What/How Did You Practice Today?

[buckpillar]

On 4/23/2024 at 7:31 PM, cnosil said:

While I waited to start my most wanted testing session today I grabbed a LAB DF3 and practiced putting for a little while.

Today was 5 iron day and I hit the ball okay.   Definitely need to work on my rhythm;  when I take my time with swing I hit it well and when I get a little quick shots were a little wild and tended to hit it fat.   

 

 

@cnosil hope your feeling a lot better, I seen your iron practice, looking good!

[Norm49]

My hope is to get to the range today and maybe play 9, however I have limited time due to child care and household chores so today will probably be chipping and putting in the living room while watching Fallout.

[cksurfdude]

On 4/23/2024 at 3:56 PM, cburins said:

I found that training on a trackman throughout the winter was great, but completely threw off my alignment.

That's curious (not that mine is so great either indoors or outdoors) .. any ideas on how/which way you were off and why?

[cburins]

5 minutes ago, cksurfdude said:

That's curious (not that mine is so great either indoors or outdoors) .. any ideas on how/which way you were off and why?

I think I just got used to hitting into a screen and once I got on to the course there was no screen. On the simulator I would position the shot on the screen and would always be square and never thought about alignment. I hope that makes sense? Ive somewhat fixed that by having an aim point o the range and using an alignment stick as reference. 

[Preeway]

6 minutes ago, cburins said:

I think I just got used to hitting into a screen and once I got on to the course there was no screen. On the simulator I would position the shot on the screen and would always be square and never thought about alignment. I hope that makes sense? Ive somewhat fixed that by having an aim point o the range and using an alignment stick as reference. 

I would concur with this. I do think hitting into a screen lacks the important element of alignment. Like when you have that tee box that lines you up askew to the fairway and you have to adjust. I think a lot of people make poor shots due to being lined up poorly and then having their body try to "correct it". This correction then leads to a barrage of other possible errors. I've been working on this issue with my son for the last 2 months. Spent all winter hitting into a net and now he can't hit a target to save his life.

[cburins]

5 minutes ago, Preeway said:

I would concur with this. I do think hitting into a screen lacks the important element of alignment. Like when you have that tee box that lines you up askew to the fairway and you have to adjust. I think a lot of people make poor shots due to being lined up poorly and then having their body try to "correct it". This correction then leads to a barrage of other possible errors. I've been working on this issue with my son for the last 2 months. Spent all winter hitting into a net and now he can't hit a target to save his life.

Yup, the screen completely takes out that element of alignment which is probably the most important part of the golf shot. I noticed the first round on the course I was aiming way to the right and my shots would follow. Now that Ive had a few range sessions it's gotten much better. Definitely need to figure out a way to work on that throughout the winter. 

[Preeway]

For me, I've found using an alignment stick and still picking out a specific spot in my net helps maintain my alignment acuity. Not perfect but still maintains a certain element of visually getting lined up correctly.

[cksurfdude]

36 minutes ago, cburins said:

I think I just got used to hitting into a screen and once I got on to the course there was no screen. On the simulator I would position the shot on the screen and would always be square and never thought about alignment. I hope that makes sense? Ive somewhat fixed that by having an aim point o the range and using an alignment stick as reference. 

I think I get what you're saying. I have a SkyTrak (which for no good reason gets very little use) and it sits in front of where you stand .. not behind on the target line like many others .. so I got used to lining up parallel to it.

In fact put a piece of round driveway marker in the slot in the metal case for a visual aid.

Maybe alignment sticks (or draw lines) on your hitting mat at home that are parallel with the LM target line..? 

 

Edited April 25 by cksurfdude
type-oh

[barney_bogey]

Started out at the putting green after the gym today. Spent half hour rolling lag putts, trying to better understand the weight of this new putter.

Then 4 hours of meetings, training, and sales pitches.

After work, I hit some 30 yard chips in the backyard with the 58. Don't worry, my kids water table was marked safe from this exercise. Grumble.




Then, I liked the @Rob Person 7 iron idea so I hit about 30 of em before calling it quits for the day.

Golf is awesome. I think I like practicing as much at playing. Wish I were better at it.

Cheers,
B

Sent from my SM-S921U using Tapatalk

[aph_cb]

5 hours ago, cburins said:

I think I just got used to hitting into a screen and once I got on to the course there was no screen. On the simulator I would position the shot on the screen and would always be square and never thought about alignment. I hope that makes sense? Ive somewhat fixed that by having an aim point o the range and using an alignment stick as reference. 

Over this past winter I used trackman a ton at work and I had the same issue once I got outside. I think it’s a great tool, but I try to have a good mix of simulator use for numbers and actual practice outside. The last thing I want to become is one those people that can play great on the simulator and awful outside.

[Willie T]

Day 102 (25 Apr 24) - Worked with the Divot Board again today.  Set the board up where I had a card just behind the ball to reinforce ball first contact

Following are a series of swings (actually 3 in a row) where contact steadily inproved. 

For DTL visuals, set up the grandson's toy field goal about 10yds out - the goal was to start the ball (hard foam) just right of the posts and have it draw back to the center.

Overall, a good drill day. 

 

Edited April 26 by Willie T

[BallsLeon]

Tonight I went to Golftec for a lesson. I haven't been looking forward to these lately, but tonight was really productive... minus an equipment failure.  To start the lesson, I told my instructor that I've been suffering with driver lately, pushing and slicing everything right.

So, first we warmed up with 9i... which went great! Getting pretty reliable distance and trajectory from T200s right now. We then worked up to the 3i, which had some solid strikes but after a handful I went to rest my weight on the club and start to hear cracking sounds... a little more weight and the head snapped clean off.  Welp... down to 12 clubs in the bag (I've reached out to Sub 70 support to see what I can do).



With my "fairway finder" out of commission we pulled out the driver and I expected the lesson to go from bad to worse. Then I proceeded to knock my next four drives dead straight with solid distance for me (~270ish) my instructor was laughing at this point and wondering what the problem was.

On shot five I "went for it," and finally the slice reared it's ugly head. However, he did a good job identifying how this swing differed from the first four. On this swing I was finishing the swing with my weight on the back of my heels/trail leg and I did this kind of swipe to finish. Identifying that miss paired with the feeling of releasing/throwing the club really seemed to help. We finished the lesson with some sim golf where I was finding fairways and playing about as good as I ever have on that sim setup. Despite losing a club tonight I'm feeling pretty positive!

Have another lesson scheduled (outside of Golftec) with a PGA pro for Saturday to continue making progress on driver. 

Edited April 26 by BallsLeon
higher res

[barney_bogey]

@BallsLeon "Then I proceeded to knock my next four drives dead straight with solid distance for me (~270ish) my instructor was laughing at this point and wondering what the problem was."

Oh man this is some relatable sauce right here! Only time you're hoping for a bad swing, right?

I've told my swing coach that sometimes I just need him to stare at me to fix my swing.

Hope you get that 3 fixed up without too much headache.

B

Sent from my SM-S921U using Tapatalk

[TJ Hall]

37 minutes ago, BallsLeon said:

Tonight I went to Golftec for a lesson. I haven't been looking forward to these lately, but tonight was really productive... minus an equipment failure.  To start the lesson, I told my instructor that I've been suffering with driver lately, pushing and slicing everything right.

So, first we warmed up with 9i... which went great! Getting pretty reliable distance and trajectory from T200s right now. We then worked up to the 3i, which had some solid strikes but after a handful I went to rest my weight on the club and start to hear cracking sounds... a little more weight and the head snapped clean off.  Welp... down to 12 clubs in the bag (I've reached out to Sub 70 support to see what I can do).



With my "fairway finder" out of commission we pulled out the driver and I expected the lesson to go from bad to worse. Then I proceeded to knock my next four drives dead straight with solid distance for me (~270ish) my instructor was laughing at this point and wondering what the problem was.

On shot five I "went for it," and finally the slice reared it's ugly head. However, he did a good job identifying how this swing differed from the first four. On this swing I was finishing the swing with my weight on the back of my heels/trail leg and I did this kind of swipe to finish. Identifying that miss paired with the feeling of releasing/throwing the club really seemed to help. We finished the lesson with some sim golf where I was finding fairways and playing about as good as I ever have on that sim setup. Despite losing a club tonight I'm feeling pretty positive!

Have another lesson scheduled (outside of Golftec) with a PGA pro for Saturday to continue making progress on driver. 

Sorry about the iron, hopefully they will come through on a fix for you.

[BallsLeon]

@barney_bogey @TJ Hall thanks fellas! @GolfSub70 was super quick to respond last night!  

Since it's within a year of purchase it's still covered under warranty. They are sending me a label this morning to send the head back for reshafting.

[TJ Hall]

8 minutes ago, BallsLeon said:

@barney_bogey @TJ Hall thanks fellas! @GolfSub70 was super quick to respond last night!  

Since it's within a year of purchase it's still covered under warranty. They are sending me a label this morning to send the head back for reshafting.

Awesome to hear, glad they are coming through for you!

[cksurfdude]

14 hours ago, BallsLeon said:

On shot five I "went for it," and finally the slice reared it's ugly head. However, he did a good job identifying how this swing differed from the first four. On this swing I was finishing the swing with my weight on the back of my heels/trail leg and I did this kind of swipe to finish. Identifying that miss paired with the feeling of releasing/throwing the club really seemed to help.

Nice!! Really trying to internalize that myself ... And being out to the course (of course!).

Sounds like a productive lesson  

 

[Tom the Golf Nut]

I’m down in Myrtle Beach now for my daughter’s track and field conference championships. I had a few hours before the start this afternoon so scouted around for a practice facility. Sure enough I found a winner Tupelo Bay about 2 miles from where I’m staying. It has an 28 hole executive course, par 3 course, grass and mat range. Putting green, and practice sand trap. The entire place is lit and open to 10pm. Medium bucket (70 balls, $14.00)

Went through the bad starting with wedges up to the driver maybe 4 balls before switching and had enough balls to do it a second time. Then went over for chipping and putting. 
 

I’m liking the Golf Pride reverse taper putter grip. I picked up the large round. The grip was easy to get used to.  I also used the Bridgestone Mindset balls.  So far the ball feels good and performs well in chipping and putting.

 

[William P]

11 hours ago, Tom the Golf Nut said:

I’m down in Myrtle Beach now for my daughter’s track and field conference championships. I had a few hours before the start this afternoon so scouted around for a practice facility. Sure enough I found a winner Tupelo Bay about 2 miles from where I’m staying. It has an 28 hole executive course, par 3 course, grass and mat range. Putting green, and practice sand trap. The entire place is lit and open to 10pm. Medium bucket (70 balls, $14.00)

Went through the bad starting with wedges up to the driver maybe 4 balls before switching and had enough balls to do it a second time. Then went over for chipping and putting. 
 

I’m liking the Golf Pride reverse taper putter grip. I picked up the large round. The grip was easy to get used to.  I also used the Bridgestone Mindset balls.  So far the ball feels good and performs well in chipping and putting.

 

@Tom the Golf Nut Tupelo Bay is a great practice facility. I will be doing some practice there next week as I will be visiting dear friends who live about a 1/2 mile from there in Murrell's Inlet.

If you are in for a nice meal during your visit, I would suggest Drunken Jacks down on the inlet. Excellent food and great ambiance.

Edited April 27 by William P

[Erin B]

Worked on wind shots. Was 20-30mph so was hitting lower shots. Was successful.

[Willie T]

Day 103 (26 Apr 24) - played Minnesott today, with a slight twist.  Focused on using the Edel SMS 7i that I am longer term testing.  The rule - all approach shots were to be with 7i, unless I was in trouble and needed a wedge.  The club came thru especially on the par 5 13th - nailed both approaches to GIR and a 7’ putt for birdie.  Also had opportunities for short punches and some flighted down bump and runs.  Overall a not so solid scoring round, but man it was fun exploring shot making potential….

[GolfSpy MPR]

One of my ambitions: take all the swing speed I've developed working out and using the Stack and get it to transfer to my actual driver game. The Stack tells me I should be able to swing a driver 120+, and I can—as long as there's not a ball in front of me. When I switch back into actually attempting to hit drives, my speed generally plummets, sometimes under 100mph.

So today was a good session in the garage, hitting balls on the Mevo+. Slowly but surely, I'm getting speed to transfer. The goal is to get my driver swing on course to be somewhere north of 110, with a consistent ball speed around 160.

 

[Pcollisson]

Didn’t practice much, have a net in my backyard and just working on feel, like making good connection with my irons and working high chip shots and flip shots over the net. Not much but keeps me loose!

[Nameste]

We moved about a month ago and have set up a practice mat and chipping net in the basement. Today, I worked on using my sand wedge by just simply trying to replicate my swing and contact with the ball. I tend to duff the ball on short chip shots on the course. I only have a pitching and sand wedge in my bag right now and want to get better at using those before investing in a gap and/or loft wedge.   Practice gets me closer to sucking less at my short game.  

[Willie T]

Day 104 (27 Apr 24) - played a course near where the wife was coming in from visiting the grands….continued the test of the Edel SMS 7i (put it in on just about every hole) as well as the Bridgestone Mindset ball (this is third round for the same literal ball, aka Scruffy).   The pace was muni slow (it is a public course) so the focus was to stay the course…results for the day:  the iron continues to impress - and - the Bridgestone ball continues to play well despite its “scruffed” face…

Maybe it’s time to retire it -but man it’s hard to not keep playing it….

[Rob Person]

21 minutes ago, Willie T said:

Day 104 (27 Apr 24) - played a course near where the wife was coming in from visiting the grands….continued the test of the Edel SMS 7i (put it in on just about every hole) as well as the Bridgestone Mindset ball (this is third round for the same literal ball, aka Scruffy).   The pace was muni slow (it is a public course) so the focus was to stay the course…results for the day:  the iron continues to impress - and - the Bridgestone ball continues to play well despite its “scruffed” face…

Maybe it’s time to retire it -but man it’s hard to not keep playing it….

Glad to see all your daily practice grinds are fruitious!  

Scruffy needs a bath! How does it look Cleaned up a bit?

[ED13]

Hit golf balls into a net in my basement today for the first time in 3 years.

[BallsLeon]

Had a lesson/fitting (mostly lesson) this morning with Sean from GolfMD. It's been a couple months since I saw him last for my irons, and I really appreciate his teaching style. While he is pretty critical of my swing, it's never condescending and he does a good job demonstrating through aides/video.

His focus was primarily on two things: keeping my hands low/close to the body on the downswing, and transferring my weight to the left side. My typical swing is pretty dramatically in-to-out, like >5° to the right. He argues that this just isn't sustainable, and it's why I am constantly hitting my driver off the heel. Achieving this is easier said that done however lol, but through video I've found that I am overly rigid especially with driver I am practically standing straight up. Starting my setup with my knee/hip bend, and focusing on maintaining or getting lower through my downswing allows more space for my hands to come inside.

We tried some heads and shafts (AI Smoke, QI, and TSR models), and I let him know about the AutoFlex testing opportunity I was selected for. None of the heads immediately jumped out to us, but he wants me to practice what we worked on today and bring the AutoFlex in next weekend to continue the fitting. Of the three I hit AI Smoke the worst, and probably the QI best but I did my best to remain oblivious of models to not bias things.

After the lesson I practiced some and then played a sim round at Valhalla Golf Club (Par 72, 5963yds, 69.9/132) managing an 84 (43/41) with 10 fairways hit! Not a bad start, but need to keep grinding at it.

[Chubbs1991]

Did a little range session last night. Picked up a "nice" sway/slide in my swing. Had to practice actually turning and not swaying and becoming more balance. Once I got that "figured out" hahaha I decided it was time to go back to tempo town and see if I can start actually flushing it again. Put on a smooth jazz playlist and was swinging like butter soon after. 

Next went to the putting green and worked on the short game about 25 mins. Then realizing the course was empty snuck out for a 3 hole practice to see if anything feels different. Went par, par, birdie so game is trending in the right direction. 

[Alan Stewart]

Been struggling with big right misses with the longer clubs. Finally broke it down on the range this week. I was swaying through the hitting zone and not posting down on the left leg to start to downswing and then drive up and through the impact zone. Real basic stuff that I was forgetting on course. 
 

Got it working Thursday on a chilly windy morning practice session and got the face to square much better. Did not allow my body to get so far past the ball before impact and got more consistent with swing path as well. 
 

Also working on my half swing and shorter pitching. Committed to the lower lofted clubs when possible (7iron bumps from the fringe) but concentrating on getting more comfortable creating shots with my 54 and using the bounce better. 
 

And working on shorter putts at home on the putting mat. 3-6 foot