What/How Did You Practice Today?

[Josh Parker]

So, I went to the range this morning and hit about 20 with the driver and was hitting them good again.  I got done with work stuff early so went and played 9 with a buddy and couldn't hit my driver to save my life.  It has always been my enemy.  On the positive side, my scrambling has been amazing and managed 5 pars.

[cnosil]

13 minutes ago, Getoffmylawn said:

Finally took the ProSENDR to the range for some full swing reps.  I have to say, I like it.  It definitely helps me maintain a wider swing arc and get a little more compression.  These flew in a lower window than my normal ball flight, and that's a good thing...

 

I want the video of you putting it on!

[Getoffmylawn]

5 minutes ago, cnosil said:

I want the video of you putting it on!

The cradle is pretty easy to get right; the blue compression sphere (doggie toy) is a little more nuanced...depends on your grip, and can take some experimenting.

[Dweed]

League play is over for the year. Since I turn a year older before next years league play I'm supposed to move up one set of tees. Decided to play from those tees yesterday to start looking at course strategies. There is about 200 total yard difference between my old tee and the new ones. Yes, there is an interesting angle vantage difference between the 2. I'll play them once or twice more before they close the course down next month. I need to plan my shots differently for sure. I did notice I only used my driver 3 times, 3 metal 4 times., 6 iron and 4 hybrid.  Very different from this past year.

[WaffleHouseTour]

Chipping practice this week. Skillest coach has me trying a new (to me) kind of chipping stroke. More of a little pitch. Have to let the club feel heavy like a brick, drop it down, slide it under with the bounce completely exposed and rotate through. Trying to get me to be less “jabby”. 
 

So here is the game:

2 points if the ball is in the hole. 
1 point if it’s past the hitting pad. 
0 points if it’s against the wall
-1 if it’s off the green (long or short)

Its two paces carry the bark and get to the green, and five more paces to the hole.  Can also play from the hitting pad to the corner hole - really short chip and can’t go long.

     

[Kenny B]

11 minutes ago, WaffleHouseTour said:

Chipping practice this week. Skillest coach has me trying a new (to me) kind of chipping stroke. More of a little pitch. Have to let the club feel heavy like a brick, drop it down, slide it under with the bounce completely exposed and rotate through. Trying to get me to be less “jabby”. 

You just described my basic chipping motion.  

[Shapotomous]

Tuesday was kind of a practice day.  I was drafted to be a par 3 designated hitter for a ladies assoc tourney.  It was a 155 yard shot which is an easy 7i these days for me.  I was allowed to hit a couple shots for the 4-some if necessary so there wasn't much pressure which was good!  I took the opportunity to do a mini ball test, comparing ProV1, ProV1x, and Snell MTB through the day.  I hoped to get some good shots to see how they performed for my swing.

I hit at least 15 shots with each ball through the day. I hit enough solid shots with each to get some consistency on distance, height and bite.  The ball flight height and bite were very similar between the three balls.  I didn't notice any of them flying higher or lower than the others.  It was one hop and stop consistently with the three balls.  I was consistently fixing the ball marks 4 - 5 feet in front of where the ball stopped.  The distance for the ProV1 and MTB were about the same, generally about 10-15 feet behind the pin.  The ProV1x was consistently 10-15 feet in front of the pin.

So I was able to see that the Snell I usually play was an equal performer for me to the ProV1 & 1x.  

[Preeway]

Great way to do a ball testing “in the wild”. I played a course last fall and was able to play 2 balls for 18 holes and compared the ProV1 with the Kirkland brand. Was able to tell by the end that the Kirkland wasn’t a good fit for my game. Shot a 75 and 77 respectively but the ball spin and driver distance was enough to make the Kirkland a no go. 

[Kenny B]

10 hours ago, Vegan_Golfer_PNW said:

Went to the range for the first time since my in person lesson. Have been doing feels and whiffle ball work at home. Today was the best range session I have ever had. I was seeing the ball start right of target and draw back 2-5 yards either on target or just right. The same thing with my woods. On top of that, my launch also seemed higher and when I saw the balls fall they just stopped. The main feel along with the arm structure is trying to hit the heel of the club. My main miss due to old flaws is to pull my arms in to compensate, so that feel helped me keep my arms extended at impact and really centered the shot. I still have some work to ingrain the arm structure and then get my upper body moving properly. 

Looking good!!  Must be the beard.  

What's with the thumb off the shaft?  

[Vegan_Golfer_PNW]

7 minutes ago, Kenny B said:

Looking good!!  Must be the beard.  

What's with the thumb off the shaft?  

Ya idk. Just does. I don’t have a tight grip on way back and then I do on way down. I guess I’m just super relaxed. 

[Shapotomous]

9 hours ago, Preeway said:

Great way to do a ball testing “in the wild”.......

Yes, i like that kind of data collection to confirm and verify what launch monitor data says. At the same time I know my little test wasn't "scientific" and isnt applicable to anyone but me.  I can tell by feel when i hit it well enough that i can use that shot for comparison or toss it as an outlier.  There were enough good ones through the day with each ball for me to have confidence in my conclusion.  

Similarly, i have hit thousands of 50 yard backyard wedge shots over the years with lots of brands of found balls.  Over time i can tell which fly higher, longer, spin less, feel harder/softer, etc than the snell and prov's which perform and feel about the same to me.  Certain callaway and bridgestone models are similar for me to my gamers.

I found it interesting that some go longer and higher with the 3/4 wedge swing.  But when i the take those to the course to test with the driver, there is usually less distance than the snell & prov's for me.  Its all about testing for yourself to see what does and doesnt work with your swing and feels good around the green.

[cksurfdude]

In line with both...

16 hours ago, WaffleHouseTour said:

Skillest coach has me trying a new (to me) kind of chipping stroke. More of a little pitch. Have to let the club feel heavy like a brick, drop it down, slide it under with the bounce completely exposed and rotate through. Trying to get me to be less “jabby”. 

..and ..

16 hours ago, Kenny B said:

You just described my basic chipping motion.  

.. so during my last lesson, just a few days ago, I asked my instructor to take a few minutes and look at wedges - short chipping and pitching - and he had me work on what sounds like the very same thing.

Been practicing that at the range and think I'm starting to get it (a little bit ). Seems like I'm making better contact more often, and also starting to get a better handle on distance control.

FYI here's a short Zach Johnson YT clip that I think illustrates it well - he mentions he has the feel of an all-arms motion .. and to think of an image of Steve Stricker...

 

 

[russtopherb]

I posted an update in the Mizuno Long Game testing thread, mostly about the dummy mark I put on my new driver.

Aside from that, my range session was really productive - worked on shoulder turn and contact with irons and woods, and saw some very consistent ballflight. I wasn't so consistent a few times with irons on the course yesterday, however I think some of that is old habits that have been creeping in as of late. So I am putting in time at the range to banish those poor moves forever. 

Ended with some wedges to specific flags and while I tended to end left, my distance was pretty good. Also worked on chipping from the rough in the short game area. 

[birdiesandbags]

I like practicing at my local muni , next to the chipping the grass is cut in 5yrd strips . Using that as a distance control for my Flop Shots . 

 

[sirchunksalot]

I went to the range after work planning on meeting up with a guy from work and having some fun. 

I just hit a small bucket again today working on ridding myself of the toe strikes that have been showing up lately when I hit pitch shots. I placed a box outside the ball and hit some shots where I made contact with the box. I've still got some work to do, but saw some pretty positive results.

I worked through some other clubs and with the exception of 3 wood, I was happy with how things are going.

I moved on to the putting green getting some more time in with the Agera and has some of the best shots so far with it. I got a couple of shots over 10 feet that found the bottom of the cup and lagged a couple from 35-40 feet to tap in. Overall, distance control was better that I have seen with the putter.

Mitch didn't show up until I was getting ready to leave. We didn't make specific plans, so I had gotten there early. I hung around as he went through a bucket and shared a couple of @chisag drills with him. 

We had a fun time talking everything golf. I love chatting with a fellow golf geek. 

[Vegan_Golfer_PNW]

Rough range session but that’s good. Means my body is trying to make changes, so there will be bad days. Did get some cool looking ball flights today when I wasn’t trying new feels, just swinging like I was playing a round. For reference, back mound is 280 out and this drive landed right at the start of it

 

[revkev]

Found some shade on the range which let me have a nice practice session. Definitely liking the move to hitting mainly wedges. It creates great rhythm by the time I move on to longer clubs. Absolutely flushed fairway woods and driver before finishing with wedges again.  

[Josh Parker]

I got out this morning to start over on the driver and after warming up with some wedges started fresh with the driver.  I have decided to go back to basics working on grip, balance and rotation.  I kept my feet together and hit for a while to work on rotation and not swaying and then moved on to my normal set-up.  

[GolfSpy_APH]

Going to hit the range for another gapping session later this morning. While my first one was okay I didn't hit the ball well and with a tournament coming up I want to have some better set numbers with T series. 

Changed out my 58 back to my ping glide 2.0 es as it's just better out of bunkers and seems to be more versatile than the Mizuno. 54 is still up on the air. Both play well and feel great. So a little chipping practice is in order as well.

[ZoonORama]

With a trip to Hawaii coming up I wanted to get my swing timing tuned up. I went over the range today to work on driver, chip shots and sand shots. Started with the driver working on fully rotating and found the sweet spot for ball height and position. Now I am pretty consistent off the tee (at least for today). 

Moved on to the pitching area and tested every wedge from various distances to get a feel of low runners and higher shots. Found I only really need a PW and GW. Seemed to cover about 90% of what I was going after.

Sand shots took a little time but started getting out consistently every time - up slope, down slope and center of the bunker.

Now hoping to get 9 holes in before I leave on the trip.