilsmark who has played on the LPGA tour.

Now after two months working on their golfteqnique and golfrelated workouts to increase their swingspeed has they already increased the 30 yards that the goal was.

Now to my questions.

Can I try the same and would I reach those 30 yards?

Scheduled workouts together with drills to improve swingspeed should increase my distance.

How far can I reach with this and where does it end?

That will the future determine...