What/How Did You Practice Today?

[Shapotomous]

9 hours ago, Preeway said:

Great way to do a ball testing “in the wild”.......

Yes, i like that kind of data collection to confirm and verify what launch monitor data says. At the same time I know my little test wasn't "scientific" and isnt applicable to anyone but me.  I can tell by feel when i hit it well enough that i can use that shot for comparison or toss it as an outlier.  There were enough good ones through the day with each ball for me to have confidence in my conclusion.  

Similarly, i have hit thousands of 50 yard backyard wedge shots over the years with lots of brands of found balls.  Over time i can tell which fly higher, longer, spin less, feel harder/softer, etc than the snell and prov's which perform and feel about the same to me.  Certain callaway and bridgestone models are similar for me to my gamers.

I found it interesting that some go longer and higher with the 3/4 wedge swing.  But when i the take those to the course to test with the driver, there is usually less distance than the snell & prov's for me.  Its all about testing for yourself to see what does and doesnt work with your swing and feels good around the green.

[cksurfdude]

In line with both...

16 hours ago, WaffleHouseTour said:

Skillest coach has me trying a new (to me) kind of chipping stroke. More of a little pitch. Have to let the club feel heavy like a brick, drop it down, slide it under with the bounce completely exposed and rotate through. Trying to get me to be less “jabby”. 

..and ..

16 hours ago, Kenny B said:

You just described my basic chipping motion.  

.. so during my last lesson, just a few days ago, I asked my instructor to take a few minutes and look at wedges - short chipping and pitching - and he had me work on what sounds like the very same thing.

Been practicing that at the range and think I'm starting to get it (a little bit ). Seems like I'm making better contact more often, and also starting to get a better handle on distance control.

FYI here's a short Zach Johnson YT clip that I think illustrates it well - he mentions he has the feel of an all-arms motion .. and to think of an image of Steve Stricker...

 

 

[russtopherb]

I posted an update in the Mizuno Long Game testing thread, mostly about the dummy mark I put on my new driver.

Aside from that, my range session was really productive - worked on shoulder turn and contact with irons and woods, and saw some very consistent ballflight. I wasn't so consistent a few times with irons on the course yesterday, however I think some of that is old habits that have been creeping in as of late. So I am putting in time at the range to banish those poor moves forever. 

Ended with some wedges to specific flags and while I tended to end left, my distance was pretty good. Also worked on chipping from the rough in the short game area. 

[birdiesandbags]

I like practicing at my local muni , next to the chipping the grass is cut in 5yrd strips . Using that as a distance control for my Flop Shots . 

 

[sirchunksalot]

I went to the range after work planning on meeting up with a guy from work and having some fun. 

I just hit a small bucket again today working on ridding myself of the toe strikes that have been showing up lately when I hit pitch shots. I placed a box outside the ball and hit some shots where I made contact with the box. I've still got some work to do, but saw some pretty positive results.

I worked through some other clubs and with the exception of 3 wood, I was happy with how things are going.

I moved on to the putting green getting some more time in with the Agera and has some of the best shots so far with it. I got a couple of shots over 10 feet that found the bottom of the cup and lagged a couple from 35-40 feet to tap in. Overall, distance control was better that I have seen with the putter.

Mitch didn't show up until I was getting ready to leave. We didn't make specific plans, so I had gotten there early. I hung around as he went through a bucket and shared a couple of @chisag drills with him. 

We had a fun time talking everything golf. I love chatting with a fellow golf geek. 

[Vegan_Golfer_PNW]

Rough range session but that’s good. Means my body is trying to make changes, so there will be bad days. Did get some cool looking ball flights today when I wasn’t trying new feels, just swinging like I was playing a round. For reference, back mound is 280 out and this drive landed right at the start of it

 

[revkev]

Found some shade on the range which let me have a nice practice session. Definitely liking the move to hitting mainly wedges. It creates great rhythm by the time I move on to longer clubs. Absolutely flushed fairway woods and driver before finishing with wedges again.  

[Josh Parker]

I got out this morning to start over on the driver and after warming up with some wedges started fresh with the driver.  I have decided to go back to basics working on grip, balance and rotation.  I kept my feet together and hit for a while to work on rotation and not swaying and then moved on to my normal set-up.  

[GolfSpy_APH]

Going to hit the range for another gapping session later this morning. While my first one was okay I didn't hit the ball well and with a tournament coming up I want to have some better set numbers with T series. 

Changed out my 58 back to my ping glide 2.0 es as it's just better out of bunkers and seems to be more versatile than the Mizuno. 54 is still up on the air. Both play well and feel great. So a little chipping practice is in order as well.

[ZoonORama]

With a trip to Hawaii coming up I wanted to get my swing timing tuned up. I went over the range today to work on driver, chip shots and sand shots. Started with the driver working on fully rotating and found the sweet spot for ball height and position. Now I am pretty consistent off the tee (at least for today). 

Moved on to the pitching area and tested every wedge from various distances to get a feel of low runners and higher shots. Found I only really need a PW and GW. Seemed to cover about 90% of what I was going after.

Sand shots took a little time but started getting out consistently every time - up slope, down slope and center of the bunker.

Now hoping to get 9 holes in before I leave on the trip.

[snoopy79]

Well today I got out to the range for the first time in over a week. I had been putting consistent time into hitting balls into my golf net in the backyard and was anxious to see if it had paid any dividends in improving my ball flight through more solid center hits. The biggest thing I been trying to drill out of my swing is my tendency to hit the ball towards the heel of the club. So playing with ball position in my stance was a game of trial and error and while the impact tape that @ZoonORama has given me has helped me diagnose the issues I wasn't sure until I got out to the range tonight if the ball position changes have worked. In short, it did! Especially with the longer irons.

The results? Pretty great actually i never shanked a shot and only had a couple of fat shots. I was still pushing a lot of shots to the right. So  I tried something that, to my surprise, really improved my ball striking during the session and straightened me out in short order. I recently watched a short clip of Lee Trevino talking about the grip and the position of the right forearm at address and through the swing. Just a small thing that stuck in my head so I gave it a try. Boom! My driver and my irons were all WAY more accurate.

Now to plan my next few rounds going thru October.

Hit em straight fellas!

[Syks7]

Had one of the better range sessions I've had in a while-- specifically focused on the top end of the bag.  Long irons, hybrids, and woods have never been my strong suit, but after spending significant amounts of time on other aspects of my game it's become woefully apparent that they're now a full on liability.  I focused heavily on maintaining the same swing tempo and feels as my short irons and wedges and it worked wonders.   I also combined that with a drill I saw to help with Early extension (one of my persistent faults).  Wedge under the heel.  All I can say about this one is whoa.  Turns out it was just what the Dr. ordered for me in the feels department.  Feeling the heel stay planted sure felt like it made it easier to clear my lead hip, rotate my torso, and stay down.  It also produced solid contact and a powerful ball flight with what felt like a nice smooth easy swing.  There may be something to this 'use your big muscles' to generate power thing.  

Other than that I was also focused on wrist position -- more specifically on taking the club away in a way that prevents extension in my lead wrist.   I'm not pushing into flexion like DJ or Rahm, but I find that the moment I let my lead wrist go into extension is the moment I deliver a super open club face to the ball.  Its subtle but I've been working on the first couple feet of takeaway with a waggle before a swing seems to really help me find the feel.  

Edited September 18, 2023 by Syks7

[Shrek74]

Had one of my first "practice" sessions this past Friday since moving here in June. It was kind of a 3-part series - Titleist Driver/FW demo, Putting Session, Iron Session. The demo kind of kicked it off and I just decided to stay and work on a few things since I was already there and warmed up and stuff.

I took the demo opportunity to figure out if there was something in my swing that needed correction as to why my driver was so spinny. Turns out I hit everything in the heal - literally everything. We worked through the TSR2 & 3 heads with about 7-8 different shafts and of various lengths. I'd occasionally get one closer to center, but never actually made it completely to center. This was causing my spin issues and loss of distance. So I'll need to work with my swing coach to figure out why this is happening and how to fix it. Preferably before May as that's when my next big full-bag fitting will take place.

After hitting what felt like a million drives, I figured some less strenuous putting would be a perfect break to help recover a bit. I didn't follow any real practice guide or process or anything. It was more about the 5-10 foot putts and getting a feel for the swing and distance. My putter is new to me for about a year or so, although not it's shape. It's basically the same look I had with my Carbite DD, but heavier and in black. So I just wanted to spend some time with it's weight and my putting swing to get a better feel with it. Plus I've read and heard in multiple articles and videos that the most important putting distance is inside 10' so that's where I wanted to work. I probably spent a good 30 minutes at different holes getting a feeling for both slightly uphill and slightly downhill in addition to the flatter roll.

After the putting, I took a little time to sit and have some water and a snack before heading back to the range to get on some iron work. I wanted to work on partial swings, utilizing the hand/wrist rotation and hip rotation stuff my swing coach and I have been working on the last 2 sessions. It wasn't about distance or anything other than am I getting my wrists rolled over and turning my hips. Like any practice session, I had good swing and bad swings but felt like there was progress made. I really need to get a hitting mat and net for home so I can practice more often, especially since right now it's not about distance or where the ball goes. It's about the swing and the contact.

The other thing I need to work on is low point. This one I think is partially mental and partially the swing. I never had lessons over the first 25+ years of playing so I never really learned that you're supposed to hit the ground and take at least some type of divot. I was always trying to sweep the ball off the grass instead of hitting "into" the ball and then the turf. This is likely where my "casting" or "flipping" is from along with bad hip turn. So I'm trying to utilize a drill where you place a tee in the ground behind the ball and try to hit the ball without hitting the tee. You can also do this drill with the tee in front of the ball trying to hit the tee. I may do it that way next time to see if that's a better "feel" than the tee behind. Trying to hit something might be better than trying to miss something in the swing.

So after being at the practice area for about 3+ hours I decided to grab my stuff and take my 8 million bug bites home. It was a good afternoon to be sure.

[Jim Shaw]

7 minutes ago, Shrek74 said:

Had one of my first "practice" sessions this past Friday since moving here in June. It was kind of a 3-part series - Titleist Driver/FW demo, Putting Session, Iron Session. The demo kind of kicked it off and I just decided to stay and work on a few things since I was already there and warmed up and stuff.

I took the demo opportunity to figure out if there was something in my swing that needed correction as to why my driver was so spinny. Turns out I hit everything in the heal - literally everything. We worked through the TSR2 & 3 heads with about 7-8 different shafts and of various lengths. I'd occasionally get one closer to center, but never actually made it completely to center. This was causing my spin issues and loss of distance. So I'll need to work with my swing coach to figure out why this is happening and how to fix it. Preferably before May as that's when my next big full-bag fitting will take place.

After hitting what felt like a million drives, I figured some less strenuous putting would be a perfect break to help recover a bit. I didn't follow any real practice guide or process or anything. It was more about the 5-10 foot putts and getting a feel for the swing and distance. My putter is new to me for about a year or so, although not it's shape. It's basically the same look I had with my Carbite DD, but heavier and in black. So I just wanted to spend some time with it's weight and my putting swing to get a better feel with it. Plus I've read and heard in multiple articles and videos that the most important putting distance is inside 10' so that's where I wanted to work. I probably spent a good 30 minutes at different holes getting a feeling for both slightly uphill and slightly downhill in addition to the flatter roll.

After the putting, I took a little time to sit and have some water and a snack before heading back to the range to get on some iron work. I wanted to work on partial swings, utilizing the hand/wrist rotation and hip rotation stuff my swing coach and I have been working on the last 2 sessions. It wasn't about distance or anything other than am I getting my wrists rolled over and turning my hips. Like any practice session, I had good swing and bad swings but felt like there was progress made. I really need to get a hitting mat and net for home so I can practice more often, especially since right now it's not about distance or where the ball goes. It's about the swing and the contact.

The other thing I need to work on is low point. This one I think is partially mental and partially the swing. I never had lessons over the first 25+ years of playing so I never really learned that you're supposed to hit the ground and take at least some type of divot. I was always trying to sweep the ball off the grass instead of hitting "into" the ball and then the turf. This is likely where my "casting" or "flipping" is from along with bad hip turn. So I'm trying to utilize a drill where you place a tee in the ground behind the ball and try to hit the ball without hitting the tee. You can also do this drill with the tee in front of the ball trying to hit the tee. I may do it that way next time to see if that's a better "feel" than the tee behind. Trying to hit something might be better than trying to miss something in the swing.

So after being at the practice area for about 3+ hours I decided to grab my stuff and take my 8 million bug bites home. It was a good afternoon to be sure.

 From reading your post my first takeaway is you are ahead of the general golfers curve in as much as you have broken down some "why's" behind not hitting the ball how and where you want. And it is great to see you want to get better through hard work. 

Now comes the advice part (lol). Find a PGA pro that will connect with your learning personality and go with a plan. If you really want to improve I would break down your golf game to components ie, driver, 3 wood (distance clubs) longer scoring clubs ie. 2-3-4-5 irons, scoring clubs 7-8-9-wedges, chipping and putting. 

I know it seems overwhelming however if you check off one at a time it won't seem such a daunting task. And don't forget it won't happen overnight, take the winter to find your groove. 

good luck on your guest to master this crazy game....

[RickyBobby_PR]

29 minutes ago, Shrek74 said:

So I'll need to work with my swing coach to figure out why this is happening and how to fix it.

Either coming over the top and cutting across the ball or coming from the inside with an open face would be my guesses. Feel free to post a swing if it will be a while before you see your coach. Any swing flaws will be even more revealing when swing the driver compares to irons 

 

32 minutes ago, Shrek74 said:

The other thing I need to work on is low point. This one I think is partially mental and partially the swing. I never had lessons over the first 25+ years of playing so I never really learned that you're supposed to hit the ground and take at least some type of divot. I was always trying to sweep the ball off the grass instead of hitting "into" the ball and then the turf. This is likely where my "casting" or "flipping" is from along with bad hip turn.

More than likely also coming from not having proper pressure shifts. Improper pressure shifts will cause bad hip turn. The contact and inconsistency will get worse the longer the club gets

[Shrek74]

44 minutes ago, Jim Shaw said:

 From reading your post my first takeaway is you are ahead of the general golfers curve in as much as you have broken down some "why's" behind not hitting the ball how and where you want. And it is great to see you want to get better through hard work. 

Now comes the advice part (lol). Find a PGA pro that will connect with your learning personality and go with a plan. If you really want to improve I would break down your golf game to components ie, driver, 3 wood (distance clubs) longer scoring clubs ie. 2-3-4-5 irons, scoring clubs 7-8-9-wedges, chipping and putting. 

I know it seems overwhelming however if you check off one at a time it won't seem such a daunting task. And don't forget it won't happen overnight, take the winter to find your groove. 

good luck on your guest to master this crazy game....

Thanks Jim. I have a swing coach locally (he's a PGA Prof) already and have had 2 lessons in the last month and have 3 more before the year's out. He's done wonders for my dad's game and I've had a few one-off lessons when I would come to visit my folks. Now that I'm here full-time, I'll see him more over the next year to get things going properly. I connect well with him and he's great to work with, so I'm good there. I see him again on 10/7 actually.

[cnosil]

11 minutes ago, Shrek74 said:

Thanks Jim. I have a swing coach locally (he's a PGA Prof) already and have had 2 lessons in the last month and have 3 more before the year's out. He's done wonders for my dad's game and I've had a few one-off lessons when I would come to visit my folks. Now that I'm here full-time, I'll see him more over the next year to get things going properly. I connect well with him and he's great to work with, so I'm good there. I see him again on 10/7 actually.

I am posting this partially in jest to your earlier comment about taking divots.  Why take a divot

 

 

[Shrek74]

37 minutes ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

Either coming over the top and cutting across the ball or coming from the inside with an open face would be my guesses. Feel free to post a swing if it will be a while before you see your coach. Any swing flaws will be even more revealing when swing the driver compares to irons 

 

More than likely also coming from not having proper pressure shifts. Improper pressure shifts will cause bad hip turn. The contact and inconsistency will get worse the longer the club gets

I know I don't come over the top as I don't lose anything right. Plus my swing coach told me I have a very in-to-out swing (almost too much so, which likely contributes to my hip turn issue). My drives on Friday were very straight with none going right and a few over-drawing. For the most part I get them straight, just high spin and short due to heel strikes. I'll get with my swing coach about it now that I know it's happening.

[Shrek74]

5 minutes ago, cnosil said:

I am posting this partially in jest to your earlier comment about taking divots.  Why take a divot

 

 

In reality you don't need to take divots like the pros due. You can still compress the ball properly and only "bruise" the turf, but that needs to be more precise than just taking a normal "non ditch-digging" divot.

[Jim Shaw]

6 minutes ago, cnosil said:

I am posting this partially in jest to your earlier comment about taking divots.  Why take a divot

 

 

so, this is a great topic, "compressing" the ball is relatively new to my golf game, "past 10-12 years I would say" Growing up watching Nicklaus, Watson and particularly Greg Norman, sweeping the ball was the norm. My simple takeaway from compressing the ball gives me more options on abnormal lies, hard pan fairways, divots, ball settled down etc. If I run into "perfect" fairway conditions I seque back to sweeping a bit. I have always thought of Tiger as compressing it, this video interests me, thanks for sharing.

[RickyBobby_PR]

2 minutes ago, Shrek74 said:

In reality you don't need to take divots like the pros due. You can still compress the ball properly and only "bruise" the turf, but that needs to be more precise than just taking a normal "non ditch-digging" divot.

What’s a pro type divot? If you watch pro golfers there are a wide range of divot depths.
 

Not necessarily true about what’s needed to just bruise the turf.

A shallow angle of attack with a close to neutral path will take a small divot and doesn’t require precise contact. 

[cnosil]

3 minutes ago, Shrek74 said:

In reality you don't need to take divots like the pros due. You can still compress the ball properly and only "bruise" the turf, but that needs to be more precise than just taking a normal "non ditch-digging" divot.

I am pretty sure the huge pelts of grass are simply based on the type of grass and are very misleading to golfers.   Back in my younger days I tried to get those flying divots but never could.   The answer is because I play on Bermuda grass and I can never get that type of divot. 

[cnosil]

7 minutes ago, Jim Shaw said:

so, this is a great topic, "compressing" the ball is relatively new to my golf game, "past 10-12 years I would say" Growing up watching Nicklaus, Watson and particularly Greg Norman, sweeping the ball was the norm. My simple takeaway from compressing the ball gives me more options on abnormal lies, hard pan fairways, divots, ball settled down etc. If I run into "perfect" fairway conditions I seque back to sweeping a bit. I have always thought of Tiger as compressing it, this video interests me, thanks for sharing.

this might give you a few more details on compression. 
 

 

[Jim Shaw]

16 minutes ago, cnosil said:

this might give you a few more details on compression. 
 

 

ok, thank you for that, now my mind is saying "in order to get a consistent and optimal strike on the ball, for my level of golf, ball position is more important to focus on" 

[Bogeyhunter14]

This Morning i went out and shot a 44 on the front 9 at Elma Meadows. (One off my best 9)

Finally got the driver clicking, and the wedge game was on point.

the greens were just aerated over the weekend, so the putting was tougher, but we are working our way to a consistent bogey golf.

[chisag]

29 minutes ago, cnosil said:

this might give you a few more details on compression. 
 

 

 

... Excellent video.  It also illustrates one of my pet peeves that an iron with "poor turf interaction" causes all kinds of bad shots. I have always tried to tell those folks the ball is long gone before the leading edge touches the ground on a well executed iron shot. Turf interaction is completely irrelevant to shot performance. And as you stated, types of grass make a big difference in turf interaction as well. I just don't see divots very often on hard, fast desert fairways and turf interaction always feels like a blunt force, never easily carving out a uniform bent grass divot that is sometimes so easily replaced, you can't even tell you took the divot. That all said, I certainly understand the "feel" of say a T100 going through bent grass like a scalpel and peeling out a nice divot is better than say some P790's going through the ground like a butter knife knocking out some ground. Same shot, same results just one feels so much smoother and again I get the appeal, but it has nothing to do with performance, just feel. 

[Vegan_Golfer_PNW]

more swing work today. really tried to focus on the arm structure and having the weight shift. Then the feel of keeping my arms extended through impact and using rotation for power.

[BobBC78]

Block 1: Based on an analysis of all of the UW shots outside 30-yards which I have hit since May I determined a few things; (i) that anything longer than 55-yards was a very low percentage shot, meaning that I missed the green (mostly short) about 60% of the time and (ii) my technique was inconsistent and generally not very good. Today hit a small bucket (35) balls with nothing but partial wedge shots (includes 9i) starting with the UW and moving through the 9i. I'm using Dan Grieve's method of using address position to put a governor on the length of swing which he refers to as A-1, A-2 and A-3. Hit about half the bucket with my UW starting with A-1 and moving to A-3, then hit PW and 9i with A-3. 

Block 2: At the practice green, did Mark Broadie's 20-yard fairway/rough game. 5 shots from different locations with a fairway lie, followed by 5 shots from various rough lies to different holes, scoring based on leave. Did really well from fairway lies and not so well (but about as expected for my cap) from the rough lies. 

[PMookie]

Had a pretty good range session the other night. Ball was hitting the center of the face, high due to the fluffy range. 

[Syks7]

Another solid session focused on short game and wedges.  Had the privilege of sharing the practice chipping green with the CSUN women's golf team this morning -- chipping from all sides of the green.  While I wasn't knocking them as close as they were I had a tidy little dispersion pattern, didn't blade anything toward anyone, and generally didn't embarrass myself.  In fact I might have actually looked like I have an idea what I'm doing.   After they left I went out to longer range and landed 17/22 on a fairly small practice green from the short side at 65 yards.  I followed it up with some putting practice after focusing mostly on smoothing my stroke out.  It's regressed a bit since I couldn't maintain rolling the 200 putts a week I was doing during the LAB test.    On another note, I'm quite pleased about where the greens are headed for the club championship this weekend.  They look to be headed toward a nice sweet spot between being receptive and quick at the same time.  Should be fun.