30-Day (Was COVID) Practice Plan Challenge - April 1-30 2020

[metaswinger]

I feel like my hips are in the correct place but am wondering about the upper body.

 

 

[SteveH]

1 hour ago, billchao said:

You can upload your videos to YouTube after editing them on your phone, or if you want them on your computer, you can connect your phone to your computer via usb and transfer the files that way.

Thank you.  Went online and found out how to get them to the computer, next step to figure out how to shorten/edit them a bit.  I see how to embed them on the forum.  Work in progress, this stuff isn't my strong point and my kids/grandkids are 1300km away, lol.  At least I am doing the drills.  Seeing it on video really shows my faults, should have tried it sooner.

[bwdial]

Sorry for cutting off the very beginning.  I was editing in my phone and managed to cut off my position at address.  I was very conscious NOT to look back at my takeaway, so that's good.

 

 

[iacas]

Some things I'm not seeing about Day 5:

• I'm not seeing many people checking to make sure the toe is down slightly at A6 before they hit the ball. Check that.
• I'm not seeing many people pausing (or pausing for more than a fraction of a second) on the downswing. PAUSE, so you can re-focus on what comes next.
• I'm not seeing many people with their hips properly forward. Make sure you're landing on your left leg during the downswing and getting your hips forward.
• I'm not seeing many people really giving consideration to their finish position. Check the checkpoints in the follow-through.

[Sean_D]

Finished day-5. This is very similar to a drill my coach has given me. He calls it L to L, but the concepts are very similar. He never included the left wrist flexion, he always presented it a wrist rotation, I like/understand flexion better.

[iacas]

1 hour ago, Sean_D said:

Finished day-5. This is very similar to a drill my coach has given me. He calls it L to L, but the concepts are very similar. He never included the left wrist flexion, he always presented it a wrist rotation, I like/understand flexion better.

Relative to the rest of your body your forearms don't really "rotate" much, so… yeah. I like calling it flexion more so as well, since that's more what it is, I think.

[WillieT]

Day 5 recorded - while I do a lot of short swings from this position when chipping around yard, I was surprised to realize just how much I shut my hips/lower torso down.  It was like a light went off when working on this today - get the hips to pivot so they clear out.  As I worked on the stop at A6, dbl checking for the slight toe down and then making swing thru to pivot the hips and finish high.  Thanks Erik for the challenge and getting me to seriously video and openly critique each step of the way....

 

[iacas]

As much as you can, get that weight finishing on the front foot, @WillieT. Glad it's helped though.

[NM Golf]

Day 5 completed. No video, had to do it over because my swings were too long the first time around and the second time around it was pretty dark. Good news is I ordered a net and mat today so I can start hitting balls for real when it gets here on Wednesday. 

[Darkfrog]

14 hours ago, billchao said:

Feels work differently for different people.

Completely agree, and didn’t mean to imply this would be good for everyone. I arrived at that feel after my instructor tried multiple feels to help me get it. Finally she had me do a slow motion swing, and at the start of transition she grabbed the clubhead and turned it into the right orientation and what I felt in my left wrist was a throttle motion (at least in my mind as I’ve never revved a throttle in my life). I do have a commuter bicycle with a twist shifter, so maybe it’s more like shifting one gear down on this, but it’s a right hand shifter, so not exactly the same.

Day 5

Really tough time with today’s drills. Maybe it was the rain/mud or maybe thinking about pulling the club through impact with my lead hip confused my coordination but I hit almost every ball poorly, mostly fat. I struggle with stalling hip/shoulder turn, so I’ll have to try this one a few more times. Seems similar to some some of the Planemate exercises but didn’t struggle so bad with the bands attached. 

[WillieT]

1 hour ago, iacas said:

As much as you can, get that weight finishing on the front foot, @WillieT. Glad it's helped though.

Thanks for the feedback Erik. I am working on that area in particular...bad part is I lost the toes and most of the skin on that foot in a motorcycle wreck in June 2016.  Not an excuse, just a different learning curve as stability is not the best on that foot due to nothing there beyond where the toes would normally join the foot.  Hey, that just makes the steps fwd that much sweeter. 

[DeadMan]

Did the drill today, but without a ball. I need to drag my net out of my basement and try it with a ball. I really like this drill, too. My hips do stall during my downswing, and this drill could help combat that. Sometimes that stall can lead to some shanks as well, so having this drill to go to when I need to get out of the shanks is great. I will get my wife to bring home my tripod so I can film this and day 6 tomorrow.

[SteveH]

Got caught up on my drills and finished day 5.  Day 5 was really good for me and is what my last lesson was working on too, so that was a bonus.  Watching it back on my phone has been the best thing ever for me and I have the videos on my computer now so getting there.  I hit over 200 balls into the net today and only about 1/2 dozen weren't solid strikes.  Getting out for 9 holes in the morning so will be focusing on what we have been doing. 

[Shindig]

16 hours ago, iacas said:

I don't know what's going on here. your club face is laying WIDE open on the red line, when it should be about 70° closed to that (green line).

I'd spend a long time looking at your grip and figuring out just what in the heck is going on here. It's going to be nearly impossible to play good golf from that position.

 

Thanks.  For better or worse, I have the time now.  I'll run through it over the coming days.  Is that something I can check back in through my "my swing" thread?

[bwdial]

9 hours ago, Darkfrog said:

.Day 5

Really tough time with today’s drills. Maybe it was the rain/mud or maybe thinking about pulling the club through impact with my lead hip confused my coordination but I hit almost every ball poorly, mostly fat. I struggle with stalling hip/shoulder turn, so I’ll have to try this one a few more times. Seems similar to some some of the Planemate exercises but didn’t struggle so bad with the bands attached. 

Same here... I was hitting shots fat, thin, and even a few of the dreaded "s" words.  It feels out of sync, but that's a problem I'm going to have to work on, because my current swing features hip slide forward, but very little, if any, hip rotation.

[TN94z]

I completed Day 5 yesterday. I really like the last 2 days. There are a couple of things I have been working on and I believe these are going to help quite a bit. I've got to get my camera setup going. This weather has really stacked up my honey do list.

[iacas]

Day 6 – Chipping (Leading Edge)

I prefer not to define “chips” and “pitches” by how far the ball flies or rolls out, nor by the height or launch angle of the ball, for a variety of reasons. I prefer to define a “chipping” and “pitching” motion by the motions themselves. A chip, to me, is a shot that uses shaft lean to deliver the leading edge of the club first to the ground. It’s a shot that favors either a margin of error in the lie (i.e. a ball sitting up a little in the rough) or fairly precise contact on a margin-less lie (a tight lie in the fringe or fairway). Amateurs, of course, do several things poorly when chipping:

• Open stance.
• Weight stays centered or back.
• “Throwing” the trail wrist to deliver the clubhead.
• Bending their arms to help lift the ball.

There’s just one drill for today, so do it for 5:00 or 3:00 twice:

• Put down two dimes about a clubhead width apart.
• Set up properly (weight forward, gripped down, ball in the middle of your stance, shaft forward slightly).
• Make short swings chipping the front dime while missing the back one.
• As you succeed, make longer chipping motions.

Note: I tend to teach both ends of the "spectrum" - chipping at one end, pitching at the other - with the understanding that virtually every short game shot you hit on the course exists somewhere in between. You almost never hit a "pure chip" or a "pure pitch," but if you know where the endpoints are, the rest is up to your imagination.

Video:

P.S. The second shot, where I just hit the top of the back dime to bounce it in the air, was about as nervous as I've been hitting a shot in a long time. Whew!

[iacas]

10 hours ago, Darkfrog said:

Really tough time with today’s drills. Maybe it was the rain/mud or maybe thinking about pulling the club through impact with my lead hip confused my coordination but I hit almost every ball poorly, mostly fat. I struggle with stalling hip/shoulder turn, so I’ll have to try this one a few more times. Seems similar to some some of the Planemate exercises but didn’t struggle so bad with the bands attached. 

This is where video will really help us to help you. You should definitely not be hitting these fat. Did your weight get forward properly when you got down to A6? Did you pause and think about what the next move was going to be?