What/How Did You Practice Today?

[Erin B]

I practiced “coming from behind”. Something that I rarely practice. I’m going to practice it again tomorrow. 

[Willie T]

Day 212 (17 Aug 24) - spent part of the day going thru the bag (way too many tees) and using groove brush on wedges, irons and hybrids.  Worked in some swing rehearsals, takeaway and weight shift were the focal points.  Plan is to play 9 at a local course near the beach place tomorrow (course has 3 nine hole tracts, have played two of the three twice - get to play the third tomorrow).  

[Shapotomous]

11 hours ago, cnosil said:

Been trying the "intuition" approach for a little while myself.  I can do it well on the practice green but my body sometimes overrides the stroke when I am on the course and I leave the putt way short.  When I commit to the stroke length it does seem to work pretty well.   For me it has been a difficult challenge to accept mentally the actual stroke length.   The more "mechanical" approach of waking off distance and knowing a stroke length might be something I go back to.  

I don't do well with the "measured" approach, probably because I don't practice it enough to really know the stroke length to putt length relationship and commit to it.  I do pretty well with feel on faster greens because of the speed on the backyard green and how much i practice on it.  When I get to play slow greens I never seem to adjust.  Either being 4' short or after a couple holes of that I pound a few 5 or 6 feet past the hole over compensating.  It's completely my fault for not practicing more on the slower green so I can get over the mental roadblock.  I hope a few more days of  practice sessions at the course will get me in better putting shape for next weekend.  I definitely saw some distance control improvement last night and as an added bonus I was not over reading the break as much.

[LeftyKP]

I had my first online lesson a few days ago and he identified some stuff in my setup to work on. I went to the range yesterday to give it a try, and wow did it make a significant difference. It is crazy how something so simple and small in your setup can throw off your entire swing. Let this be your reminder to CHECK YOUR SETUP next time something is slightly off with your ball striking or shot shape. It could be an easier fix than you think.

[Shapotomous]

More range time this afternoon since the rain held off.  I worked through about 60 balls making sure to maintain posture and not fall off the shot resulting in weak toe hits.  Next was the practice green to hit some bump & run with the 8i.  Then I spent about 1/2 hour on distance control drills putting.

And since the threatening weather kept nearly everyone away I headed out to play a few holes....which turned into 19 as I jumped around the few 4-somes that were out there.  I was real happy with the consistent contact and yardage control as the range work transitioned to the course.  Lots of fairways and greens hit and distance control on the putts was encouraging.  

[Jim Shaw]

Hey  spy's

an hour on the putting green, used the mirror and the 6 balls around the hole from about 3 feet.

Then "feel" putts for about 30 minutes

I need to make sure all pieces of my game are getting worked on. even though ball striking is the top of the list, it means nothing if the rest of the game suffers.

It is important to continue to work on all aspects, I believe...

[Overspark07]

Came home from church this morning and hit some balls in the garage. I’ve got a heavy canvas drop cloth that I hit into which has a vertical seam that I use as a target line. Worked on face control by trying to hit one right, one left and one straight at my target line. Checked out a couple videos from AMG’s YouTube that @Riley24 made me aware of. Couple things in the explanations just clicked with me. Felt like my eyes were opened lol! Hit some more balls this evening and it was the most pure, flush, stripe show (for 6 feet) I’ve experienced.

[Riley24]

2 minutes ago, Overspark07 said:

Came home from church this morning and hit some balls in the garage. I’ve got a heavy canvas drop cloth that I hit into which has a vertical seam that I use as a target line. Worked on face control by trying to hit one right, one left and one straight at my target line. Checked out a couple videos from AMG’s YouTube that @Riley24 made me aware of. Couple things in the explanations just clicked with me. Felt like my eyes were opened lol! Hit some more balls this evening and it was the most pure, flush, stripe show (for 6 feet) I’ve experienced.

I love it! The fact that I helped lead someone into better swings is really an honor. 

[Willie T]

Day 213 (18 Aug 24) - Got in the planned 9 today at Star Hill, the course near the beach place…It has 3 nine hole tracts, finally played the third tract (the Sands) as I’ve played the other two (Pines and Lakes) a couple times each.  The starter even asked if I wanted to play the Pines as I was solo, I told him no as I had never played the Sands.  He said good deal, just follow those guys.  TBH it was a hoot with 15–20 mph SSW winds that crossed, tailed and headed on some form on every hole.  Still a solid 42 for me off the whites (really should have played up to the golds).  Was a day of “wind based” course management…loved the tail winds, battled the head winds and tried to compensate for the side winds.  A good day of golf. 

Edited August 19 by Willie T
Grammar

[Formergreenskeeper]

I went out to the sports fields behind my house this afternoon with my trusty 52* wedge and hit 50 yard wedges to a light post and then hit them back to my starting point between 2 trees.   Also practiced the same shot later in the day with my chipper. 
during the final round of the St Jude I periodically putted on the rug with a two tone putting ball working on speed control and perfect roll. I’m always trying to sharpen my short game and putting

[RetiredBoomer]

My practice regimen is such that I may have to ask directions to find our practice range,
but there's something on which I want to work---hitting my driving iron from the deck.

It's better, I'm told, to not invent new, first time shots as you're stepping up to the ball, but I've been trying to do that my whole life.  Now I want to practice a few.

I can't bag a full set of lofted woods and a full set of long irons at the same time. High number woods are great to hit into protected greens as they fly so high and land steeply.   Now, I want to run my driving iron onto unprotected greens from 2, 3, 4, and 5-iron distance and start my numbered irons at 6-iron.  This was recommended to me on this forum's pages earlier in the season.  

The modern utility driving iron isn't the butter knife 1- or 2-iron from days gone by.
I bought mine strictly for the tee box on tight driving holes, but it's theoretically hittable from the fairway as well.

I'm not going to replicate moon-shot 5, 7, and 9-wood shots with it, obviously, but if I can learn to hit line drives from the deck different distances with it, it can be a great, links-style run-on club.   Also, strong-lofted clubs are easier to draw and fade.  In fact, they're hard to not do it even when you don't want to,.

So there's a new thing to play with as the fall season approaches.  My older friends start playing a bit less this late in the season as they start to break down or just get tired.  I can learn some new shots with the driving iron if I'm able to figure them out on the practice tee.   Long iron shots have never been the friend of senior players, but I'm reasonably strong and my standards for success aren't that high at either end of the bag anyway.     

[CraigY]

My wife and I participated in the Upper deck golf event held at Fenway Park in Boston. It’s obviously not a traditional practice or round, it was a very cool experience and was able to work on my wedges and distance control. 
They had the Cleveland wedges available to use, and was very impressed. I have been playing vokey wedges for the last ten years. I was able to dial in in distances between 60 and 100 yards, which I always had trouble with. 
 

I highly recommend upper deck golf if they are coming to your city. It is also nice to be in a ball park like Fenway and hit golf balls. 
 

 

Edited August 19 by CraigY

[Never EZ]

I recently started playing again after taking years off. After so long without swinging my clubs, my old swing no longer felt natural. This gave me the confidence (or lack of confidence?) to completely drop my old grip and adopt an interlocked grip. As a lifelong baseball gripper, I'm pretty shocked at how much interlocking two fingers has improved my accuracy and consistency. About 400 swings later and interlocked feels like the new normal. As it turns out, sometimes a long break is all it takes to forget a bad habit.

[Willie T]

Day 215 (19 Aug 24) - net set up in the backyard. Spent some time with setup and making solid contact - hit 6i, 7i and PW.  Good session, love the sound of a well hit ball and when the same slaps into the target….ka - pow!  

[cnosil]

As usual, I did some putting work today because some aspects are easy to do at home.   Worked on making sure I was setting up consistently, gate drills, and some time on the ExPutt.   I feel like setup is good and that I am able to hit straight putts well with pretty good distance  so that means my "issue" comes down to reading greens.   Unfortunately this isn't a skill that can be developed at home so I need to get out to the course to do some work.  

[Lefty11]

15 hours ago, CraigY said:

My wife and I participated in the Upper deck golf event held at Fenway Park in Boston. It’s obviously not a traditional practice or round, it was a very cool experience and was able to work on my wedges and distance control. 
They had the Cleveland wedges available to use, and was very impressed. I have been playing vokey wedges for the last ten years. I was able to dial in in distances between 60 and 100 yards, which I always had trouble with. 
 

I highly recommend upper deck golf if they are coming to your city. It is also nice to be in a ball park like Fenway and hit golf balls. 
 

 

Being an old baseball player, this is right up my alley! I’d love it.

[Gravenor]

On 8/19/2024 at 8:02 AM, CraigY said:

My wife and I participated in the Upper deck golf event held at Fenway Park in Boston. It’s obviously not a traditional practice or round, it was a very cool experience and was able to work on my wedges and distance control. 
They had the Cleveland wedges available to use, and was very impressed. I have been playing vokey wedges for the last ten years. I was able to dial in in distances between 60 and 100 yards, which I always had trouble with. 
 

I highly recommend upper deck golf if they are coming to your city. It is also nice to be in a ball park like Fenway and hit golf balls. 
 

 

What a view! Never seen this before. 

Edited August 20 by Gravenor

[Willie T]

Day216 (20 Aug 24) More work at the net…added ball behind the head of club drill - where you work on takeaway to where your club head knocks the 2nd ball back in the takeaway so that you are not too quick pullling the club up but rather keeping the arms extended promoting a longer arc into the ball in the downswing.  Much more solid ball contact- can feel the thinned vs the fat bs the solid strikes.  Hit a total of about 30 balls over the course of an hour.. 

[sp0rtsfan86]

On 8/19/2024 at 2:26 PM, Never EZ said:

I recently started playing again after taking years off. After so long without swinging my clubs, my old swing no longer felt natural. This gave me the confidence (or lack of confidence?) to completely drop my old grip and adopt an interlocked grip. As a lifelong baseball gripper, I'm pretty shocked at how much interlocking two fingers has improved my accuracy and consistency. About 400 swings later and interlocked feels like the new normal. As it turns out, sometimes a long break is all it takes to forget a bad habit.

Welcome back to the sport! Interesting how some time away can completely change how you approach the game.

[Never EZ]

2 hours ago, sp0rtsfan86 said:

Welcome back to the sport! Interesting how some time away can completely change how you approach the game.

Thank you! With age comes wisdom, or at least I hope so. Now that I can't rely on absolutely crushing it off the tee with my driver every time, it's time to put it the time and effort on my mid and short game.

[byantzi]

been spending a lot of time putting in my basement, starting short and moving back 6 inches everytime i make 3 in a row. In a month, it takes me a lot shorter now than it did before. And seeing improvement on the course as well

Edited August 21 by byantzi

[Never EZ]

How do y'all train consistency into your swing speed? Now that I'm a bit older, and admittedly out of shape, I have seen a noticeable reduction in my average swing speed. I've found that chasing my old swing speed has really added a timing or cadence issue into my driver play. I need to figure out a way to re-train my brain and slow things down.

[cnosil]

14 minutes ago, Never EZ said:

How do y'all train consistency into your swing speed? Now that I'm a bit older, and admittedly out of shape, I have seen a noticeable reduction in my average swing speed. I've found that chasing my old swing speed has really added a timing or cadence issue into my driver play. I need to figure out a way to re-train my brain and slow things down.

People do stretching exercises, yoga, and other routines to keep the body in shape.   Additionally you can do speed training with one of the various systems available on the market.  

[sp0rtsfan86]

I spent most of the range session working on hitting draws with the driver. Trying to change my stock shot from a straight one into one that goes left to right and runs out.

[cksurfdude]

Ok. I can hit the golf ball. 

At the range. 

Off a mat. 

Wish I could understand the metaphysical transformation that occurs to me when I step onto a golf course and .. *poof* .. mind is blank, forgetting everything that was worked on, like I was hit with a Men In Black neuralizer

Work. In. Progress!

[ILMgolfnut]

Range session with the Garmin this afternoon at NCSU. Students are returning for the fall and the practice tee was pretty packed (and then just as I was leaving a junior clinic was about to start, so it would only get more packed) but I found an open spot and set up the Garmin. It missed a few balls for unknown reasons, some of which I hit well, some I didn't, but the ones it captured were pretty encouraging. Hit about 75 balls, with about 40 with the big dog. Clubhead speed was consistently in the high 80s with a few in the low 90s, launch angles were a little better, and caught one pretty flush (CHS 88, smash 1.41, 194 carry, 213 total with 16 degree launch angle and a bit of draw). Top CHS was 93 which was a bit of a popup. And I'm thinking if I'd put that 88 mph swing on a real ball instead of a scuffed-up Srixon Marathon range rock, it may have gone 225-230. My warmup with the irons, 7 wood and 3 wood was getting better distances too. I was focusing on finishing my shoulder turn instead of cutting it off, and trying to swing toward 1:00, which I certainly did on that 213-yard drive (club path 8.4 degrees right).

And the next one after the 213 didn't go quite as far due to lower launch angle, but ball speed was 129 on CHS of 89. I'm pretty sure 129 is my PR for ball speed. Now to get into the 130s...

Edited August 21 by ILMgolfnut

[IndyBonzo]

I have been working on loosening my grip, being “loosely-goosey” generally, and focusing on smooth tempo and a finished swing/follow-through.   It’s amazing how well that has worked.  I’m still inconsistent and wish I could do it every time, but more consistency and great results when put into practice!

[sp0rtsfan86]

3 hours ago, cksurfdude said:

Ok. I can hit the golf ball. 

At the range. 

Off a mat. 

Wish I could understand the metaphysical transformation that occurs to me when I step onto a golf course and .. *poof* .. mind is blank, forgetting everything that was worked on, like I was hit with a Men In Black neuralizer

Work. In. Progress!

I think two things: it's tough to be at the range and and grade yourself.

For instance: Were you really aiming at the yellow pin or the black one that was 20 yards to the right? Is that shot that's 5 yards right of the tree line good or bad?

On the other hand, how often do you have one shot go poorly and then hit three more that are what you wanted? That one shot on the course can be a penalty, OB, or cost you a few more strokes. And then it's in your head.

One thing very challenging for me personally is forcing myself to hit multiple great shots in a row with the same club. For whatever reason the second I had a good one, I think job done with the club and move on even if the other 4 were bad. This latest range session today was all about making sure I was consistently doing what I want whether it's fading, drawing or trying to place a ball at a certain spot.

It did translate on the course today as I played 9 on the way back in from the range. Both drives ended within 10 yards of each other... 5 yards off the fairway (yay mediocrity!). A 9 and 8 iron in left me with a 25 footer for birdie (left it short) and a chip (knocked it within a foot) and two "pars".

[ILMgolfnut]

47 minutes ago, sp0rtsfan86 said:

One thing very challenging for me personally is forcing myself to hit multiple great shots in a row with the same club.

That's why I hit 40 drivers today. I want to ingrain good drives as something I can do routinely, not just every once in a while. No, I didn't hit 40 great drives, but about 30 of them were acceptable or better. When I was trying to flatten my swing last year, I did the same thing with my 8-iron to get that grooved before moving to longer clubs.

I keep telling myself I'm going to play a mock round on the range some day (pretend to start with a 350-yard par 4, hit a drive 210, then get out my 6-iron for the 140-yard approach, stuff like that). One reason I haven't done it is ranges are too bouncy to get accurate yardages on drives or short irons; Rory couldn't stop it on some of the ranges I use.

[Willie T]

Day 217 (21 Aug 24) - More work with the net today, continuing the ball behind the club takeway drill - moving the ball farther back to keep the club lower longer.  Was a good, solid session - starting with 9i and finishing with 5h.  Ball contact is getting more consistent.  Hoping to take this to the course tomorrow - have a 9hole round scheduled with a good friend.