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You know I love speed training.
So when I got a chance to spend a day in Orlando with Fast Eddie Fernandes... 3x world long drive champ with a completely different approach to training... I jumped on it.
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What I learned speed training w/ Eddie Fernandes
Eddie's story is pretty wild.
He played the mini tours in his younger years. Could always hit it far but never thought much of it. Stepped away from golf, got married, had three kids. Then in 2013 he saw long drive on TV and thought he could give it a shot.
His first attempts he could get to 134 club speed and 196 ball speed. Over 4-5 years, pushed to the low to mid 150s. 220+ ball speed. And Won his first world sr championship in 2018.
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Some interesting quotes from Eddie:
The process of speed training... "You're never going to swing 190 on the course unless you can hit 198." β
On the backswing... "We can't unload what we don't load and we can't unwind what we don't wind." β
On his approach to speed training... "Everything was intentional. I was completely locked in to my training. I was completely immersed in what I was doing." β
On mindset during speed training "You got to lose your inhibitions." β
He only trains speed twice a week. β
His warmup is 5 minutes using Rotex. Says it replaces 45 minutes of activation. β
"Pretend like you're swinging that club head as fast as you possibly can and trying to get the right thumb in your left ear as fast as possible."
βHIITS stands for High Intensity Impact Training System.
Eddie developed this concept in his garage. He had gotten tendonitis in his elbows after tons of speed training with speed sticks and wanted to do overspeed training but hit balls.
The driver has weight ports that you can swap between sets. Three weight settings. Light is about 7 to 9% lighter than a standard driver.
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The goal is to stay within 4 mph between your light and heavy speeds.
Whatever speed you hit in a session, Eddie says you should be cruising at that within 8 to 16 weeks if you stay consistent.
His level of confidence is fascinating to me. He's always had that swagger and bounce since his junior days
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β β‘οΈ Random fact of the week. Fully addicted to Ghost energy drinks. No idea the health impacts but holy crap. Do they taste good and I constantly crave them now π. I think it's a problem.
π₯ This video is way to much fun. Rory and Tommy switching clubs and playing 3 holes. Very unfiltered with great commentary.
π Wrist pain? Try out a Theraband Flexbar. It's helped me. Used it during warm ups and then leave it on my desk to try and get stronger.
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So what does my Speed Training look like right now?
At the start of the year I had a ton of travel and really struggled to get any momentum with speed training.
The last six weeks have been better. I've been putting in some good consistent work.
Not enough time in the gym yet. My home gym is almost done... just waiting on the gym floor to get installed. But I have been spending time hitting balls.
I've actually been using the HIITS system from Eddie.
Two things have stood out.
One, it's given me structure. I love hitting balls while speed training... that's what I actually enjoy. HIITS adds structure and reps to that, and it's been really helpful.
Two, the smaller driver head. It's not a full 460cc like my normal driver. I didn't think hitting a smaller head would matter, but going back to my gamer after a session feels huge. Contact definitely improves and my confidence goes up.
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