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FlyingSpaniard

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About FlyingSpaniard

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    Madrid, Spain

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  1. Yes, I do have one, and an update is long overdue, but I won’t been able to film a front take (which I guess will be especially relevant here) until next weekend. Is there something I can play around with in the meantime? Is lofting it more just a matter of pressing the hands less forward at delivery?
  2. This monitor doesn’t provide club data but launch angle and landing angle in that screenshot are 13* and 34* respectively. For the series of 7i I allude to, launch is 16* and landing is 37* On Trackman my driver clubhead speed is 97-103mph. I definitely play the ball further in my stance, but this has been recommended by my instructor, and I see it fairly recommended as standard here in TST. Maybe I’m overdoing it - will play around with it later at the range. Yes, I accept there is a disconnect in what “feels good” and is actually good here. The thing is I feel I could hit a hundred balls and we would hardly see one better than that one - that’s why I’m looking for possible causes and solutions. Sorry for the double post but is there such a thing as “too much delofting” of the ball (hands too forward, etc.?). Is this a cause on its own (ie, the movement is incorrect) or a consequence of another root cause (eg, ball position in stance)? Thanks!
  3. Yesterday I was hitting balls with what felt like nice tempo and contact (for my handicap anyway), and I saw something which has been catching my attention for a couple of months. The following is a 6 iron shot that felt "flushed", with great contact: The key stats, translated and in metric and imperial for your reading convenience are: Total: 182m (199y) Carry: 163m (178y) Height: 19m (20.7y) I further have some average data on a series of ten shots with my 7 iron from about a week ago: Total: 166m (181y) Carry: 153m (167y) Height: 22m (24y) (Don't mind the gapping between my 6i and 7i... Yesterday I was hitting my 7i about 170m... I think my distances are all over the place week-to-week, because I'm a rookie) My question is, what might be producing such low launch, high rollout numbers, and am I right that this is not conducive too good scoring opportunities with my mid-irons, and will need to be addressed sooner than later? Some further context: - Currently play to a 26 handicap, started playing 8 months ago - My experience in the golf course, with good balls and under pressure, is the same: a well-struck 7 iron has trouble holding the green, forget about a 6i or 5i - I game (second-hand) TaylorMade M3s (stock lofts are 7i: 30.5º, 6i: 26.5º) with Mitsubishi Tensei Blue graphite reg shafts (77g weight, 2.2 torque, "high" launch and spin) - I play a draw, and consistently hit the ball from the inside (+3º to +8º on Trackman) - Right now I struggle in fact coming too much from the inside, resulting in hooks and push slices from getting stuck - Also related to the above, I also struggle "committing" to the shot or staying down on it, resulting in some thins I think my technical issues regarding path and commitment are on course to be solved, I am working with my instructor to neutralize my path to be less in-to-out, maintaining side bend, and proper torso rotation, etc. However, it feels like even when I hit a "great" shot with my mid-irons (not stuck, committed, good contact, baby draw flight), I never see anything too dissimilar to the stats above. What gives?
  4. Sorry, do I need to detail everything I do? I seemed to read in the original topic that one could just post after a completed workout?What makes you assume that I don't stretch at all, like in the mornings, the evenings, during breaks at the office, or otherwise in separate workouts? You're going as far as assuming that I haven't stretched in my entire life ("start now"). Also, you do understand that performing compound lifts with good technique, at full range of motion, actually stretches the muscles and is excellent for mobility? Arguably just as good, if not much better, than static stretching? And what exactly may I regret and when?
  5. Squat 65kg 3x12 Bench Press 3x3 70kg Stiff Legged Deadlift 3x8 85kg Machine rows 3x10 Face-Pulls 3x10 Rear Delt Machine 3x10 Rotational exercises with bands Used to train 5-6x per week but I am too addicted to golf to spend that much time at the gym anymore. Pretty content with 2x nowadays, but I am trying to fit a third light day - working very hard to persuade myself that working out also counts as golf. I am having trouble in my left rhomboid from over-exertion and possibly poor technique. Anyone know of any good exercises aside from face-pulls, rear delt work, etc.?
  6. I love tech and work in the industry but I'm new to golf tech in particular. With the Pro package, does Mevo get close to feature parity with Trackman? What would it be missing? Do we know anything about its accuracy vs. Trackman? If the number of data parameters and accuracy are similar, will Trackman be able to justify its 10x price point? Also, this might be very technical but maybe someone can answer: they are adding these features through a software update (ie, not updating the hardware). It's hard for me to understand how they can reorient the same hardware capabilities to get club data, when they were not designed from the ground up to do so. Are they maybe adding this by analyzing the video with computer vision?
  7. There is no export to CSV file option. You can add new clubs from the "My Practice" screen. There is a big plus button where you can add a new club and alias it... I've never tried it and I don't know how it syncs with the range machine but you should experiment with that. As to experimenting with the data, unless you are creative with stats and data visualization I doubt you can pull something really interesting. There just isn't much of interest there aside from dispersion and distance - even an entry point portable launch monitor has more in-depth statistics as far as I can tell.
  8. Can't attest to its popularity around the world but here in Madrid there are a few ranges that have it. It's handy as it's basically a pay-per-use launch monitor. Here's a screenshot from my own app. This is a view for a single session and club, then there is an aggregate per-club view for all your sessions. As you can see, the single session and club view offers a dispersion chart and per-shot data. I understand @SupaPro7's pain in that the user experience isn't particularly good (how it aggregates data, the charts it uses, etc.) or complete, and you cannot export your data. I really dislike trend in tech of not allowing users to effectively own their data, and I see the golf world is not an exception. I've been checking launch monitors and as far as I can tell, very few let you export into CSV and similar formats... Toptracer is not an exception. It's a pity because I could do interesting things with the data as I work in software development (I could go as far as create my own UX, derive descriptive stats, create many different charts and visualizations, add milestones of when I was taught this thing or the other, etc.), but what are you gonna do about it... I also think despite its shortcomings for me it works okay as a short term aid. I'm using it about once every three weeks or so, I see trends in distance and dispersion and take that info to the course or to my instructor. I think in a longer term (over a year) I will buy my own launch monitor, and the problem will be that all my data will be dispersed. If I want to consolidate it to see year-on-year trends I will have to manually extract it from the Toptracer app and somehow consolidate it in an external source. Once I'm in the market for a launch monitor I know that data export will be an important consideration for me, though I won't hold my breath for it. @SupaPro7 maybe you share some of these problems. Unfortunately I cannot recommend anything other than just make the best of what the app offers, or extract it manually. Like others are asking I am not sure what you are trying to analyze but to me distances and dispersion at a glance are the only thing I need at my level.
  9. That's an 8-iron, sorry. Weight transfer and shot shaping are my current big pieces, so I definitely hope to keep making progress. I feel like I'm getting plenty of value out of it... Last week we focused on hitting the driver, where I still feel I could use one or two standalone lessons just for basics. Still need a dedicated bunker lesson like I mentioned. By the time we get back to striking irons it will be 3 weeks, easily. Also bear in mind I am making time to practice for at least 15 hours per week, plus a full round... I firmly believe in focusing on a couple things at a time, but I have more time available for practice than most people.
  10. I've been Playing Golf for: 5 months My current handicap index or average score is: 36 HCI My typical ball flight is: Draw The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: Hooks and thins Videos: Maybe this video is not perfect (lighting, etc.), and I regret not having taken a down-the-line view that day, but I believe in not letting the perfect becoming the enemy of the good, so I wanted to get this started for feedback and self-motivation. A little bit about my golfing career: I took lessons when I was a kid, but pretty much never played (went out to an executive course a few times, and did 9 holes about once), then I switched to other sports, mainly soccer. Earlier this year, more than 20 years later, I was bored out of my skull in an August afternoon up in the Basque Country, so I decided to go to the range and hit some balls... Covid had got me thinking for a while how I needed an outdoors hobby, things immediately clicked in that first range session, and I've been hooked ever since. I took two lessons in August during the summer holiday, the instructor worked mostly on grip, address and backswing. I liked his style but there was not much time for anything else as I had to travel back to my hometown. In mid-September I signed up for group classes at the Spanish Golf Federation and to cut to the chase, it was a terrible experience. The problem was not so much that the instruction time was limited (at an hour with groups of four, each one of us got around 15min), but rather that I the instruction style was IMHO bonkers. Very little was provided in the way of formal instruction, with a pro just watching you hit balls and making an occasional correction, claiming that a golf swing "should be built on instinct". The instructor strengthened my grip, made some posture corrections at address, taught me basic chipping technique, but never explained anything else in 8 lessons. When I consistently started hooking the ball out of nowhere, the instructor claimed that this was "progress" as I had been slicing it before, without explaining absolutely anything outside of that (I didn't know why I was slicing it earlier or hooking it later), or how to work towards fixing it. I received zero instruction about club path, how my arms and hands were supposed to work during the swing, or any other swing fundamentals such as weight transfer or face control and had to fend for myself to learn online. Seeing this and learning that a member of our class had been taking lessons for over SIX MONTHS and had an absolutely atrocious swing, I decided to quit and find better instruction. I am really disappointed that a leading institution that is partly responsible for raising the country's talent and who can take partial credit for Jon Rahm's golf education has such poor instruction standards for the common golfer... Anyway, I digress. I feel like I wasted a couple months but I think that will be irrelevant in my golfing career, so rant's over. Around November I quit the Federation and signed up for one-to-one lessons at a private club, which has one of the best youth teams in the country and an LPGA Major champion as head of instruction. The difference in instruction quality is massive, namely: - They have a consistent swing model they teach as a base (kind of like 5sk) - They explain fundamentals such as club and face path, force transfer, etc. I see they do this even with very little kids (6-8 y.o.) - They still leave ample room for "instinct" and swing idiosyncrasies - They have excellent tech (Trackman, radars, etc.) I've only had 4 lessons, but so far I've been delighted and I see myself sticking with them for a long time. Some things we have worked in particular with my new instructor: - In-to-out swing, face control, and creating a base draw shot shape - Loose wrists at the top of the backswing, "maintaining the L" - "Connecting" the club to the body - Hitting a drive Other things I've kind of self-coached are force/weight transfer, hip movement, and low point control. I was hitting it fat on turf due to not knowing how to read mishits on mats, and became resolved to nip that in the bud. In the last month I've also radically transformed my practice from mindlessly pounding balls to breaking everything down to smaller pieces of work and drills, then leaving some time at the end of practice to bring it together by hitting some highly targeted shots with no swing thoughts, as if I was out on the course. My ball-striking has improved massively as a result in the last couple of weeks... Since adopting a draw, I've seen my 7 iron distances jump from 130m to 145m average (as measured by Toptracer), and my shot dispersion is clearly grouped more tightly around the left. At the course, GIRs are starting to become a not-so-uncommon occurrence and I very rarely hit fat shots anymore. On the other hand, I'm now battling a hook, some thinned (but often workable) shots, and my short game and putter have degraded significantly since becoming obsessed with my ball-striking. Not to mention that I still can hardly hit a driver (I tee off with a mix of driver, hybrid or 4i) or that I literally don't know how to get out of the bunker (I've tried self-teaching but I cannot for the life of me figure it out, so I will make that a priority in next week's lesson). I plan to keep attending lessons weekly, rebalance my practice around the 60-25-15 rule, keep splitting work into smaller items and drills, practice about 15-20 hours and play at least 18 holes every week. In short: I am clearly still terrible, but I'm loving the grind, and I'm eager to see where it takes me! Please fire away with any comments and critiques. I think there is so much work to be done on my swing and so many aspects to work on that I feel that I will not be able to address everything immediately, but I am keeping a backlog of issues to work on for months ahead, so your feedback is most welcome.
  11. Thanks for the insight. Outdoor leagues as such here do not stop in the winter... They only decrease in frequency due to reduced daylight times, but there is still plenty of activity to go around during the weekends. Courses will only close when it's 0C, which is a couple of days during the winter at most... A typical winter day here is a sunny 5-10C (40-50F). The target market here would be city-dwellers who have a hard time commuting out to the outdoor courses and ranges. As someone who does that 4-5 days a week, it gets tiring despite being obsessed with the sport. Building sims is not a viable option for loads of people here either since we live in apartments or multi-family units. Regardless, I do see leagues working in the afterwork hours (6-9pm) in the winter and would definitely see a way of organizing them, I just don't think the business model can rely entirely on that to succeed.
  12. Hello all, I've read a few threads on this topic but I would like to pitch my vision and see your views as of this date. I'm thinking of an indoor golf sim business in the heart of a populated city (more details on the latter below). Here are some core features I'm envisioning: - Located in central downtown, in a neighborhood that has really high business and residential density - Around 4 bays, possibly with a combo of either Trackman or Skytrak (maybe start with 2 and scale up), in around 180 sq. meters - Vending machines with a premium selection of beers and snacks, plus maybe some golf accessories (gloves, balls, etc.) - Small lounge areas to wait and sit for a drink, but no service - Users book and pay 24-48h in advance - Pricing around 25€ / 30min or 35€ / 60min - Borrow clubs for free (maybe not latest gen, but something good and in good condition) or bring your own - Single employee during regular business hours (9am - 5pm, Mon - Fri) for administration, basic sales, and assistance (would probably be me to start) - 24/7 access with fingerprint or other digital mechanism Some possible "extended features": - Memberships (pay X for Y hours) or bulk vouchers - Cameras in all bays... Automatically record your swing and form a diary... There would be a members web app that would aggregate your Trackman stats, swing vids, etc. (my expertise is in software dev so I think I'm fairly well-equipped to pull this off) - Small leagues or social events - Book instruction or bring-your-own instruction - Members-only area with a gym (squat rack, oly bars) and space for drills, chipping, putting, etc. (would need about twice the space, don't know if this makes sense economically) Some context: - Starting city would be Madrid, Spain... Decent all-year weather except the harshest month of winter around December/January - Downtown population around 3.2 million (double that in the metropolitan area), very dense city center - Plenty of golf nuts to go around, lots of affluent people downtown - There are a couple public / municipal golf courses within 25km, and a good number of private courses in that radius - Most people living or working downtown therefore need to drive 20-35min to the range regularly - Real estate is expensive, but my research shows rent around 3.000€ / month might do the trick for a good location - Peak times might be something like 1pm - 4pm (lunch time - here it's very late) and 6pm - 9pm (afterwork) I've made an Excel financial model and my first impression is that the business would hinge on aggressively discriminating between peak and off-peak usage, with peak times being reserved for affluent golf nuts working in the area, and off-peak usage being sold to local resident golf nuts at discounted rates. With something like 80% utilization at peak hours (sounds about enough for the service to not feel overly crowded) and 10-20% off-peak or long-tail utilization, the numbers look good under my assumptions. However, I have zero experience in this type of business, and the common wisdom in my research is that "you need a bar", but I don't think that would be easy or profitable in my area and economic context (there are a million bars per square foot in Madrid), nor would I want to, honestly. I am conceiving this as a lifestyle business, but obviously, I would like to make good money from it. If this works, I don't see why it couldn't be turned into a mid-sized chain or franchise around large cities in Europe or even the US. I know many of you are American, and possibly live a suburban or country life where none of this makes sense, as you are used to drive around, so driving 20min to a golf course vs. going to a sim might make no sense. But I suppose some of you might know what downtown city is like, and how it's not always easy to drive out to the course or driving range... Regardless, given the context, do you think this could work? Why or why not?
  13. From what I've heard him say in interviews, it comes from the fact that he drills loads of punch shots, and it just kind of stuck in the full swing... It does work for him and I assume his coaching staff are cool with it, but I'm fully invested in the idea that what works for pros might not be a good idea for the rest of us mortals. I've seen some coaches say that working on post-impact positions (such as "straighten your arms in the follow-through") can lead to tension, which can be harmful. I certainly notice some tension when doing this finish in a full swing (it feels as if I need to decelerate the club more consciously), but at first glance it hasn't had any negative effect on my shots, but rather the opposite...
  14. I really like Tommy Fleetwood's three-quarter finish, both aesthetically and in terms of the feeling of control it provides. I haven't found any good technical discussions on potential trade-offs and risks. My current instructor is not against it, but he hasn't elaborated on the topic. I plan to do a little statistical experiment where I try a three-quarter vs. a full finish at the range. In the meantime, what are your thoughts?
  15. Ah I see. I think I've become singularly worried about this topic because (a) my first positive swing feel was in the hips and (b) I was deseperately scrambling for a solution to hitting it fat, which led to working on weight/force transfer which led to this. I can now appreciate how the rabbit hole is deeper than it may seem at first glance.
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