What/How Did You Practice Today?

[BIG STU]

On 1/20/2022 at 9:57 AM, cnosil said:

Going to be a re broadcast of the people stuck on I95 for 20+ hours from a few weeks ago.   
I’ve been working from home and am caught up on most wanted testing so no reason to go out.  

I think the I-95 incident may have been a wake up call for people to pre prepare if they have to drive. Down here they are stressing over and over if you do not have to be on the roads to stay home. We are prepared which is SOP for us. Did our regular grocery shopping on  Wednesday. Got food water etc and dry firewood for the wood stove in  case we lose power

[Syks7]

Ended up taking almost a whole week off after grinding away for a week.  The body feels better and so does the swing.  I had two sessions on Wednesday followed by a lesson on Thursday.  Long story short I'd managed to add the drop into the slot into the swing but was having trouble delivering the club to the ball after (landing the plane so to speak). 

In the first session I spent an hour on just chipping kind of grooving my contact and finally rediscovered a feel that I have when I'm chipping at my best.  Its basically feels like I'm using my right hand to shove the club face under the golf ball, even though in actuality its just me delivering the bounce to the ground right after contact with the ball.  Now that I remember that it's going to be great starting point for diagnosing when things are going wrong with my touch.

The second session was really more playing practice on a par 3 course.  Managed to get 12 holes done in an hour before dusk playing three balls.  The drop into the slot felt natural but I was varying between perfect contact and super thin with some head scratchers.   I didn't really know how to diagnose what was going on and I didn't want to screw things up by trying to fix it so I just continued practice/playing and figured I'd shelve any attempts at adjustment it until the lesson the next day.

The lesson was excellent, did a bit of putting drills for helping with my lags, then really dove into the swing again.  It turns out that I was basically doing everything right.  A small setup issue and my older swing path were fighting with the new.  As it was described to me you haven't quite figured out how to land the plane from this new angle.  So we worked on making ground contact after the ball (loose hands were key).  Then moved onto the head scratchers, which it turns out were good swings with bad face angles.  To fix that we worked on another 'feel' for me that the face of the club needs to feel like its pointing straight at the ground.    It was odd, because it no joke felt like I was closing the face so much that I was going to hit it over my front toe... which turned into a beautiful little baby draw right on target.  Go figure.  So the feel of it in the swing is basically the same feeling of rolling on a motorcycle throttle.  I finished off the lesson on what I think may be the purest six iron swing I've ever hit.  Pretty fun, and I'm actually generating about 3-4 mph more swing speed with these small adustments.  Right at or above 90mph for my 6 iron for the whole session.

[PMookie]

Weather was unexpectedly warm today, so I got to hit a bucket. Probably one of the best days of ball striking I’ve had in awhile, irons, Cobra hybrid, etc. Got the Honma driver out and absolutely striped it. Really good day, I didn’t want to leave!!!!!

[Syks7]

Another good session this morning focusing mostly on making sure I hit my 'feels'. 

30 minutes on wedges focusing on making sure I groove the feeling of using my right hand to snap the club under the ball on every stroke.  Also focusing on high trajectory chips into the short side of a tight flag.  Successful on the feel, slightly less so on the short side chips.  I did much better on these low percentage shots when I realized that a longer putt coming back is going to be much better for me than leaving it short and having a short chip into the same tight flag.  It's a silly thing that it dawned on me today while practicing that many of my doubles come from exactly the situation I was practicing -- trying to get close rather than putting it on the green and accepting a two putt.

30 minutes on Putting.  Nothing fancy.  Just using two alignment sticks for practice.  3 ft. 6 ft. 9ft.  Then one sleeve from 50-60 feet for lag practice.  I made some adjustment to my swing on longer strokes per my instructor and it made a big difference.  Longer back swing, shorter follow through, and smoother acceleration.  Color me shocked, but it works and is much better than what I'd been doing.  I then putted out the results to finish.  6 were tap ins, 8 were within 5 ft, and I holed 3 more from 5-10 ft for 17/21 for two putt.  Of the other 4 one lipped out and the rest just brushed the cup.  

The last 30 minutes were on a small bucket hitting exclusively 4 iron and again focusing specifically on three feels that seem to have become key to a successful swing.  I also focused on watching the ball through contact since I've always been guilty of losing track of the ball mid swing.    Set up my alignment sticks in parallel toward a flag then did a few drills before diving right into swinging trying to focus on one specific feel each swing.  In my last lesson my instructor diagnosed every mishit in relation to the feels I'm working on and it was exceptionally helpful to be able to diagnose what was going wrong when I mishit today then to focus on the feel that would fix it.  By the end I was feeling pretty grooved in though I'm still struggling a bit with heavy and thin.  Thin seems to be related to how hard I'm gripping the club at the bottom where I drag it through rather than letting it get to ground, and heavy seems to be when I lose eye contact with the ball.  

Going to do something I don't normally do and take the day before playing off and let this session set in muscle memory before playing on Wednesday.  I don't have high expectations since I'm mid swing adjustment but it feels like its going to be more comfortable than it was the previous two rounds.   

[Haro]

Too cold to play. Working on my putting. Notice that after about 7 paces the cup doesn’t look as round, more elliptical and smaller to me and makes me change the way I putt.   So for longer putts I make sure I walk-in side 10 feet make a practice stroke looking at the hole.   Then walk back to ball and just make same stroke for the long putt as for short except it’s longer backstroke 

[Haro]

Spending too much time at the driving range. Miss being at my old club course outdoor range  we could hit it off the turf and practice on different slopes /lies    I finding it’s not good for my swing to practice on level lie Mats all the time 

I find that for my iron swing it’s helpful

to feel the slope my calves and feet and practice side hill lies with ball below and above feet 

[edingc]

Was going stir crazy in the house so I toughed out 29 degrees in the garage to hit some balls this afternoon. I'm out of propane for my heater and UHAUL was so busy this morning I couldn't get a refill...

Struggled a bit with contact until I realized I had started to crowd the ball too much again. Fixed that up and focused on changes from my last lesson with a lot of success.

Hit a few "rhythm" wedges to end the session and really liked the tempo and swing on this one:

 

[Haro]

Driver swing was off at the range too and tried a different right hand grip where a fully supinated my right forearm. This gave a mucho strong right forearm grip   My right forearm is usually between pronated or fully supinated.  Trying the Bryson idea to try to get at maximum end range of motion for my right forearm 

Anyway. Seems to work really coupled with changed in grip type. Using the interlock delays my full pronation at the end to get the whip effect   It’s feels like I need to have a lot of pressure on my right baby finger against my left forefinger to coordinate the lag effect. 
 

The other thing I tried for the “end range of motion effect” is pronate my lead forearm fully in chipping and putting this puts the shaft against the forearm and my thumb is at the back of the handle rather than on top of the handle   Which feels strange but I’m finding that good distance control as long as I keep the putter/chip grounded and lock my wrist and forearms and move my upper arms only one hinge. 

[Haro]

There is a beat up chipping green at my local range and notice some golfers practicing chipping from the  green  and not taking any divots from the green.  Been practicing that nifty shot and at first hit it thin but after practicing it develop the hang of it. I take out lower loft wedge Pw or GW , lift and forward press a bit and hit it like a lofted putt. Okay to hit a bit thin but not fat   Not sure when I would actually use this shot other than if there was irregular shape green and putting meant I had to putt through fringe to the pin 

This practice help my putting Realized how important it is for me have a forward press which delofts the club face for chipping /putting. Rather than a “angled press”  which opens up the blade that better for flops/lobs 

[Syks7]

Got in a about an hour this morning.  Medium size bucket with just my 5 iron, alignment sticks, and launch monitor.   The goal was to do the same thing I've been doing with drills focused on specific feels initially then working up to full speed.  The sticking point so far in making these adjustments is unlearning my over the top outside in swing path.  It's been a whole decade of self taught honing to get this swing swing into something serviceable and getting away from is F****** hard.   

In spite of the troubles fighting ott I had a really good day today.  In perusing my instructors instagram and watching all the slow motion videos  pros club head paths and transitions I ran across kawamura28's instagram.  Long story short his smooth transition from backswing to slot was a motion that I immediately understood that I knew how to and could make.   I figured it would be worthwhile, given my struggles, to see if attempting this move put me in the position I'm trying to be in.  I have no idea whether it looks like what he's doing but imagining my club head taking the same path in concert with the drills I've been working on seemed to have good effect and and I was absolutely striping the 5 iron throughout the session.  I saw more than a few 1.40 & 1.41 smash factors off the launch monitor along with some eyebrow raised carry numbers.  I was also producing really nice baby draw ball flight right on target with the alignment sticks.  This isn't to say that I didn't miss, but today was one of those days where there was a more of that amazing well struck iron feeling than the opposite. of misses, but overall I think there was actually more of the 'god that felt good'  feeling than the the opposite.   My game feels like its in a totally different place than it was last year at this time when I was fumbling around and frustrated.  Excited to keep pushing forward  this year.

 

   

[PMookie]

Had a lesson today via FaceTime with my old coach out of New Orleans. Went well and was very quick. He didn’t even charge me for the 30 min. We went through what I need to work-on, drills for it, etc so I feel good about it. The whole focus is on my lower body and how to get it to move properly. Best thing is I can do a couple of the drills anywhere since they don’t need a club at this point! Good stuff! 

[Haro]

Working on my chipping styles   Had an AHA moment while I was chipping on side hill lies    When the ball was on the severe ball above my feet lie my weight was at my heels and was easier to chunk 

I prefer to play the ball with weight on my toes   For me I feel I can produce a much more control chip around the greens that bounces and checks or rolls to the cup. 
 

I been trying to play the severe slope with ball above my feet by lifting my heels rather than to swing with the slope as I find easier to hit it fat a chip squating down 

Edited February 4, 2022 by Haro

[No3PuttLaLa]

Took the new Cleveland wedges to the practice green and worked on getting the feel of them. Was able to figure them out pretty quickly and got the balls to check. Pretty happy with the purchase and will keep hitting the practice green as the wedge game is by far my worst part of the bag. 
Time to change that and shoot low! 

[sirchunksalot]

Took a trip to the range today and it was chilly out there. I think the temperature was 37 at 3 p.m. and there was a pretty good breeze. I'm actually regretting not taking the push cart and playing, as the course was empty. 

I started out hitting some short chips hitting toward specific spots on the range. I moved up to 50 yard pitches concentrating on keeping my right arm connected because I feel like that's been a problem causing my shanks on those shots. I was finding contact to be a little toey.

Same story with my 9 iron, toe shots were the order of the day. I'll have to work on that going forward with some differential drills. My main concern today was finding a rhythm with my swing that promotes me getting in to my lead side. I was taking 3 swings back and forth to get a feel and hitting, keeping the feel fresh in my mind. 

Driver was pretty good, I was keeping contact relatively centered but it did tend to be high on the face. 

I finished off with some time on the putting green, I had my putter grip changed and wanted to get some quality time in with it. 

[GolfSpy_SHARK]

Just rolled some putts on the mat. Got a few minutes in and my daughter decided she wanted to play basketball (Mini hoop in the basement)

[Haro]

Practicing short game and bunker play  

I am really inconsistent  with greenside bunkers .

Longer bunker shots are easier for me as I hit the ball with little sand and it come of like pitch shot  Fells like the same energy swing as pitch shot

With  short bunker shots inside 20 yards  I have to learn to swing twice hard and take sand and ball together

Its definitely a feel  shot  to figure distance control. I been using more of 'square" wedge face to take more sand.

squatting and twisting my feet in the sand and  look for a landing spot on the green

[Syks7]

I need to swear off big buckets.  SMH.  Ugliest range session I've had in a while.  I had plans to set up the launch monitor and adjust my distance tables and dial the wedge distances, but instead it turned into a grindy range session where I was in search of my feel.  Totally my own fault, 8 hours of sleep over two days sent my body into rebellion and everything was out of sorts.  After some initial frustration I turned it into a session of how to be deliberate with my setup and swing when I'm feeling tired.  It didn't get a whole lot better but I took 'el hosel' out of the picture and started to at least get straightened out.  Called it a day and pitched/chipped the rest of the bucket before heading over to the chipping green.  That was much, much better, and the practice calmed my nerves and helped me find the contact I'd been missing. 

Resolution for the rest of the year, no more big buckets.

[RickyBobby_PR]

26 minutes ago, Syks7 said:

I need to swear off big buckets.  SMH.  Ugliest range session I've had in a while.  I had plans to set up the launch monitor and adjust my distance tables and dial the wedge distances, but instead it turned into a grindy range session where I was in search of my feel.  Totally my own fault, 8 hours of sleep over two days sent my body into rebellion and everything was out of sorts.  After some initial frustration I turned it into a session of how to be deliberate with my setup and swing when I'm feeling tired.  It didn't get a whole lot better but I took 'el hosel' out of the picture and started to at least get straightened out.  Called it a day and pitched/chipped the rest of the bucket before heading over to the chipping green.  That was much, much better, and the practice calmed my nerves and helped me find the contact I'd been missing. 

Resolution for the rest of the year, no more big buckets.

Or maybe have a better plan for your practice session. 

[bens197]

It’s nice(r) out and feels like it’s almost 40. We had sun and no breeze so naturally, I grabbed a wedge, in this case my 50. 
 

Took some outdoor swings just to get the feels and went inside to hit some short chips in the family room. 
 

The seasons approaching…53 days until The Masters!

[Syks7]

18 minutes ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

Or maybe have a better plan for your practice session. 

I'm not really sure how adjusting my distance tables was a bad plan for a range session, especially considering that I've been quite comfortable with my swing and contact over the last couple weeks.  120 golf balls = about 9 or 10 shots per club.    It wasn't as if I was just going to beat golf balls.

The original plan went sideways and it wasn't possible to do what I had planned to do and I was left standing there with a large collection of 100ish golf balls.  With a smaller buckets, if I'm off  I just chip the remaining 20 odd golf balls and call it a day.  An option I seriously considered along with bagging them and coming back another day.  In the end I took it as an opportunity to practice while I was feeling the same way that I feel late in a round on a hot day, e.g. not peak.    The point to all of this is that had I selected a smaller bucket I wouldn't have had to make that adjustment or decision.  It had nothing to do with having a better plan.

[Syks7]

13 minutes ago, bens197 said:

It’s nice(r) out and feels like it’s almost 40. We had sun and no breeze so naturally, I grabbed a wedge, in this case my 50. 
 

Took some outdoor swings just to get the feels and went inside to hit some short chips in the family room. 
 

The seasons approaching…53 days until The Masters!

You sir are a much braver man than I.  Indoor chipping would not be a good idea for me.  

[RickyBobby_PR]

1 hour ago, Syks7 said:

I'm not really sure how adjusting my distance tables was a bad plan for a range session, especially considering that I've been quite comfortable with my swing and contact over the last couple weeks.  120 golf balls = about 9 or 10 shots per club.    It wasn't as if I was just going to beat golf balls.

The original plan went sideways and it wasn't possible to do what I had planned to do and I was left standing there with a large collection of 100ish golf balls.  With a smaller buckets, if I'm off  I just chip the remaining 20 odd golf balls and call it a day.  An option I seriously considered along with bagging them and coming back another day.  In the end I took it as an opportunity to practice while I was feeling the same way that I feel late in a round on a hot day, e.g. not peak.    The point to all of this is that had I selected a smaller bucket I wouldn't have had to make that adjustment or decision.  It had nothing to do with having a better plan.

Instead of jumping right into distance chart spend 1/4 to 1/2 bucket chipping, pitching and full shots to get into a flow then spend the rest of the bucket working on distance.

The days you aren’t doing distance checks spend 1/4 bucket on movement pattern. 1/4 bucket on golf shots, 1/5 bucket on scoring shots and 1/4 on playing a few holes in your head 

[PMookie]

Went to the range, finally! Hit 8 iron doing some drills, then put two drivers against each other: Honma TR20 with Ventus Black 70X vs Callaway Max LS with MMT 70S. Oooo, it was REALLY close! The Honma felt a million times better for sure, but I’m hoping to get them on the course Friday to do some head-to-head. 

[cnosil]

Worked on alignment after todays most wanted session.  Had Harry check my setup and I was closed to the target line.    When I was square to the line,  it felt so open but path numbers on the quad were better.   

[bens197]

3 hours ago, Syks7 said:

You sir are a much braver man than I.  Indoor chipping would not be a good idea for me.  

It’s a good test of discipline.  I have a target 3 feet away and it’s focused on short swings making ball first contact.  Helps to slow my brain…also, there are not any windows nearby…

[Shapotomous]

I've been doing a good bit of indoor putting on a mat the last few weeks because the weather has been so cold.  Focused on one handed drills and being right handed my left hand really struggles to keep the face square compared to the right.  I have noticed there is a big difference with left hand drills if I keep the shaft angle aligned with my left arm angle (much more so than with my right).  Most would probably say this is obvious and recommended by a lot of putting teachers.  Now for my set up process, after i get aligned and in the correct posture I make sure I have my left arm and putter shaft in line.  Most times it means I raise my hands a little.  I've been seeing good results inside and yesterday on the practice green, can't wait to take it to the course.

[cnosil]

12 hours ago, bens197 said:

It’s a good test of discipline.  I have a target 3 feet away and it’s focused on short swings making ball first contact.  Helps to slow my brain…also, there are not any windows nearby…

It definitely is a good discipline test.  I frequently chip into a trash can or between rooms using an almost golfball and working on ball first contact is what I do as well.  I tend to drop the right shoulder and put to much pressure on the right foot causing me to hit the floor first.  

[bens197]

1 hour ago, cnosil said:

It definitely is a good discipline test.  I frequently chip into a trash can or between rooms using an almost golfball and working on ball first contact is what I do as well.  I tend to drop the right shoulder and put to much pressure on the right foot causing me to hit the floor first.  

It’s really a good drill and a good test of focus.

 

My floor first fault is letting the club get ahead of my hands.  On higher lofted shots, I would often think of feel over technique and try to keep the head open as the bottom edge of the trailing edge grazes the floor.  It’s something I like to do on short sided chips and quite often works…it just takes confidence and reps.  The unfortunate consequence is when I get tired or lazy, that habit tends to find its way on pitches and I hit it fat.  So the discipline, it’s so important.  

[GolfSpy TCB]

Into my 3rd week of not touching a club due to intercostal strain.... still feeling tenderness in the lower right ribs... so my "practice" has been trying to educate myself on how to swing correctly, considering my injury may have been a combination bad swing mechanics and age.   I can hopefully improve one of those items, the other is out of my control.  

[chisag]

2 hours ago, bens197 said:

My floor first fault is letting the club get ahead of my hands.  On higher lofted shots, I would often think of feel over technique and try to keep the head open as the bottom edge of the trailing edge grazes the floor.  It’s something I like to do on short sided chips and quite often works…it just takes confidence and reps.  The unfortunate consequence is when I get tired or lazy, that habit tends to find its way on pitches and I hit it fat.  So the discipline, it’s so important.

 

... Really good stuff. I am always amazed at how bad the typical Am is at chipping. It is such an easy shot to execute. Of course it takes time, practice and dedication to get the ball close and be a really good chipper but just making solid contact and hitting decent chips is easy IF your focus is on technique or feel and not the end result. So much of golf is based on trust.

... I had a chip yesterday after pulling a 7 iron and leaving me an almost impossible chip that had to hit a slope that would send my ball to the left, then get through some more Bermuda rough and the fringe and then a little down hill to the hole on a fast green. After getting a good idea of what I thought the ball would do I executed the chip with my full focus on making perfect contact and was rewarded with a 3 footer to save par. I felt like it was the best shot I hit all round. I could hit 5 more and not get it closer and still have 6-15 feet but what I would not have is a chunk or a bladed chip because I looked up too quickly or allowed the thought of a probable bogie (or worse) to enter my thoughts. Just execute the chip and let the results take care of itself. I still have problems with the Bermuda grain late in the day as sometimes it releases and sometimes seems like it hit velcro, but what I don't have is poor contact or improper technique because it is such a short shot and my focus is always execution/feel and never ever the result.