What/How Did You Practice Today?

[JerryB]

Hitting in the basement is starting to get a little frustrating.  I think in my head I'm expecting to progress at a rate that is not feasible.  My first question is, if things aren't going well, do you shut it down or power through?  I decided to power through.  There were some bright moments as I hit through the bag; on about half my clubs I absolutely flushed one that felt great and the launch monitor really liked.  My 6 and 5 irons were garbage though, which honestly continues a theme for me.  I have yet to get decent distance with those clubs.  Something to continue working on, I suppose.

Did finally have to quit early...I shanked a couple that missed the net completely.  When I shanked one with my hybrid the ball ricocheted around the basement.  Really lucked out that it missed anything important!

[sirchunksalot]

51 minutes ago, Lacassem said:

Just some swing path and face control. Short yardage stuff to start. A lot better than it used to be, this drill was a struggle in the past.

 

That's great control and a good still to work on. I like the fact you're starting small before moving on to fuller shots. 

2 minutes ago, JerryB said:

Hitting in the basement is starting to get a little frustrating.  I think in my head I'm expecting to progress at a rate that is not feasible.  My first question is, if things aren't going well, do you shut it down or power through?  I decided to power through.  There were some bright moments as I hit through the bag; on about half my clubs I absolutely flushed one that felt great and the launch monitor really liked.  My 6 and 5 irons were garbage though, which honestly continues a theme for me.  I have yet to get decent distance with those clubs.  Something to continue working on, I suppose.

Did finally have to quit early...I shanked a couple that missed the net completely.  When I shanked one with my hybrid the ball ricocheted around the basement.  Really lucked out that it missed anything important!

First of all, I'm glad to hear you didn't have a ball ricochet back and hurt yourself. The shanks are pure evil. I would encourage you to keep working on things. Have you thought about maybe replacing the 5&6 with hybrids? 

I got out to the range again today to relax after having to take our cat to the vet. He's my wife's baby and she was worried because he wasn't eating normally and wanted to check to make sure he wasn't having problems with his kidneys. They're treating him for a UTI, which he's prone to. 

It's the last day for a while rain is not in the forecast so I was antsy after getting home and needed some golf therapy. I'm still working on approach and wedge play and saw decent results when I was committed to the shot. I had a few instances where I fell back into old habits, but I remind myself improvement doesn't happen overnight. 

I was pretty off with the driver today, I started out with a nice 50 yard lob shot off the crown and it only marginally improved after that. 

I spent more time in the sand working on that previously neglected part of my game. I watched a Chris Ryan video where he talked about concentrating on hitting the sand on to the green and saw good results working on that. 

[Kenny B]

1 hour ago, JerryB said:

Hitting in the basement is starting to get a little frustrating.  I think in my head I'm expecting to progress at a rate that is not feasible.  My first question is, if things aren't going well, do you shut it down or power through?  I decided to power through.  There were some bright moments as I hit through the bag; on about half my clubs I absolutely flushed one that felt great and the launch monitor really liked.  My 6 and 5 irons were garbage though, which honestly continues a theme for me.  I have yet to get decent distance with those clubs.  Something to continue working on, I suppose.

Did finally have to quit early...I shanked a couple that missed the net completely.  When I shanked one with my hybrid the ball ricocheted around the basement.  Really lucked out that it missed anything important!

Difficult to shank a hybrid; easy to hit the ball off he toe... looks like a shank.  Spray Dr. Scholl's foot power on the face; check where you are making contact.

Many reasons for a shank, but an over-the-top downswing and early extension are likely candidates.  Fixing those are not easy until you identify the root causes and work on the correct drills.

[dlow206]

38 minutes ago, Kenny B said:

Difficult to shank a hybrid; easy to hit the ball off he toe... looks like a shank.  Spray Dr. Scholl's foot power on the face; check where you are making contact.

Many reasons for a shank, but an over-the-top downswing and early extension are likely candidates.  Fixing those are not easy until you identify the root causes and work on the correct drills.

I'm the king of the toe shank...

[Rickp]

4 minutes ago, dlow206 said:

I'm the king of the toe shank...

I feel your pain, my miss is “off the toe”.  I have the “a little toey” spells. 

[Kenny B]

46 minutes ago, dlow206 said:

I'm the king of the toe shank...

 

39 minutes ago, Rickp said:

I feel your pain, my miss is “off the toe”.  I have the “a little toey” spells. 

Before I met Monte I could NOT hit the ball off the toe of any club!  I had Real Shanks!  Ball made contact from the center to the hosel.

I tried a lot of "fixes" and instructors to find someone who could fix my shank.  Rather than trying to fix my shank, Monte fixed the root cause, and I didn't even ask him to fix it..  I very rarely shank anymore; when I do it happens when I get tired and swing lazy.  But I do occasionally have "a little toey" when I am practicing exaggerated movements in my hitting bay.

[RickyBobby_PR]

13 hours ago, JerryB said:

My first question is, if things aren't going well, do you shut it down or power through? 

Depends. Are you just beating balls every time or are you working on drills?
 

If working on drills what’s your ratio of swings doing the drill to regular swings after the drill?

[Vegan_Golfer_PNW]

12 hours ago, Kenny B said:

 

Before I met Monte I could NOT hit the ball off the toe of any club!  I had Real Shanks!  Ball made contact from the center to the hosel.

I tried a lot of "fixes" and instructors to find someone who could fix my shank.  Rather than trying to fix my shank, Monte fixed the root cause, and I didn't even ask him to fix it..  I very rarely shank anymore; when I do it happens when I get tired and swing lazy.  But I do occasionally have "a little toey" when I am practicing exaggerated movements in my hitting bay.

What was the root cause? I’ll shank my driver if I use a shaft that’s too light. 

[JerryB]

14 hours ago, sirchunksalot said:

First of all, I'm glad to hear you didn't have a ball ricochet back and hurt yourself. The shanks are pure evil. I would encourage you to keep working on things. Have you thought about maybe replacing the 5&6 with hybrids?

First time I've ever had my life flash before my eyes because of golf!!  Everything is on the table in terms of my clubs.  They were all handed down or bought cheaply from friends and co-workers.  Worked great for my first season and will be good for my second, but I would love to upgrade the longer clubs as ASAP as possible.  Stumbled across a couple SM7s at Goodwill a few months back so I've been going back regularly ever since hoping lightning strikes twice!

 

13 hours ago, Kenny B said:

Difficult to shank a hybrid; easy to hit the ball off he toe... looks like a shank.  Spray Dr. Scholl's foot power on the face; check where you are making contact.

Many reasons for a shank, but an over-the-top downswing and early extension are likely candidates.  Fixing those are not easy until you identify the root causes and work on the correct drills.

Shoot, I've got to work on my lingo.  LOL...as my kids have gotten older, I understand less and less of what they say, and apparently the same goes for golf.  Learning new languages is just not my thing; five years of Spanish back in school and I learned nothing!

But yeah...it was off the toe.  (So what is a shank?)  I was frustrated by the session and wanted to really muscle a shot to see the launch monitor distance (ego) and just mis-hit poorly. 

 

1 hour ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

Depends. Are you just beating balls every time or are you working on drills?
 

If working on drills what’s your ratio of swings doing the drill to regular swings after the drill?

I suppose I'm just beating balls if I'm honest about it.  Yesterday I was trying in particular to work on hip rotation as most of my swing now is just upper body with a little lower body sway.  Since the change didnt instantly add yardage to my shots (as all the Youtube videos claim), I was getting a little irked. 

(Sarcasm in that last sentence...my head knows thats not how things work but I have a long history of not being patient with these things)

 

On a positive note, my parents bought my son and me a gift card for a swing evaluation at Golftec.  Its about an hour away though, so we're waiting until things settle down in January before we can get that scheduled.  Not an instant fix, obviously, but it'll be nice to get a little more information.

[Vegan_Golfer_PNW]

22 minutes ago, JerryB said:

(So what is a shank?)

Off the hosel

[Vegan_Golfer_PNW]

Did some planemate wedge work today focusing on rotation. That is a big issue for me. Once I can do that I can let my hands get into position and trust I can hit the ball. Right now my upper body out races my lower half and I come over the top. Keep the right shoulder rolling back is another feeling to remember 

[RickyBobby_PR]

1 hour ago, JerryB said:

First time I've ever had my life flash before my eyes because of golf!!  Everything is on the table in terms of my clubs.  They were all handed down or bought cheaply from friends and co-workers.  Worked great for my first season and will be good for my second, but I would love to upgrade the longer clubs as ASAP as possible.  Stumbled across a couple SM7s at Goodwill a few months back so I've been going back regularly ever since hoping lightning strikes twice!

 

Shoot, I've got to work on my lingo.  LOL...as my kids have gotten older, I understand less and less of what they say, and apparently the same goes for golf.  Learning new languages is just not my thing; five years of Spanish back in school and I learned nothing!

But yeah...it was off the toe.  (So what is a shank?)  I was frustrated by the session and wanted to really muscle a shot to see the launch monitor distance (ego) and just mis-hit poorly. 

 

I suppose I'm just beating balls if I'm honest about it.  Yesterday I was trying in particular to work on hip rotation as most of my swing now is just upper body with a little lower body sway.  Since the change didnt instantly add yardage to my shots (as all the Youtube videos claim), I was getting a little irked. 

(Sarcasm in that last sentence...my head knows thats not how things work but I have a long history of not being patient with these things)

 

On a positive note, my parents bought my son and me a gift card for a swing evaluation at Golftec.  Its about an hour away though, so we're waiting until things settle down in January before we can get that scheduled.  Not an instant fix, obviously, but it'll be nice to get a little more information.

I would quit and take a step back and reevaluate what you are doing. Beating balls at full speed isn’t going to fix anything. If you are watching YouTube videos I’m going to guess that the instructor has drills to work on. You need to work on those drills with and without a ball. Do that 5-6 times then take 10 swings with that same feel. Rinse and repeat. Also doing the drills in slow motion to get the feel.

You have to retrain your body to move in the way the instructor is talking about. This doesn’t happen over night, one practice session or even within a month. It takes lots of time. 

[Rickp]

1 hour ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

I would quit and take a step back and reevaluate what you are doing. Beating balls at full speed isn’t going to fix anything. If you are watching YouTube videos I’m going to guess that the instructor has drills to work on. You need to work on those drills with and without a ball. Do that 5-6 times then take 10 swings with that same feel. Rinse and repeat. Also doing the drills in slow motion to get the feel.

You have to retrain your body to move in the way the instructor is talking about. This doesn’t happen over night, one practice session or even within a month. It takes lots of time. 

Good advice!

[RickyBobby_PR]

Used part of my lunch break to go out on a nice mid 50s late December day to do some swing work.

 

[chisag]

20 hours ago, JerryB said:

Hitting in the basement is starting to get a little frustrating.  I think in my head I'm expecting to progress at a rate that is not feasible.  My first question is, if things aren't going well, do you shut it down or power through?

 

... Jerry you have stumbled on the conundrum that is the golf swing. In order to facilitate a change it is almost always necessary to exaggerate what you are trying to change. For instance if a reverse pivot is your fault, many instructors may have you move your head back and away from the target. It was not unusual for me to ask a student to move their head back 3 feet from the address position. Of course I did not want them to actually move their head back 3 feet, but under my watchful eye I was just trying to get them to stop moving their head forward. At first they may or may not move their head much at all but to them it felt like they were moving it 3 feet backwards. BUT trying this at home in front of a mirror would be a disaster as they may actually move their head 3 feet backwards. Through multiple lessons and time I would slowly change my instructions as they began to keep their head stationary so it might be move it 1 foot and finally just keep your head still. 

... I always warned my students right for the start that their lesson was unique to them and as we hopefully progressed, my instructions would change. This meant nothing I told them should be originally considered fundamentals but drills to get them to where I could give them fundamentals. We have all heard members on a forum say they started "cocking their wrists more" on the backswing as an example. Then a week later they are hitting the ball worse than ever because they started cocking their wrists correctly that first AHA! moment but their thought was "cock your wrist more" and sooner than later they are cocking them too soon or too much. It is the nature of the beast and why the golf swing is so hard to perform well consistently. 

... Soooooo many golfers and even students will ingrain bad habits by "fighting through" at the range. Doing slow motion swings or swinging without hitting balls is always a good way to facilitate a change or make improvements. Ball flight is king so if you are not hitting at least some shots with the trajectory and distance you want, just hitting ball after ball very poorly will just ingrain bad mental habits. Hence the conundrum. You have to hit good shots with a good swing to get better but hitting poor shots with a faulty swing will only make you worse. Catch 22 huh? Lessons are always a good idea if you don't have correct fundamentals or at least a repeatable swing. Good luck! 

[Kenny B]

4 hours ago, Vegan_Golfer_PNW said:

What was the root cause? I’ll shank my driver if I use a shaft that’s too light. 

A year ago I thought the same thing.  I had a fairly heavy driver and a 65 gram shaft.  Felt good.  Then I thought that getting a light driver would help me generate more speed.  It was awful... until I worked on changing my rhythm.  Now a light driver feels "normal".  Same thing happened when I bought my Mizuno MP20 HMB irons with 64g graphite shafts when I have been playing 84g steel shafts.  It took me a long time to get used to swinging a lighter weight club.

Root cause was swaying on the backswing and starting from the top with upper body OTT.  Now I focus on rotation, rotation rotation (getting right hip back and toward target in backswing) and starting my arms down from the top behind me (Monte's cast toward 8 o'clock), then rotation through impact and the hands drop into the slot.  I could still do better with my backswing rotation according to Monte... but the shank is gone; and now an occasional toey!!

[Kenny B]

20 hours ago, JerryB said:

Hitting in the basement is starting to get a little frustrating.  I think in my head I'm expecting to progress at a rate that is not feasible.  My first question is, if things aren't going well, do you shut it down or power through?  I decided to power through.  There were some bright moments as I hit through the bag; on about half my clubs I absolutely flushed one that felt great and the launch monitor really liked.  My 6 and 5 irons were garbage though, which honestly continues a theme for me.  I have yet to get decent distance with those clubs.  Something to continue working on, I suppose.

Did finally have to quit early...I shanked a couple that missed the net completely.  When I shanked one with my hybrid the ball ricocheted around the basement.  Really lucked out that it missed anything important!

If you practice drills given by an instructor or work on slo-mo swing changes according to the good advice of @chisag in your basement this winter, I strongly suggest that you invest in Almost Golf Balls (Amazon has them if you can't find them locally).  These hard foam balls will not give you the info on your launch monitor that you are looking for, but they fly into a net nicely, and you can tell if you didn't make good contact.  The good thing is that you won't break anything with them... maybe knock something light over.  

When I work on my drills, I always start with the foam balls. I start with slo-mo swings, not caring where the ball goes.  After 10 of those I will hit 10 foam balls with a left arm parallel backswing.  Then... if... I made good contact on all 10, I do 10 full swings with the foam balls.  If they aren't all good shots, then start over.  When I can hit 10 solid shots in a row, then and only then will I hit 10 real golf balls.  I do this every time I go to my hitting bay.  Yes, I have hit balls around the room... and there is a large window in there!!  Don't hit real balls inside until you have good control of your ball contact!!  

[dlow206]

6 minutes ago, Kenny B said:

If you practice drills given by an instructor or work on slo-mo swing changes according to the good advice of @chisag in your basement this winter, I strongly suggest that you invest in Almost Golf Balls (Amazon has them if you can't find them locally).  These hard foam balls will not give you the info on your launch monitor that you are looking for, but they fly into a net nicely, and you can tell if you didn't make good contact.  The good thing is that you won't break anything with them... maybe knock something light over.  

When I work on my drills, I always start with the foam balls. I start with slo-mo swings, not caring where the ball goes.  After 10 of those I will hit 10 foam balls with a left arm parallel backswing.  Then... if... I made good contact on all 10, I do 10 full swings with the foam balls.  If they aren't all good shots, then start over.  When I can hit 10 solid shots in a row, then and only then will I hit 10 real golf balls.  I do this every time I go to my hitting bay.  Yes, I have hit balls around the room... and there is a large window in there!!  Don't hit real balls inside until you have good control of your ball contact!!  

These balls are great, they are what I use for practice. After accidentally hitting one or two either over the net or outside of the net, I have been using the same ball for at least 8 months now. They have been super durable for me. 

[Kenny B]

15 minutes ago, dlow206 said:

These balls are great, they are what I use for practice. After accidentally hitting one or two either over the net or outside of the net, I have been using the same ball for at least 8 months now. They have been super durable for me. 

I need new ones. The 36 Almost balls I have are getting a little smooth; I am wearing off the dimples.  But I have been using them 4-5 days a week for a year.  I used them exclusively inside after my lesson with Monte last March because making good contact during a swing change takes a long time.  

Even now, I still use them for warmup and when I "try something".  

[chisag]

5 hours ago, Kenny B said:

Root cause was swaying on the backswing and starting from the top with upper body OTT.

 

... Hey Kenny, I just thought I would mention one of the things I miss most about teaching is the effect it had on my golf swing. Tour Pro's have instructors watching their every move and when they start to fall back into old habits or start to stray with any particular aspect of their swing the instructor catches them before it becomes a problem. I can't tell you how many times I was showing a student something and realized I had started to get away from that fundamental. It was not yet a problem but I was able to catch myself before it did thanks to just demonstrating something to a student. It is obviously impossible to go over all the fundamentals every time I play, especially when I am playing well but somewhere down the road the "flaw" will more often than not become a problem and like a lawyer defending themselves it isn't always easy to self diagnose. 

[pakman92]

I'm not sure what my yardages are with each club since I began the Super Speed training.   Since I'm playing tomorrow, I wanted to map them out.  It took about 30 minutes to drive to the indoor range, set up SkyTrak and warm up with some chips.  

I had to stop after 20 minutes.  I started with LW and made it to 7 iron before I had to call it quits.  My swing felt so out of sorts.  I was hooking everything.  My distances were shifting between the old and the new.  Rather than grooving a bad swing, I stopped and came home.  It may be an interesting round tomorrow.

[Kenny B]

5 hours ago, Vegan_Golfer_PNW said:

Did some planemate wedge work today focusing on rotation. That is a big issue for me. Once I can do that I can let my hands get into position and trust I can hit the ball. Right now my upper body out races my lower half and I come over the top. Keep the right shoulder rolling back is another feeling to remember 

I haven't been using the PlaneMate lately.  But yesterday I wanted to work on trying to compress the ball a little better; low dynamic loft and shallow AoA.  The PM helps guide me into the correct position at impact.  

My tendency is to release my wrist hinge too early, increasing loft as I rotate through.  I'd forgotten how good the PM helps me maintain the angle.  I was able to focus on increasing my right wrist hinge in transition/downswing and maintain more shaft lean at impact.  Much better contact!!  I have to work the PM back into my practice routine again.

[Kenny B]

16 minutes ago, pakman92 said:

I'm not sure what my yardages are with each club since I began the Super Speed training.   Since I'm playing tomorrow, I wanted to map them out.  It took about 30 minutes to drive to the indoor range, set up SkyTrak and warm up with some chips.  

I had to stop after 20 minutes.  I started with LW and made it to 7 iron before I had to call it quits.  My swing felt so out of sorts.  I was hooking everything.  My distances were shifting between the old and the new.  Rather than grooving a bad swing, I stopped and came home.  It may be an interesting round tomorrow.

Don't worry about it... Don't even think about it!

It's likely your tempo is a little off.  Tomorrow, warmup with half swings; left arm parallel.  Feel the club, then a few full swings.  On the course... trust your swing; don't second guess it.  You got this!!

[GolfSpy_SHARK]

3 hours ago, Kenny B said:

If you practice drills given by an instructor or work on slo-mo swing changes according to the good advice of @chisag in your basement this winter, I strongly suggest that you invest in Almost Golf Balls (Amazon has them if you can't find them locally).  These hard foam balls will not give you the info on your launch monitor that you are looking for, but they fly into a net nicely, and you can tell if you didn't make good contact.  The good thing is that you won't break anything with them... maybe knock something light over.  

When I work on my drills, I always start with the foam balls. I start with slo-mo swings, not caring where the ball goes.  After 10 of those I will hit 10 foam balls with a left arm parallel backswing.  Then... if... I made good contact on all 10, I do 10 full swings with the foam balls.  If they aren't all good shots, then start over.  When I can hit 10 solid shots in a row, then and only then will I hit 10 real golf balls.  I do this every time I go to my hitting bay.  Yes, I have hit balls around the room... and there is a large window in there!!  Don't hit real balls inside until you have good control of your ball contact!!  

I started doing the foam balls in the basement 2 years ago. Short game easy swings and it has completely changed a lot of my game. Even swinging (mostly 3/4 or I’ll hit the drop ceiling) but still it 1000% translates.

i know not everyone has the ability to do this, I am lucky I have the room but I personally have accomplished more doing this over the winter than a lot of range sessions

[gavinski91]

Season is long over for us, but Christmas vacation with the family meant all the guys went to the TopTracer range close to our AirBnB. 
 

My future brother-in-law let me try his Sim2 with a Hzrds Green 70X shaft. I hadn’t swung a club for over a month, and was consistently hitting straight drives over 250 yards in 12* temps. My Radspeed XB should be worried…

[juspoole]

More or less just have started to implement this feel into my driver swing.  Simple but has been effective

Feeling like I am skipping a rock with my trail hand on the down swing to get more in to out.  Be careful not to let the back shoulder dip with it too much.

 

[cnosil]

22 hours ago, Kenny B said:

 I strongly suggest that you invest in Almost Golf Balls (Amazon has them if you can't find them locally).  These hard foam balls will not give you the info on your launch monitor that you are looking for, but they fly into a net nicely, and you can tell if you didn't make good contact.  The good thing is that you won't break anything with them... maybe knock something light over.  

 

I love the almost golf balls as well.  I just want to say that your final statement (that I bolded) is not true.   I broke the glass on a picture;  fortunately my wife wasn't too mad

 

[edingc]

Been kind of a disappointing week so far. We're on a week break for the holidays and after all of the Christmas happenings my wife and I both came down with something nasty on Sunday. Tested, not COVID, but it knocked me out for three days. I was really hoping to hit lots of balls on the Mevo+ this week but finally was able to get out there this morning for a short session.

Last practice on Saturday had lots of balls out of the toe. I have been trying to get a better turn, but on Saturday I realized I had a lot of "false turn" going on. I'd feel like I was making a full turn, but in reality I was getting disconnected and coming really out-to-in.

I don't recall where I read it, but I started playing with the idea of my hands trying to get to my right shoulder and that really is helping me turn more and stay connected. Had some really good results this morning. In doing mirror work it seems to get me to the same place as the Faldo drill, which my instructor had me working on this past spring.

Feels like continued progress. Next thing to work on is a better setup, especially with my longer clubs. I tend to lack secondary tilt, which leads to smother hooks and low trajectory shots. When I try to add secondary tilt, I instead tend to side bend too much, which gets pressure too much into my right side at setup which leads to getting stuck and hitting blocks or thin shots. Need to really focus more on a "K" setup where I get the tilt but through a bit of hip bump and not actual bending of my spine.

[JerryB]

Not "practice" per se, but my son bought a new set of TaylorMade Sim Max irons and they were delivered yesterday, so we went downstairs and hit some balls.  After a few swings, he was hitting his 7 iron 200 yards.  Me...not so much, lol.  My back was incredibly stiff from a heavy deadlift day the day prior and couldn't get any rotation.  The lesson learned from the day, though, is that new clubs are pretty awesome!

[PMookie]

So stoked. Went to the range for the second time since getting Covid, and THIS time I felt back to normal! I was able to swing fully, hit everything I wanted, so I set-up my drill station and started working! Here’s a pic. Alignment rod shoved through the grip of an old shaft and placed in the ground to help me keep my hands low, and around after contact. I tend to have my hands go above my left shoulder after impact, so this helps me to get them lower, coming out on a similar plane as they went-up on the backswing. Second alignment rod in the ground is to give me feedback on when my rear knee is kicking-out toward the ball on the downswing. Object is to keep it in-line, per se, with the front leg, inside of right foot just “tilting” down into the ground as I shift my weight.