What/How Did You Practice Today?

[RichL85]

I honestly feel like I need a monthly lesson with a pro just to fix my setup. It seems like every time I am struggling, it all comes down to setup issues. Either my shoulders are lined up open, or my grip has migrated away from where it should be, or I'm standing too close to the ball. 

Having said that, today I went to the range with an excessive amount of focus spent on setting up correctly, getting my grip moved over where it should.

In terms of actual swing work, focused my thoughts on two things. First one is staying back. I have to fight my natural inclination in the golf swing to stay balanced. In terms of my thought process, that means I have to concentrate on pulling my right hip back on the takeaway instead of turning the left hip. From the top, I have to focus on feeling like I am sitting back and then pushing my left hip back. If I don't, my tendency is to come out of it and extend. The other thing that I have been working on is getting more shoulder tilt on the downswing instead of my right shoulder coming around and getting steep. My coach has explained the feeling a number of different ways, but I think I found one that actually made sense to me. Funny enough, the thought has nothing to do with my shoulders at all, but gives the result I'm looking for. Just thinking to keep my left arm above the right elbow as long as possible. It ended up getting the shallowing effect I was looking for. After a few frustrating days, it was nice to be hitting well with only a few focus items that helped to sync things up well.

[mynerds]

I've been getting more practice sessions in thanks to the Sporina SPG8 test. For the past week or so I've been playing with different grip positions with my irons, as they've far and away been my worst clubs in the bag. Lately I've been choking up on my existing clubs since I was fitted at -.75" length and my existing clubs are (allegedly) standard length. I've found my striking to be MUCH improved when my pinky is ~2.5" away from the end of the grip/shaft. If anything, it's validated that the shorter club plays better with my current tendencies. It's also added value to my view of the SPG8 (which I'll add to the review) as I wouldn't had the time nor inclination to travel to the range just to play with my grip position.

I also, out of laziness, tried swinging without a glove and had great results. I'm dangerously close to following in Hogan/Couples' footsteps at this point. If there are any glove-less converts out there, please let me know your experiences!

[edingc]

Working hard on becoming a more accurate driver of the golf ball and also working on improving my ball striking using what I worked on during my lesson last week.

It was straight block practice. I took about 115 balls out and split them evenly between driver and 5 iron. Same target every swing, just trying to find some good feels and confidence. The wind finally wasn't blowing down range so I could hit driver if I backed up to the rear of the teeing area. I had some success and bounced several balls off the back fencing, but still wasn't overly happy with it.

I switched to my 5 iron and just focused on rhythm and tempo. What a difference. I flushed probably half of the balls I hit and didn't miss the others by much. 

The key for me is to get my arms accelerating and off my chest on the downswing. It keeps me from getting my shoulders pulled open to start the downswing, which is disastrous. I finished with one monster shot driver with the new feel and hope that I can take that to the course.

If I could get my driver under control there's no reason I couldn't scare par at home most days. So many rounds have been wrecked by poor drives the past couple of seasons.

[bens197]

Club twirls. When the moment hits I want to be prepared. 

[ParFore74x]

11 minutes ago, bens197 said:

Club twirls. When the moment hits I want to be prepared. 

Club twirls have become a legitimate part of the game. Need to be ready for anything. 

[bens197]

8 minutes ago, ParFore74x said:

Club twirls have become a legitimate part of the game. Need to be ready for anything. 

Totes agree...the course we play Monday has a 11/10 terrace overlooking 18.  I plan to toss a dart and I can't be fumbling around in the fairway with an audience

 

[PMookie]

Looked back at an online lesson video and went to the range to do the drills. Minimalist approach hitting just the PW and 7 iron and it went great!!! Set-up my swing station to work on the club exiting on a similar plane as on the downswing, put balls in sets of five, and then proceeded to hit the first 3 in the station, the 4th outside of the station but still a practice shot, then the 5th was hit by emulating a shot on-course. Ahhh. So good! 

[MattWillGolf]

24 minutes ago, ParFore74x said:

Club twirls have become a legitimate part of the game. Need to be ready for anything. 

I’m not so sure. I view the club twirl as just an opportunity to smack myself in the head with a club.

[ParFore74x]

8 hours ago, MattWillGolf said:

I’m not so sure. I view the club twirl as just an opportunity to smack myself in the head with a club.

That’s why it needs to be practiced.

[JFish350]

Practice swings I am trying to keep my weight on front leg. The reason was due to leaning backwards on my follow through. In doing this I have created a fade. it isn't bad just new ball flight I am not used to. I need to really concentrate/focus on clearing my right hip to get the lag for a straighter ball flight. With this, it seems to be easier to work the ball both left and right. Still working on the control of how far it turns but it's kind cool to be able to do this almost at will. I'm hoping I can get it to transfer to the course. 

 

Good luck fellas and ladies. 

[Shapotomous]

Putting practice tonight resulted in a major overhaul, will it stick....maybe, maybe not. 

5, 10, 15 & 20 footers working on my stroke which has been neglected badly since winter practice in the basement. 

I started by benching the heppler fetch and getting out the classic 70's Anser. 

Then I have settled on a cross handed grip and have my eyes over the ball.  This seems to get the putts on line which has been a problem in league play.  I have been hitting what I think are good putts but I have been consistently missing to the left of the hole. 

To complete the overhaul I am picking a spot about 1 - 2 feet in front of the ball for the line and looking at that spot rather than the ball during the stroke.  

I couldn't think of anything else to change so after hitting about 100 putts and liking the results I quit for the night.  The challenge will be remembering all the changes tomorrow!  

[RollingGreens]

Not able to make it to the range so I’ve been slinging my body to random objects at work and using my alignment stick to check lol. We have a lot of mirrors in the PT gym so at lunch I’ll be going over my swing and arm position during the backswing 

[cksurfdude]

Had a good -indoor- lesson yesterday working on some short game shots from about 45 - 25 yards out, in different situations approaching and around a virtual green on the sim.

Been working with my wedges a lot, but .. of course .. not necessarily working on "the best" things for me to be working on.... Call in the professional!!

A few simple, straightforward changes and I started hitting the balls with better trajectory, spin, aim and distance control..!

Went to the range today to practice all that good stuff some more .. some encouraging results...

Playing tomorrow, sooooo....

[WaffleHouseTour]

Been taking a series of lessons on Skillest.  Molly has me working on my P2 position. Exaggerating taking the club back outside the line before lifting up. Always feels different from what I see on video.  I’ve really enjoyed Skillest  - she has me working on a couple different drills  

 

[JerryB]

Spent some time in the basement hitting into the net today, initially just to work out some frustration.  After a few minutes I started messing around with a 4 iron.  When I choked down really far I began really hitting it well.  I need to take this to the range and see if it can replace maybe my 7 wood or short hybrid.

[Shapotomous]

Practiced putting a few times yesterday and today for over two hours total getting the new putter,stance, grip and focus point ingrained!  It is feeling pretty good, we'll see how it translated to the course this week.  

I also got back to hitting wedges about every other day and feel much better about my swing tempo.  I don't feel like I'm inconsistently jabbing at it.

[fozcycle]

Indoor putting today. Have a 6 ft auto ball return and a 3 ft Putt Out set up in my family room……must say I have gotten pretty good at the Putt Out.

[cjeffs12]

Went to the range, I am really focusing on my rotation. I really only hit 8 iron to get it engrained. I have the backswing and all the way to up at the top in a great position, but as I start the downswing I pull it out, which causes everything to go left. So I’m working on it moving down and holding the angle more, but mostly trying to get my rear shoulder through the ball and me facing target. I hit some really amazing shots, and I feel like I am so close to having a more consistent golf swing. I finished with some drivers working on the same thing, I’m not quite there but my last few were really good. 

[cksurfdude]

Played 9 a few days which turned into a practice round as not once but twice I mis-hit a 9i and thought I'd lost the balls into hazards so hit a provisional .. kept playing the provisional and then found both balls just short of the hazards .. didn't feel like adding up all the extra strokes for the original balls plus two penalties - of 2 strokes each, I think? - for playing the wrong ball.....

Was not that great a round anyway!

 

Separately, had a bit of a disappointing practice session just after that round - was working on short wedges trying to follow up on a prior lesson - and nothing .. literally NO THING seemed to be going right. 

Could not figure it out so scheduled another lesson to repeat working with short wedges, eg. 25 to 45 yds. This one went much better .. and, on a very positive note, was able to make *THREE* up & downs in my next 9 hole round!!

 

 

[revkev]

Short game practice this morning, wedding at 2 followed by an hour on the range at 4 that included a lot of wedge work - I’ve really been struggling with wedge lately. 
 

Liked the feel of the new Winn grips. 

[revkev]

On 6/30/2022 at 7:20 PM, cksurfdude said:

Played 9 a few days which turned into a practice round as not once but twice I mis-hit a 9i and thought I'd lost the balls into hazards so hit a provisional .. kept playing the provisional and then found both balls just short of the hazards .. didn't feel like adding up all the extra strokes for the original balls plus two penalties - of 2 strokes each, I think? - for playing the wrong ball.....

Was not that great a round anyway!

 

Separately, had a bit of a disappointing practice session just after that round - was working on short wedges trying to follow up on a prior lesson - and nothing .. literally NO THING seemed to be going right. 

Could not figure it out so scheduled another lesson to repeat working with short wedges, eg. 25 to 45 yds. This one went much better .. and, on a very positive note, was able to make *THREE* up & downs in my next 9 hole round!!

 

 

You and me both with those part wedges. I took and lesson on them a couple of months ago and then all of a sudden I’m right back where I started, able to get it closer from 150 than 50.

 

Worked hard on it yesterday though 

[sirchunksalot]

I was able to get out today and hit balls for the first time in almost two weeks. With our car being sick and my wife being nervous about his health, I felt like my priorities should be focused at home. On a good note, he doesn't have congestive heart failure. His electrolytes were low and the vets think the fluid on his lungs was caused by a steroid shot he had gotten a week or so prior.

Sorry for getting off track, we'll now return to our regularly scheduled programming. 

After a combination of months of bad play and the amount of shanks I've hit recently, I was honestly shaking once I got to the range. Today was about trying to calm the nerves, build a better pre shot routine, and relaxing. 

I started out hitting some wedges to warm the body up, but with 88 degree temperatures and a real feel of 97, I was pretty warm. 

Moved on to 9 iron and started to see some fairly good results after a few shots and this was a group of 4 shots that I hit after applying more spray to the face.

The 7 iron wasn't quite as good and I won't complain since I was seeing no shanky marks on the face. 

Hit some 5 wood shots and they were a step above meh, just a little pull hooky. 

I didn't hit driver today, I actually left about a quarter of my bucket sitting because I felt like I was beginning to overheat. I had a couple of shanks with my 8 iron but did end the session with a pured shot. 

It was great to get out and actually hit shots that my Mizuno's deserve. 

[RichL85]

Well aside from ripping open a new blister, interesting couple of days working on things at the range. On the negative side, I see where I can make significant improvements, especially to my rotation as my tendency is to stall the upper body and flip my hands through. On the positive side, while working on things today, saw some decent jumps in club and ball speed. It's nice to see an extra club of distance, and know that I've still got distance available once I can sync things up better.

My swing thoughts have decreased to about two, one thought to start the swing and one transition thought. My swing is still fairly steep, but I think I can live with that with the way I'm hitting the ball right now.

Next thing is probably to join the group at the course near the house. $39 a month for unlimited range and $19 a round. Seems like a good enough deal compared to paying for range balls in addition to $50 a round each time I wanted to get out there. 

2 hours ago, revkev said:

You and me both with those part wedges. I took and lesson on them a couple of months ago and then all of a sudden I’m right back where I started, able to get it closer from 150 than 50.

 

Worked hard on it yesterday though 

In college, the manager that I worked with told me to try playing a few rounds where I hit whatever club I needed off the tee to give me a full 9 iron or pitching wedge to the green rather than trying to deal with those partial wedges. Had my best score at one of the harder courses in the area playing with him doing just that. It was "boring golf" as they call it but I couldn't argue with the results.

[revkev]

4 hours ago, RichL85 said:

Well aside from ripping open a new blister, interesting couple of days working on things at the range. On the negative side, I see where I can make significant improvements, especially to my rotation as my tendency is to stall the upper body and flip my hands through. On the positive side, while working on things today, saw some decent jumps in club and ball speed. It's nice to see an extra club of distance, and know that I've still got distance available once I can sync things up better.

My swing thoughts have decreased to about two, one thought to start the swing and one transition thought. My swing is still fairly steep, but I think I can live with that with the way I'm hitting the ball right now.

Next thing is probably to join the group at the course near the house. $39 a month for unlimited range and $19 a round. Seems like a good enough deal compared to paying for range balls in addition to $50 a round each time I wanted to get out there. 

In college, the manager that I worked with told me to try playing a few rounds where I hit whatever club I needed off the tee to give me a full 9 iron or pitching wedge to the green rather than trying to deal with those partial wedges. Had my best score at one of the harder courses in the area playing with him doing just that. It was "boring golf" as they call it but I couldn't argue with the results.

Of course that’s the way we used to play - I would never intentionally hit the ball inside 100 (full SW) unless I thought I could get it to true chip, pitch distance. 
 

While I buy into Brodie 50 yards is a no go zone for me, as our traps. 

[cnosil]

29 minutes ago, revkev said:

Of course that’s the way we used to play - I would never intentionally hit the ball inside 100 (full SW) unless I thought I could get it to true chip, pitch distance. 
 

While I buy into Brodie 50 yards is a no go zone for me, as our traps. 

That is one of the things that is never really talked about.   Getting as close as possible to the hole should allow your next shot to be closer than a shot from farther away.   BUT if you really struggle with specific distances you should avoid them and play to more strengths while continuing to work on those "no go zones"

[chisag]

15 minutes ago, cnosil said:

That is one of the things that is never really talked about.   Getting as close as possible to the hole should allow your next shot to be closer than a shot from farther away.   BUT if you really struggle with specific distances you should avoid them and play to more strengths while continuing to work on those "no go zones"

 

... So true. My son is an ex DE and at 6'3" and 235 he still works out and is silly fast with his irons. He hits his LW about 120 so partial shots are very difficult for him to control. He has excellent touch with pitches and chips as well as being a good putter but trying to dial down a LW from 100-60 yds has him flying greens more often than not or chunking a shot trying to slow down. Practice would help but he only plays about once a month with friends and tries to avoid the "no go" zones". 

[PMookie]

Went to the range and chipping area today for about 2 hours. Hot as blazes! Sweated through 7 gloves, two of them twice!!! As always, I got things going on the range, just hoping it will someday transfer to the course!!!!

[cksurfdude]

17 minutes ago, PMookie said:

Sweated through 7 gloves

Yeah same problem here when it gets humid .. which is most of the Summer.

FYI read in the comments after the MGS article "Glove or No Glove" one guy uses rain gloves all summer .. makes sense!

[Tom the Golf Nut]

36 minutes ago, cksurfdude said:

Yeah same problem here when it gets humid .. which is most of the Summer.

FYI read in the comments after the MGS article "Glove or No Glove" one guy uses rain gloves all summer .. makes sense!

I'm switching back to the Mocom golf glove for the summer. I just need to put a tape wrap on my pointer finger between the upper joints. The skin pokes through the hole there too much when you grip the club causing a callous.  Note: They are less expensive on Amazon than direct from the manufacturer. 

I went through 3 gloves the last round. The Mokom glove is still going strong from last summer and is coming back into play. I did an un-official review on it last summer.

[cnosil]

1 hour ago, cksurfdude said:

FYI read in the comments after the MGS article "Glove or No Glove" one guy uses rain gloves all summer .. makes sense!

I do the same;  when it is humid here I brink out the rain glove.