What/How Did You Practice Today?

[sirchunksalot]

3 minutes ago, PMookie said:

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. 

Glad to hear you're feeling better and are able to get out and practice without getting gassed. 

[JerryB]

Took the advice of all you folks that suggested slowing down and foam balls.  While I don't have the Almost Balls, we did get a bucket of the Callaway foam balls for Christmas.  Took some cuts with a few clubs to loosen up, then swung slowly while trying to mimic my swing as close as possible.  I realized that not only was I getting pretty toe-y but my club face was pretty darn open at impact.  Gotta work on that for sure.

Then I spent some time messing around with my 54° working on ball position, stances, swing lengths, etc.  Bit of a confidence booster.  Most of my shot attempts were hitting the net about where I was expecting, and I've got a pretty good idea of my upper distance limit. 

On another note...this sucks!  How much longer before Spring??

[Kenny B]

13 minutes ago, JerryB said:

Took the advice of all you folks that suggested slowing down and foam balls.  While I don't have the Almost Balls, we did get a bucket of the Callaway foam balls for Christmas.  Took some cuts with a few clubs to loosen up, then swung slowly while trying to mimic my swing as close as possible.  I realized that not only was I getting pretty toe-y but my club face was pretty darn open at impact.  Gotta work on that for sure.

Then I spent some time messing around with my 54° working on ball position, stances, swing lengths, etc.  Bit of a confidence booster.  Most of my shot attempts were hitting the net about where I was expecting, and I've got a pretty good idea of my upper distance limit. 

On another note...this sucks!  How much longer before Spring??

Those should work fine.  We don't want your life to pass in front of your eyes just yet... young fella!!  

[Haro]

Practicing some pitches and chips to Lower tier greens from top of a hill 

the downhill chip shot is one of the few maybe the only golf shot where I actually ground the club and start the motion with the club on the ground rather than in the air. Putting I started lifting the putter off the green before I start the putting motion 

[PMookie]

I was going to play 18 today, teeing off at 9:30, then I remembered a Drs appt, so had to go at 11:20 instead. Place was PACKED. I was on a time crunch, so I only played 6 holes. I used the opportunity to hit a few balls off each tee since I got out of the car and went right to the first tee. Hit the Pro V1X vs the Z Star again hitting various shots including off the tee, approaches, chips/pitches, and putts. I really do like the Z Star better from a feel and performance standpoint, so I’d likely play it next year. Srixon has a new ball coming out, and I’ll want to try it before I decide. 
It was nice to get on the course again!!!!

[RichL85]

Weather hasn't been great around here but the rain has stopped for now. Took the chance to hit some 7-irons and go through the first day of the SuperSpeed system. It's interesting to see how out of sync my lefty swing would be, especially being left handed. It feels completely foreign, but will be interesting to see the overall results after 6-8 weeks. 

I can tell I'm getting closer to where I want my swing to be. Looking back at the session, I noticed a few things that need to be corrected. It's amazing to me how much unconscious self-correction happens in the golf swing. Hopefully the weather will hold and I can work on it tomorrow. I noticed my grip tends to work itself to a very weak position and that makes it harder for me to deloft the irons. Also noticed I sometimes rush my transition and basically pull the handle down. Had to focus today on what felt like a full second pause at the top, allowing the hands to naturally fall and then turning the body hard. It's getting closer, and once I get comfortable with that move I'll be submitting my next videos for my coach. 

[Kenny B]

Snow... no golf.  I can't even practice in my hitting bay... unheated!!  24º in there this morning.  But that's going to change.  More on that later.

 

[sirchunksalot]

The sun popped out today after days of wet, nasty weather and I went to the range just to hit a small bucket. I only grabbed my 56, 7 iron, and because of the influence of @Kenny B, my 5 hybrid. 

I spent the time working on getting to my left side and focusing on accelerating through the ball, two of my main demons. I spent time before every shot focusing on alignment and grip, then letting them fly.

I'm pretty happy with the results, except for the last 3 shots I took with the 56. It was shank, shank, shank. I had one ball left so I abandoned the wedge and hit a decent shot with the 7 iron. 

As far as the hybrid went, I hit it well. I saw the normal right to left movement with it, but that could have something to do with the 15-20 mph wind coming off the right. I think it is going to get a trial run at replacing the 5 iron. I wish the wind had been a little less so I could have gauged it better.

[GolfSpy_SHARK]

2 hours ago, Kenny B said:

Snow... no golf.  I can't even practice in my hitting bay... unheated!!  24º in there this morning.  But that's going to change.  More on that later.

 

That better not be coming our way woooooof we have been extremely lucky, although nothing outside with how wet the ground is

[PMookie]

Got out to the range this morning. Winds gusting up to 30mph, but I had to get it in before storms start tonight, and it gets down to the 40s tomorrow.

Did my same drills, but I was consistently coming over-the-top the whole session. On a course, I have a very hard time hitting a ball when my shadow extends directly in front of me, and on the range today this was the situation. I finished the large bucket then went to the chipping green and worked with the 54* from about 10 yards off the green, then hit some chips from the fringe with the 9 iron. I’m so much better chipping close with the 9!!! 54 was ROUGH. Anyway, it was great to get out and relax.

[RichL85]

Went through SuperSpeed again today. Worked on a few feelings to get my swing where I want it and submitted new videos for my coach. Seeing the side-by-side comparison gives me some hope that things are getting closer. Main issue I am having is keeping the left wrist straight or flexed still. I'm getting just a little bit of extension and having to stall my rotation to square the club face. It's better than it was a few months ago, but not where we want it yet. Once I get some new drills from my coach I'll try to work on it this week and if the weather holds I'm going to try to take advantage of the little executive course nearby. With schedules and family health issues, it's too hard to get out for 5+ hours for a round. 

[pakman92]

Today was another Super Speed Training day.   I've been noticing that I've been pulling my shots (starting out 0.5 to 2 degrees left) even though my normal shot usually start out 2-5 degrees right.   This has been a new issue since I've started SST.     So today, I worked on my irons AW-5iron trying to get my usual shape back.   I didn't want SST to get in the way of today's practice, so I saved the Super Speed Training to the end.

I was able to get the starting line to be to the right as I desired, but I was still drawing the ball too much resulting in missed to the left 5-20 yards depending on the club.  Something I will need to keep working on to make sure SST doesn't result in a setback for my swing.

When I got to the SST part of the practice, I took 20 driver swings before and after.

Quick result:  139 mph average before.  144 mph after.    Both before and after numbers are down from last week, but could be the fact that it was 'leg' day this morning and my legs were still pretty weak from the morning workout.

 

[Vegan_Golfer_PNW]

Week three of SS protocols. See my unofficial review for progress. Had this little number on the light stick and 115 on post driver swings. 

[PankaGolf]

Went for an iron fitting refresh checking loft and lies.  
 

really nice seeing how lie can change shot shape, bank to natural baby fades delightful. 

[ParFore74x]

Keeping it really simple today, chipping with foam balls in the basement and a little putting to balance it all out. That's pretty much my limit while there is snow on the ground.

[Haro]

Bought a putting mirror.  Notice my better putter rounds was when I felt  my eyes were more “over the ball”  Not really sure if my eyes were really on top of the ball.  I always felt more comfortable with my eyes inside the ball in the past Working on my putting posture this year to be more bent over along with able to read greens more effectively I am starting to feel more comfortable “over the ball”.  The mirror confirms it but it’s not something I think about. It just happens my setup posture less upright and more head and neck bend that it feels more comfortable that my eyes are closer to my target path

Edited January 3, 2022 by Haro

[GolfSpy_SHARK]

Lead arm 1 handed swings. Again 3/4 or less power. Just smooth swings and is really helping with tempo/clean square contact. I have had a tendency to be to steep and catch ground early. Has been a great drill for all this. Added to the daily regiment.

[edingc]

Playing with a couple of different feels over the past few days. Focusing more on the 60/60/100 drill/feel from Chris Ryan which is a good feel for me to go back to when I start getting too much sway in my swing. Combining that with some thoughts and feels of getting taller in the backswing from a recent Larry Cheung video:

I don't actually get taller, but it keeps me from falling in toward the ball when getting a full backswing.

Results have been pretty positive. Ball speeds have continued to rise and I have now cracked 130 MPH ball speed with the 8 iron, which is more than I'd expected to do coming into the winter. 

Also playing around with ball position, especially with the longer clubs. I've been struggling with a lack of launch on my longer irons and driver, with some big draws or hooks. Playing the ball quite a bit forward seems to be helping quite a bit. I was able to get my driver launch angle up or 14 degrees (previously had been struggling with sub-10 degree launch despite a positive AoA) and with my 5 iron I was able to get some better carry distance once I hit 90 feet or so of peak height.

[cnosil]

Did some swing work today to try and limit the pull hook and wide dispersion.   Like most everyone,  path was pretty consistent and face was a little wild (most people's variation is about double).    I was actually hitting the ball pretty solid  but noticed my path ranged from about 1 degree in to out to 1 degree out to in which seems to be leading to hitting pulls, pushes, draw, and fades.   Unsuccessfully tried to get my path to be a couple of degrees in to out or out to in.     Will give it another go tomorrow. 

[PankaGolf]

6 hours ago, cnosil said:

Did some swing work today to try and limit the pull hook and wide dispersion.   Like most everyone,  path was pretty consistent and face was a little wild (most people's variation is about double).    I was actually hitting the ball pretty solid  but noticed my path ranged from about 1 degree in to out to 1 degree out to in which seems to be leading to hitting pulls, pushes, draw, and fades.   Unsuccessfully tried to get my path to be a couple of degrees in to out or out to in.     Will give it another go tomorrow. 

Get that face open and keep the out to in  

[cnosil]

7 hours ago, PankaGolf said:

Get that face open and keep the out to in  

What lead you to that conclusion?      Neither in to out or out to in is more or less difficult to achieve.  Right now, I am just really neutral which isn’t ideal in my mind.  I used to be 5-6 in to out and was told by my coach that I should be in the 2-3 range.   Also, I never specified what my face tendency was so why advocate for an open face?  I probably pull the ball more often so why not just shift the path a little more right to move the ball more to the right?  Out to in generally steepens the AoA which in my case results in hitting down on the ball which gives me too low of a spin.  Ultimately you have to look at the whole picture and not just variables in isolation to figure out what direction to go.   

[Syks7]

Going stir crazy here.  Since I played with my FIL on the 23rd I have not been able to swing a golf club (and I haven't swung my clubs in a month)  It feels odd after grinding away for most of the last six months.  Holidays, travel, and a pre-school quarantine have turned me into the weird guy doing little practice drills around the house.  So, I suppose I've been practicing club free lately.  The plus side is that the nagging elbow tightness has gone away and I think my body has finally had some recovery time after the non-stop repetitive stress.  Looking forward to getting back to normal on Thursday when I can drop her off at school then again then  head to my first ever lesson.  

[sirchunksalot]

I had to run out to the course because one of the guys I work with asked if I thought it was going to be playable tomorrow. I ran over to look to see if there was standing water in the four main places it's most common and it was only in the fairway on the first.

After that, I hit a small bucket on the range. I only took four clubs, 52, 9 iron, 5 hybrid, and driver. I took the 52 and 9 because the shots between 50-120 are costing me strokes and wanted to see if I could hit the 52 better than the 56 for some of 50-100 yard shots. I developed a bout of the shanks with the SW and I'm not super confident right now. It all went pretty good. 

The 5 hybrid continues to perform and without getting hooky. I was hanging back on some of the early shots, but remembered my lesson and started making better contact.

The driver was meh. I might drop back to 3 wood off the tee on some holes or maybe use a shorter tee. Hitting high on the face is a major problem right now. I'll check again on the range tomorrow before the round. 

[Kenny B]

8 hours ago, sirchunksalot said:

I had to run out to the course because one of the guys I work with asked if I thought it was going to be playable tomorrow. I ran over to look to see if there was standing water in the four main places it's most common and it was only in the fairway on the first.

After that, I hit a small bucket on the range. I only took four clubs, 52, 9 iron, 5 hybrid, and driver. I took the 52 and 9 because the shots between 50-120 are costing me strokes and wanted to see if I could hit the 52 better than the 56 for some of 50-100 yard shots. I developed a bout of the shanks with the SW and I'm not super confident right now. It all went pretty good. 

The 5 hybrid continues to perform and without getting hooky. I was hanging back on some of the early shots, but remembered my lesson and started making better contact.

The driver was meh. I might drop back to 3 wood off the tee on some holes or maybe use a shorter tee. Hitting high on the face is a major problem right now. I'll check again on the range tomorrow before the round. 

Sounds like the downswing is a little steep.  Try to get the club a little flatter in transition.

[Vegan_Golfer_PNW]

Actually got to a gym today. Did SS training in gym but was slightly low on some swings. Swing didn’t feel best. Then hit weight room for FFG winter strength training and wow. Having actually weight room set up really pushed me more than my in home setup. 

[edingc]

We're in the middle of a decent blizzard today, so I decided to work from home. Pulled the car out of the garage at lunch and wanted to focus on driver setup and ball position. I've been struggling with low launching hooks and through trial and error narrowed it down to having the ball too far back in my stance. On Saturday I put the ball really far forward and increased my AoA to something like +4 and launch to 14+ but that came at the expense of ball speed as my dynamic loft got all screwed up.

Anyway, today I placed the ball even with the outside of my front shoulder and also lofted my driver back up to 9 degrees. Dispersion was incredibly better today. Launch angle was still a little low (around 10 degrees) on most shots, but almost everything would have been in play on the course. AoA also stabilized between 0 and +2.

I did manage to get my launch angle up closer to 14 on a few shots and they were excellent, 270+ carry. Realistically, I'd just like to see my peak height get above 100 as right now it can be as low as about 70-75 on my lowest launches.

[Kenny B]

2 hours ago, edingc said:

We're in the middle of a decent blizzard today, so I decided to work from home. Pulled the car out of the garage at lunch and wanted to focus on driver setup and ball position. I've been struggling with low launching hooks and through trial and error narrowed it down to having the ball too far back in my stance. On Saturday I put the ball really far forward and increased my AoA to something like +4 and launch to 14+ but that came at the expense of ball speed as my dynamic loft got all screwed up.

Anyway, today I placed the ball even with the outside of my front shoulder and also lofted my driver back up to 9 degrees. Dispersion was incredibly better today. Launch angle was still a little low (around 10 degrees) on most shots, but almost everything would have been in play on the course. AoA also stabilized between 0 and +2.

I did manage to get my launch angle up closer to 14 on a few shots and they were excellent, 270+ carry. Realistically, I'd just like to see my peak height get above 100 as right now it can be as low as about 70-75 on my lowest launches.

So now the garage floor is all wet after putting the car back in the garage, but it was worth it.

[PMookie]

Went to the range again today and hit a large bucket. Some good, most poor. Ugh. I need another lesson SOON.

[Syks7]

Go figure.  Make a post about going stir crazy and my wife decides she's going to watch our daughter all day and take the day off.  I think she is much more observant of my mood than I give her credit for.  In any case, I took the opportunity to run around to some job sites then stop at the range on my way home.  I had kind of two purposes today, to work on my strike and turn, and to see whether or not I could hit the 639cb's even though they still have X-flex shafts.  To work on turn did a drill that I saw Ian Poulter teaching Carlos Sainz on youtube.  Holding the club at 90 then rotating hips and torso to the top of the swing then releasing through the ball.  It works shockingly well (which is probably why Ian Poulter & Sir Nick do it).  To work on strike I did a lot of partial swings with a variety of clubs -- basically like my chipping swing but full speed with stronger clubs.  Surprise, surprise by the time I built up to 3/4 swing I was basically hitting my target distances and making clean ball contact.  Mostly straight too, but accuracy is for another day.  Finished it off by chipping/pitching a few shag sleeves.  What felt so hard to do a few months ago feels pretty natural now and today it felt like I was threatening to hole out ever shot, though I didn't drop one).  Overall a very good session. 

Can't wait to fall apart tomorrow in my first lesson after I used up my good strikes today.  

[cnosil]

Loving the fact that I have driver testing sessions everyday as it gives me some opportunity to practice.   Phillip gave me a couple of setup tips and as a result my swing is getting better everyday and it is nice to be able to see launch monitor data.    After driver testing,  I will probably dig into my driver setup a little bit to see if I can optimize launch and spin information.