What/How Did You Practice Today?

[vandyland]

Another day, another couple 100 balls into the net. Seems like almost every part of my golf swing needs some tweaking:
- Backswing to shaft parallel is mostly fine
- From shaft parallel to arm parallel I have to remember to get a little bit of forearm roll, set my wrists to close to 90* and keep my lead wrist flat
- At top of the backswing it's a big checklist at the moment, hopefully the hips turned well and right hip went back and up and pressure is inside right heel, right hand is holding the tray and right elbow isn't bent beyond 90* (wow that is a lot), and recentering has started already hopefully
- First move down is continuation of recentering and now is pressure going down and to the left, motorcycle move/wall feel
- Into the ball I am focusing on trying to get my elbows to touch (they won't) so that I don't chicken wing or DOUBLE chicken wing

So the big changes are really the top of the swing which involve getting everything set up to make my shallowing move as easy as possible and not have my arms way overrun and make my swing too long. I think my right arm is bending too much at the top (see picture) which kills "width" and makes my swing longer and then it is harder to unwind into the ball out of that position. Ultimately, this is waaaay too many swing fixes at one time but I am having a hard time figuring out what to prioritize now that I have determined there are all a bunch of potential issues. I am not trying to develop a "perfect position" golf swing but all these things seem fairly important. If I don't roll my forearms/flatten my wrist/hold the tray/motorcyle my club is steep coming into the ball, if I don't get hip depth and pressure right it is hard to get a good turn and strike. If I spin out from the top all the first part is useless. If I chicken wing into the ball I hit it off the toe or thin. Phew. 

[chisag]

2 hours ago, vandyland said:

Ultimately, this is waaaay too many swing fixes at one time but I am having a hard time figuring out what to prioritize now that I have determined there are all a bunch of potential issues.

 

  Have you tried swinging the club?  

[vandyland]

1 minute ago, chisag said:

Have you tried swinging the club?

 Haha. Only 100-200 times per day. Sadly, I have come to the conclusion that everything I "naturally" do in the golf swing is the opposite of what happens in a good golf swing. If I truly turn my brain off and just swing I will do an all arms swing with a cupped wrist with a steep downswing where I spin out and early extend and hold the face open through impact. 

[TSauer]

Went out on lunch and worked on some of the longer clubs, and things are actually feeling decent. 

 

Side note: I'm loving this weather here in MO. I'll take this every single day.

[giantcaptivfrog]

22 hours ago, RaRa Golf said:

When you hear "FORE!", you duck, no matter how far away or in which direction you hear it.. 

My stupidity always makes me look to where the shout came from, definitely need to break that habit...

 

22 hours ago, RaRa Golf said:

I tried out the single plane swing on all my tee shots that called for a driver and..... wow..... WOW!!

I didn't hit every fairway, but I hit almost every shot dead straight... 

Those are always my driver goals! Did you mostly focus on quieting as much of your body as possible, or is there another swing thought you used to implement the single plane idea?

[RaRa Golf]

10 minutes ago, giantcaptivfrog said:

My stupidity always makes me look to where the shout came from, definitely need to break that habit...

 

Those are always my driver goals! Did you mostly focus on quieting as much of your body as possible, or is there another swing thought you used to implement the single plane idea?

Honestly, setup is KEY I find with the SPS. 

This tip from Todd Graves about isolating the arm by extending your rotational range of motion before gripping the club was a really big key for me to get into proper position.

I recommend checking out his channel(s), he has a TON of great info. 

 

[No3PuttLaLa]

Had a lunch practice session with a buddy. We played games of HORSE on the range, the chipping green and the putting green. Tried to make it fun but also put some pressure on each other to make shots count. 

[Vegan_Golfer_PNW]

10 hours ago, vandyland said:

Another day, another couple 100 balls into the net. Seems like almost every part of my golf swing needs some tweaking:
- Backswing to shaft parallel is mostly fine
- From shaft parallel to arm parallel I have to remember to get a little bit of forearm roll, set my wrists to close to 90* and keep my lead wrist flat
- At top of the backswing it's a big checklist at the moment, hopefully the hips turned well and right hip went back and up and pressure is inside right heel, right hand is holding the tray and right elbow isn't bent beyond 90* (wow that is a lot), and recentering has started already hopefully
- First move down is continuation of recentering and now is pressure going down and to the left, motorcycle move/wall feel
- Into the ball I am focusing on trying to get my elbows to touch (they won't) so that I don't chicken wing or DOUBLE chicken wing

So the big changes are really the top of the swing which involve getting everything set up to make my shallowing move as easy as possible and not have my arms way overrun and make my swing too long. I think my right arm is bending too much at the top (see picture) which kills "width" and makes my swing longer and then it is harder to unwind into the ball out of that position. Ultimately, this is waaaay too many swing fixes at one time but I am having a hard time figuring out what to prioritize now that I have determined there are all a bunch of potential issues. I am not trying to develop a "perfect position" golf swing but all these things seem fairly important. If I don't roll my forearms/flatten my wrist/hold the tray/motorcyle my club is steep coming into the ball, if I don't get hip depth and pressure right it is hard to get a good turn and strike. If I spin out from the top all the first part is useless. If I chicken wing into the ball I hit it off the toe or thin. Phew. 

Kind of blunt question, do you play golf or do you play golf swing? Focusing on too many things can deskill you and make you worse. Was topic of last episode of the sweet spot podcast. 

[ZackS]

As I mentioned in a different thread earlier. The biggest difference in now and when I played more is I don’t get up and down the majority of the time anymore. So I went out and worked on some pitching, chipping and bunker shots. 

[vandyland]

1 hour ago, Vegan_Golfer_PNW said:

Kind of blunt question, do you play golf or do you play golf swing?

As of right now, I play golf swing. Haven’t played golf in a month but have hit balls or practiced probably ever day the last 20 days.

would be great to have my swing be this simple:

 

Edited April 15, 2023 by vandyland

[RickyBobby_PR]

Your right arm bends too early in the swing and keeps bending vice what you say bending too much at the top. The top Is a result of the early bend

12 hours ago, vandyland said:

First move down is continuation of recentering and now is pressure going down and to the left, motorcycle move/wall feel

You should be recentered by lead arm parallel. You should be around 70/30 lead sided pressure at the top or as you move into transition. If you are continuing to recenter in the first move down you are shifting pressure too late

[Josh Ross]

While injured the only ting I could really do golf related was putt and chip in my house. It paid off as I've chipped in three times in two rounds and putted beautifully. Since it was raining yesterday and today, I hit the chipping and putting practice hard again. Can never be too good at that part of the game!

[chisag]

"

Had a lunch practice session with a buddy. We played games of HORSE on the range, the chipping green and the putting green. Tried to make it fun but also put some pressure on each other to make shots count. "

... Just such a great way to practice!  Many years ago my pard and I would play 18, then play 10 and back down 11 which was a par 5 by the parking lot. We would take turns picking the most difficult and sometimes easiest spots to chip or pitch from and kept score to 25. If it wasn't dark we would play a few more. Under a tree, backswing interrupted by a bush, over a 10 foot pine from 6 feet and sometimes just a straight forward chip. We could call a club at anytime like a 4 iron from deep rough. Lots of creativity. As you said, it makes practice fun and every stroke counts so some pressure too. 

[charlzzein]

Your approach reminds me of a practice routine my buddy and I used to do years ago. We would play 18 holes, and then play a special 10-hole round where we picked challenging spots to chip or pitch from, keeping score to 25. It also was a blast, especially when we had to deal with obstacles like trees, bushes, or uneven lies. We even threw in some creative challenges like calling a specific club to use at any time, huh. 

[revkev]

Hit some balls on the range yesterday - just trying to keep the swing, that is coming along nicely enough, simple and fresh.  Also went to the putting green and chipped and putted for 20 minutes or so.  Playing today - looking forward to it.  

 

It's so funny, my handicap index is finally going up to where it should be and now, because I'm playing more, I'm starting to play better - I know I had some guys mumbling in some of the member guess matches mainly because I got to play up a set of tees - I pointed out that it washes in the handicap and that even if I'm 20 yards past them we are hitting the same iron into the green - which was absolutely the case.  For crying out loud the guys complaining were in their 30's and I'm in my 60's.  I didn't make the flights, I faithfully reported my handicap and I played exactly the way you might expect - in 6 matches I was right on my handicap twice and over it, once significantly, 4 times.  

[Syks7]

Took the new Tour Edge hybrids for a quick little spin this morning at the range.  Kept it light and only brought my 47 for warmup.

I know it's a little cliche, but this was my second swing with the three hybrid.  (The first was a bit higher and a bit more on the toe).

I was surprised.  Pretty effortless to hit well.  I did manage to test out all of the face, unwillingly, and found it to be very forgiving distance and direction wise unless it was way waaaaay out on the toe.  Out there caused a substantial drop on ball speed and a much lower flight.  I had a little more trouble with the 2 hybrid, but kind of ironed out the kinks by playing with the adjustable hosel -- upright neutral was a good spot for now.  

Time will tell but the only one time I've hit a long club this well out of the box was when I picked up my current driver (which I love). Hopefully I'll be confident enough with these to start taking occasional shots.into the green from 200 or more.

Edited April 15, 2023 by Syks7

[IndyBonzo]

I abused two more buckets of balls today, focusing exclusively on iron shots, working on getting my hands turned over and completing my swing with a full shoulder rotation.  I get the turn at 1/2 and 3/4 swing no problem, but start leaving my hands out right/not finishing with full swings.  Will keep working at it.  It was really good practice on the whole. 

[chisag]

On 4/14/2023 at 7:13 AM, vandyland said:

- Backswing to shaft parallel is mostly fine
- From shaft parallel to arm parallel I have to remember to get a little bit of forearm roll, set my wrists to close to 90* and keep my lead wrist flat
- At top of the backswing it's a big checklist at the moment, hopefully the hips turned well and right hip went back and up and pressure is inside right heel, right hand is holding the tray and right elbow isn't bent beyond 90* (wow that is a lot), and recentering has started already hopefully
- First move down is continuation of recentering and now is pressure going down and to the left, motorcycle move/wall feel
- Into the ball I am focusing on trying to get my elbows to touch (they won't) so that I don't chicken wing or DOUBLE chicken wing

 

... I wanted to go back to this post and apologize for using you as a guinea pig. I used to do a drill with some new students that were technically overwhelmed and asked them to throw a golf ball underhanded to a trash can about 10yds away. I instructed them to: 

-Start with 70% your weight on your front foot. Not 60% or 80% so be very precise.
-Hold the golf ball in the first 2 fingertips and thumb tip.
-Make sure the arm is turned so the palm stays facing straight up.
-Swing the arm back keeping it close to the hip and never more than 20* past your hip
-Start with a 15* bend in the elbow and almost straiten completely at the end of the arm backswing
- Release the golf ball with a slight unhinging of the wrist 

... I went over every movement and then instructed them to concentrate on all of them while tossing the golf ball into the trash can. Some admitted they could not think of all those things at once and I told them to try their best. The results were disjointed, mechanical and very rarely produced a good toss. Especially on the next toss when I "corrected" one or more movements and asked them to try again but really concentrate. I then told them to ignore everything I just said and simply try and toss the golf bal into the can anyway they wanted. The difference was always night and day and I explained this is what thinking about the swing while trying to execute a shot is like. There is so much many do instinctively but get in their own way over riding that instinct trying to achieve a position or movement.

... Of course it isn't quite as easy as just saying "forget everything and just swing the club" and flaws obviously need to be addressed. But thinking too much is always much worse than not thinking at all when you play golf. 

[JohnSmalls]

I saw a "statistic" this week that talked about the rule of 100.  If you spend 100 hundred hours in one year doing or practicing a skill; you will be better than 95% of people at that skill.  In the ebbs and flows of this wonderful game that we have decided to pursue, my putting has been in a funk.  Over the course of a year, I normally average just under a 2 putt/hole per round (33-34 putts/round)--but have had more 3 putts this past month than I had all of last summer.  Bermuda greens waking up from winter hibernation certainly hasn't helped. 

After seeing this "statistic" and having the frustration of not putting well recently, I've decided to give it a test run. 100 hours rounds out to roughly 17 minutes/day of practice; which coincides nicely with a little wind-down tv at night.  Last two days have had a good mix of 5-10ft putts mixed in on the birdieball green. Time to see if a little living room consistency begins to find its way to the course.

[RichL85]

I've been continuing to practice as much as reasonably possible given the current situation with everything else going on in life. It's the busiest part of my work season at the moment with some fires to put out on top of the general level of work. Found an $800 part that seemed to be the main factor in one of those fires and it seems to be doing better, so that is some stress off me, but I'm also working on sizing a new production line in addition to adjusting a current production line to match up with some raw material variances. All this while continuing to fulfill my required audit obligations for each facility in my area. It's been a little busy. 

As far as golf goes, I've spent most of my practice time rolling putts during short breaks in the office which has helped ingrain the stroke changes I've been working on. At the range I've been in a place where I'm doing a lot less thinking about the mechanics of the swing and just trusting things. I realized a few weeks back that my habits from past sports carried over to golf and I'm very good at basically throwing my hands at the ball, which is not exactly ideal for a golf swing. Since going through that little off season speed challenge setup by @ejgaudette I've been able to sync up movements more naturally and it's been working well. I found that a big power leak for my swing before the off season was that my hip turn in the backswing was actually too much, so even though I was getting enough in terms of degrees of rotation in the downswing, I was so far back, that my hips never got to a good open position by impact. Funny part of that to me is that years ago when I first tried a few lessons the big complaint on my swing was that I got plenty of shoulder turn and not enough hip turn, apparently I went a little too extreme on trying to change that. 

[JerryB]

Busy around the house today but managed to get about an hour's worth of practice in the garage.  First two chunks of time spent rolling putts which didn't go well.  Just couldn't find the consistency.

Third go-round was spent working on setup and alignment; hitting into the net.  This went a lot better.  Ball striking was clean and consistent.  Hit my five iron, lob wedge, and three wood and all were encouraging.

Poor weather forecasted for the next couple days before I can get out and see how well it translates.

[Shapotomous]

We went to play today late afternoon and the course was packed, so much that we had to wait a few minutes for a cart to come in from the parking lot.

We played the first hole and were able to hit our drives on #2 before catching up with the pack.  It was unbearably slow and coupled with my failed attempts to find a full swing that will work for me this year, I lost interest in the round on about the 4th hole.  After about 3 more holes of miserable golf we decided to play a little differently instead of leaving.  We would each choose a club for each other and we had to use that club for all shots on that hole.  

It kept things interesting even though the slow pace remained the same.  I found out I can two putt with every club but my driver!    I also found out I can hit my 23* hybrid from a greenside bunker fairly effectively.

[Rickp]

6 minutes ago, Shapotomous said:

We went to play today late afternoon and the course was packed, so much that we had to wait a few minutes for a cart to come in from the parking lot.

We played the first hole and were able to hit our drives on #2 before catching up with the pack.  It was unbearably slow and coupled with my failed attempts to find a full swing that will work for me this year, I lost interest in the round on about the 4th hole.  After about 3 more holes of miserable golf we decided to play a little differently instead of leaving.  We would each choose a club for each other and we had to use that club for all shots on that hole.  

It kept things interesting even though the slow pace remained the same.  I found out I can two putt with every club but my driver!    I also found out I can hit my 23* hybrid from a greenside bunker fairly effectively.

Excellent!!!

[Bang60]

18 minutes ago, Shapotomous said:

We went to play today late afternoon and the course was packed, so much that we had to wait a few minutes for a cart to come in from the parking lot.

We played the first hole and were able to hit our drives on #2 before catching up with the pack.  It was unbearably slow and coupled with my failed attempts to find a full swing that will work for me this year, I lost interest in the round on about the 4th hole.  After about 3 more holes of miserable golf we decided to play a little differently instead of leaving.  We would each choose a club for each other and we had to use that club for all shots on that hole.  

It kept things interesting even though the slow pace remained the same.  I found out I can two putt with every club but my driver!    I also found out I can hit my 23* hybrid from a greenside bunker fairly effectively.

Well done sir, going to try this if I find someone silly enough that’s why I only play 4 clubs D 6 9 putter might swap the putter for the 3 wood lol

[JerryB]

Today was another few mini sessions hitting into the net in the garage.  Worked with my 7 wood, 4 iron and gap wedge.  

Had a series of "ah-ha" moments.  They're all things that I've heard before, sometimes many times.  It's odd how things randomly click with me.

First one has been building a bit this season: My aim is off.  What I've thought was lining up the club face square was actually a little to the left.  Easy fix while practicing but on the course will be key.

Second one is something I read this morning: I need to stop lining myself up with the flag.  This is more of a conceptual thing as it's hard to get the feedback I'm looking for hitting into a net.  

Third is not new and still I need it repeated ad nauseam.  STOP TRYING TO KILL IT, YOU DUMB S***!  

[ZackS]

I hit a small bucket at the range. Then did some short game practice/testing of the Wilson Triad and Mizuno RB Tour balls. 

[cnosil]

8 hours ago, JerryB said:

Second one is something I read this morning: I need to stop lining myself up with the flag.  This is more of a conceptual thing as it's hard to get the feedback I'm looking for hitting into a net.  

Third is not new and still I need it repeated ad nauseam.  STOP TRYING TO KILL IT, YOU DUMB S***!  

Flag is seldom the target.  Shots go left and right of where we aim which could get us into big trouble and high scores.  While not ideal, at you level of play the center of the green is alway a good target.  
 

Yes, Golf is a game of  restraint

[Lee Stanek]

Just now, cnosil said:

Flag is seldom the target.  Shots go left and right of where we aim which could get us into big trouble and high scores.  While not ideal, at you level of play the center of the green is alway a good target.  
 

Yes, Golf is a game of  restraint

Couldn't agree more.  I can't shot shape so making the right decision in those cases to aim for the big part of the green with more room for error will be something I focus on this summer.  Trying to reduce big numbers and blow up holes for sure.  

[RickyBobby_PR]

8 hours ago, JerryB said:

Today was another few mini sessions hitting into the net in the garage.  Worked with my 7 wood, 4 iron and gap wedge.  

Had a series of "ah-ha" moments.  They're all things that I've heard before, sometimes many times.  It's odd how things randomly click with me.

First one has been building a bit this season: My aim is off.  What I've thought was lining up the club face square was actually a little to the left.  Easy fix while practicing but on the course will be key.

Second one is something I read this morning: I need to stop lining myself up with the flag.  This is more of a conceptual thing as it's hard to get the feedback I'm looking for hitting into a net.  

Third is not new and still I need it repeated ad nauseam.  STOP TRYING TO KILL IT, YOU DUMB S***!  

You need to start using alignment sticks, driveway rods, clubs or whatever you have to work on your alignment. One should be on the target line and the other parallel to it. The one parallel to the target is what you line your knees, hips shoulders too

[cnosil]

19 minutes ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

You need to start using alignment sticks, driveway rods, clubs or whatever you have to work on your alignment. One should be on the target line and the other parallel to it. The one parallel to the target is what you line your knees, hips shoulders too

@JerryB  100% agree with this.  Watch most every professional golfer on the driving range and they are using alignment rods.