What/How Did You Practice Today?

[PMookie]

Poured rain all day, so I spent quite a bit of time practicing my putting on the carpet. I brought our full length mirror from the bathroom so I could check my alignment, and see if shoulders and elbows were square. Sure enough, they weren’t! Started rolling the rock much better after that. Now, I just have to get the feel for what is square.


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[palvord]

Rolling putts in the basement while I wait for my hitting net.

I've really tuned in to the fact that I'll turn the club face open with my right hand and push the ball left of the hole for the majority of my misses. Knowing that I do this, and stopping myself from doing it are two different things.

[cnosil]

Rolling putts in the basement while I wait for my hitting net.

I've really tuned in to the fact that I'll turn the club face open with my right hand and push the ball left of the hole for the majority of my misses. Knowing that I do this, and stopping myself from doing it are two different things.

Here are some drills.

 

To get the feeling on how you need to rotate the club. Find a straight putt. Aim right of your target and get the feeling of rotating the club closed to get the ball on target. Then aim left of the hole and get the feeling of holding the face open to get in on target. Then aim toward center and roll the ball into the center is the cup. Keep doing this To help make you aware of club face orientation.

 

Setup a gate or roll the ball down a yardstick to work on getting proper face angle at impact. Vary stroke length to ensure you can do this for different length putts. You don’t need a hole or target for this drill; I just roll the ball into a pillow a few feet in front of the gate or yardstick.

[palvord]

6 minutes ago, cnosil said:

Here are some drills.

 

To get the feeling on how you need to rotate the club. Find a straight putt. Aim right of your target and get the feeling of rotating the club closed to get the ball on target. Then aim left of the hole and get the feeling of holding the face open to get in on target. Then aim toward center and roll the ball into the center is the cup. Keep doing this To help make you aware of club face orientation.

 

Setup a gate or roll the ball down a yardstick to work on getting proper face angle at impact. Vary stroke length to ensure you can do this for different length putts. You don’t need a hole or target for this drill; I just roll the ball into a pillow a few feet in front of the gate or yardstick.

I've been doing the yardstick for awhile and once I find the groove I need, I can do this successfully. Translating that square face to putts without the yardstick has been tricky so far.

I should add the gate to the drill repertoire as that will probably help transfer the feel from the yardstick to other putts.

[cnosil]

I've been doing the yardstick for awhile and once I find the groove I need, I can do this successfully. Translating that square face to putts without the yardstick has been tricky so far.
I should add the gate to the drill repertoire as that will probably help transfer the feel from the yardstick to other putts.

I did the first drill on the putting green before my pre round warmup yesterday. It was something I heard about the other day and It really gave me a good feeling about the clubface position at impact. Going to be a goto for me in the future.

[AmishJason]

Another hour of chip shots.  Had one of those days where everything was going wrong at first.  Blades, chunks, and slices packed into 10 yard shots.  Finally figured out my wrists decided to turn traitor today.  Stopped breaking them over and everything came back together!

[cnosil]

The one benefit of working at home is lunch time practice. Today was chip shots. Hit 150ish chips toward some towels in the yard. Tempo seems to be the biggest issue, I get way too quick and everything breaks down. When I have proper tempo shots are solid and landing near the intended target.

Hoping to get out later and hit some more.

[StrokerAce]

6 minutes ago, cnosil said:

The one benefit of working at home is lunch time practice. Today was chip shots. Hit 150ish chips toward some towels in the yard. Tempo seems to be the biggest issue, I get way too quick and everything breaks down. When I have proper tempo shots are solid and landing near the intended target.

Hoping to get out later and hit some more.

have you tried the tour temp app? I am considering it and apparently they have both short game and long game tempo settings.

[cnosil]

have you tried the tour temp app? I am considering it and apparently they have both short game and long game tempo settings.

I tried it many years ago. Unless the “songs” Have changed I found it very difficult to get in sync. If I just focus on slowing down when I practice it is all good; I have to remember to do the same when I am playing.

[cksurfdude]

On 4/20/2020 at 12:41 AM, PMookie said:

I brought our full length mirror from the bathroom so I could check my alignment,

How did you have the mirror positioned, eg face on or ___? Thx

[PMookie]

I spent about 3 hours outside today with my net, and the “box” I use as a target for chipping. I worked hard on pushing off the ground on the downswing, and having the feeling of pushing my left butt cheek back to try and clear my left side. I sent video from face-on and down-the-line to my coach, and already received video feedback.


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[dhartmann34]

Worked on a weight drill my instructor gave me last time I was in. It's meant to over exaggerate the feeling of shallowing out the club. I also threw in the smartball for good measure. Here's how it looks.

 

https://youtu.be/EbBz3f3rJZE

[AmishJason]

Spent about an hour-and-a-half on the driving range.  Went through 3 range tokens worth of balls, but I was able to identify a handful of mechanical issues.  My right foot is a creeper and likes to move away from where it needs to be, my hands want to lock down on the grips and that just makes a mess of things, and my left knee is like a Pointer Dog.  I noticed that once my right foot came into alignment, my left knee wanted to flex and point at the ball.  If it stayed there, the shots were garbage.  SO, a lot of learning and some fun after the first bucket was a bucket of shame.

[PMookie]

Got the net and mat out again today and hit about 200 balls.


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[cnosil]

2 hours ago, PMookie said:

Got the net and mat out again today and hit about 200 balls.

 

No net for me,  but i hit about 200 chip shots. 

[palvord]

With the weather warming up, I got the itch to practice outdoors rather than just rolling putts in my basement.

On Saturday, I set up a little short game practice area in the backyard and it worked out perfectly for practice:

Targets are 5, 10, 15, and 20yds. I spent Saturday working with my 52, 56, and 60 wedges to those varying distances at random. It was lots of fun and was a good way to scratch the golf itch during the SIP.

[dlow206]

I've been working on getting rid of my "early extension" in the backswing (I don't even know that was a thing until a few days ago). Given that I have been early extending in the backswing and then classic early extending in the downswing, I am not quite sure how I even manage to hit the ball.

[Jmikecpa]

Finally some nice weather and hit about three large buckets at the home range. Pulled out the launch monitor for my last 10 balls and right where I need to be.


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[GolfSpy_SHARK]

Today was a good day like Ice Cube said. Just some driver swings and thanks to @B.Boston for putting me into the swing speed radar. Hit 10 balls and had great club head speed and am happy where I am at. Also took a slow mo video of as many of you know I have mentioned before trying to get up on the ball with driver. Have a close video here and am practically even! Good progress for me.

https://youtu.be/BcDDRPnIrEA

[GolfSpy BOS]

Today was a good day like Ice Cube said. Just some driver swings and thanks to [mention=85402]B.Boston[/mention] for putting me into the swing speed radar. Hit 10 balls and had great club head speed and am happy where I am at. Also took a slow mo video of as many of you know I have mentioned before trying to get up on the ball with driver. Have a close video here and am practically even! Good progress for me.
https://youtu.be/BcDDRPnIrEA

Nice stuff Mark! I knew you were faster than me but I was hoping it wasn’t by that much.

Hopefully you don’t learn how to swing up or I’m going to be in trouble.


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[GolfSpy_SHARK]

2 minutes ago, B.Boston said:

Nice stuff Mark! I knew you were faster than me but I was hoping it wasn’t by that much.

Hopefully you don’t learn how to swing up or I’m going to be in trouble.


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Can’t teach an old dog new tricks is still ringing true for me, you’re safe for now, but I’m trying!

[GolfSpy BOS]

Can’t teach an old dog new tricks is still ringing true for me, you’re safe for now, but I’m trying!

Hopefully we will get out there soon.


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[dlow206]

Been working through some swing faults and finally found a drill/feel that felt very intuitive. It was from Monte Scheinblum and I am currently working with him, so it wasn't some random youtube clip. The drill/feel is to separate the left shoulder from the chin at the start of the downswing. This literally fixed the majority of my swing issues of my head moving forward, my body moving toward the target too much, my hips spinning too much, etc.

First four swings in my backyard with this feel, all flushed, called it a day after that. If I had continued, I would have started to think about other things and then it would have went downhill from there. 

 

[edingc]

Spent some time today messing around with alignment sticks, trying to make my brain feel where my shoulders are really pointed at address.

I kept replaying my round yesterday, and my last lesson from February, trying to figure out what happened to get me moving so steep/left with everything.

As I've known before, but let lapse, what I feel as shoulders square to my target line at address is actually probably close to 25 degrees open. Which explains a lot of my problems yesterday.

I need to work on an approach to the ball that allows me to set my shoulders slightly closed as my instructor had told me to do.

 

[GolfSpy BOS]

Just now, edingc said:

Spent some time today messing around with alignment sticks, trying to make my brain feel where my shoulders are really pointed at address.

I kept replaying my round yesterday, and my last lesson from February, trying to figure out what happened to get me moving so steep/left with everything.

As I've known before, but let lapse, what I feel as shoulders square to my target line at address is actually probably close to 25 degrees open. Which explains a lot of my problems yesterday.

I need to work on an approach to the ball that allows me to set my shoulders slightly closed as my instructor had told me to do.

 

I've been trying to do this too.  Something that helps me is after I set up I feel like I tuck my right elbow in a little bit to and it pulls my shoulders closed/serves as a good checkpoint.

[THEZIPR23]

15 minutes ago, edingc said:

Spent some time today messing around with alignment sticks, trying to make my brain feel where my shoulders are really pointed at address.

I kept replaying my round yesterday, and my last lesson from February, trying to figure out what happened to get me moving so steep/left with everything.

As I've known before, but let lapse, what I feel as shoulders square to my target line at address is actually probably close to 25 degrees open. Which explains a lot of my problems yesterday.

I need to work on an approach to the ball that allows me to set my shoulders slightly closed as my instructor had told me to do.

 

Don't want to interfere with your lessons. 

I'm going to guess that when you stand up normally your shoulders are square with your hips and your feet, look for something that causes you to set up open.

What is your current approach to setting up? 

13 minutes ago, B.Boston said:

I've been trying to do this too.  Something that helps me is after I set up I feel like I tuck my right elbow in a little bit to and it pulls my shoulders closed/serves as a good checkpoint.

It could be something as simple as this or along those lines...

[edingc]

2 hours ago, THEZIPR23 said:

Don't want to interfere with your lessons. 

I'm going to guess that when you stand up normally your shoulders are square with your hips and your feet, look for something that causes you to set up open.

What is your current approach to setting up? 

It could be something as simple as this or along those lines...

Yes, and no on the shoulders. My right shoulder droops forward naturally. Which sets me somewhat open to my feet/hip line. I believe it comes from working in IT and using a mouse all day. 

Regarding the setup, my issue seems to be a predisposition to reaching my right arm up and over to the grip. Which gets my elbow up and pointed back instead of being soft and closer to my hip.

I watched an old Crossfield video about letting the right hand come to the club from beneath/behind, which seems to help me get setup with more square shoulders.

My instructor gave me a checkpoint of bringing able to see my left elbow at address from a behind down-the-line view.

[cksurfdude]

On 4/29/2020 at 7:48 PM, edingc said:

Yes, and no on the shoulders. My right shoulder droops forward naturally. Which sets me somewhat open to my feet/hip line. I believe it comes from working in IT and using a mouse all day. 

Regarding the setup, my issue seems to be a predisposition to reaching my right arm up and over to the grip. Which gets my elbow up and pointed back instead of being soft and closer to my hip.

I watched an old Crossfield video about letting the right hand come to the club from beneath/behind, which seems to help me get setup with more square shoulders.

My instructor gave me a checkpoint of bringing able to see my left elbow at address from a behind down-the-line view.

I have a similar setup problem, ie. tendency to set up open. And similarly to you, I was recently taught to mind the right .. my trail .. elbow at address in that it's not higher than the lead (left) elbow - which sounds alike to your instructor's advice. So now all we need to do is remember to get that setup right with every shot

Also last summer my wife and I were at a Nancy Lopez clinic and she mentioned to me .. while in my setup position .. to hold everything steady and then turn my head to look over my left (lead) shoulder to see where it was pointing; eg. is it too far left of the intended target?

[cksurfdude]

Finally got around to cobbling together a better foundation for my putting mat so I can use the entire length of it; before I was maxed out at about 6 feet, now it's 8' 6". Also have found a long piece of ply for the stance area, so I don't have to keep moving that small piece. I use the right side - into the small hole - for longer putts from like 5' out to 8' 6", and then have two 3-foot setups on the left. The 3-footer closer to the hole (further from the camera) goes up the ramp and seems to simulate the ffort needed on slower greens while the one closer to the camera, using the PuttOut, seems to simulate faster greens.

 

[cksurfdude]

We had one of those infrequent lately sunny and warm days recently so I dug around the garage and brought out the heretofore unused BirdieBall limited flight practice "balls". The pic isn't great but you can see they're firm plastic cylinders (beveled at each end), which you set upright on the BirdieBall strike pad (which has foam underneath and a flexible ramp at the hitting end to absorb the shock of the club strike).

Not sure if it was me?, my setup?, the way I was hitting them?, or the BirdieBalls themselves and the way they fly on partial shots? (maybe these little guys are intended to be used on full shots?), or ___?? but a lot of my short pitch shots .. about 18ish yards in this shot .. were going left on me (there are a bunch of them around the tree, while my target was at the right edge of the tree's shadow...).

Anyhow, it was fun to do something different .. OUTSIDE OF THE GARAGE!!! .. and I played around with chipping and pitching with the same club to different targets.