What/How Did You Practice Today?

[Vegan_Golfer_PNW]

had a very focused session today.

With wedges lately i have struggled with shanks so really focused on face contact today at the short game area as well as then alternating distances to change feel each time.

On the range had a session of block practice working on dropping my arms in transition. It went pretty well according to video. After I need spent 10 balls alternating heel and toe strikes and then 5 of trying to hit flush. I then worked on trying to hit different shot shapes with my 5i and 3i just to learn some face control. Pulled out driver and did ten balls of face contact drills. Ended with a simulated round changing clubs and targets.

Edited April 2 by Vegan_Golfer_PNW

[BobBC78]

Although rain is forecast for today thru Friday, it will not be starting until later, so I was able to get to the range this morning. I am working with Kirk Junge through his online Setup4Impact program to change to a single plane swing. His feedback based on a video from Friday is that I take the club too far inside on the backswing, resulting in my downswing path being too in-to-out necessitating me closing the face in order to prevent a push.

Based on my experience from last season and Trackman data, this observation is dead on.  In order to create a straighter path, Kirk recommended that I focus on getting the feeling that I am moving the club somewhat outside during the backswing, particularly during drills. Toward that aim, I used an alignment rod and focused on keeping the club outside the rode for as long as possible. Using this station, I hit 9-to-3 shots with my 6H, working into full shots, followed by 5W, PW and Driver in that order. A small bucket (about 30 balls) took approximately an hour and was productive.

Also practiced some bunker shots (the practice bunker was basically mud), chipping and a little putting. 

 

 

[Dweed]

Cold and rainy today. Courses closed. Decided to head out to the barn and re-grip my driver and three metal. good use of time.

[Willie T]

9 hours ago, cnosil said:

I’d try a higher spinning ball and see if that helps.  

@Rob Person - agree w/consil…Lately I’ve tried lower end balls alongside the premium balls…what I’ve found (“for me” caveat here) is that I get better control with those urethane balls , and decent control with the softer surlyn/ionemer balls.  Next time your out - play several brands of balls “that feel good off the putter” on your wedge approaches.  Your may find that one that gives you the consistent stopping on the green.  Then when it’s narrowed down a bit more play those off the tee.  What you should find is a couple of ball brands that work good and maybe one that ticks all the boxes…all that to say, build your ball choice green to tee…

[THE GOLF GUY]

1 hour ago, Dweed said:

Cold and rainy today. Courses closed. Decided to head out to the barn and re-grip my driver and three metal. good use of time.

On 3/30/2024 at 9:24 AM, RickyBobby_PR said:

It is one swing, length of club, ball position cause a change in the swing plans, but the actual swing itself is the same. 

I went to the range today specifically to work on 3/4 and 1/2 shots on my 5-LW 

My goal is to have three clubs that I can hit similar distances .

Today I worked more on my 5 and 6 iron and this is what I have come up with just for these two clubs 

5 iron (full)   192 yards 

            (3/4)   178 yards

             (1//2)  165 yards

 6 iron  (full)   180 yards

              (3/4)    168 yards

               (1/2)    155 yards

Commitment, tempo and  trust is essential to the shorter swings!

Tomorrow I’ll be working on my 7&8 irons              

Edited April 3 by THE GOLF GUY

[cnosil]

Went to MGS HQ today to hit golf balls; first swings of a golf club since my surgery in January.   Just hit 7 iron and wedges to see how I would do.   Hit about 100 balls total and have lost about 1 to 1 1/2 clubs of distance but hit the ball pretty well and hit the green about 85% of the time.   Short game shots were pretty good and I was able to dial in the distance wedges a bit.

The good news is that I didn't have any chest pains and only a little bit of shortness of breadth (nothing like I was having).  Few hours later and I am a little sore around my incision but nothing horrible.   Guess it is time to start ramping it back up.....gonna start most wanted testing next week so I'll be able to get lots of reps in prior to the MGS Kingsmill outing. 

[Willie T]

Day 80 (02 Apr 24) - Left foot “feeling bruised” where it was rebuilt from the wreck in ‘16 (usually happens when I’ve put too much stress on it)…restricted the swings to easy setup and slower movement thru same.  

[THE GOLF GUY]

25 minutes ago, cnosil said:

Went to MGS HQ today to hit golf balls; first swings of a golf club since my surgery in January.   Just hit 7 iron and wedges to see how I would do.   Hit about 100 balls total and have lost about 1 to 1 1/2 clubs of distance but hit the ball pretty well and hit the green about 85% of the time.   Short game shots were pretty good and I was able to dial in the distance wedges a bit.

The good news is that I didn't have any chest pains and only a little bit of shortness of breadth (nothing like I was having).  Few hours later and I am a little sore around my incision but nothing horrible.   Guess it is time to start ramping it back up.....gonna start most wanted testing next week so I'll be able to get lots of reps in prior to the MGS Kingsmill outing. 

Good luck…. I have had some back issues as of late but feeling a lot better and it’s warming up too . My orthopedic surgeon is advising to fuse my L5-S1 & L4&L5 . I m going to proceed with injections first and see how that goes . You were referring to losing distance , I’m sure you ll get it back in time . That is what happened to me over the winter and it actually worked out because of the cold and wet weather we were having didn’t allow for much golf . I just rested and tried to get stronger , lose weight and stay positive. 

Edited April 3 by THE GOLF GUY

[TJ Hall]

47 minutes ago, cnosil said:

Went to MGS HQ today to hit golf balls; first swings of a golf club since my surgery in January.   Just hit 7 iron and wedges to see how I would do.   Hit about 100 balls total and have lost about 1 to 1 1/2 clubs of distance but hit the ball pretty well and hit the green about 85% of the time.   Short game shots were pretty good and I was able to dial in the distance wedges a bit.

The good news is that I didn't have any chest pains and only a little bit of shortness of breadth (nothing like I was having).  Few hours later and I am a little sore around my incision but nothing horrible.   Guess it is time to start ramping it back up.....gonna start most wanted testing next week so I'll be able to get lots of reps in prior to the MGS Kingsmill outing. 

Glad to hear you’re doing alright with the swings!

[cksurfdude]

11 hours ago, Rob Person said:

Ive learned Golf is a game of evolution with one's self.

That there is pretty good stuff!

 

1 hour ago, cnosil said:

Went to MGS HQ today to hit golf balls; first swings of a golf club since my surgery in January. 

Great to see you're back in action! Listen to your body, as they say, and back off if it starts to tell you to. Plenty of time for more golf without sidelining yourself again .... 

[Rob Person]

2 hours ago, cnosil said:

Went to MGS HQ today to hit golf balls; first swings of a golf club since my surgery in January.   Just hit 7 iron and wedges to see how I would do.   Hit about 100 balls total and have lost about 1 to 1 1/2 clubs of distance but hit the ball pretty well and hit the green about 85% of the time.   Short game shots were pretty good and I was able to dial in the distance wedges a bit.

The good news is that I didn't have any chest pains and only a little bit of shortness of breadth (nothing like I was having).  Few hours later and I am a little sore around my incision but nothing horrible.   Guess it is time to start ramping it back up.....gonna start most wanted testing next week so I'll be able to get lots of reps in prior to the MGS Kingsmill outing. 

Thats awesome!!!  Don't push too hard too fast though please.

[William P]

2 hours ago, cnosil said:

Went to MGS HQ today to hit golf balls; first swings of a golf club since my surgery in January.   Just hit 7 iron and wedges to see how I would do.   Hit about 100 balls total and have lost about 1 to 1 1/2 clubs of distance but hit the ball pretty well and hit the green about 85% of the time.   Short game shots were pretty good and I was able to dial in the distance wedges a bit.

The good news is that I didn't have any chest pains and only a little bit of shortness of breadth (nothing like I was having).  Few hours later and I am a little sore around my incision but nothing horrible.   Guess it is time to start ramping it back up.....gonna start most wanted testing next week so I'll be able to get lots of reps in prior to the MGS Kingsmill outing. 

Glad to hear the session went well today. Be safe as you get back into it...

[NM01]

22 hours ago, Rob Person said:

I've changed grip styles for driver and woods.

What style of grip are you using these clubs and what are you using for irons and wedges?

what made you change?

22 hours ago, Rob Person said:

I've worked on reducing my wrist movements to maintain a better swing path to make more solid contact with the ball.

What movements have you changed and why?

While I agree that wrist movements can help change swing path there are some other factors that play probably even more of a role than wrists. So what were you doing with your wrists originally and what is your new feel/movement?

22 hours ago, Rob Person said:

The goal for this session was strictly to see how well I retained and maintained the swing changes I've incorporated over the last few months, 

What swing changes have you made and what were the sections to make them based on?

swing analysis? Lesson? Feedback from someone?

22 hours ago, Rob Person said:

My practice goals are specific to where I feel I'm lacking.  I will try an entire session sometime just by moving the ball position only. Other times it's focused on making 1 change in my body movements and working through that.

Doing these constantly isn’t a great way to practice. Ball position has an affect on how we swing. Bad ball position will cause bad swing dynamics. Then if you are making a change and not working on the change in body for weeks upon weeks you aren’t going to improve the movement pattern. To change a movement pattern a person needs lots of reps at slower speeds so the motor neurons can relearn a new pathway. Many will say building muscle memory muscles don’t have memory. Our motor control system is what  has the memory. So if there is a change in a movement pattern one is looking to make they have to work for weeks and even months on it. It takes 8-12 weeks for a new motor pathway to become natural. Example. If I’m trying to change someone’s squat pattern to fix and issue we go lightweight, higher reps and at a controlled pace. As the pattern changes we add weight and or speed over time.

so if you you constantly changing a variable your slowing the progress down and may not be making any at all.

22 hours ago, Rob Person said:

If I try to power through faster, I end up with bad contact or uncontrollable face movement. I have a limited range in the lead shoulder which prevents me from rotating my upper body past a certain angle, and prevents me from swinging on a plane lower than my trail shoulder, which leads to the club being by my head on my backswing.

Powering thru is an issue. It causes more swing issues because we make movements that feel powerful and think that will make us faster and it does the opposite. In your swing your entire body turns at the same time in the downswing which affect the shaft steepness and the swing path

There are things I see in the swing like flat tuern, rolling the club inside at takeaway which may come from what appears to be a pretty strong right hand. Then you lift the club. This may be from your shoulder mobility but I know guys with shoulder issues that can get the club on the proper plane and use a reduced swing length similar to rahm and Finau. Theres no pressure shift to the trail side which can also lead to the inside takeaway. The lift cause a little arm overrun and right arm bending more than is probably needed. As a result in the downswing right hip fires towards the ball and the whole body goes with it. 
 

[Rob Person]

I appreciate your insights.   I was slicing badly with the driver. Irons were not controllable. Wedges are ok.

Driver: 

I found my wrists were flexing more with an interlock grip,  causing me to roll the driver through the downswing.  I used self video analysis and a swing app to determine this. It didn't matter which grip position I used. This gave me a bad out to in contact.  Ergo, slice slice baby!

With the baseball grip, I was able to maintain a sturdier wrist alignment  and face angle on takeaway.  I was seeing improved results within 20 swings. Once I was comfortable with that, I began on arm position. Keeping my elbow in tighter increased my distance a bit, but dispersion was better, even gained a slight draw at times (which was new to me!)

I practiced this for the last 8 weeks. I became very comfortable and would say I was consistent 80% of the time.

In an attempt to improve my ball control (flight, height, direction etc) I began working on foot position. Making little changes as I went. Previously, I was back foot stepped behind lead foot by 6". Now I am front toe out, back foot barely behind. I was seeing a smoother transition and better feel on contact.  Center of face is almost always now too.

Now I started experimenting with actual ball position.  Seeing how placement affects all of the above. Baby steps,  right?

Ive applied this to all my woods, and fairway play has been better than ever (for me)

I've found more consistency through small individual processes. It works for me.

I can't really compensate for my lack of speed other than to keep trying to improve in areas I can control.

Irons is a whole other ballgame, and those are next on my list to improve upon.  Again, babysteps....

As for a shorter swing to increase follow through,  it works,  but distance and height were limited. I am not compressing down enough on the ball supposedly, creating a lower, faster ball flight.  Massive hooks too.

 

 

 

[Willie T]

Day 81 (03 Apr 24) - another rainy, messy day....no outside stuff today for me.  Relegated to spending time on slap shot drill in front of mirror (again nursing the tender left foot).  

[TJ Hall]

It’s been a while (travel, work, sick and family) since I’ve picked up a club, but getting back to putting indoors again.  Getting back to a consistent feel with the putter.  Should be getting out for around this weekend.

[Erin B]

I played in wind. I played 18 in 20mph with 35 mph gusts. My focus was adjusting to the wind off the tee. Only played one ball, straight up. When I failed, I was punished. I learned a lot about ball placement and stance. Learned that in the face of wind, get it in play. I was successful and kicked my golf buddy’s a** all over the course. It wasn’t even close and he could tell the time and thought I was putting into my game. All in all, a successful round at 79.

[BallsLeon]

Back to the sim last night, and spent a lot of time with my 60° to warm up.
First started with chipping 15-40yd shots, have adopted a different setup/motion from watching ShortGameChef and it's really working out. Over the winter I had experimented with 7i thru PW for a chipping club which was working some on sim, but not finding it translate to real grass conditions. My wedges just seem to sweep the turf more easily at low speeds, using the lower bounce 60° for tight lies, and 56° with more bounce for rough/etc.
Wrapped up with some half and full swings with 60° paying special attention to my ball position not being too far back in my stance.

After that I played a sim round at Hallbrook CC (only KS course on Trackman) and didn't do so bad, ended up with a 17 differential shooting 92, tough course.
Finished the night on the PuttView green, Ascending ladder drill and then random putts 3ft-17ft. Really getting along with this putter at the moment, over 16 putts I missed four (with easy putts to finish).

[Willie T]

Day 82 (04 Apr 24) - Back outside to work on  the slap shot rehearsal and overall swing.  Needed some new hard foam balls - shopped at Academy Sports (building a golf gift basket for the teen program at church to auction off) and found these… they are very similar for the Foam Flights I’ve been using…yes, they get dirty really quick - but give a solid feel off the face and decent shot shaping…

[Rob Person]

1 hour ago, Willie T said:

Day 82 (04 Apr 24) - Back outside to work on  the slap shot rehearsal and overall swing.  Needed some new hard foam balls - shopped at Academy Sports (building a golf gift basket for the teen program at church to auction off) and found these… they are very similar for the Foam Flights I’ve been using…yes, they get dirty really quick - but give a solid feel off the face and decent shot shaping…

I have a basket of the Callaway ones i found on a silly good deal at target

they are great in the net for full swing practice.  I've found with pitching and chipping that they don't give me a real impact/ weight  feel or realistic flight. But for backyard use... perfect!

[Willie T]

26 minutes ago, Rob Person said:

I have a basket of the Callaway ones i found on a silly good deal at target

they are great in the net for full swing practice.  I've found with pitching and chipping that they don't give me a real impact/ weight  feel or realistic flight. But for backyard use... perfect!

Rob, I’ve got some of those Callaway foam balls as well… and they are definitely not a pitch-n-chip ball.  My grandson and I love to wail away with them in the backyard.  The hard foam balls fall more closely to a regular ball in in terms of feel and flight - however I mainly keep a group of balls just for pitch-n-chip practice.  The hard foams are good for this mid-level swings where a real ball is just not practical or safe for neighboring properties…️️

Edited April 5 by Willie T

[TimKap7]

Spent a few hours putting indoors today, as we had a wintery storm roll through the area. Had an emphasis on my eyes during setup, both in relation to ball location, but also focusing on a dimple towards the back of the ball. From the proper setup just taking a smooth stroke and focusing on consistency of contact/roll. I ended up hitting around 600 putts and got my stroke to a really confident place.

[Willie T]

Day 83 (05 Apr 24) - Left foot 1000% better, able to work with wedges today focused on specific distances (45 & 25 yds) from different ball positions - middle/front to get high arching, middle/back to get lower punchy flights.  Feels good to put weight on the lead foot and not totally wince…

[TimKap7]

3 minutes ago, Willie T said:

Day 83 (05 Apr 24) - Left foot 1000% better, able to work with wedges today focused on specific distances (45 & 25 yds) from different ball positions - middle/front to get high arching, middle/back to get lower punchy flights.  Feels good to put weight on the lead foot and not totally wince…

Personally rehabbing a left knee surgery right now, so I feel you. May we both dial in our short games and get back to healthy golf sooner rather than later!

[TimKap7]

I got some solid putting work done after lunch today in the shop. Emphasis on pace and trying to "drip" putts in. Stroke is in a great place right now, only miss is a hair pulled and the occasional putt hit too firm. Got cleared on Wednesday by the doc(Left knee surgery 3/20) to start hitting pitch shots, so am excited to get outside once the snow melts!

[Preeway]

Worked on putting today. Swing path has been a little problematic lately so broke out the mirror to fine tune a couple things. 

Was putting from 15’ straight and slightly uphill. Goal was to putt until I made 6 in a row. Best was 5 of 6 twice. Called it good after 45 minutes. Was able to avoid hitting the tee gates on most sets as well. 

[BobBC78]

Full Swing - Did Kirk Junge's Drill-1 today, 10 each with lead hand and trail hand only (no ball), then 20 with both hands and a ball,

Chipping - chips with 52* wedge.

[MrBandit]

Today went to the range after taken a video of my swing the other day. My Friendnemy pointed out that my lower body had not separation from the top.

 

Worked on a few drills trying to concentrate on making sure my lower body was turning before my top.

I say i got it to 65% movement. 

I drove my Driver, 3 and 5 Woods, and 4-hybrid better than I had in the past month or so.

Irons were ok.. timming was off but towards the end they were starting to come around.

 

Funny how we get into position not even notice that you have change.

Note to self: video yourself at least once a month to make sure you didn't make suttle changes.

[Erin B]

@Derek Eskam and I played at Airport Golf Club Blue tees in Cheyenne Wyoming. We both struck the ball very well, but the wind was…..WOW! Gusts up to 35mph. If you live in Cheyenne you get used to it, a little bit. 

I didn’t keep Derek’s score, I kept mine, keep in mind this was a practice round. I was working on wind shots and hit some great ones. Derek did as well. I could hit the fade, draw, low, and high shots when I wanted. Derek can bomb the ball and was using the newton 6 dot. I was using the 5 dot. All in all a great practice round. I also tested alcohol tolerance . Two adult beverages per nine is all I can handle. Less is better!!! I also saw that I tend to hit out to in with windy conditions. Here’s my GolfShot data.

I didn’t include my wedges and shorter irons because they’re similar. Keep in mind, the data is based on all rounds played up to this point in the season. 

GolfShot is telling me I need a little work on my swing plane. Again, very windy so I have to take that data with a grain of salt. 

[William P]

Great round @Erin B! Do us all a favor and keep that wind up there in your hip pocket... 

Edited April 6 by William P