What/How Did You Practice Today?

[chisag]

30 minutes ago, cnosil said:

Every putt is a straight putt to you; some people see the curve of the putt.  

 

...  I always see the curve and I play the break. But my putting stroke is straight through the ball at impact and the slope and grain move the ball one way or the other, not my putter head. On a really severe breaking putt, the ball may travel straight for just a few inches before it starts to break. The problem with poor putters is they close their putter face playing a "draw" on right to left putts and they open their putter face playing a "fade" on left to right putts. And even worse some will open or close their shoulders trying to make the putt break they way they see the line. But when you manipulate the face angle at impact, you introduce variables into direction and that causes inconsistency. 

... Just insert 2 tees about 2 ball widths apart on a practice green 10" inches in front of the ball with a putt that breaks at least 6 feet or more. You will hit your putt dead straight through the tees and it will begin to break after clearing the tees. Some will be surprised at how much they manipulate the putter face toward the break and might actually hit one of those tees. I see so many with a left to right putt, basically open the face at impact not only pushing but adding side spin that makes it move even more to the right. 


I hit this putt dead straight but with about a 8 foot break, it is already moving to the left:

 

[cnosil]

6 minutes ago, chisag said:

 

...  I always see the curve and I play the break.

I agree with everything you posted, I just don't like how you say every putt is a straight putt.     For me,  every putt is a straight putt because I don't see the curve.  

[MDGolfHacker]

Now that my daughter is playing high school golf, I've been getting a lot of practice in, LOL.  Today it was an hour putting while waiting for her to finish her 9.  Her team practiced Wednesday night at the local driving range so I went and hit a bucket of balls.  She played in a tourney last Friday and spent an hour chipping and putting...all the while running home and finishing up work, LOL.  Swing is feeling good...which is the great news, but with the new job and her golf schedule, no time to play and see if the swing will hold up on the course.  At the range I can be a plus handicap...on the course...not so much

[richk9holes]

Driving range for about 35 swings. Did something different, 2 swings each 6i, 5i and worked my way up through the clubs 2 swings each to driver. With about 20 remaining I switched to the new 48° for about 10 shots at different targets 50-100y and then PW to 3-4 different targets 100-125y.

Realized my bad wedge shots come from overswinging from the top when trying for a touch extra distance. I found a fix I think, taking a fuller swing without getting faster. 

I finished with a simulated 3 holes, by the end I felt like I had unlocked something. 

[Jim Shaw]

11 hours ago, MDGolfHacker said:

Now that my daughter is playing high school golf, I've been getting a lot of practice in, LOL.  Today it was an hour putting while waiting for her to finish her 9.  Her team practiced Wednesday night at the local driving range so I went and hit a bucket of balls.  She played in a tourney last Friday and spent an hour chipping and putting...all the while running home and finishing up work, LOL.  Swing is feeling good...which is the great news, but with the new job and her golf schedule, no time to play and see if the swing will hold up on the course.  At the range I can be a plus handicap...on the course...not so much

great opportunity to put some reps in, make sure you thank your daughter when you are beating your golf buddies lol

[Jim Shaw]

12 hours ago, chisag said:

 

...  I always see the curve and I play the break. But my putting stroke is straight through the ball at impact and the slope and grain move the ball one way or the other, not my putter head. On a really severe breaking putt, the ball may travel straight for just a few inches before it starts to break. The problem with poor putters is they close their putter face playing a "draw" on right to left putts and they open their putter face playing a "fade" on left to right putts. And even worse some will open or close their shoulders trying to make the putt break they way they see the line. But when you manipulate the face angle at impact, you introduce variables into direction and that causes inconsistency. 

... Just insert 2 tees about 2 ball widths apart on a practice green 10" inches in front of the ball with a putt that breaks at least 6 feet or more. You will hit your putt dead straight through the tees and it will begin to break after clearing the tees. Some will be surprised at how much they manipulate the putter face toward the break and might actually hit one of those tees. I see so many with a left to right putt, basically open the face at impact not only pushing but adding side spin that makes it move even more to the right. 


I hit this putt dead straight but with about a 8 foot break, it is already moving to the left:

 

thanks for the picture, putting is sooo super personal, personally i agree with your approach as it is what I do, however whenever I get too mechanical my mind goes directly to Billy Mayfair and how he would "cut" every putt and do quite well with it, until he didnt and his money making days were over.

[JStapp]

Hitting the speeds sticks hard today. With driver speed swings afterwards! Hoping to break 195 ball speed this month. 

[chisag]

2 hours ago, Jim Shaw said:

thanks for the picture, putting is sooo super personal, personally i agree with your approach as it is what I do, however whenever I get too mechanical my mind goes directly to Billy Mayfair and how he would "cut" every putt and do quite well with it, until he didnt and his money making days were over.

 

... I completely agree it's super personal and maybe the only thing you can do on a golf course the can be "fundamentally" wrong but if it works, it works. Fwiw, I am 100% feel and never have a mechanical thought when putting. So many really good putters and Isao Aoki also comes to mind addressing the ball almost off the heel with the toe way up in the air at address. In the HOF with 80 wind using that crazy stroke.  

[Vegan_Golfer_PNW]

@chiscapyday and @RickyBobby_PR. Here are my trackman numbers with my two shafts. The rogue is a mix of lofts (9* and 11*) whereas ventus black was +2 (11*) and I had the raw data on my app. No shot order was in it so I assumed the ones right after my 7w was ventus and then the last 10 or so was the Rogue White. This could all change when (or if) the guy sends me a trackman report and I can actually see what shot number was what. I do know I only hit 6 with the ventus and the rest with the rogue. This dispersion surprises me as I remember the ventus not having a lot of control and only a couple Rogues going rogue

 

[cjeffs12]

Had a really good practice today, wedges were dialed. Moved to my 9 iron where it just wasn’t great. So I really focused on getting to my lead side in the downswing and started flushing it. Then I moved away from the ball a little bit for driver and it improved tremendously. After two really good days, I’m really trying to manage my expectations for this weekend. 

[BobBC78]

Practiced various chip shots around the practice green followed by tee shots using the various clubs I could hit on the back-9 of NKGC to get ready for the playoffs of my golf league tomorrow night. 

[Haro]

On 8/30/2023 at 7:28 PM, chisag said:

 

...  I always see the curve and I play the break. But my putting stroke is straight through the ball at impact and the slope and grain move the ball one way or the other, not my putter head. On a really severe breaking putt, the ball may travel straight for just a few inches before it starts to break. The problem with poor putters is they close their putter face playing a "draw" on right to left putts and they open their putter face playing a "fade" on left to right putts. And even worse some will open or close their shoulders trying to make the putt break they way they see the line. But when you manipulate the face angle at impact, you introduce variables into direction and that causes inconsistency. 

... Just insert 2 tees about 2 ball widths apart on a practice green 10" inches in front of the ball with a putt that breaks at least 6 feet or more. You will hit your putt dead straight through the tees and it will begin to break after clearing the tees. Some will be surprised at how much they manipulate the putter face toward the break and might actually hit one of those tees. I see so many with a left to right putt, basically open the face at impact not only pushing but adding side spin that makes it move even more to the right. 


I hit this putt dead straight but with about a 8 foot break, it is already moving to the left:

 

Thanks for the input.  I definitely open my putter face during my stroke on the left to right for the right handed putt   And that is certainly why I am inconsistent with my left to right breakers.    I’m not sure if I do that with right to left. But I do feel right to left breaker stroke has less manipulation 

[cksurfdude]

On 8/30/2023 at 7:47 PM, chisag said:

[L-R breaking putts]

.. both are mental and not mechanical

Agreed and thx for your insights.

Have been working on putting mechanics (eg consistent setup and stroke) and a lot on distance control, and I know that either L-R or R-L breaks "should" (quote-unquote) not be any different in how you setup or stroke the ball buuuuttt...

I do seem to under-read the L-R break more often vs any other putt (while also allowing that, yes, I may be unconsciously pushing it a bit but am also trying to learn to distinguish mis-read from mis-hit)...

[Vegan_Golfer_PNW]

Swing work in the park. Two good things today. No hosel rockets. Most balls were starting to the right with a baby draw. Hard work paying off. Have a live lesson Thursday morning with Jayson. 

[cksurfdude]

Had a really good lesson the other day - learned that I was, of course, doing everything with the lower body the exact opposite of what one should be doing in a proper golf swing!!

Need to take out a bunch of unnecessary and wasteful moves, and keep it simple and smooth.

FYI if you didn't see this link in a recent MGS newsletter, it's to an article on Golf Digest where they dug up an instructional short movie (not a YT or other SM vid haha) from the phenomenal Bobby Jones ...

https://www.golfdigest.com/story/bobby-jones-video-breaking-90-setup-backswig-golf-digest-tips

A must watch imho and really really resonated with me. It's incredible to be able to see his swing like this!

 

[Big moose]

I have been practicing my chipping and pitching and I figured out I was letting the club head pass my hands and that was my biggest problem. That's why I kept blading the ball across the green. Now I keep my hands in front at impact and even shift my weight forward a little. Now I'm hitting crisp chips with spin and leaving myself makable putts, I even chipped  in twice. Hopefully everyone's practice is also paying off.

[sirchunksalot]

I took the 54 and 58 to the range today just because I was dying to hit some balls. I'm still not to the point that I can make a full swing, so it was short game work today. 

It felt so good to hit some pitches and chips. You don't realize how much you miss this game until you can't do it for a while. 

It wasn't perfect, I hit quite a few heavy and some thin but it was fun. 

I tried getting some photos of contact with foot spray for @GolfSpy_APH, but hitting off grass kind of muddled the contact point up. 

I did notice I was trending toward the toe with the grass impressions on the club face.

After I started hitting I had to walk back to the car to get my phone out of the back and I noticed a familiar putter cover in the bag of another player on the range. It's the first time I've seen another person with a Cobra putter in their bag.

I asked if he was using the Agera and he told me it was the Nova. He also mentioned how much he loved it. That started up a good conversion and he also let me know the guy he was with just bought a set of the LTDx irons. 

I hit the putting green after finishing my bucket and did pretty good with the Agera. I spent about 45 minutes rolling balls before I got overheated and left. 

Today was a good day.

[BobBC78]

Practiced at NKGC today:

Started on the practice green with 7i and SW chips, followed by 40-foot lag putts. For the latter, I picked a hole with some slope, paced off 40' dropped a head cover then putting 5 balls back and forth (basically downslope and upslope) twice in each direction (so 20 putts); got 14/20 to 5' or less (goal is to get all 20 to 5' or less). Needs work. 

On the range, I warmed up with some PWs then began testing a Maltby KE4 Max 7i and a Cleveland 3+ Hy-Wood. Both show promise, but more evaluation needed.  Worked on tee shots by identifying an area in the range which was about fairway width and hit one shot each Driver, 4W and 7W trying to keep all three in the fairway. Due to the club testing I didn't spend as much time on this drill as needed nor was I able to get all three consecutively in the fairway, so this will be a focus going forward. I liked the tee shot drill because it provided some performance pressure. 

[Syks7]

Got the garage 'Simulator' up and running today which means that I finally got my Garmin R10 to function happily indoors.  I can't hit any clubs beyond a punchy 7 iron (low ceiling joists) until I make some framing updates, but everything functioned shockingly well.  Got some good practice in with my wedges and short irons.  Focused mostly on contact but also working into distance control later in the session.  Then for fun, I did a little sim round on my local Par 3.  +4 for 18 holes.    The game seems much easier when you're just aiming for the auto two putt circle from 100 yards...  Probably a good indicator that I should forgo firing at any pin and just aim for the center of the green.  Given how well the Garmin worked today in my slowly evolving garage hitting bay I guess I'll cancel that GC 4 order for the time being.    Its going to be nice to practice at home whenever I feel the itch.

[WaffleHouseTour]

Trying hard to not lose the Smartball as I clearly have here…

Trying for a more vertical and less horizontal swing, more to compact  have a couple different drills to do w the smartball  but I cannot yet successfully perform them  

 

 

[RickyBobby_PR]

1 hour ago, WaffleHouseTour said:

Trying hard to not lose the Smartball as I clearly have here…

Trying for a more vertical and less horizontal swing, more to compact  have a couple different drills to do w the smartball  but I cannot yet successfully perform them  

 

 

Have you tried doing the drills to just lead arm parallel?

[BobBC78]

Chipping with my Edison 54* an 59* in the yard today. I've bought these when they first came out and had the Company reshaft them in graphite earlier this year....and haven't really used them. Changing that for the remainder of the season. 

Practice today consisted of chipping with both wedges using the practice station Bryan Pate describes in the video linked below (w/o the Trackman, LOL) to work on keeping the Launch Angle at 30* or less. Mostly hit these shots too high, so more work needed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1m4Y-EcpcI&t=69s

Edited September 6, 2023 by BobBC78

[cksurfdude]

4 hours ago, WaffleHouseTour said:

have a couple different drills to do w the smartbal

 

2 hours ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

Have you tried doing the drills to just lead arm parallel?

 

Yeah similar comment - start out with *slow* half swing pitch shots. The thing does feel awkward at first, so work up to full speed, full swings...

[cksurfdude]

1 hour ago, BobBC78 said:

Practice today consisted of chipping with both wedges using the practice station Bryan Pate describes in the video linked below

I've seen a similar setup but with 3 crossbars for low-med-hi trajectories; also seen that practice extended to include hula hoop targets on the opposite side laddered at different distances for extra challenges!

[GolfSpy_KFT]

Had about the best ball striking practice session of my life today. Set up a ball a club length behind your ball angled inside, and club length ahead of your ball angled outside to help promote in to out and a draw shape (I tend to get way inside on the downswing so thought this may help me). I have never seen the ball move left to right (lefty) so consistently in my life. I was hitting crisp shots as well, fatted maybe one and thinned one towards the end when fatigue started to set in. Also the first time in recent memory where I could pick my target, pick a start line to the left of it, and have the ball land near the target. To say I am thrilled is an understatement. I went through GW/9/7/6 and it was less of a draw shape with the 6, but still straight. NO LEFT MISSES the whole time with irons. Used the same drill with driver and still had some slices, so that club continues to be a work in progress. None were massive and most would have been playable I think. Only one with driver where I could get that draw shape.

I could tell my tempo was quicker with driver than my irons. Maybe that played a role in I was not in sync as well. Going to keep working at it. 

That will now be an every range session drill. What I didn’t do was then take the visual away and try it without, but I’m going to slowly work up to that in future sessions. 

[cksurfdude]

Decent, if heat shortened, session (90s feels worse somehow in Sept vs Aug!).

Started and ended with putting, focused only on distance control on approx 10, 15, 20 footers from various breaks and uphill/downhill. Didn't make many but pretty happy with the overall results .. hi %tge left within 1 foot!

On the range tried to work on my new movement pattern from my last lesson .. mixed up clubs and targets, with a lotta short wedges .. decidedly mixed results but hey you know....

Work In Progress!

[Mrecio87]

With off season approaching I’m looking to work on some bad habits I’ve developed over the past few years. I particularly want to lower my trajectory/ball flight on my irons. Over the last year or two I’ve begun pulling my lead shoulder adding loft resulting in tremendously high ball flight. I can work around this is good conditions but I’ve lost ability to work the ball and into any significant wind the ball balloons like crazy. 
I’m looking for any drills or training aid suggestions to work on once the weather turns cooler and I’m playing less frequently.

Edited September 7, 2023 by Mrecio87

[No3PuttLaLa]

Was on a a lot of conference calls today. So, I lined up my Putt Out and worked on rolling it. Still haven’t found the 3 putt cure, but I’ll let you know once it arrives.

[GaryF]

On 9/3/2023 at 12:00 PM, cksurfdude said:

Had a really good lesson the other day - learned that I was, of course, doing everything with the lower body the exact opposite of what one should be doing in a proper golf swing!!

Need to take out a bunch of unnecessary and wasteful moves, and keep it simple and smooth.

FYI if you didn't see this link in a recent MGS newsletter, it's to an article on Golf Digest where they dug up an instructional short movie (not a YT or other SM vid haha) from the phenomenal Bobby Jones ...

https://www.golfdigest.com/story/bobby-jones-video-breaking-90-setup-backswig-golf-digest-tips

A must watch imho and really really resonated with me. It's incredible to be able to see his swing like this!

 

Bobby Jones wrote a book, I think in the 1960s and has been reprinted a number of times, called Bobby Jones On Golf.  It’s an interesting read and with a much older vernacular of English, but it describes every facet of the swing using terminology of the times.  I’ve read it about 3 times and each time pick up something I missed before. 

https://www.amazon.com/Bobby-Jones-Golf-Instructional-Greatest/dp/0385424191

 

[Josh Parker]

Got in a little range time yesterday.  I have had to much lower movement lately so I did the feet together drill and focused on controlled rotation.