What/How Did You Practice Today?

[Indy_Oz]

51 minutes ago, cnosil said:

I want to do his address system as well;  I just need to be able to swing clubs and learn the distances.

I started doing a similar 3 position per club setup as the address system before reading the book (hip, chest shoulder, or 9, 10 11 o'clock). But I really like how Dan has A1-A3 differentiated with stance width and how simple he keeps it. I've spent a decent amount of time on the sim lately figuring out what A1-A3 distances are for lob, sand, gap and pitching wedges are. But most of my focus has been on sand and gap wedges and trying to keep a repeatable and consistent tempo. Definitely takes practice! Good luck when you start getting it all nailed down.

[cksurfdude]

4 hours ago, Steve F said:

Best part was I went out with my normal Sunday crew and shot my personal best, an 88! 

CONGRATS!! It's nice when your hard work pays off right

[cnosil]

30 minutes ago, Indy_Oz said:

 keep a repeatable and consistent tempo. 

That is my biggest problem.   I tend to get quick with the partial wedge shots and then flip my wrist and thin the ball.  I really have to focus on a two count so the basic movement is a struggle for me right now. 

[cksurfdude]

Played a practice 9 today - my course still has temp greens in the fairways (which were aerated so are nice and bumpy ), plus the tee markers aren't out yet.

Overall was hitting the ball relatively well .. for me .. and generally kept the ball moving in the right direction, too!

Hit driver 7 times and 6 of those were good (fairway) or playable (just in the rough) .. and then 1 good ole slice where I prob just gripped too tightly and tried too hard...

Biggest mistakes were on the two short Par 3s... Not sure exactly what I did but it obviously wasn't what I've practicing over the Winter!

-- Work In Progress --

Didn't putt when I got onto the "greens", instead experimented with different wedges and different chip shots towards the flag; also practiced rolling a few putts with a hybrid.

So a fun - and importantly, confidence building! - outing.

[johngschulz]

6 hours ago, Steve F said:

Practiced yesterday: 7i and 8i. Started with flatballs, hit 20 flatballs with each club

How do you like the flatballs? Do you feel like they help you get into the groove before switching to regular balls?

[Rob Person]

Heads to Google flatballs...

Little anecdotal,  but once had a casing pipe roll off a trolley and landed on said balls.  They were definitely flat balls for 2 days!

[Shapotomous]

I had some time last evening for backyard wedge practice.  I hit about 60 shots at the 55 yard mark with the 57*.  Worked on the proper length backswing for that yardage and accelerating through impact.  I worked on finishing hands low for lower shots and finishing  hands high for higher shots.  The tempo and face contact felt good by the time i finished.  

[Steve F]

11 hours ago, Rob Person said:

Congratulations on breaking 90!

 

Thank you!!

[Steve F]

8 hours ago, johngschulz said:

How do you like the flatballs? Do you feel like they help you get into the groove before switching to regular balls?

I like the flatballs a lot. I feel like my iron game has come a long way since using them: you definitely know when you're hitting cleanly and it has made a huge difference for me in making much better contact with my irons! I personally recommend them highly: they're inexpensive and don't take up any space! 

[Jmikecpa]

I am not really a lesson guy nor have I ever been, maybe have had 10 actual lessons in the 40+ years I have played the game.  I have a pro that looks at my swing and tells me what is off and that seems to work.  Early season I have been struggling with getting stuck under the ball with the longer clubs and the fix was simple.....open my stance a bit as I was closed and not rush the transition.  Went to the range yesterday with my daughter and I was back to where I needed to be.  Amazing how such a small change can make such a big difference.  Start line was where it needed to be and the distance that I attributed to early season rust is back.

[Steve F]

16 hours ago, cksurfdude said:

CONGRATS!! It's nice when your hard work pays off right

You're 100% on the money @cksurfdude! The saddest part is, I'll probably shoot around 100 next round.... our friend golf is a fickle friend! 

 

Thank you!!

[BobBC78]

I did my final Trackman session in the package which I purchased earlier this year today. Did Trackman Range, hitting to specific targets by club. I spent the most time with my new Sub70 286 52* wedge, hitting 10:00, 9:00 and 7:30 swings to targets of 60, 50 and 40 yards respectively and now have some reliable data regarding my distances with this club. Also hit my G710 and Sub70 699 V2 7i's to targets as part of my evaluation on the Sub70s. Frankly, the 699 V2 performed better for me than my Ping. I'm planning to write this testing up in Member reviews, once I get some "on course" data with the club. Finally, I hit Driver and 5W, the latter I adjusted to Flat "-", so 2* flat and 1* strong (18* vs. 19*) and was very pleased with the results from both.  Regarding the Driver (a Ping G400 Max), it is now 44.5" long and shafted with a Kuro Kage HBP senior flex shaft and set at small "-", both changes being made to reduce both left bias and overall dispersion, hopefully without losing much distance. Based on results today (and playing 9-holes last Thursday) I would say all of these goals have been met. 

 

[Willie T]

Day 65 (18 Mar 24) - Worked with the 50* wedge, Divot Board and hard foam balls today...Primary focus - "aim small/miss small" = set up to hit balls off the board to a specific target about 30yds out.   Success - if balls finished within 6' circle of target point.  Fail - if outside the same.  Today - hitting in groups of 4, averaged 3 out of 4 inside the circle.   The good part was that I hit back to the start point not using the Divot Board and achieved the same success. 

[Steve F]

19 hours ago, cnosil said:

Congrats on the personal best.  

Thank you!!

 

[Steve F]

16 hours ago, johngschulz said:

How do you like the flatballs? Do you feel like they help you get into the groove before switching to regular balls?

@johngschulz... found this video as well.... the first shot the tester had was how I was hitting these things about 2 months ago.... topping almost everything, like I am terrified to hit the ground or something. They definitely help it getting the low point anchored down a lot better. Still a ton of work to do for being consistent, but I'm liking the progress I see from using them in my practice regiments! 
Enjoy! 
 

 

[Michael.Sandoval33]

12 minutes ago, Steve F said:

@johngschulz... found this video as well.... the first shot the tester had was how I was hitting these things about 2 months ago.... topping almost everything, like I am terrified to hit the ground or something. They definitely help it getting the low point anchored down a lot better. Still a ton of work to do for being consistent, but I'm liking the progress I see from using them in my practice regiments! 
Enjoy! 
 

 

Would you say these have improved your compression of the ball when you return to regular ball striking?

[johngschulz]

19 minutes ago, Steve F said:

@johngschulz... found this video as well.... the first shot the tester had was how I was hitting these things about 2 months ago.... topping almost everything, like I am terrified to hit the ground or something. They definitely help it getting the low point anchored down a lot better. Still a ton of work to do for being consistent, but I'm liking the progress I see from using them in my practice regiments! 
Enjoy! 
 

 

Ah, this is a great visual of the feedback! Thanks for the followup.

[Steve F]

6 minutes ago, Michael.Sandoval33 said:

Would you say these have improved your compression of the ball when you return to regular ball striking?

@Michael.Sandoval33, absolutely. The first several times I used them was very frustrating, but it was showing me how poorly I was gauging the low point in my swing. I topped just about everything.... but with time you start to fine tune and get that more zeroed in. With that comes that beautiful feel and sound of a well compressed golf ball! I find I am much more consistent than I was. I still have a long, long way to go, but I am happy with how they have helped me improve my iron game! 

[Steve F]

4 minutes ago, johngschulz said:

Ah, this is a great visual of the feedback! Thanks for the followup.

@johngschulz, my pleasure!

 

[ILMgolfnut]

Went to the range today after work with my Garmin R10 in tow. There was a kids group there from a local private school, so space at the range was limited, but I managed to squeeze in and set up the monitor. I was largely unhappy with my contact with any club, and I hit several. The driver was particularly bad, and I knocked the rubber tee on the mats out of commission by breaking off a wooden tee inside which I could not pry out. That ended my session with the driver, and I returned to irons and then wedges. I found direction today was not very accurate on the monitor; pulls and draws showed up as pushes or fades, although a hook wind might account for some of that. Distances seemed to be okay, though, and I tried to dial in distances with my 54-degree and 64-degree wedges at the end of the session. One of my lob wedges flew 52 yards; I didn't think that was possible with a 64-degree, but it was in the general direction of a target green that was 65 yards out and 52 looked correct. That was one of the shots that had a baby draw but the monitor said was a 2-degree push to the right.

Best shot I hit today was a draw with my 7-wood, 76 mph clubhead speed, 168 yards. I didn't think I could hit the 7 almost 170, but it felt good off the face. Best clubhead speed with the big dog was also 76, but it might have landed in someone's back yard on the course.

I think I need to get back out on the course and get off the range. Hopefully will be able to do that Wednesday.

[Wieskemp]

Working on shallowing my swing on my Driver to reduce spin and better be able to draw the ball. Hoping to develop a low draw off the tee which stays out of the wind and rolls for a way. Starting to video my swing and make changes to the takeaway and transition at the top in the simulator. Hoping to commit a bunch of hours to it so it feels normal by time the season opens up in a couple of weeks!

[TJ Hall]

3 hours ago, Steve F said:

@Michael.Sandoval33, absolutely. The first several times I used them was very frustrating, but it was showing me how poorly I was gauging the low point in my swing. I topped just about everything.... but with time you start to fine tune and get that more zeroed in. With that comes that beautiful feel and sound of a well compressed golf ball! I find I am much more consistent than I was. I still have a long, long way to go, but I am happy with how they have helped me improve my iron game! 

How far do these fly on average?  Guessing it is mainly for iron/wedge practice? 

[BallsLeon]

Back to Golftec today, haven’t been for a lesson since November but have credits I need to use up. I like my coach, he’s a nice  guy, but I’m not getting a ton out of the Golftec playbook at the moment. We focus a lot on how the swing looks versus actually hitting the ball well. Apparently my swing is hitting all the angles great, but my contact with the ball today was pretty terrible. Weird juxtaposition of hitting the ball bad, but getting praised for my angles

He did give me one tip that I need to grind on with the driver though to combat my slice. On the backswing I need to roll my hands back to close the face and hold that angle. I managed it a few times for a straight ball flight, but need to keep practicing till it doesn’t feel weird anymore.

[sp0rtsfan86]

I practiced 3-4 times last week due to A) courses being really wet and B) having a few days off and needing a way to relieve stress. Continued my work on taking the club all the way back and flowing through the swing. Surprisingly I was hitting the ball dead straight with irons but struggling with my half irons/wedges and my driver. 

 

Also managed some putting practice and was really happy with the slight change. Going to have to continue to use the TIBA putt until I'm completely dialed in.

[Steve F]

10 hours ago, TJ Hall said:

How far do these fly on average?  Guessing it is mainly for iron/wedge practice? 

@TJ Hall, not really sure. I hit them into a net, so no travel. I will hit a few at lunch today without the net and find out! 

 

[Steve F]

Just now, Steve F said:

@TJ Hall, not really sure. I hit them into a net, so no travel. I will hit a few at lunch today without the net and find out! 

 

... and yes, they are iron/wedge practice. I typically hit one or two flatballs, then a few regular balls. 

[TJ Hall]

4 minutes ago, Steve F said:

... and yes, they are iron/wedge practice. I typically hit one or two flatballs, then a few regular balls. 

Thank you, appreciate the feedback!

[Willie T]

Day 66 (19 Mar 24) - low level punch shots with the 8i today - started with 10-15yd bump and runs (fly about 5 and work to roll the rest of the way out), ended with 40-50 yd low flighted pitches (staying in the lower panes of the shot window).  A good day of focused contact. 

[cjeffs12]

Yesterday, I went to the course in hopes of getting 9 in, but the students are back in town. I went to the back of the range so I could just focus on my session. I have been hitting it good, but I wanted to really focus on my ball position and distance from the ball. I get the ball to forward and stand too far away at times. Both of these really helped me get better compression that I have been searching for all year. It was going good, but I was still having to “work” in the downswing. So I figured it was time to stop putting off working on my sway that kills me. I felt at setup like I am stepping on the inside of my right foot, and then maintain it in the downswing then push from there. This was phenomenal!!! I was getting effortless swings that was penetrating the wind and going so straight. I didn’t need to work in my downswing, it was fun to feel those swings. It is definitely something that I can build on going forward. 

[nvizble1]

Yesterday I did my usual range work with a wedge, a short iron and driver.  However, I put aside 4 Titleist Pro V1s that were in the buckets (a lot of tourists play here so their wayward shots end up OB in the range and the balls get picked up  ) for the very end.  Those drives went about 20 yds farther than the range rocks!