What/How Did You Practice Today?

[edingc]

First day outside at the practice facility for the year! Finally! Going to be a bit before the range opens as it's way too wet at the moment, but I was able to chip, putt and hit a mixture of 25-45 yard pitches off some soggy turf for about an hour.

I was really, really pleased with my pitching, which has always been a weak spot for me. It seems a lot of my full swing work is bleeding into my pitching motion, which is making it a lot more consistent. I also have finally committed to a chipping technique and had some really positive results there as well. 

So ready for better weather and the bulk of my season to start. I played three simulator rounds this past weekend, breaking 80 (auto-putting) from the tips at Bay Hill, Aviara and The Belfry, but sim golf doesn't come close to actually playing outdoors.

[GolfSpy MPR]

5 minutes ago, edingc said:

So ready for better weather and the bulk of my season to start. I played three simulator rounds this past weekend, breaking 80 (auto-putting) from the tips at Bay Hill, Aviara and The Belfry, but sim golf doesn't come close to actually playing outdoors.

I gotta load up E6 and give that a try. Does E6 allow for two players to play against each other online?

[edingc]

25 minutes ago, GolfSpy MPR said:

I gotta load up E6 and give that a try. Does E6 allow for two players to play against each other online?

Not sure. I know it supports multiple players in a single game, and AI players, but online play is not something I've considered. I wouldn't be able to do so with my current setup because I do not have a second network connection on my iOS device. The wifi is connected to the Mevo+ and so I'd need a cellular connection to make that work correctly.

[GolfSpy MPR]

10 minutes ago, edingc said:

Not sure. I know it supports multiple players in a single game, and AI players, but online play is not something I've considered. I wouldn't be able to do so with my current setup because I do not have a second network connection on my iOS device. The wifi is connected to the Mevo+ and so I'd need a cellular connection to make that work correctly.

I know how that goes. The iPhone I use for Mevo (and Arccos) has no SIM; it's basically a tiny tablet. When I set up for play, I have to connect the wifi on the iPhone 8 I use to the Mevo+. Then I have to turn off wifi on my Galaxy phone. Then I connect the iPhone by Bluetooth to the Galaxy, so that it uses Bluetooth tethering to get internet.

[dlow206]

Today i did some quick practice, not focused on anything technical related to the swing. The drill was have two balls, one lined up like normal, and one inside of it, with enough distance between the balls that if i make a center strike one the ball i am lined up with, the inside ball would stay in place. if i make a swing that would result in a toe hit, the inside ball would end up getting struck by some part of the club.

for background, i am a serial toe hitter. don't think i have ever hit a ball off the heel with an iron ever (that's probably an overstatement, but its rare). 

[cnosil]

Doing iron testing so I  have spent some time working on my swing.  Trying to work on minimizing toe strokes and my pull tendency.  What I am finding is that my ball striking is much better with a slightly open stance.   Contact is much closer to center, path is in the 2-3* in-out range and face is pretty square to target or maybe a little open so ball flight isn't horrible.    

Always interesting how setup changes may be more effective than swing changes.  

[cjeffs12]

I had a pretty long practice today, I have a tournament Sunday, and I had a lot to work on after a lesson last week. I hit my irons as good as I ever have, and my driver is still a work in progress. I also worked on putting through a gate for almost an hour. I still have a couple more days to get my driver and putter straightened out. 

[edingc]

Going to be cold and snowy again this weekend so enjoyed the 45-ish degree temps in the garage last night for a long last session prior to my fitting next week.

Good session overall and really found success with a feeling of my left side staying "against a wall" or "still" during my backswing. Feel isn't real, so for me that got me rotating better instead of a slight sway that gets worse with wedges or longer clubs. Middle irons I seem to get away with it.

I really started to go after it with the driver and I'm pretty sure this was a new ball speed record for me...

I may have overshot my winter goal weight by 3-5 pounds, but every bit of eating and weightlifting has been worth it. Can't wait for the weather to improve enough that I can get speed work in again as well.

[Nolan220]

Had a lesson at golftec and just worked on the same my set up and take away starting to get used to it but I sometimes focus to much on making sure the set up is right and I’ll not have a good swing on the ball.. anyway I hit my T300 4iron 232 yards had 218 carry .. that’s insane for me 

[pulledabill]

Been working hard on swing change and grinding out 2 large buckets 4-5 times a week with probably 80% of those balls with some drill using sticks or just sticks as aiming aids.  The other 20% of the balls are picking different targets to hit at with some sort of game with my buddies.  We usually end the session this way. 

Since I've been working on swing, that means the putter has been neglected.  2 nights ago I went to the practice green for chips, pitches, and putting.  All in all it went okay considering I think I've putted or chipped only once since late last August.  The putting struggle I have is that it is hard to practice as I putt more Nicklaus style hunched over and that makes it hard to practice because of my back.  I've tried to go more upright but I putt horribly that way.  

[sirchunksalot]

After doing the grocery shopping and yard work, I spent some time in the yard hitting some whiffle balls while using the swing jacket. I was only hitting quarter to half shots since having the jacket on made it difficult to set a ball on the Divot Board. I had mostly good results with a couple of bad shots sprinkled in. 

I need to work on keeping consistent grip pressure throughout the swing. I discovered that I was eating my right thumb up by pounding it into my left thumbnail during SuperSpeed training the last couple of weeks. 

[PMookie]

Got to the range today to work on some drills, and finished with driver. I have mentioned before that I have issues with the lower body, my right knee going toward the ball on the downswing, and I’ve started to take the club back too far inside on the backswing in the last few years too. So, I set-up my standard alignment rod stuck into the ground so it sits in front of my right knee, and then I placed another alignment rod angled along “the plane” to my right to give me a barrier so I won’t go too far inside. I started with 7 iron, moved to wedge, then back to 7 iron. The other thing I worked-on was staying connected on the downswing. I have a horrible tendency to “throw” my arms and they get away from the body and cause horrible timing. Once all three were working in unison I was hitting some of the best shots I’ve hit in a long time! I need more time to keep repeating all of these.

With driver I just worked on stability, right foot staying stable throughout the whole swing. It really worked well. The last ten shots were ridiculously good! I was aiming between two posts that were only about 15-20 yards apart. All 10 shots went out between the two, and landed between the two. Such a great way to end the day! I LOVE hitting driver!!!

[ejgaudette]

Got to the range this weekend, and hopefully a course soon. I worked on keeping the width in the backswing and not letting the arms over run. Then allowing the correct sequence where I start from the lower body and makes it feel like the hands are waiting behind and the contact comes "later". Hit some of the the straightest shots I have in a while when I got it right, but I got a ways to go. More importantly is that my son went with me and had a blast. The kid must have hit 70 balls or so all by himself and had a blast. Also shoutout to the local course I went to that was more than generous in giving us plenty of extra balls for free for him. He is already pestering my to set up the hitting net so he can practice at home. Hopefully this is a sing of a budding interest.

[RichL85]

Realized I havent swung a golf club since I got back from Florida about 3 weeks ago. Been crazy busy with a new project at work and all that entails. It just hasn't happened. I didn't want to get caught up hitting, instead just wanting to get moving a little bit. Took the SuperSpeed sticks and just made some easy swings trying to get back a sense of how my swing is supposed to feel. Felt pretty good so I worked on a few of the drills to address my shoulder tilt. 

For not swinging in 3 weeks everything felt pretty much in place. The work I had done previously to get my left wrist into a better position seems to have stuck and I didn't lose any swing speed. I probably have some to gain, but that is probably going to come from getting everything in sync more than the SuperSpeed. It's raining like crazy today, so can't work on anything, but it still felt good to move around a bit yesterday. 

[dlow206]

My grip has been getting sloppy and sloppy grip for me causes a lot of inconsistency in ball striking. My right hand has been getting way too strong compared to how i intend to grip the club. I have sort of a distorted view visually of where I perceive the V on my right hand pointing vs. where it is pointed in reality. When I think my right hand grip is neutral to slightly strong, on video its actually pointed way outside my trail shoulder. When I perceive that the V is pointed towards my chin, on video its actually pointed to somewhere between my right ear and my right shoulder. 

No wonder I occasionally have been hitting some low snappy hooks off the tee, that happens when my right hand gets too strong.  

[Vegan_Golfer_PNW]

Been steadily working on my latest lesson plan from Jayson Nickol. I was getting to vertical at the top with a flying elbow and then coming in vertical and needing to early extended. Working with a smart ball and then slow motion transition and downswing. Hitting the range tomorrow to see non foam ball ball flight. My swing feels easier now. Gonna take a few months to really ingrain. 

[RichL85]

Frustrated today. Kids were sleeping so I thought I had time to set up the net and take some swings. Spent about 10 minutes getting warmed up before starting to work on my drills. About 5 minutes into that, my son comes out and steals the golf balls. Practice session over. 

Swing felt pretty out of place and I noticed that I was having a tendency to start with my shoulders too far open. Hit a few shots that felt really good, and a lot of shots that would have been pretty ugly. About what I would expect for not hitting any balls in a month. 

Hit some putts after lunch to work on the overall stroke. I can get a little inconsistent with regards to starting the ball online, so just focused on that, until those balls were stolen as well. 

[sirchunksalot]

I saw on Facebook where the course I play most often was opening back up yesterday and with that, the driving range. I drive by on the way home from work and saw it was. Woohoo!

I almost wish I would have played since I arrived at the course and it wasn't near as crowded as I would have expected right after reopening. 

The good: my 30 yard wedge game was solid, crisp contact and decent accuracy. Driver was decent except for the first shot which I almost took all tee and hit the most beautiful 5 foot flop shot. 

The bad: everything else. I didn't hit a single good iron shot, it was a display of topping balls underneath the hosel. When I wasn't doing that, I was shanking the ball. I was only able to get one ball past the 100 yard marker with an iron and that was a heel strike....with a 7 iron. 

I'm frustrated right now, I honestly believe this was the lowest point of my golf life. I say that and I am going to say that I'm proud of myself for not mentally collapsing. I know I can hit the ball, but today was not that day. I've got to remind myself that I've barely hit balls in the last month due to some craziness at home. It'll get there, it's just going to take some time. 

[cnosil]

13 minutes ago, sirchunksalot said:

The bad: everything else. I didn't hit a single good iron shot, it was a display of topping balls underneath the hosel. When I wasn't doing that, I was shanking the ball. I was only able to get one ball past the 100 yard marker with an iron and that was a heel strike....with a 7 iron. 

I'm frustrated right now, I honestly believe this was the lowest point of my golf life. I say that and I am going to say that I'm proud of myself for not mentally collapsing. I know I can hit the ball, but today was not that day. I've got to remind myself that I've barely hit balls in the last month due to some craziness at home. It'll get there, it's just going to take some time. 

We all have good days and bad days and those days were a bad day would be welcomed because  we are beyond bad.  Shake it off,  know you can play better, and  look forward to just being able to get out and chase the white ball.  

 

[Kenny B]

On 3/28/2022 at 7:04 PM, dlow206 said:

My grip has been getting sloppy and sloppy grip for me causes a lot of inconsistency in ball striking. My right hand has been getting way too strong compared to how i intend to grip the club. I have sort of a distorted view visually of where I perceive the V on my right hand pointing vs. where it is pointed in reality. When I think my right hand grip is neutral to slightly strong, on video its actually pointed way outside my trail shoulder. When I perceive that the V is pointed towards my chin, on video its actually pointed to somewhere between my right ear and my right shoulder. 

No wonder I occasionally have been hitting some low snappy hooks off the tee, that happens when my right hand gets too strong.  

So... don't rely on chance to get a good grip, use this setup FWIW to get a consistent grip every time:

Take your normal setup with your lead hand on club addressing the ball;
Add secondary tilt (lean away from target or as some say, push your lead hip toward target)
Drop trail hand down to your trail leg
Bring your trail hand to the club and take your grip with palm facing target.

Should result in the V pointed to trail shoulder.  Make it a habit until it feels natural.

[Kenny B]

1 hour ago, sirchunksalot said:

I saw on Facebook where the course I play most often was opening back up yesterday and with that, the driving range. I drive by on the way home from work and saw it was. Woohoo!

I almost wish I would have played since I arrived at the course and it wasn't near as crowded as I would have expected right after reopening. 

The good: my 30 yard wedge game was solid, crisp contact and decent accuracy. Driver was decent except for the first shot which I almost took all tee and hit the most beautiful 5 foot flop shot. 

The bad: everything else. I didn't hit a single good iron shot, it was a display of topping balls underneath the hosel. When I wasn't doing that, I was shanking the ball. I was only able to get one ball past the 100 yard marker with an iron and that was a heel strike....with a 7 iron. 

I'm frustrated right now, I honestly believe this was the lowest point of my golf life. I say that and I am going to say that I'm proud of myself for not mentally collapsing. I know I can hit the ball, but today was not that day. I've got to remind myself that I've barely hit balls in the last month due to some craziness at home. It'll get there, it's just going to take some time. 

It will come around.  You know it (you just said so); I know it, so...

 

[sirchunksalot]

10 minutes ago, Kenny B said:

It will come around.  You know it (you just said so); I know it, so...

 

1 hour ago, cnosil said:

We all have good days and bad days and those days were a bad day would be welcomed because  we are beyond bad.  Shake it off,  know you can play better, and  look forward to just being able to get out and chase the white ball.  

 

I think it was just a day where I had a lot of rust to knock off. Between my mother-in-law being bank in the hospital and bad weather it's been hard to even get out and hit into the net. I have been hitting SuperSpeed training the last four weeks and it tends to mess things up a little bit without calibrating the swing. 

@cnosil, I couldn't agree with you more. It's just a pleasure to be able to get outside on a nice day and hit a ball. 

[GolfSpy_SHARK]

54 minutes ago, sirchunksalot said:

I think it was just a day where I had a lot of rust to knock off. Between my mother-in-law being bank in the hospital and bad weather it's been hard to even get out and hit into the net. I have been hitting SuperSpeed training the last four weeks and it tends to mess things up a little bit without calibrating the swing. 

@cnosil, I couldn't agree with you more. It's just a pleasure to be able to get outside on a nice day and hit a ball. 

Things in the mind and being cooped up a bit will Definitly make it difficult . Keep on keeping on and enjoy being out. I try to remind myself just enjoys being out. Easier said than done when you are trying to better your game but it tends to help me woosah 

[GolfSpy_SHARK]

Day 3 of the SuperSpeed training in the 1st protocol. Feels good so far and is amazing how quickly the non dominant swing catches up quickly once you get used to swinging opposite side.

[sirchunksalot]

26 minutes ago, Lacassem said:

Things in the mind and being cooped up a bit will Definitly make it difficult . Keep on keeping on and enjoy being out. I try to remind myself just enjoys being out. Easier said than done when you are trying to better your game but it tends to help me woosah 

24 minutes ago, Lacassem said:

Day 3 of the SuperSpeed training in the 1st protocol. Feels good so far and is amazing how quickly the non dominant swing catches up quickly once you get used to swinging opposite side.

It's crazy how they catch up and sometimes surpass the dominant swings starting out. I don't know if it has something to do with being looser on that side or what. 

I'm on week 4 of the first protocol and in starting to see some jumps in training speed from the past couple of weeks. I wish you nothing but the best of luck going forward and can't wait to see how the speed progresses. 

[Shapotomous]

Hit a few wedges in the backyard last evening but too many projects yesterday left me a bit stiff and sore by then.  It wasn't productive with such a jerky swing so after about 10 balls decided to putt instead.  

[Haro]

I am rehabbing a left knee sprain and man , didn’t realize how important it was to have a strength in the lower body for swinging 

My last time out I was babying my knee and was all arm swing and did not use any “ ground force pressures” causing loss of distance 

One thing I remember doing was flaring out my feet and that really felt less pressure on my knees when I turned    For some reason stopped doing that Maybe that’s why I put pressure on my knees ? will do that again as much as I can once I’m back full strength 

Also I have too much weight on my toes. Which is fine for putting chipping but it seems to limit my ability to pivot properly on my front foot when I swing 

Edited April 3, 2022 by Haro

[cksurfdude]

Spent some time on the short game side of the range yesterday, focusing on good weight distribution in my setup and swing (ie. mostly on the front foot), and working on good contact and distance control. I like to start out using one wedge to three different targets (they're at maybe about 20, 30 and 40 yds); then a different wedge for each target and then another round using either the GW or PW to the three targets.

Then hit the putting green for a while - lag putts of varying lengths and approx 3 footers. Both my distance control and my short putts need some (= a *lot*!) of attention. The greens at the course I play are pretty firm and fast, so getting it close on the first putt is pretty crucial. Also need to work on higher trajectory / higher spin wedge shots on those short approaches and chips / pitches onto the greens.

Then played Holes 1 and 2 with just my the practice clubs = 23 hybrid, old 6i (prob sim to a new 8i!), four old wedges (all different) and the MLA putter. They're both shortish Par 4s; #1 goes out along one side of the practice range while #2 comes back right along the other side .. so it's a convenient little loop.

Decent tee shots, ok seconds to get me to just in front of the greens but a little too "exuberant"  chips on as the ball ran out too far both times. But otoh I did make solid contact which was the primary goal.

Also did a wedge/distance control exercise last Monday indoors to 25, 50 and 75; was able to cluster a bunch of balls at each of 25 and 50 but for whatever reason(s) that day 75 for me turned into about 65ish and about 85.....

(..do i even need to say it? --> ) Work In Progress!!

[sirchunksalot]

26 minutes ago, cksurfdude said:

Spent some time on the short game side of the range yesterday, focusing on good weight distribution in my setup and swing (ie. mostly on the front foot), and working on good contact and distance control. I like to start out using my one degree to three different targets (they're at maybe about 20, 30 and 40 yds); then a different wedge for each target and then another round using either the GW or PW to the three targets.

Then hit the putting green for a while - lag putts of varying lengths and approx 3 footers. Both my distance control and my short putts need some (= a *lot*!) of attention. The greens at the course I play are pretty firm and fast, so getting it close on the first putt is pretty crucial. Also need to work on higher trajectory / higher spin wedge shots on those short approaches and chips / pitches onto the greens.

Then played Holes 1 and 2 with just my the practice clubs = 23 hybrid, old 6i (prob sim to a new 8i!), four old wedges (all different) and the MLA putter. They're both shortish Par 4s; #1 goes out along one side of the practice range while #2 comes back right along the other side .. so it's a convenient little loop.

Decent tee shots, ok seconds to get me to just in front of the greens but a little too "exuberant"  chips on as the ball ran out too far both times. But otoh I did make solid contact which was the primary goal.

Also did a wedge/distance control exercise last Monday indoors to 25, 50 and 75; was able to cluster a bunch of balls at each of 25 and 50 but for whatever reason(s) that day 75 for me turned into about 65ish and about 85.....

(..do i even need to say it? --> ) Work In Progress!!

The distance control exercise results look pretty good, Chuck! The 75 yard shots aren't bad either, if you factor in the shotgun pattern they talk about in podcasts and quite possibly DECADE. If I'm not mistaken, there's a 5% variance to be expected and you're not too far outside that. That range of shots gives me fits and it looks like you're close to being there. Keep up the good work and I believe you'll get there. 

[cksurfdude]

8 minutes ago, sirchunksalot said:

The distance control exercise results look pretty good, Chuck! The 75 yard shots aren't bad either, if you factor in the shotgun pattern they talk about in podcasts and quite possibly DECADE. If I'm not mistaken, there's a 5% variance to be expected and you're not too far outside that. That range of shots gives me fits and it looks like you're close to being there. Keep up the good work and I believe you'll get there. 

Thank you, Sir!! Yeah this is -GOLF- so a LOT of variance is to be expected! And of course on another practice day I won't miss at 75 but at the same time the 50 or 25 will seem impossible to hit!