Homemade Superspeed substitute?

[Rory4Pres]

So looking at the superspeed golf clubs (3 pack for $200) and I'm intrigued by the idea of training with this during the off season but it seems so simple so I have to ask....  Has anybody just added a ton of lead tape to their old clubs and used that as a "training" aid to increase swing speed?

 

I'm honestly thinking about adding a ton of lead tape to the shaft and head of my old 910 driver and using that.  Same with an old iron.

 

Crazy or a good idea? 

[Jc0]

3 hours ago, Rory4Pres said:

So looking at the superspeed golf clubs (3 pack for $200) and I'm intrigued by the idea of training with this during the off season but it seems so simple so I have to ask....  Has anybody just added a ton of lead tape to their old clubs and used that as a "training" aid to increase swing speed?

 

I'm honestly thinking about adding a ton of lead tape to the shaft and head of my old 910 driver and using that.  Same with an old iron.

 

Crazy or a good idea? 

 

Bad idea. The point of superspeed is that it is lighter than a regular club. It is over speed training. Overly head heavy clubs can cause swing issues because of the balance and can actually slow you down.  If you want to copy superspeed you need a weight on the end of a shaft, no head. I've seen posts about home made ones online.

[jvincent]

3 hours ago, Rory4Pres said:

So looking at the superspeed golf clubs (3 pack for $200) and I'm intrigued by the idea of training with this during the off season but it seems so simple so I have to ask....  Has anybody just added a ton of lead tape to their old clubs and used that as a "training" aid to increase swing speed?

 

I'm honestly thinking about adding a ton of lead tape to the shaft and head of my old 910 driver and using that.  Same with an old iron.

 

Crazy or a good idea? 

 

It's easy enough to make a DIY set, but you need to get the weights right. Two of them are lighter than a standard driver and one is heavier.

 

If you have three driver shafts hanging around you can use metal pipe, end caps, and epoxy to make your own.

[Cachaulo]

40 minutes ago, jvincent said:

 

It's easy enough to make a DIY set, but you need to get the weights right. Two of them are lighter than a standard driver and one is heavier.

 

If you have three driver shafts hanging around you can use metal pipe, end caps, and epoxy to make your own.

Anyone have target swingweights for the three clubs/shafts/sticks?

[jvincent]

They have the total weights on the website. Just build it to those at standard driver length.

[1Mordrid1]

5 hours ago, Rory4Pres said:

So looking at the superspeed golf clubs (3 pack for $200) and I'm intrigued by the idea of training with this during the off season but it seems so simple so I have to ask....  Has anybody just added a ton of lead tape to their old clubs and used that as a "training" aid to increase swing speed?

 

I'm honestly thinking about adding a ton of lead tape to the shaft and head of my old 910 driver and using that.  Same with an old iron.

 

Crazy or a good idea? 

255, 290, and 335 grams with a 45" shaft length.

 

Find some cheap used but stable stiff golf shafts and use a combination of metal or lead washers and shaft epoxy to get to the weight you need

[MysteryV]

You can also get $50 off if you buy a radar along with the set.  It's $350 for the package, but the PRGR radar is pretty slick, and necessary to really chart your progress.

[cardoustie]

Why can’t you use standard driver heads to those three weights ?

[naj959]

There's a thread on another forum (the one that spies on new equipment) that has a detailed diy for all three sticks. I'd post the link but I'm not sure if that is against the rules here or not. Get some fender washers, a threaded rod, old shaft, plasti-dip, JB Weld, club epoxy and a digital scale. I have all the supplies but just haven't gotten around to putting it all together. All and all each stick will cost between $10-$20, depending on how many of the supplies you already have in the garage.

[SirFuego]

There are different ways to do speed training:

 

1) Training with three sticks (15% lighter, 10% lighter, and 5% heavier than your driver)

2) Training with one stick (10% lighter)

3) Swing as hard as you can with a driver you don't care about (flip it over for non-dominant swings).  There is a good chance you might accidentally hit the ground hard with one of your swings, so I wouldn't suggest doing this approach with a driver you care about.

4) Hit balls with your driver as hard as you can with complete disregard as to where the ball goes.

 

Of those above (3) is likely the cheapest and (2) might be a good place to start if you want to build your own superspeed sticks similar to the method @naj959 suggests above.

 

Everyone seems to have an opinion of which method works the "best".  You can probably endlessly debate which is more effective than the other, but the bottom line is that most of us already have speed we can add to the swing, so any of the above methods will likely yield faster swing speeds.  So I would pick whichever method suits your wallet, DIY ability, and opinions on effectiveness the best and go to town with it.  If a method works for you, then keep doing it until it doesn't or until you get bored with it and try something else.

 

Commonalities between all 4 methods:

1) Just because you think you are swinging faster, doesn't mean that you are swinging faster.  Having the feedback of how fast you are swinging is necessary to make adjustments to your technique to actually swing faster.  So regardless of which method you try, you want to do this with a swing speed radar or launch monitor.

 

2) If you feel like you are on the brink of injury (or actually injured yourself), stop immediately.  Hoping that you won't get injured or trying to fight through the pain will likely only make it worse.  You might want to work on your strength and mobility a bit more before continuing with speed training (or better yet, make sure you strength and mobility is up to snuff before even considering speed training).

 

3) Don't do it more than three times a week.  When you start seeing gains, you will likely get the urge to do it more frequently, just don't give into the urge.  Your body/brain needs time to rest in between sessions.

 

 

[chipa]

Getting the right hand and forearm in the correct position will allow one to generate considerably most clubhead speed according to my personal measurements with a golf radar.

 

In my own personal experience the increase in clubhead speed is about 20 percent witht he same body swing speed. In other words an 80 mph swing could be 100 mph if the hands and arms technique  technique is really off, like it is for me at times and I expect many high hc'er's.

[scooterhd2]

if you dont have shafts laying around, just pick these up. Not going to save much money getting shafts and weights. I have them, and they are great. 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Hurricane-Golf-Accelerator-Training-Increases/dp/B07RHW6F3Y/ref=sxts_sxwds-bia-wc-p13n1_0?cv_ct_cx=hurricane+accelerator&dchild=1&keywords=hurricane+accelerator&pd_rd_i=B07RHW6F3Y&pd_rd_r=210b033d-64de-4cfe-9fbf-a938c69e9811&pd_rd_w=2i37W&pd_rd_wg=Y00CE&pf_rd_p=aa27be45-7294-48a8-8c11-546cebd55a37&pf_rd_r=X7CGKWCCHN04DHVJ5YC9&psc=1&qid=1603229664&sr=1-1-a14f3e51-9e3d-4cb5-bc68-d89d95c82244

[hoselpalooza]

iirc there are some posts on these forums about a DIY solution. some mention using a driver adapter to accommodate different weights with only one shaft. here's a search to get you started: https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Aforums.golfwrx.com+"superspeed"+"diy"&oq=site%3Aforums.golfwrx.com+"superspeed"+"diy"&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i58.13766j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

 

p.s. be safe. i know someone who destroyed another person's property because he wasn't careful with his assembly. seriously. 

[bluedot]

Do yourself a favor, and just use an old driver.  There is good research that shows that overspeed training is most effective when using a club the same weight (or slightly lighter) than your regular club, and the number of reps can be FAR less than what the Super Speed protocols call for.  An outfit out of Raleigh, NC, Par4Success has done quite a bit of research on this, including a meta analysis of research from other sports, especially baseball and cricket, and the results are the same.  I think you can find some videos from Par4Success about this on Youtube, and I'll try to locate and post a link to a research paper they did on the subject.

 

There are benefits to swinging a heavy club, but swing speed isn't among them.  And it is important to remember that Super Speed is selling sticks; they give away the protocols!  They make more money when they sell more sticks, period.

[bluedot]

Here's the link to the research paper; long read, but worth the time, I think.

 

https://simplifaster.com/articles/overspeed-training-beyond-maximal-velocity/

[hoselpalooza]

1 hour ago, bluedot said:

Here's the link to the research paper; long read, but worth the time, I think.

 

https://simplifaster.com/articles/overspeed-training-beyond-maximal-velocity/

 

super interesting paper, thank you for sharing! 

 

here's an interesting bit:

 

Quote

In the end, I think Szymanski, et al.14 hit the nail on the head with their highlight of the clear relationship between the fastest bat speeds occurring with the stronger and more powerful players. We need to help golfers become stronger and more powerful with traditional strength and conditioning techniques to maximize performance and longevity and reduce injury likelihood. From here, overspeed training can become an amazing tool to implement at different times during the year at lower volume and system loads than are currently being used industry-wide.

 

To be clear, it is my opinion that overspeed training works in both the high volume and low volume protocol formats based on the available research and my firsthand training experience of more than 1,000 golfers. There is statistically no difference in outcomes between high volume overspeed protocols and low volume ones. Because of this, high volume protocols are unnecessary and a waste of golfers’ time and energy when they can see the same results with 66% fewer swings. High volume protocols also put unnecessarily high amounts of maximal stress on golfers’ bodies, putting longevity at risk, especially when they are carried out in the absence of a customized strength and conditioning program for golf.

 

so getting stronger and doing low-volume superspeed protocol seems like the main takeaways. 

[bluedot]

10 minutes ago, hoselpalooza said:

 

super interesting paper, thank you for sharing! 

 

here's an interesting bit:

 

 

so getting stronger and doing low-volume superspeed protocol seems like the main takeaways. 

 

I think that's a fair assessment.  And even at that, there are qualifiers.  A large percentage of golfers, especially seniors, are already swinging the club as fast (or even faster) as their body is prepared for because of mobility and/or flexibility issues.  For them (and I'm one of them, fwiw) there not only won't be gains from the SS protocols, but there is a real danger of injury.

 

Likewise with technique.  Lots of golfers have a swing flaw that limits their ability to swing FAST; not getting fully into your left side, for example, means that you are just going to limited in terms of the speed you can generate.

 

Chris Finn has numbers in one of his videos about the percentages of golfers that fall into each category; I don't remember the specific numbers, but I think it's safe to say that a LOT more golfers would benefit more from other sorts of work than from SS training, even with the lower numbers of reps.

 

[SirFuego]

2 hours ago, hoselpalooza said:

 

super interesting paper, thank you for sharing! 

 

here's an interesting bit:

 

 

so getting stronger and doing low-volume superspeed protocol seems like the main takeaways. 

Yep.  Speed training is for increasing speed.  Strength training is for reducing the likelihood of injury.  The author's company only feels that superspeed training should be done by a small percentage of golfers -- those who are strong enough to handle increased swing speeds.

[hoselpalooza]

15 minutes ago, SirFuego said:

Yep.  Speed training is for increasing speed.  Strength training is for reducing the likelihood of injury.  The author's company only feels that superspeed training should be done by a small percentage of golfers -- those who are strong enough to handle increased swing speeds.

 

full disclosure -- i skimmed the article whilst on a conference call and don't remember all of the details. will have to go back to it over the weekend...

 

that being said, i recall the article mentioning that increasing strength also increases speed. e.g. the fastest baseball players measured were also the strongest. so it sounds to me like strength training gives you a two-for and could be more sustainable long-term as long as it's done safely and smartly.

i agree with your sentiment about their comments on superspeed; it seems like a hit-or-miss endeavor for most people based on the way the authors frame it. i don't think that's necessarily good or bad, just interesting to note. 

[hoselpalooza]

so i finished reading (i.e. not skimming) the article and this paragraph really jumped out at me:

 

Quote

A “properly designed golf performance plan” does not only include one single element of overspeed training or solely traditional strength and conditioning. It is a plan that is periodized throughout the year for an individual golfer that includes soft tissue care, mobility, stability, strength, speed, and power development, both in general athletic and sport-specific terms.

 

the only thing missing from this snippet seems to be equipment optimization, which the author mentioned earlier. 

 

in terms of recommendations for overspeed training, the author suggests lower volume work -- i.e. "5–10:1 rest-to-work periods" 2 times a week. 

 

seriously though, this is all still very much in the hypothesis/theory phase. some interesting reading but nothing super definitive. 

Edited October 24, 2020 by hoselpalooza
words

[UCBananaboy]

Been dabbling around with this...

 

I swing a 3-wood upside down, so it's lighter

 

I swing the 3-wood normally

 

I swing two irons together, so they're heavy

 

 

[SirFuego]

 

10 hours ago, hoselpalooza said:

seriously though, this is all still very much in the hypothesis/theory phase. some interesting reading but nothing super definitive. 

IMO it's like any type of fitness discussion.  There is almost no way you can design a controlled study and capture significantly significant results.  There will always be things to pick apart with every study.  Plus different people react to different stimuli anyways, so nothing will apply to everyone anyways.

 

We aren't elite level athletes and we don't have human performance experts at our disposal to cater to our every fitness need.  We don't need to get caught up in figuring out the most optimal approach the first time we try to train for something. 

 

In other words, just put priority on doing the work for some period of time, listening to your body so you don't get injured (or make an injury wrose), tracking your results.  If you don't get the results you want, then re-evaluate your approach and change some things up.  If you do that, you will almost certainly see results in whatever you are doing. 

[hoselpalooza]

15 hours ago, SirFuego said:

We aren't elite level athletes and we don't have human performance experts at our disposal to cater to our every fitness need.

 

 

you're offending the wannabes 😂

Edited October 25, 2020 by hoselpalooza
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[MattyO1984]

I made up my own. My friend in the Pro Shop gave me some old driver shafts they used to use for fitting. I wrapped some lead tape around the end until I got to the right weight and away I went, it was really a no brainier and not difficult. I am sure that there will be those that say that they are junk and won’t work but they are driver length shafts with proper grips and the same weight as the SuperSpeed stuff, I can’t see how they can be that wide of the mark.

[Rory4Pres]

54 minutes ago, MattyO1984 said:

I made up my own. My friend in the Pro Shop gave me some old driver shafts they used to use for fitting. I wrapped some lead tape around the end until I got to the right weight and away I went, it was really a no brainier and not difficult. I am sure that there will be those that say that they are junk and won’t work but they are driver length shafts with proper grips and the same weight as the SuperSpeed stuff, I can’t see how they can be that wide of the mark.

 

I've gotta old driver shaft sitting around, I think I'll try the same thing with a bunch of lead tape.  Was kinda leaning towards that idea; you reconfirmed it for me.  How many grams of lead tape did you install on the end of the driver shaft?

[cardoustie]

My thoughts are to find an old used ladies driver head and shaft combo that is 10-15% lighter .... and swing that as fast as you can, and of course i think it could be a bonus as you could hit balls with it, am I wrong? Maybe you want no head on it to take away the ball or hit impulse ?  Someone school an old dog please ...

 

I’m going to weigh out one of my wife’s old drivers, maybe put one of my 46.25” shafts in it and see how that goes

 

I tell you what my nephew and his best buddy have learned the last two weeks.   They built a sim in my brothers garage and having instant feedback on swings really helps you try ideas to ramp up your speed.  Watched my nephew’s best pal swing an 8 iron 104mph last week ... WOWSERS

[MattyO1984]

2 hours ago, Rory4Pres said:

 

I've gotta old driver shaft sitting around, I think I'll try the same thing with a bunch of lead tape.  Was kinda leaning towards that idea; you reconfirmed it for me.  How many grams of lead tape did you install on the end of the driver shaft?

 

I would by lying if I said I could remember. Basically weighted the shaft with the grip on there and added until I got to the point where the two that I made matched up with the light and medium weights from SuperSpeed. Seems to have worked and made much more sense to me than spending £200 when I didn’t really need to.

[Rory4Pres]

Ok, last night I did my home superspeed project.  Started with a Ping driver shaft, found a screw that would fit in the adapter, then went digging in my old stuff and found a brass weight (used as a desk paper holder).  Used a washer to make sure the weight was flush with how far the screw was willing to go into the adapter, then put a bunch of lead tape on it before finishing by wrapping most of it in blue duct tape.  Left a little brass showing so I easily see it and know where I am swinging (regarding hitting a imaginary target).  Used this to aim at my rubber tee.

 

Works great so far, I may add some more lead tape after some trial and error.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[RCGA]

Bumping this 

 

Does length matter? I have a 45.5" driver but a few shafts I have lying around are around ~42-43" 

 

And how important is it to have 3 different weights? 

[larrybud]

I made DIY plans a couple of years ago:

 

https://www.golfleaguetracker.com/glthome/projects/overspeedtraining