What/How Did You Practice Today?

[cksurfdude]

Spent some time at the range trying to get myself to make a better pressure shift and do it earlier in the swing, too .. still very much a work in progress...

Hit a bunch of shots with one wedge (54) working on distance control from 5 out to 50 yards, and back in. Reasonable.

Hit a bunch of 7i shots to targets at about 95 and about 135 .. also still very much a work in progress... Some shots fade and some shots draw.

The main event was a quick test between two driver shafts - and I think I'm switching. It's a 5F3 vs current gamer 40/A and I seem to be getting a much stronger ball flight (eyeballs only, no LM).

The lighter shaft definitely no question in my mind helped me get comfortable with the driver, and now as my swing is evolving/improving I think I'm able to get a little more with the slightly heavier shaft.

Followed up with some time on the putting green working, as usual, on long lags and distance control, on mid length putts trying to keep the ball within 3 ft of the hole and on the around the clock drill at about 5 ft. Mostly pretty good.

Playing tomorrow afternoon

[Ball0]

I worked on power today and getting my Toptracer 30 down to a positive handicap. At one point I was a +1.5 handicap, but I started hitting the ball too far and ended at a 2.9. I did,  however, set the day's long drive at 319 yards.

[arobledo1293]

A day late but I’ve been working on getting rid of my early extension and fatting shots. I found a drill from Eric Cogorno and put a wedge underneath my trail foot. The wedge shouldn’t fall until after contact. That’s helped a ton on making better contact. Also I changed my grip on my trail hand and focused on tucking my right elbow more into my stomach at set up. That change made me compress the ball way more and got more distance and height as well. 

[Dweed]

Heavy rain cancelled our league play this morning. Looking out the starters window I saw more standing water than fairway, so I guess that was the right call. Went out to the ole backyard barn to do some net swings. I usually use impact tape on my irons to track where I'm striking on the club face. It struck me after my first swing that more often than not, my first shot usually is in or very close to the center circle. Shots 2-10 can sometimes bounce around on the face a bit. For those of you who use impact tape, have you noticed that by chance? 

 

 

[ILMgolfnut]

Backswing drill

No practice per se, but a Fit For Golf workout followed by a drill I got from FFG (link above) to extend the backswing a few more inches: Make a backswing, get to the top, hold that position, then pump your hands twice a few inches toward the target. Then return to address position and repeat. The purpose is to stretch the muscles that control the length of the swing.

Edited July 30 by ILMgolfnut

[Willie T]

Day 194 (30 Jul 24) - played the weekly 9 hole round with my good friend, with a slight twist for me as I played up a set of tees (where he plays) with a 10 club bag setup: 3wHL (17 deg), 3h (20.5 deg), 4-Sw (TA 845s Silver Scots (late 80’s).  Had a blast, almost drove the green on 8, had a couple of birdies and several pars.  Biggest issue was the greens had been sanded so holding the greens was tough and those old Tommy Armour wedges (PW (48), W3 (52) and SW (56)) just don't spin like the new stuff...wonder why they are only 30+ yrs old!!!  Still fun, shooting a laid back 40.  

Edited July 31 by Willie T

[rkj427]

Rain stopped here late in the afternoon, and after dinner I walked over to the course close bye and practiced putting for a couple hours.

This course typically has very fast greens, but with the rain all day, it appeared they didn't mow the greens, so this allowed the green to be more representative of the other local courses.

Practiced distance control from 30 - 40 feet, trying to leave them within reasonable 2 putt range, and then spent about the last 45 minutes making putts from 10 feet to 3 feet.

Fell pretty good about putting now, and hoping it transfers to the course tomorrow.

[Lefty11]

I’m going to focus on improving my driving, which was off recently. My driver has been in timeout.  I also need to tighten up my short game, so I’ll definitely be working on my wedges.

[daver920]

I spent some time on the practice green trying to stand a bit more upright at address and moving a little closer to the ball. Previously I'd had to hunch over a bit too much to get my eyeline where it needed to be relative to the ball. I'm hopeful that this will yield a bit more consistency with my stroke. I know I need to develop a more consistent set up anyway, and this seemed like a wise place to start. We'll see if that ends up being true.

[ClevelandGirl]

“Played 18” at my friend’s sim. These are practice sessions even if we play a course. He’s actually my club fitter though we struck up a golf friendship. So we “played” a course in Montana. He talks out loud most of his shots, and I’ve started to pick up the habit, so I’m learning a lot about course management on these sessions, which I think is starting to translate to the actual course. We talk about strategy like to break 90 I need to avoid the big blow up holes but for his 3 cap, he needs to avoid doubles.  He likes my attitude that bogey = par at my level. 
 

In any case, he’s not set up for putting so has it set to 2 putts if you hit the green, and 1 putt if you land within 12’ of the pin. I mean, a 12’ putt is not a gimme, especially for me, but his point is he wants me to think about pin position and getting it closer. So with that in mind, and I’m a crap putter unless you need a 40’ lag, I bagged a 44/43=87 - doesn’t count but it sure boosts my confidence!

[Erin B]

I practiced course management yesterday. It helped with my greens in regulation. It involved getting the tee shot in playable position, even if it’s in the rough. I did have two drives on two par 5s that were in the rough but were in a playable position. One I hit DOD and was within 50 yards of the green, the other involved hitting a high 6 iron to 80 yards to the green. Both lead to GIR and Birdie putts. I ended up par on both holes. ️ I was 50% GIR but it’s a start. Putting usually saves my arse but I want to get to 75% GIR so it gives me more birdie opportunities.

[Josh Parker]

Heading to the practice green in a bit to work on putting and some chipping.  After the last two rounds, I have left a lot of birdies out there on the course just inches short.  Making the right reads, just not getting the speed right.  

[Michael.Sandoval33]

Spent the morning at the range. Irons still feeling really good and speed/distance is coming. Spent about 12 balls on the Qi10 Max today to work on my swing there, things were better and less over the top. Was able to actually launch my 3w after hitting so many demo shots yesterday with 5/7 woods. It was nothing special, but better than before. Putting was ok, reads were good, tempo was actually faster than usual. Chipping was good today, worked on flop shots for the first time ever, which I could see being useful. Overall, pretty solid today. 

[Willie T]

Day 195 (31 Jul 24)  - Is July almost over?   Today was trail arm work, focusing on getting in the "slot" so to speak - more vertical takeaway and getting the club in and through.  Definitely needed this...first 8 balls (hard foamies) were chunkies, skinnies and just plain bad contact.  Then I realized this motion is very similar to when I would one handed grounders to the boys' ball teams back in the day.  So I started rehearsing that move (even tossing an "imaginary" ball and swinging through it one-handed.  Time for the second round after hitting the first balls back.  The 2nd round of 8 went much better - again rehearsing the hitting sequence and then making easy swings.  Finally the third and last round was "on-course" simulation, i.e. rehearse hitting one-hand grounders and then setup to hit and make the smooth swing through the ball.  Much better contact and most shots were bordering on baby draws with better overall carry.  All told about 50 swings (I would hit the balls back to where I was "teeing" from with two handed swings.  

Here's a link to Zach Allen (kinda like his stuff) on a version of what I am talking about: 

 

[Ball0]

 I had one last day working with the Toptracer down the road. After the power focus day the other day,  I decided to work on shot shaping and control. I was on route to setting a course record on the Naruo Golf Club virtual course. Had to get a 105 yard shot within 75 feet of the pin for birdy. BANG! The man behind me cursed Russian slurs while the ringing in my ears subsided from him hitting the range guards. I hit my shot, looked back confidently at the monitor,  and to my dismay his power shank registered as my putt. My gimme birdy went to a bogey. No worries,  3 under, B@NG! His Russian hosel rocket registered as my drive.  Over and over this happened, but I shaped the ball well from his worm burned lies among the trees of Japan. The session was a learning experience with my swing and an interesting exercise in dealing with disappointment. 

[buckpillar]

Got some ExPutt practice in, it helped me find that my grip was out of alignment with the data I was getting. removed and reinstalled the grip. Numbers are looking a heck of a lot better.

[Jawmusique]

Worked on shoring up my takeway.  For whatever reason, it's been such a slog to change it.  Working on taking the club through my hands and then up; I've struggled with bringing the club way inside. 

Edited August 1 by Jawmusique

[Overspark07]

(Yesterday) I spent some time yesterday working on the mechanics of a low-flighted, spinning pitch shot, as I was disappointed in a round the other day with how much the ball was rolling out. I did a little work with an alignment stick extending the shaft of my lob wedge, doing some "ribcracker" practice swings, then hit around 35 balls from a mat on my patio at a Home Depot bucket 15 yards away. Not good. I had probably half those head straight into the grass 3 yards away at a 45 degree angle from the target. I realized I need to change my weight distribution a little (keep it on the lead leg a little more) as I think I was blading the ball with an open club face. I then hit another round of 35, all of which landed near the target this time. There was still too much variability in the flight height, so will probably keep at this for a bit.

[Willie T]

Day 196 (1 Aug 24) - midday round with son and grandson and it was hot and humid, heat index over 100.  A lot of words to say “icky sticky”.  Struggled with consistent ball contact.  Best shot of the day - 90yds out on par 5 13th, laying two hitting third.  Indi 50 deg GW delivers pin high left less than 2’ from the pin.  My son shakes his head.  Overall despite the heat and humidity, an enjoyable round.  

[Erin B]

I played, worked on course management again. 
67% GIR today, Tuesday it was around 50%. I did try out the GT3 today. I think it helped. The new Titleists are ! Not this year though. 

[DashingDane]

Spent two hours at the range tonight. 80% of focus was on hitting my driver straight. I have had a slice for months and hook when trying to compensate. Got a bit better today but definitely cost me some distance. Need some professional help as I'm unsure what is causing it and have a hard time identifying what I did correct when hitting good shots. 

[arobledo1293]

More iron practice today. Compression of the ball and finding the center of the face is getting better and more consistent 8 iron is starting to for 155-160 carry and about 90 feet in the air. 

[TJ Hall]

Got a little indoor putting practice last night, hoping to spend some more time practicing tonight before playing tomorrow morning.

[donyell94]

Been working on being able to draw my irons more consistently and it looked pretty good this morning before I had to get to work. Days like today make me wish I could get in a round before I head into the office.

[Lefty11]

With the rain coming and going today, I've been practicing my putting indoors.

[Byrnzee]

Went to the range this morning before work to get some practice in. I recently started working with an instructor on Skillest and he gave me a drill to try out to improve my swing. There are three main things I need to work on:

1. Setup: specifically ball more forward in my stance. He told me for pretty much all irons to have the ball under my left ear to help with more consistent contact at the bottom of my swing arc. I was also standing too close to the ball.
2. Takeaway: I was hinging my wrists too laterally (flexion) vs. vertically (deviation). I was losing my hands too far away from my body in the takeaway. So one of the drills I'm doing is takeaway with feeling like hands move towards right thigh, then hinge vertically before rotating to the top.
3. Transition: need to feel like the grip moves towards the ball on the downswing. In addition, I need to feel like my head stays back behind the ball because my upper body was shifting too much in transition.

I'm already starting to see great results just from this first lesson and I'm excited to see how I can continue to improve moving forward!

[Indy_Oz]

1 hour ago, Byrnzee said:

Went to the range this morning before work to get some practice in. I recently started working with an instructor on Skillest and he gave me a drill to try out to improve my swing. There are three main things I need to work on:

1. Setup: specifically ball more forward in my stance. He told me for pretty much all irons to have the ball under my left ear to help with more consistent contact at the bottom of my swing arc. I was also standing too close to the ball.
2. Takeaway: I was hinging my wrists too laterally (flexion) vs. vertically (deviation). I was losing my hands too far away from my body in the takeaway. So one of the drills I'm doing is takeaway with feeling like hands move towards right thigh, then hinge vertically before rotating to the top.
3. Transition: need to feel like the grip moves towards the ball on the downswing. In addition, I need to feel like my head stays back behind the ball because my upper body was shifting too much in transition.

I'm already starting to see great results just from this first lesson and I'm excited to see how I can continue to improve moving forward!

Which coach on Skillest? I follow a couple back home in the UK and will likely try Skillest lessons at some point. 
Andy Carter is the coach I’m considering. 

[Byrnzee]

1 minute ago, Indy_Oz said:

Which coach on Skillest? I follow a couple back home in the UK and will likely try Skillest lessons at some point. 

I decided to search for Skillest coaches in my area in Chicago. I found Greg Baresel, who's been an instructor at a local course for many years. He had good reviews and I enjoyed his teaching style. 

Skillest also has a search setting that will recommend coaches they think will work best for you. I didn't end up going with their suggested coach, but not a bad place to start. 

[Hacker60521]

3 minutes ago, Byrnzee said:

I decided to search for Skillest coaches in my area in Chicago. I found Greg Baresel, who's been an instructor at a local course for many years. He had good reviews and I enjoyed his teaching style. 

Skillest also has a search setting that will recommend coaches they think will work best for you. I didn't end up going with their suggested coach, but not a bad place to start. 

@Byrnzee I thought Skillest was more of an online platform. Why did you want a coach in the Chicago area?

[Byrnzee]

Just now, Hacker60521 said:

@Byrnzee I thought Skillest was more of an online platform. Why did you want a coach in the Chicago area?

It is indeed, but I wanted someone who I could potentially have access to in-person 2-3x a year. Since he's an instructor at a local course, he said I could come out to work with him there if I want.

Also helps that they're in the same timezone as me, which means receiving feedback during normal daytime hours. Skillest recommended a coach in the UK for me - I'm sure they're great, but there might be a lag in communication because of that.

Similarly, a local coach may have more familiarity with the area. I can tell him I tried doing something on a certain course and he may be able to give specific tips that relate to that style track. May be a stretch, but just something I considered when selecting my coach.