What/How Did You Practice Today?

[funkyjudge]

11 hours ago, Bang60 said:

Practice gap wedge again today but it's Mizuno Zoids F wedge turn, WOW UNBELIEVABLE how good this wedge is. My question is yesterday cobra which was good today mizuno unbelievabley straighter and much longer I'm still wondering what happened, there's a 20 metre difference in length and that's unbelievable so tomorrow I'm back to the cobra gap wedge and the next day mizuno. I'm planning on using my gap wedges only for 2ish weeks as I've got a 4 day torn'y 1/5, I've always had good short irons back in the day because I practiced alot ...

Does SR on the Mizuno shaft mean "soft-regular" if you know?

I was a Mizuno dealer/fitter for more than 30 years, including during the T-Zoid days, and I can assure you that the SR shafts in those clubs were senior flex, not a “stiff regular” flex.

The advent of “stiff regular” shafts, almost exclusively for use in drivers, fairway woods and hybrids, didn’t really happen until more recently than when the T-Zoid models were made. Graphite Design was the first of the major shaft manufacturers to offer the SR (stiff regular) shafts, and Fujikura was among the next group of manufacturers (not many and mostly Japanese companies) to offer them.  KBS has a different approach, offering R+ and S+ iron shafts in some model lines.

[richk9holes]

My Ping G25 Irons have SR flex TFC 189

I always thought they were senior, but they feel awfully stiff compared to some senior graphite I've handled. I saw the same shaft listed for sale "stiff regular" and it made more sense.

As said above, the designation of stiff, xstiff, etc is within each individual line of shafts, and varies widely.

[chisag]

9 minutes ago, richk9holes said:

My Ping G25 Irons have SR flex TFC 189

I always thought they were senior, but they feel awfully stiff compared to some senior graphite I've handled. I saw the same shaft listed for sale "stiff regular" and it made more sense.

As said above, the designation of stiff, xstiff, etc is within each individual line of shafts, and varies widely.

 

...TFC 189 SR flex is a "soft regular" flex or another way to say senior flex without saying senior flex. 

[richk9holes]

1 hour ago, chisag said:

 

...TFC 189 SR flex is a "soft regular" flex or another way to say senior flex without saying senior flex. 

TY for clearing that up, the type of technical detail that grinds on my analytical mind. Makes sense now, the ebay listing or the like I saw was mislabeled and they feel similar to the shafts my dad was fitted into as a senior. They are noticeably less flexing than some of the upgraded graphite lightweight offerings. I keep them to use when I want to ditch steel.

[richk9holes]

Small bucket, only brought 52° and 48°, 7+9i. 35 balls, mostly on line where I targeted. 2 or 3 bad toe misses with irons. 1 or 2 wedges were not crisp, but the rest I felt I was striking off a mat as well as I can. 

My spirit animal today is Matt Fitzpatrick he commented on Full Swing in one part his advice for amateur golfers is use odd number irons on odd dates of the calender and vice versa for even.

I also related to when he mentioned his scorecard hoarding and note keeping habits I have a treasure trove of old cards I took notes on, I started small with a 10 day, 6 round sample and graded the shots I had noted, compiled the data and got an idea of where my strokes lost are coming from. Hence my selection of 7,9,48°,52° for the range session.

[Bang60]

15 hours ago, Bang60 said:

 

I’ve included my post first because I believe that the head build works great for me as much as the shaft does, I have the 9 Pw Fw Sw I bought on eBay as a set because they were cheap lol…

8 hours ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

More than likely one combo is just better for your swing and this is why going by flex labels on shafts doesn’t mean much 

yeah the shafts total profile works well for me, tbh I didn’t think I was swinging as well as I did with the cobra the day before.

4 hours ago, chisag said:

When TZoid's were new a 65gm shaft would be extremely light weight considering the stock shaft was most likely a 130gm DG. 

wow 130 grams is very heavy for me and don’t think I’ve ever had one..

3 hours ago, funkyjudge said:

I was a Mizuno dealer/fitter for more than 30 years, including during the T-Zoid days, and I can assure you that the SR shafts in those clubs were senior flex, not a “stiff regular” flex.

Would you know what the grind is on this model and should I get spin if I have good ball contact or what the design is?

2 hours ago, chisag said:

 

...TFC 189 SR flex is a "soft regular" flex or another way to say senior flex without saying senior flex. 

Ive a ping g20 7wood with that shaft that I was using before I got my mizuno Widex ll 5wood..

 

Thanks for all your advice guys I’ve learnt alot, cheers  

[richk9holes]

Rounding out a non course Sunday with the final round of Valspar seeing how good players do it, a putting drill, 4 sets like below. Reinforcing what 32 putts feels like after so many rounds of 39, 40, 43 etc. 

Positive reinforcement provided by Texan Budweiser aka Shiner. Make a set of 8, take a swig.

[IndyBonzo]

Only 37° high in Indy today, a little windy, but sunny.  Hit a small bucket just to stay loose.  Some wedges, some driver, a bit of Otto Phlex testing, and good contact all around.  
 

The weather is supposed to start improving this week.  Fingers crossed!

[richk9holes]

My breakup with on course activities will only last 30 hours or so. I hit the ball well enough on the range today that 2moro 52° sunny forecast added to a $23 noon discount to ride Hanover GC has me back. 

I can still stick to my guns on my once per week if I make tomorrow that 1 round for the upcoming week.

[edingc]

Still getting out to the garage 2-3 times per week to hit balls, but had been struggling recently. The weather is so close to changing for the better, which means I'm getting the itch to be outside on the range rather than indoors. I find my temperament starts to get worse this time of year in regards to my practice and I get frustrated all too easily.

That being said, yesterday was one of the best sessions I've had in probably over a month. Lots of good swings, lot less draw than I had been seeing for the past few weeks. Still working heavily on setup, but also focusing on the backswing turn and ensuring I don't get the club trapped behind me.

Finished the session with some off-the-deck shots with my fairway and was happy with the flight and club/ball speeds. Topped out around 111 MPH club and 162 MPH ball, so that's promising. Stack work has been paying dividends.

Supposed to be 40-50 degrees almost all week so the snow should be gone. Might be able to start putting outdoors next week, depending on when the practice facility decides to open. If we can stay dry the range might open in two weeks and my course won't be too far behind. About a month out hopefully.

[Jim Shaw]

Good morning everyone, I did a session with my swing coach yesterday, the same thing keeps creeping up, my body lags and I "fire" my right wrist through impact to make good contact. It drives me crazy that I continue to do this. He gave me a pre shot drill to work in this, kindof a half slow swing and concentrate on moving my body with the swing, not to be done while actually swinging but to get the feeling. Hi Ho Hi Ho, back to work I Go!!!! 

[BobBC78]

Hit the range and practice green at North Kingstown today. Range was interesting as shots were directly into a 20-30 mph wind. Hit Driver, 3HL, HW, 7H and some short irons. Mixed it wup a bit between intentional hooks, slices, high, low etc. The course wasn't crowded so I was able to practice bunker shots from a couple of different sides of the green. Finished with chipping and putting on the practice green.

[IndyBonzo]

Did an hour on the foresight sim as my lesson coach is on vaca and I used the time.  I felt very loose and confident, but the sim readings seemed juiced somehow.  Elevation and all settings normal - but hit all long irons and woods crazy long.  Maybe all the practice is helping?  Maybe the sim is off?  Maybe both?

Played 11 sim holes at +1.  Hit 3 par 5 greens in two.  Would take that in reality any day.  But I doubt it’s real.  What if it is?  

[richk9holes]

On 3/19/2023 at 7:07 PM, richk9holes said:

My breakup with on course activities will only last 30 hours or so. I hit the ball well enough on the range today that 2moro 52° sunny forecast added to a $23 noon discount to ride Hanover GC has me back. 

I can still stick to my guns on my once per week if I make tomorrow that 1 round for the upcoming week.

Guns not stuck to, playing tomorrow at Mercer Oaks 3:50pm. Maybe not a full 18, I will bring the neon color balls in case I have to go past sunset.

Edited March 21, 2023 by richk9holes

[cjeffs12]

So after a 2 weeks of working out of state, I went to the range to see where I am with my swing. Honestly, I think it was really good for my swing. I have really been working on opening my hips more in the backswing, instead of swaying, that along with feeling my arms drop in downswing is really making my irons crisp with just a baby draw. My ball striking has been so much better. Hoping to get out and play today, or do some more practice. I am consistently breaking 80 right now, so I am going to be more mindful of tracking my tiger 5 stats to try and get past the current plateau. I’m also looking at new course strategies to help where I am constantly losing strokes. 

[JollyGreenBucket]

10 hours ago, IndyBonzo said:

Did an hour on the foresight sim as my lesson coach is on vaca and I used the time.  I felt very loose and confident, but the sim readings seemed juiced somehow.  Elevation and all settings normal - but hit all long irons and woods crazy long.  Maybe all the practice is helping?  Maybe the sim is off?  Maybe both?

Played 11 sim holes at +1.  Hit 3 par 5 greens in two.  Would take that in reality any day.  But I doubt it’s real.  What if it is?  

Is it the same sim you use consistently? If so, which is more likely...the sim is juiced or the hard work you put in is working? Hope is a good thing my friend  

[IndyBonzo]

Just now, JollyGreenBucket said:

Is it the same sim you use consistently? If so, which is more likely...the sim is juiced or the hard work you put in is working? Hope is a good thing my friend  

Thank you!  And I don't know.  I use this sim once a week during winter for lessons.  Lately, the past few weeks, I thought it was cheating me on distance.  Yesterday, the opposite.  Who knows - I did feel good, and implemented a change in my driver swing for more lower body power, so I hope it was correct!  At one point it said I hit my 5 iron 230 yards (which was a total outlier for the day, and for all time), so something was up.  

[JollyGreenBucket]

3 minutes ago, IndyBonzo said:

Thank you!  And I don't know.  I use this sim once a week during winter for lessons.  Lately, the past few weeks, I thought it was cheating me on distance.  Yesterday, the opposite.  Who knows - I did feel good, and implemented a change in my driver swing for more lower body power, so I hope it was correct!  At one point it said I hit my 5 iron 230 yards (which was a total outlier for the day, and for all time), so something was up.  

My question is, what were the yardages for your other clubs? Are we talking like, a club's distance increase? If so, given that you've consistently used this sim (weekly counts as consistent to me at least), then it seems totally reasonable that swing changes made a difference, especially if they are power focused.

[IndyBonzo]

2 minutes ago, JollyGreenBucket said:

My question is, what were the yardages for your other clubs? Are we talking like, a club's distance increase? If so, given that you've consistently used this sim (weekly counts as consistent to me at least), then it seems totally reasonable that swing changes made a difference, especially if they are power focused.

Driver was +15 yards.  All other clubs were +10-15 (with the exception of that wild 5-iron).  So within the realm of possibility I suppose.

[richk9holes]

4 minutes ago, IndyBonzo said:

Driver was +15 yards.  All other clubs were +10-15 (with the exception of that wild 5-iron).  So within the realm of possibility I suppose.

Take it as a win, either way.

Hercules! Hercules!

[cksurfdude]

Had another useful range sesh! ...building up confidence for getting out and finally playing

One of the key feels for me at this point is to get the arms moving into the downswing more quickly from the top .. almost leading the body .. while still getting the weight/pressure shift moving forward of course!

When I get it, I'm getting much better ball flights .. heck even (on a relative basis) mashed the driver a few times...

Work In Progress.

[Jim Shaw]

15 minutes ago, cksurfdude said:

Had another useful range sesh! ...building up confidence for getting out and finally playing

One of the key feels for me at this point is to get the arms moving into the downswing more quickly from the top .. almost leading the body .. while still getting the weight/pressure shift moving forward of course!

When I get it, I'm getting much better ball flights .. heck even (on a relative basis) mashed the driver a few times...

Work In Progress.

wow, good going, do you have access to a PGA pro? in my experience "what you feel isnt' real", if you get a pro that you like to take a look then he or she will give you tools to "practice with a  purpose" takes the guess work out of it

[Bang60]

Practiced with Gap wedge yesterday was not good, couldn't stop hitting the SUN high high highest lol...

Edited March 21, 2023 by Bang60
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[Syks7]

I've been doing some analysis and over the last 12 rounds 80ish% of the blowup holes (double or worse) over the last dozen or so rounds start with a bad tee shot.  I get greedy and overswing or I'm not accounting for natural dispersion, make a poor target selection, and end up in jail.  I'm not going OB but I'm not exactly keeping it 'in play' so to speak.  In any case it seems like low hanging fruit to just aim better so I went over to a digital range today to figure out my dispersion pattern and to play around with the hosel adjustments to see if I can 'self fit' to tighten up dispersion.   

For PXG the standard setting is the most upright and draw biased so I wasn't expecting much out of adjustment since I'm basically playing a baby fade already.  That said I spent about 40 minutes with the driver, starting with standard (9 degrees loft & 60 Lie) , then Big + (10.5 Degrees Loft 58.5 Lie), then PXG (9 Degrees Loft 57 Lie), then finally Big - (7.5 Loft 58.5 Lie). The 4 cardinal points on the adjustments.  I figured that would give me a reasonable idea of what to expect from the 4 in between settings.

Standard was pretty much what I expected.  Solid contact misses were way right, toe misses were 5-10 yards left of center, and good contact was clustered just right of the line.  Spin was higher than I wanted at 2800ish but launch was okay at 14/15.   Dispersion wasn't bad but it was wider than I thought it would be on a series of well struck shots.

Big + was a surprise my first surprise.  Tighter dispersion.  Similar to slightly lower launch angle despite the higher loft, better contact toward the center of the face, lower spin, and a better descent angle.

PXG was more in line with standard for dispersion but was longer on average.  Same launch and spin as Big+ but I could step on it with every swing and make good contact.

Big - was a disaster.  I don't have the swing speed for a 7.5 degree driver.  I struggled with good contact and it looked all wrong to the eye.

Seeing as how I'd gotten more warmed up as I went along I ran back through them in the same order with pretty much the same results.  Idiot me wants to play the PXG setting and channel my inner Bryson, but smart me knows the dispersion was better at Big+.  I'm thinking a happy medium may be the Flat + setting (10 degree loft, 67.5 Lie) thats in between the two which is where I left it before my time ran out.  We'll see how it plays on Friday.  

Overall, it was a great session.  I have not focused on driver that specifically for a while and I feel even more comfortable with it now.

Edited March 22, 2023 by Syks7

[chisag]

17 minutes ago, Syks7 said:

I've been doing some analysis and over the last 12 rounds 80ish% of the blowup holes (double or worse) over the last dozen or so rounds start with a bad tee shot.  I get greedy and overswing or I'm not accounting for natural dispersion, make a poor target selection, and end up in jail. 

 

... Adding to what you posted, the next shot can be even worse for a blow up hole than the tee shot. I see so many am's get greedy after a bad tee shot and am reminded of DL Jr giving advice to DLIII "Never follow a bad shot with a great shot. Always follow a bad shot with a good shot". Just get back in position and don't try to "make up" for bad swings. The amount of times I see a bad tee shot followed by an ill advised fairway wood swung twice as hard as their driver is mind boggling.

... One of my playing pards said the big difference between their game and mine is yes, they hit more bad shots but when I do hit a bad shot I either put the next one on the green or leave it in a position where I can get up and down while they follow their bad shot with another bad shot. 

... I didn't mean to derail your driver discovery (and good for you) but barring a penalty, nobody should have doubles or worse unless they are a beginner or high index player that lacks fundamental skills. 

[Syks7]

13 minutes ago, chisag said:

The amount of times I see a bad tee shot followed by an ill advised fairway wood swung twice as hard as their driver is mind boggling.

The amount of times I've hurt myself doing exactly what you describe is also mind boggling.  It's an issue that I'm working through.  I've been deliberately trying to play a high percentage shot toward or to where I was expecting my drive to be.  It's been helpful.  I've also been trying to play shots that leave me with high percentage shots I'm comfortable with into the green which has also been helpful.

[cksurfdude]

4 hours ago, Jim Shaw said:

wow, good going, do you have access to a PGA pro? in my experience "what you feel isnt' real", if you get a pro that you like to take a look then he or she will give you tools to "practice with a  purpose" takes the guess work out of it

Yes! ..been taking lessons regularly over the past 2+ years; also have attended Monte Scheinblum clinics the previous two seasons.

So in practice I try to apply the drills I'm supposed to be working on, but .. sometimes it seems easier for me to learn by applying a feel - recognizing that feel is not real - that gets me to move properly into the (whatever) I "should" be doing...

(..if any of that makes sense )

[cnosil]

1 hour ago, chisag said:

barring a penalty, nobody should have doubles or worse unless they are a beginner or high index player that lacks fundamental skills. 

If it was only as simple as you make it sound. 

[richk9holes]

Yeah, hold my beer while I 4 putt from 18'

[chisag]

44 minutes ago, cnosil said:

If it was only as simple as you make it sound. 

 

... Hahaha fair enough but it really is, although including a double is probably a little too simple.   Even a PGA Tour player can have a blow up hole but it is the rare exception. I am certainly capable of a *S* with a wedge putting me in the desert or blade/chunk a chip. But those are rare mental mistakes when trying to do too much. Add in a 3 putt (or worse) when in an impossible position on the green to be fair. But I am talking the blow up holes of triples and higher or a really dumb double that kill so many scorecards. 

... Hit a bad drive and then just put it back in play, followed by a shot on or near the green and a two put or up and down for a bogie, a double if you don't get up and down. But a mid and certainly low index player should not be making multiple bad shots on one hole is my point.