What/How Did You Practice Today?

[cnosil]

Probably not the right thing to do, but I have been working on my putting and putting approach.   Ran across some info and have been diving back into the teachings of Geoff Mangum.  If you have ever read his information, his is really into brain science, biomechanics, physic, etc and the reading are definitely very tedious and detailed.   if you skip over some of the math and ramblings his videos, presentations, and documents actually some really good information.   His website is a navigation nightmare .   I've been applying some of his principles regarding the stroke and aim and based on my practice and first round I seem to be getting a little better speed and start line control.    

[PMookie]

Got to the range today to try and get some semblance of a swing before my fitting Thursday. Looks like rain tomorrow, so I may end-up at a sim to get in some swings.

[ejgaudette]

After a round where lets just say it looked like I had not played for a few weeks I went out to the net work work on strike. Everything was very thin and toey on the course so just feeling of hitting a bit more down and just a crisper strike. It took a bit longer than I would have hoped to, but finally got there. I hope to get in a bit more net work to lock that in a bit. Might still be able to get another round in this year, but time will tell.

Also did my speed work and that speed is coming back a bit now. Was a bit slower which is usual for first day of the week, should pick up later this week.

[Mr. Mushball]

I decided to take the afternoon off yesterday and went to the range.  My intent was to try to hit my new hybrid to see how it worked for me, but wound up spending my time on something else.  I hadn't had a chance to swing a club in a few weeks, and last time I was practicing I worked on my downswing.  After a few warmup swings I felt I wasn't making as good of contact as I wanted.  Spent most of the time on my shorter clubs and tried to reinforce the feeling of a smooth turn through using ground forces.  Focusing on loading on my inner right leg, waiting for the club head to become weightless at the top, then a nice smooth turn to the target.  I'd say that this is the first time it felt like it clicked through an entire session.  Didn't always get it, still have too much of the "KILL" in my swing, that  will take some time to get out.  But the goal is to lose that conscious thought and get into flow. 

That said, I gained at least a club distance on all of low to mid irons.  I think by the end I was a bit tired, couldn't quite get it with my longer clubs.   I may also need to work a bit on setup with most of the long clubs as I can't feel the turn and loading as easily, maybe too wide.  Also need to check ball position as I tend to either push it a lot, or on occasion pull.  Can't seem to get it to go down the middle.

Another thing I found off with my longer clubs is I tended to miss either on the heel, or top center of the clubface.  Both will end in a terrible thing happening.

[RichL85]

Watched the TXG videos with Drew and decided to mess around with the first few steps at the range just a bit. Was interesting to see how things played out. Saw some initial speed spikes, getting a solid 5-6 mph extra on 7 iron. Did not see the same increases with the longer clubs, which is fairly typical right now with my sequencing issues. I've got an appointment scheduled on Friday to start my next investment into my golf game, and I'm excited to see what comes out of that. Been getting a bit frustrated with my Skillest lessons recently, so I'm making a pivot and going a different route. 

[Mr. Mushball]

20 hours ago, Mr. Mushball said:

 

That said, I gained at least a club distance on all of low to mid irons.  

I forgot to mention that it's also 30°F colder than the last time I hit, so hopefully that counts for a few extra yards gained!

[cksurfdude]

(..oops posted in wrong topic...)

[edingc]

Range is still open and got out there for a nice large bucket today. Swing feels great and results are good, too. Always happens at the end of the season!

Spent some time on the putting green as well and really feel like I'm making strides there also. Wonderful day to spend a beautiful fall lunch break.

[revkev]

Hit balls for about an hour today - we got brand new Taylor Made practice balls that are really nice.  Just took my time hitting 8 irons, 7 woods and drivers and then randomly alternating between shots at differing targets to simulate play.  Our range offers lots of alternatives including a fairway trap and rough.  If you go to either end on the back range, you can also practice hitting under trees or simulate a tree lined tee shot.  

 

I really focused on stuff that I've worked on in my lessons - looking at the front of the golf ball rather than the back is a huge one for me - I've never done that before - I finding that focusing on the front left (closer to my body) side of the ball really helps me to get it started right on target and to fly with just the slightest hint of draw.  I can hit fades by making sure that I keep the toe up and holding the face open through impact - but I would not trust that on the course - it's nice to be able to hit them in practice though.  At least I know that I can do it if I need to. 

 

Beautiful day - around 85, very dry, nice fall day - pretty typical of late October for us. 

[chisag]

12 minutes ago, revkev said:

looking at the front of the golf ball rather than the back is a huge one for me - I've never done that before

 

... Good stuff Rev. One of my teaching fundamentals for chipping. Many higher index and mid index players try and scoop or lift their chips but you can't lift the front of the ball if you honestly try and make contact there. 

[revkev]

40 minutes ago, chisag said:

 

... Good stuff Rev. One of my teaching fundamentals for chipping. Many higher index and mid index players try and scoop or lift their chips but you can't lift the front of the ball if you honestly try and make contact there. 

Scott firmly believes in looking at the front of the ball for any shot where the ball is on the ground.  We haven't really talked about driver - I'm still looking at the back of the ball there.  What's your recommendation, chisag?

[chisag]

Just now, revkev said:

Scott firmly believes in looking at the front of the ball for any shot where the ball is on the ground.  We haven't really talked about driver - I'm still looking at the back of the ball there.  What's your recommendation, chisag?

 

... Since hitting your drives with a +AOA produces the best results I would be reluctant to focus on the front of the ball but as I have said many times, whatever works. My son carries his driver 280+ and occasionally starts topping the ball. I had him try and hit the tee under the ball and it straightened him out. Not something I would recommend for everyone because most will have a -AOA but it works for him. 

... I play my best when I am swinging well and focusing on the top of the ball because I just want it to be in the way of my swing, not something I am trying to hit. 

[revkev]

So I went to the range today. That sign was within 10 feet of this mess. There is another sign as you are walking into and leaving the range reminding us to use the sand to fill divots. 

I don’t get it. 
 

The club has spent a lot of money on our range. It was very good before, now it’s state of the art. Assuming a range worker or cart guy is going to come fill these is stupid - they are short handed. It’s also rude as they have other duties. People who belong to private clubs should know this. Clearly we don’t. 
 

Here’s my practice station. There’s a filled divot that I didn’t take. The line was 40 or so wedges and 8 irons (I take shallow divots). The other little divot on the left came from the half dozen fairway woods that I hit. 
 

I filled my divots, and the other guys. 
 

Oh and I hit it pretty well. My teacher was giving a lesson and watched a few swings for me. He was pleased, so was I. It’s amazing how much farther the ball goes when you strike it solidly 

[MacTourney]

Instead of waiting until the end I fill divots as I go along as needed coinciding with breaks in the action, and since finding digger-slob remains on a range is not difficult I always end up filling more than my own, but I fix other pitch marks on a green too, it's just a habit I reckon.  

Edited October 29, 2022 by MacTourney

[revkev]

10 minutes ago, MacTourney said:

Instead of waiting until the end I fill divots as I go along as needed coinciding with breaks in the action, and since finding digger-slob remains on a range is not difficult I always end up filling more than my own, but I fix other pitch marks on a green too, it's just a habit I reckon.  

It’s a good habit, I have it too from my days as a caddy.  You don’t replace divots in Florida, they won’t grow back, you fill them with a sand/seed mix. They have half a dozen boxes of those mixes on the range. It really is not hard to fill your divots. 

[chisag]

On 10/29/2022 at 10:19 AM, revkev said:

So I went to the range today. That sign was within 10 feet of this mess. There is another sign as you are walking into and leaving the range reminding us to use the sand to fill divots. 

I don’t get it. 
 

The club has spent a lot of money on our range. It was very good before, now it’s state of the art. Assuming a range worker or cart guy is going to come fill these is stupid - they are short handed. It’s also rude as they have other duties. People who belong to private clubs should know this. Clearly we don’t. 

 

... I know I say this a lot but it has been my experience in golf (and life) that people are either considerate or inconsiderate. Considerate golfers play at a good pace, fix their ball marks and others, replace/fill divots, if they play music they do so at a low level and they respect the range. Inconsiderate golfers just don't care about anything but themselves. 

... I played with 2 guys in LA back in the late 90's that introduced themselves s "2 rich Jews slumming at a muni because our CC is closed today". I laughed thinking they were kidding but they were not. A father and son maybe 50 and 70ish that drove their cart almost on the fringe, hit multiple shots from the same place and never replaced/filled their divots or repaired ball marks. I asked them politely to replace their ball marks/divots because this is my home course and they replied "maintenance crew does that" I replied no this is a muni so WE have to do that and I am sure their CC appreciates them doing it also. No they said, they pay the big bucks so they don't have to do "servants work". After 9 I thought they drove off to the concession stand, but we waited til the next group showed up, so we let them through and realized these guys weren't coming back. These guys were an extreme example but sadly not uncommon. 

[TR1PTIK]

It's been raining seemingly non-stop in DFW since yesterday morning so today I went to try out the PGATSS practice center. What a disappointment that was... The setup is ok and the GCHawk certainly appears to be accurate (not juiced in any way), but the whole point of me wanting to give them a try was the data and video capture. You'd think if they use those features as selling points on the website that they'd actually train employees to use them but that was not the case for me today. As soon as I got to the bay, the employee set the timer and took off (literally never saw him again) and I didn't even have golf balls to hit as they don't allow you to carry your bag through the store - had to walk back to the front counter and get them from customer service. When I finished, there was still no one around and the service desk was busy. Got my bag and walked out...

Anyway, I'm trying to make some swing changes and was really looking forward to the video capture for feedback. However, assuming I was actually making the movements I was trying to everything seemed to go okay. I picked up a little ball speed and was hitting very solid launch and spin numbers. Removing a few outliers, I'd guess average carry was somewhere north of 260 yards which is really good for my ball speed (~150mph). This aligns pretty well to the numbers I was able to achieve on Trackman this past Monday - got rained out at the course I was supposed to play and went to an indoor facility about 10 minutes away. I'm hoping I can ingrain this new move and add a bit more speed to it. I certainly wasn't swinging as aggressive today as I have at home while working on the changes. Of course, I'll need to get out to a driving range and record some video (at a minimum) to really see how things are doing. Might go back to the indoor facility with Trackman. It's not my favorite and I'll have to do my own video capture but seems like it would be a lot more useful than what I did today.

[GaryF]

28 minutes ago, chisag said:

 

... I know I say this a lot but it has been my experience in golf (and life) that people are either considerate or inconsiderate. Considerate golfers play at a good pace, fix their ball marks and others, replace/fill divots, if they play music they do so at a low level and they respect the range. Inconsiderate golfers just don't care about anything but themselves. 

... I played with 2 guys in LA back in the late 90's that introduced themselves s "2 rich Jews slumming at a muni because our CC is closed today". I laughed thinking they were kidding but they were not. A father and son maybe 50 and 70ish that drove their cart almost on the fringe, hit multiple shots from the same place and never replaced/filled their divots or repaired ball marks. I asked them politely to replace their ball marks/divots because this is my home course and they replied "maintenance crew does that" I reopened no this is a muni so WE have to do that and I am sure their CC appreciates them doing it also. No they said, they pay the big bucks so they don't have to do "servants work". After 9 I thought they drove off to the concession stand, but we waited til the next group showed up, let them through ands realized these guys weren't coming back. These guys were an extreme example but sadly not uncommon. 

I think golf still has a prevailing culture of respect, but to your point, there are those that are considerate, and those that are not.  We have 6 courses here and 4 are available to hotel guests, and guests that register through our website, so we get some of the guy and gal trips but 95% are respectful, ask about the area, where to eat, etc.  But last summer, there was a small group of guys warming up on the range.  As they were leaving for the first tee, one of them went through the pockets of his bag and dumped whatever trash he had on the ground, picked up his bag and started to walk off.  One of our lady members stepped in front of him and told him in no uncertain terms to pick up his trash.  Reluctantly, he did.  

[chisag]

3 minutes ago, GaryF said:

I think golf still has a prevailing culture of respect

 

... Yup, I think the majority of golfers are certainly more considerate than the guy on the street. But it only takes a few to spoil it for the many. Playing in the desert I find the craggy landscape beautiful and filled with wildlife. Surprisingly more wildlife than a forest preserve course back in the Midwest. Yet I see trash every time I play, especially beer cans thrown into bushes or the desert ground. Just dumbfounding how anyone can just toss their trash when there are trash bins at every tee box. 

[GaryF]

I haven’t been able to get out and play much lately but have been working on the range.  Most range sessions I start with one of my three wedges (doesn’t matter which one) and do partial swings at a target (60, 70 or 80 yards depending on which wedge).  Once I feel locked in, I do full swing with the same wedge.  Next is usually my 8i, then 6i, then 4h, then D.  IVe recently been testing various 5w and/or 7w.  If I do the woods, I might substitute a 7i in place of the 6i and 8i.  

Ive been in the market for new irons for quite some time.  My current, very old set have steel AMT Stiff shafts.  I’ve always liked the idea of hitting steel, but am struggling with getting my ‘younger’ distances, and know I have out-aged stiff, while with better swing technique, my driver distances are increasing, my hybrid and woods I have tested are very good.  

I’ve come to a couple of conclusions.  1) I think my iron swing is different, or more limited than that of my driver and woods.  At least as far as the amount of back swing rotation. Achieving my desired iron distances is becoming more of a struggle/effort and some frustration.  2) after trying various irons at pgtss, I think going with a lighter graphite shaft is starting to make sense, something I was resistant to a few months ago.  I’ve tried Recoil (ESX) and Tensi. I know there are also some good light weight steel shafts. For the woods, im finding I really like Project X Cypher. My driver has a Recoil ES and that is one club I am still happy with.