30-day (Was Covid) Practice Plan Challenge - April 1-30 2020

[Double Mocha Man]

4 minutes ago, JGus said:

Not saying I want it parallel, I was just using it as an example of my left arm having to bend to get there.  I have worked on shorting my swing but even with a shorter swing my left arm still bends and gets me into trouble.  I struggled trying to figure out how to ask my question, it really comes down to do I keep my backswing very short with not bending my elbow, or allow it to get longer knowing my left arm bends.  Probably still not asking/stating it correctly...

Is there a way you can work on flexibility to get your irons a little closer to parallel?  Without bending that elbow, though a tad can be okay.  A "very short" backswing seems problematic.

Edited April 21, 2020 by Double Mocha Man

[woodzie264]

I hit the towel 1-2 times, but overall did pretty well. Just videoed a few practice swings and a few real chips with the SW then an 8i

 

[billchao]

38 minutes ago, JGus said:

Not saying I want it parallel, I was just using it as an example of my left arm having to bend to get there.  I have worked on shorting my swing but even with a shorter swing my left arm still bends and gets me into trouble.  I struggled trying to figure out how to ask my question, it really comes down to do I keep my backswing very short with not bending my elbow, or allow it to get longer knowing my left arm bends.  Probably still not asking/stating it correctly...

I suggest updating your swing thread. Maybe you’re doing something else that’s causing you to feel like you need to bend the left elbow to finish your backswing. Maybe it’s not even really a problem at all.

[bwdial]

Day 21 was definitely something that I needed.  I couldn't video because of the wind... the net even blew over once.  After completing the first three steps, I spent about fifteen minutes hitting full shots with the towel behind the ball, with a great deal of success.

This has been a real focus of mine, and I can see including this in drills everyday.

[SteveH]

1 hour ago, JGus said:

Completed day 20 & 21, other than the medium length swings with a ball as I can't do it inside.

Adding day 20 drills with what I have been focusing on I think will also help me a lot, but I noticed with this drill, as I do with my normal swing, my left elbow starts to bend as I get towards the top of the swing, if I don't stop my backswing shortly after this point I'll end up looking like John Daly's backswing.  I am working on a slower backswing to help fight this, which seems to be working most of the time. 

@iacas I'm not sure if there is an answer, and I think there are probably examples of both, but is it better to shorten the backswing by stopping at the point the left elbow bends or to allow maybe a little bend to have a longer backswing.  I definitely can't get all the way to the top with the club parallel to the ground without my left elbow bending, but I think it puts my trail arm to far behind my body.  My initial answer is to focus on the left arm not bending?

This has been my biggest struggle since I started golfing just over 10 years ago.  I get super long and quick and it lifts my shoulders off the correct plane, my lead arm also folds. I am also too quick swinging back and I think the inertia may be part of my problem. I often see the clubhead in my left peripheral vision. After finally setting up my phone to do these video drills, I did some 1/2 backswings, at least that's what they felt like to me.  I was shocked to see the club was almost parallel.  I find it so difficult to control this when I am playing but when I get it working it improves my strike and my accuracy.

[metaswinger]

Day 21

 

[NM Golf]

Day 21: I only took video when hitting a ball, but I did do the reps without a ball.

 

[DeadMan]

Liked this drill. A good one for anybody who thinks they can't tell if they hit it fat off a mat. Here are some of my swings with a ball:

You can see that I struggled a bit at first in the second video. I got into a good rhythm by the end and was making solid contact.

[Darkfrog]

Day 21

Set up mat with towel about 4 inches back from the ball which felt a little close. My mat is tiny so didn’t have much room for the setup. In hindsight probably should have done this one indoors with a foam ball

Did okay with wedge chip shots, which seemed similar to the coin drill for leading edge shots.

With mid-iron I had trouble hitting mat after the ball and was hitting a lot many thin. Moved the towel back as far as I could but think I’ll repeat tomorrow in the living room.

I have a 5x5’ mat in the garage that was just delivered, but need to build a level platform to lay it on for practice in the yard.

[SteveH]

Day 20.  I think I could use a little more depth, mine seems like its a bit steep considering I should actually have my shoulder line on a steeper plane ?

 

Day 21.  I worked on this quite a bit last season by scoring a line at the range on the grass and then checking my divots.  I must admit that it has improved this year as I have been working on my rotation and ball strike.  If I don't rotate fast enough it hits fat and catches the towel, doesn't take much.  It added distance too.

 

[iacas]

15 hours ago, JGus said:

@iacas I'm not sure if there is an answer, and I think there are probably examples of both, but is it better to shorten the backswing by stopping at the point the left elbow bends or to allow maybe a little bend to have a longer backswing.  I definitely can't get all the way to the top with the club parallel to the ground without my left elbow bending, but I think it puts my trail arm to far behind my body.  My initial answer is to focus on the left arm not bending?

I measure the backswing length by how much you turn more than by the arms or where the clubhead gets to.

[iacas]

Day 22 – Proper Setup

Getting into a proper setup is important, and while we touched on it briefly in Day 1, today I’ll show you three drills that will help to ensure a good, balanced setup with the proper hip inclination, back rounding/straightness, balance in your feet, chin height, arm hang, and knee flex.

The drills for today:

• 2:00 – Club hang (check in a mirror)
• 2:00 – Weighted hang (check in a mirror!)
• 2:00 – Setup on a pool noodle, maintain for 5 seconds
• 2:00 – Check setup (in a mirror) with a mid-iron

Video:

[JGus]

15 hours ago, Double Mocha Man said:

Is there a way you can work on flexibility to get your irons a little closer to parallel?  Without bending that elbow, though a tad can be okay.  A "very short" backswing seems problematic.

It's not a flexibility issue, I think it's more of swinging wrong for a lot of years.  I struggled when I first started golfing seriously with being able to hit the ball consistently when my left arm stayed straight and my right elbow extended away from my body, I just couldn't put it together, so I worked on keeping my elbow closer to the body which forced my left arm to bend.  Been struggling with it for a long time, but these drills are definitely helping me to get into the right positions, i've played once in the past few months, but I could feel the difference in my swing.

14 hours ago, billchao said:

I suggest updating your swing thread. Maybe you’re doing something else that’s causing you to feel like you need to bend the left elbow to finish your backswing. Maybe it’s not even really a problem at all.

Good point, hopefully courses here will open up soon so I have somewhere to practice.

14 hours ago, SteveH said:

This has been my biggest struggle since I started golfing just over 10 years ago.  I get super long and quick and it lifts my shoulders off the correct plane, my lead arm also folds. I am also too quick swinging back and I think the inertia may be part of my problem. I often see the clubhead in my left peripheral vision. After finally setting up my phone to do these video drills, I did some 1/2 backswings, at least that's what they felt like to me.  I was shocked to see the club was almost parallel.  I find it so difficult to control this when I am playing but when I get it working it improves my strike and my accuracy.

When I was taking lessons my instructor would tell me to take a 1/2 swing, which I thought I was doing, but on video it was a full swing, I had to slow my backswing down a lot in order to correct not seeing my club cross the line on the left.  But like you, certain drills I have focused more on and they are really helping.

26 minutes ago, iacas said:

I measure the backswing length by how much you turn more than by the arms or where the clubhead gets to.

That makes sense, and I make a full turn, don't think I have an issue there, so will continue focusing on the drills that have been helping.  Thanks.

[WillieT]

On 4/20/2020 at 12:38 PM, WillieT said:

Was working on Day 20 next to the outside shop wall (no clear walls to work with in the home or in the shop)  when the rain started.  Will pick this up tomorrow and try to capture this on video.  Followed @iacas advice and started slowly with the swings with an old heavy headed lob wedge.  Found out quickly just how much I tend to lay the club "back" at A3.  Swing - check position - swing - check position and just before the rain it began to come together with the left arm stopping basically horizontal with good extension, the right meeting it at >90deg elbow bend, club in a good position.  Loved coming back and "NOT" hitting the wall.    

Well I got to video this today as I got to play a round with my son (my birthday present to him) and that took most of the day.  I will say this much, the drills of the last 20 days paid off as I had more confidence in the shots taken.  Enough on the distraction, here are the Day 20 drills....

and part 2 - "up the line" rather than down....

 

[WillieT]

Day 21 - Towel drill.  This is something I've read about but never really done.  First tried it off the mini-mat but wound up going off the grass.  Great drill and I know I am still coming off the back foot, overall an easy one to work on in the yard for sure....

 

[billchao]

Day 22:

I didn’t use my dumbbells because they’re the adjustable kind and they’re quite large and would make me hold my hands too far apart and weird stuff like that, so I used a steel fan motor shaft I had. It’s not quite 20lbs but it’s heavy enough to feel the weight of it in the hang.

Also realized I was rounding my upper back too much because I was focusing on looking at my feet. I caught it in the last rep with the rod when I was recording and straightened it out a little.

The pool noodle thing was quite hard.

[WillieT]

Day 22 completed while in the shop doing other things.  Subbed two gallons jugs - one w/ice the other w/water  for the weights.  Also used a 2 X 2 for the noodle.  The last was the hardest to do - balancing on anything is a real challenge for me these days with the left foot as it is.  My apologies for the DTL view of the balance as the head of the club is obscured by the ladders. Believe me, all you have to do is the feet moving to know the head is floating.  This exercise amplifies how I approach shots - focusing on bending at the hips, slight knee bend....

 

[Nail]

Day 22.