What/How Did You Practice Today?

[jbern]

3 hours ago, Wieskemp said:

Has anyone else experienced this? How have you found it? Are there other drills you'd recommend that can be done without a green or golf course level manicured grass?

I do the same thing! I've actually set up 3 gallon buckets in a "beer pong" format and try to get very specific on my landing areas. When I go to the course I try to picture the buckets at my landing area. It has helped a lot for my chipping/pitching! Stick with it and focus on pure strikes and I think you'll start to see improvement also.

Like @cnosil said, the only thing you're missing is the rollout. And I've definitely gotten this wrong, but if you're hitting your intending landing area, the rollout will come with a little course time (I've found it gets better throughout the round even).

[Wieskemp]

8 minutes ago, jbern said:

I do the same thing! I've actually set up 3 gallon buckets in a "beer pong" format and try to get very specific on my landing areas. When I go to the course I try to picture the buckets at my landing area. It has helped a lot for my chipping/pitching! Stick with it and focus on pure strikes and I think you'll start to see improvement also.

Like @cnosil said, the only thing you're missing is the rollout. And I've definitely gotten this wrong, but if you're hitting your intending landing area, the rollout will come with a little course time (I've found it gets better throughout the round even).

Thanks for the encouragement! Still a little wet and cold here but hoping the courses will open up in the next week or so and I can get on the greens.

 

Do you practice different wedges or just your favorite? I have three wedges, AW, 56* and 60* that I'm trying to get comfortable so I have a few different shots in the bag and I can attack different situations. I'm not sure if I should be switching up between all three while I'm out there, or if I should just take turns on a practice session with each. Thoughts?

[jbern]

I was able to get to the simulator last night for a driving range session. I didn't do any stretching beforehand and it showed. My first 30 swings were awful; several hosel rockets, chunks and thins. After those first 30 swings I finally got in a groove and was able to work on my swing thought of keeping my butt back in the backswing. I have a problem of dropping my butt making my spine more vertical than I'd like and it causes a lot of toe strikes. I hit about 40 shots (10 each with PW, 7i, 5i, 4hy) with that swing thought and it went nicely. Most shots were straight or slight pull with a little draw (all were playable). 

Then I moved into my driver testing.  I adjusted the hosel to each setting and hit several shots to see what performed best. The head is a 9* stock head and the + settings (+1.0* and +1.5*) were giving me way too much spin and draw (hook). Average spin in the + settings was approximately 3500rpm. Since I was drawing the ball too much in the + settings I didn't even try the draw settings that are available. The - settings both went well, but I settled on -1.0 degree so it's now sitting at 8*. The average spin was approximately 2300 rpm, height was still a little high, but it was ok, and I still had my slight draw. The -1.5* setting was producing a slight fade and was the same average height as the -1.0* setting. I don't think I had a single draw in the -1.5* setting.

Longest drive was 297.5 yards carry (I still wasn't able to eclipse the 300 yds carry mark, YET), 304.5 total, 2250rpm spin, 18* launch angle, 150' max height, 112mph club speed, 168mph ball speed.

My golf mate joined me, so that's why I don't have photos, but it was a blast!

[gavinski91]

Don't know if it counts as "practice", but I've been reading this book:

A lot of stuff that I already know and may be obvious to people who track their strokes gained and follow some of the advanced stats out there now, but still some nuggets that are useful. And I can think of a few playing partners who could really use to read it! 

[jbern]

30 minutes ago, Wieskemp said:

Thanks for the encouragement! Still a little wet and cold here but hoping the courses will open up in the next week or so and I can get on the greens.

 

Do you practice different wedges or just your favorite? I have three wedges, AW, 56* and 60* that I'm trying to get comfortable so I have a few different shots in the bag and I can attack different situations. I'm not sure if I should be switching up between all three while I'm out there, or if I should just take turns on a practice session with each. Thoughts?

I only do the bucket drill with my 54* and 58*. My 50* won't land in the buckets unless I'm doing a flop 50*, which I don't want to practice! 

For the 50*, I use a couple of my daughter's hula-hoops and try to get it to land inside of those! My golf buddy caught me saying "hit it in the hula-hoop" on course and won't let me hear the end of it! hahaha

[cnosil]

31 minutes ago, Wieskemp said:

Do you practice different wedges or just your favorite? I have three wedges, AW, 56* and 60* that I'm trying to get comfortable so I have a few different shots in the bag and I can attack different situations. I'm not sure if I should be switching up between all three while I'm out there, or if I should just take turns on a practice session with each. Thoughts?

The million dollar question.   Some players are single wedge players around the green and others use the whole bag.   I think whichever strategy you go with you need to practice with the clubs you use.   

[gavinski91]

2 minutes ago, jbern said:

I was able to get to the simulator last night for a driving range session. I didn't do any stretching beforehand and it showed. My first 30 swings were awful; several hosel rockets, chunks and thins. After those first 30 swings I finally got in a groove and was able to work on my swing thought of keeping my butt back in the backswing. I have a problem of dropping my butt making my spine more vertical than I'd like and it causes a lot of toe strikes. I hit about 40 shots (10 each with PW, 7i, 5i, 4hy) with that swing thought and it went nicely. Most shots were straight or slight pull with a little draw (all were playable). 

Then I moved into my driver testing.  I adjusted the hosel to each setting and hit several shots to see what performed best. The head is a 9* stock head and the + settings (+1.0* and +1.5*) were giving me way too much spin and draw (hook). Average spin in the + settings was approximately 3500rpm. Since I was drawing the ball too much in the + settings I didn't even try the draw settings that are available. The - settings both went well, but I settled on -1.0 degree so it's now sitting at 8*. The average spin was approximately 2300 rpm, height was still a little high, but it was ok, and I still had my slight draw. The -1.5* setting was producing a slight fade and was the same average height as the -1.0* setting. I don't think I had a single draw in the -1.5* setting.

Longest drive was 297.5 yards carry (I still wasn't able to eclipse the 300 yds carry mark, YET), 304.5 total, 2250rpm spin, 18* launch angle, 150' max height, 112mph club speed, 168mph ball speed.

My golf mate joined me, so that's why I don't have photos, but it was a blast!

The draw vs. fade in the different settings makes sense. Loft sleeves pretty much universally move the lie angle more upright when you add loft, and flatten out the lie angle when you remove it, so a driver set to -1° will normally tend to fade more than that same club set to +1°.

[gavinski91]

1 minute ago, cnosil said:

The million dollar question.   Some players are single wedge players around the green and others use the whole bag.   I think whichever strategy you go with you need to practice with the clubs you use.   

Yep. I will say that regardless of whether you do everything with one wedge (which is my preference) or have different wedges you use, mixing up your practice from shot to shot (rather than block practice where you practice the same shot 30x in a row) will get better on-course results.

[cnosil]

10 minutes ago, gavinski91 said:

, mixing up your practice from shot to shot (rather than block practice where you practice the same shot 30x in a row) will get better on-course results.

All depends on what’s are trying to practice.   Block practice is perfect for working on technique, working on a stock shot, and/or doing certain types of analysis. 

[Willie T]

Day 58 (11 Mar 24) - Worked on flighting the GW on short pitches - popping it up, lower bump and runs into defined targets “ahead” of the planned finish point, followed by more Divot Board work with the 7i. 

[Michael.Sandoval33]

3 hours ago, Willie T said:

Day 58 (11 Mar 24) - Worked on flighting the GW on short pitches - popping it up, lower bump and runs into defined targets “ahead” of the planned finish point, followed by more Divot Board work with the 7i. 

How did your GW treat you today? I was attempting bump and runs this morning as well. The dry grass conditions threw me off my game a lot, so used to heavy dew everywhere. 

[Preeway]

Got a solid hour of putting in yesterday with the Odyssey. Was focusing on 15 footers to really nail down speed and swing path. Was doing really well so moved to 25 feet for the last 20 minutes. I found that when I line up my putts using the line I draw on my balls, I am much more consistent with my stroke. I used to think it made me more accurate but I think the truth is I am able to think about less before I putt and can just focus on a smooth swing. Here is an example of my ball dispersions from 25 feet. The first pic is from putting without lining up each putt. The second is when I took the time to line up the putt on my intended starting line.

    

In truth, both were good sets of putts from 25 feet but I was clearly more consistent with my stroke when I wasn't trying to thing about where my starting line was. When working on longer putts in the future I will definitely roll a few to identify the break but then will take the time to line up each putt before putting. 

[cnosil]

13 minutes ago, Preeway said:

 I found that when I line up my putts using the line I draw on my balls, I am much more consistent with my stroke. I used to think it made me more accurate but I think the truth is I am able to think about less before I putt and can just focus on a smooth swing. 

Way out there question which comes from things I have been reading about putting. More of an educate me type of question.     When you say stroke/smooth swing are you saying you are more interested about the oath the putter moves on?  Basically if you miss a putt your thought is more to setting yourself up  to make sure the putter travels on the “desired” path?  
 

f you want more detail on what I was reading. Go here: https://substack.com/@brucerearick and read lessons 25-27. 

[Preeway]

10 minutes ago, cnosil said:

Way out there question which comes from things I have been reading about putting. More of an educate me type of question.     When you say stroke/smooth swing are you saying you are more interested about the oath the putter moves on?  Basically if you miss a putt your thought is more to setting yourself up  to make sure the putter travels on the “desired” path?  
 

f you want more detail on what I was reading. Go here: https://substack.com/@brucerearick and read lessons 25-27. 

I think that is what I'm alluding to. My "bad" putts typically happen when I make a poor stroke. In other words, I push or pull the putt, or even scuff the putter behind the ball. Most, if not all, of these happen when I try to make something happen during the stroke rather than just trust my swing. I am an overly thought prone putter and I can find myself changing my swing path if I doubt my starting line. This particular line looked like it would break at the end but after 5 minutes of putting I had to acknowledge that there just wasn't any break. But when I just rolled a ball over and putted, I found myself over thinking my starting line and pulling the putt because I was still worried it would break right at the end. I use a stencil to draw lines on my ball to help with getting lined up to take away these thoughts (still only 80%-90% effective) so I can just focus on maintaining a consistent swing path and swing speed. My best putting days come when I trust my starting line as I have pretty good speed control.

[cnosil]

36 minutes ago, Preeway said:

I think that is what I'm alluding to. My "bad" putts typically happen when I make a poor stroke. In other words, I push or pull the putt, or even scuff the putter behind the ball. Most, if not all, of these happen when I try to make something happen during the stroke rather than just trust my swing. I am an overly thought prone putter and I can find myself changing my swing path if I doubt my starting line. This particular line looked like it would break at the end but after 5 minutes of putting I had to acknowledge that there just wasn't any break. But when I just rolled a ball over and putted, I found myself over thinking my starting line and pulling the putt because I was still worried it would break right at the end. I use a stencil to draw lines on my ball to help with getting lined up to take away these thoughts (still only 80%-90% effective) so I can just focus on maintaining a consistent swing path and swing speed. My best putting days come when I trust my starting line as I have pretty good speed control.

Thanks!   I differ in that I am more face oriented.  Misses for me result in my adjusting the delivery of the face.  I don’t care about putter path.

[Preeway]

Just now, cnosil said:

Thanks!   I differ in that I am more face oriented.  Misses for me result in my adjusting the delivery of the face.  I don’t care about putter path.

I have plenty of misses from face  orientation but I think moving to the claw grip will alleviate most of that for me. But now I’m in that adjustment phase to a new grip so we will see how this plays out over the next month or so. Might have to go back to my old grip if I can’t figure out the claw for longer putts. 

[BallsLeon]

1 hour ago, cnosil said:

f you want more detail on what I was reading. Go here: https://substack.com/@brucerearick and read lessons 25-27. 
 

Going to have to give this a read!

[Steve F]

Worked irons at lunch and will continue after work. I set myself up with a series that I do with my irons: I hit one or two flatballs and then three to five normal golf balls. I'm all ears about any advice for practice regiments! 

[BobBC78]

Went to the NKGC range today for practice. Started on the practice green with lag putts, more to get a feel and warm up than anything else. Since it was not too crowded today, I was able to get in some short game practice around one of the greens. Worked on chipping and short pitches with my 52* and 58* wedges and practiced long putts from off the green. 

On the range, I hit 7-9 irons, some pitches, then hybrids, 5W and Driver. Finished by pretending to play various holes on the courses that I regularly play. I find this to be good practice because for example I will hit driver, followed by 8i and maybe a chip. For another hole (a short dogleg left at NKGC) I practiced my strategy for this year of hitting a 5H off the tee followed by a 6H onto the green.

I'm playing my first round of the year on Thursday!

[Willie T]

Day 59 (12 Mar24) - Played the front nine at Minnesott older school style - MacGregor Mike Souchak Irons (3-9), MacGregor Dbl Duty Wedge, Toney Penna persimmons(1,3,5) woods, old school bag and the well used bag boy cart…

I really enjoy the pace of walking, having to rethink distances of carry, etc.  Score was on par for what I normally shoot,  +5 for a 41.  Shot of the round was on #2, had laid up my third wanting to work with the wedge and irons greenside. I’m laying three hitting four about 50yds to the pin.  A good swing with the Dbl Duty and I watch it fly on, release with a perfect center cup line and stop here…

That close to a chip in birdie…oh well, par is good.  Total 14 putts with the old Spalding Tournament putter - I found its sweet spot and it did not fail.  Looking forward to gaming these clubs again later this month in the men’s scramble. 

Edited March 12 by Willie T

[Rob Person]

46 minutes ago, Willie T said:

Day 59 (12 Mar24) - Played the front nine at Minnesott older school style - MacGregor Mike Souchak Irons (3-9), MacGregor Dbl Duty Wedge, Toney Penna persimmons(1,3,5) woods, old school bag and the well used bag boy cart…

I really enjoy the pace of walking  walk, having to rethink distances of carry, etc.  Score was on par for what I normally shoot,  +5 for a 41.  Shot of the round was on #2, had laid up my third wanting to work with the wedge and irons greenside. I’m laying three hitting four about 50yds to the pin.  A good swing with the Dbl Duty and I watch it fly on, release with a perfect center cup line and stop here…

That close to a chip in birdie…oh well, par is good.  Total 14 putts with the old Spalding Tournament putter - I found its sweet spot and it did not fail.  Looking forward to gaming these clubs again later this month in the men’s scramble. 

Do you find yourself swinging a bit gentler using the persimmon woods?

[Willie T]

1 minute ago, Rob Person said:

Do you find yourself swinging a bit gentler using the persimmon woods?

Oh yes - the tempo is so different and yet almost natural.  Maybe it’s me, but a smooth tempo lends to some amazing ball flights…I also wonder if the “less spinny” nature of modern balls lends to the lower overall height of persimmon ball flights.  

[Triple_Putt]

Gorgeous day out here, stopped by my friends house to hit some balls into the net he recently set up. Just got himself a rapsodo too, felt good to hit with the birds chirping in a t shirt! The clubs won’t come out of the car now till Christmas 

[edingc]

Range opened!

Really productive couple of buckets this season already. Working on my balance has helped tremendously in reducing my left miss. After such a frustrating year last year dealing with low/left constantly, it's been a huge relief.

Balance wise, it has to feel like I don't turn my hips at all. If I try to turn my hips, I slide my hip backward to start my backswing and that leads to a whole lot of bad things.

A second change I've made, after spending a lot of time working on setup, is moving my front foot more forward outside of my hip socket. I naturally favor my right side, so much so that my natural standing posture and golf stance resulted in my left foot being located directly beneath of or even inside of my left hip socket. That meant during my backswing I had no where for my hips to go but backward, and in the downswing I couldn't really post up at all.

Nice change that has me striking it better and also hitting the ball much higher now that I'm not sliding into the ball.

Think it's going to be cold/rainy for a bit now, but nice to get out and see lots of ball flight.

Edited March 13 by edingc

[cksurfdude]

Well yay .. had a somewhat confidence-rebuilding practice this afternoon!

Trying to work on posture, pressure shift, path and ultimately making decent contact with each club.

Once of the big keys for me is to practice (force myself) taking more time between shots but more importantly taking my time with the shot itself - not rushing it, as I tend to do.

Had to grab a pic of this 6i in case it doesn't ever happen again

There was a bit of a headwind and the ball flew straight and true - if not all that far, but hey not too bad for an aging dude!

Only real problem today was the 4H - it thought it was on parade: Right, Left; Right, Left.

Work In Progress

[Michael.Sandoval33]

Well today was, definitely a day of patience during my practice. Let me start with the good.

Well, I felt more comfortable swinging the Qi10 Max today. My fiancé told me last night that it was time to just swing it! And so, I did, and saw some better distances for sure. A huge part of my issue has been both "the head is freaking huge" and "what if I mash it and break it during testing". Both equal parts intimidating but, I decided to take her advice. Going to continue taking that advice and let it loose this upcoming weekend some more. Also good, my 52° and 56° were killing the chipping area from everywhere. Name a spot? I chipped it from/to there. The Vokeys I got may be older, but man, what a difference. I am not the hugest believer of clubs making the player but I think my short game should reevaluate that belief a little bit.

The bad well, my irons were just not there today. The new grip position the instructor has me trying, which is standard compared to my previous death grip, hasn't clocked in for work yet. It feels like I am about to lose the club in the back swing and I lose faith in the down swing. Definitely needs work, and more work before the work even really begins. 

[Arnie C]

I hit about 200-300 range balls today. I’ve been practicing my putting mainly for the last 9 months or so. I returned to golf almost a year ago after being away from it over 12 years. I’ve only gone out for 18 once. A pathetic display really but it felt great to play again. Today I only used my pitching wedge, 8 and 7 irons. I worked on hitting my shots pure. Never been easy for me. I’ve always seem to hit it fat or thin (hosel on those mis-hits). My left shoulder is gone and my back is always painful on those hip turns. BUT I’m in love with the game. I’m like the mailman of golf. Neither rain nor sleet…yada yada . I always seem to hit better on mats. I don’t know if it’s like that for others. When I hit off grass, Lord help me!!  I’m going to keep working. At some point I’ll set up a net in the garage to keep practicing more often. Wish me luck!

 

Edited March 13 by Arnie C

[BobBC78]

Worked on full swing today by doing really short swings through the impact area (Kirk Junge's drill 1), first without a ball the with a ball, with 7i and 5H. Did about 20-reps each. 

Playing my first round of 2024 tomorrow!

[Willie T]

Day 60 (13 Mar 24) - Back to working with the Divot Board (DB) and 7i today.  The fun part is I can hit the hard foam balls out into the neighbors yard and then hit them back into mine (don't worry, I have their permission).  It is a good "real time" implementation of what was just rehearsed on the DB.    

[BallsLeon]

Went to the sim last night and played a round against a “ghost round” of myself at Adare Manor (host of 2027 Ryder cup). Messed up though and played from the tips (7510yds) vs the 6505yds my ghost was playing from .

Played really well on the front, even managing a birdie for a 44, leading myself by 5 strokes at the turn. But I blew up on the back for a 59 and lost by 3 strokes. Differential ends up being 5 strokes better, but could’ve beat myself straight up.

Spent the rest of the time rolling putts, starting with setup practice with the PuttingThing and then random putts between 1-21ft on PuttView. Went pretty well, making 16/20, misses weren’t too bad minus one that I raced by on a downhill putt.