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

[JGus]

Day 23 for me is an immediate fail, I don't have a true pre-shot routine, I think I have to many as I probably do something different every time.  But I will start working on that while i'm stuck at home.

But do have a question based on watching the ones posted.  Do swings or 'feel' moves (i.e., Justin Rose) not count or fall into the pre-shot routine?

Edited April 23, 2020 by JGus
Added question

[billchao]

3 hours ago, woodzie264 said:

@iacas, @billchao, @boogielicious, right now while I have certain things I’m working on in my PP (To include my takeaway), I recently have included two rehearsal takeaways to A2 into my routine. I don’t think this would be something long term (maybe, maybe not), but would you encourage this (as it reinforces what I’m working on) or discourage it (as it wouldn’t likely be part of a lifelong pre-shot routine?

I use my feel piece in my pre-shot routine. The feel is my swing thought for the swing. When it changes, so too will the feel piece of my pre-shot routine.

38 minutes ago, JGus said:

But do have a question based on watching the ones posted.  Do swings or 'feel' moves (i.e., Justin Rose) not count or fall into the pre-shot routine?

As I stated above, my feel piece is part of my pre-shot routine. It's the last (or almost, apparently) thing I do in my routine because I want it to be the focus of my swing.

[DeadMan]

Preshot routine:

Notes:

• 2 practice swings
• Line up my shot with an intermediate target
• Knees settle in with a last look at my target
• Fire off the swing

I think this works pretty well for me. It's probably a little bit on the fast end, but that's okay for me. I do things fast - just ask my wife. I'm not standing still really at all. Anyways, here's the video of me doing the routine a few times.

After this, I want to add a waggle when I've taken my stance. I'm sort of doing that already, and I think it would keep me motion. So, new routine:

• 2 practice swings
• line up shot with intermediate target
• get into stance, shuffling/settling knees a bit
• Look at target, one waggle
• Fire away

[Darkfrog]

Day 23

Preshot routine was something my instructor told me to work on, so I do have a semblance of one. 

Pre-pre-shot routine: Two practice swings. First one is a slow rehearsal, focusing on one technical swing element I’ve been working on. Lately this is making a full turn without much lead hip movement away from target. Second practice swing isn’t full speed but it’s not a rehearsal swing.

Pre-shot routine:

1.  Stand behind ball on target line and pick an intermediate target about 12 inches ahead of ball.
2. Walk up to ball, align club face to intermediate target with club in left hand.
3. Keep club face aligned to target, take stance and grip.
4. Lift up club head to check that face is square (grip not too strong) and right and grip is good, then set behind ball again, wiggle toes (no idea why). 
5. Two waggles, if you can call it that. Kind of a Snedeker-like tap the sole of the club on the ground then hover for a second.
6. Swing.

Total time was 20 +/- 3 seconds, not counting the practice swings. I could probably do without the grip check, but if I don’t do this my grip will gradually get stronger and stronger as  a round/practice session goes on, so it’s a necessity for now.

I use an in-round post-shot routine to characterize shots as bad, OK, and good, sometimes add a short note on scorecard about contact/ball flight. Something like: “OK/toe/nGIR short”. I hadn’t thought to have a post-shot routine for practice, but it’s kind of an obvious thing to do now. 

[SteveH]

Day 22  Setup

Day 23 Pre/post shot routine

I have never looked at this before.  My instructor/coach told me I should slow things down a bit and watch what my shots do but I never realized how quick I was.  If I do take a practice swing, and it's only occasionally, I do it before I aim.  I always stand behind, visualize and then step in.  I use a target and aim club face, then take stance and grip.  Then it's just a couple of taps or a minor waggle and go.  It is always under 10 seconds from stepping in to finish. I am really poor at holding my finish/watching the shot and analyzing but have been trying to do that lately a bit more.  My iron distance control and ball striking is the most consistent part of my game  but I see this is one area that would benefit from a little more time. 

[iacas]

Day 24 – Trail Arm Pitching

This is one of my favorite drills to really nail in hitting proper, good pitch shots. By removing the lead arm and hand, you remove a bunch of leverage, and must rely on the weight of the clubhead “falling” while you pivot to hit solid, good pitches. Try to do any of three things — 1) let your elbow separate from your body, 2) thrust your trail arm at the ball, or 3) flip your wrist to try to slide the clubhead under the ball — and you’ll meet with disaster.

Drills today:

• 6:00 – Hit pitch shots with just your trail hand.
• 2:00 – Hit pitch shots with both hands, keeping the lead hand on the club very lightly.
• 2:00 – Hit pitch shots with both hands on the club normally.

Video:

 

[boogielicious]

This was a fun one. I set up indoors with a drop cloth, which worked out pretty well. I did it a few times to get the right hand version down. I also noticed that I’m wearing the same clothes in almost every video. I’m not really sure what day it is other than Day 24.

 

[SteveH]

Day 24.  I tried this with my LW, SW and PW.  I actually found it a little easier with the PW but I did this with the LW which only has 7 bounce.  I am wondering if it would be easier with more bounce as it is easy to stub if I don't rotate ?  Anyway, got it done early today as I have  a tee time in an hour so will get more practice.

 

[metaswinger]

Day 23

This one is really relevant.  I felt pushed at 25 secs and I know there are plenty of times on the course i stand directly over the ball stiff and going through a mental checklist.  I need to do away with that.  Introducing a waggle feels good.

 

 

[billchao]

Day 24:

I do trail arm pitching as a regular part of my short game practice. Went straight to the 50° wedge because I will pitch the 55° and the 60° over my net. Even the 50° just barely makes it at times.

2 hours ago, boogielicious said:

I also noticed that I’m wearing the same clothes in almost every video. I’m not really sure what day it is other than Day 24.

Weren't you picking on me in my swing thread about my clothes? Do you even know what day of the week it is anymore? 😜

[dennyjones]

7 minutes ago, billchao said:

Do you even know what day of the week it is anymore? 😜

I missed garbage day this week.   W/O a schedule it's tough!

[Double Mocha Man]

2 hours ago, boogielicious said:

This was a fun one. I set up indoors with a drop cloth, which worked out pretty well. I did it a few times to get the right hand version down. I also noticed that I’m wearing the same clothes in almost every video. I’m not really sure what day it is other than Day 24.

 

What's the black & white photo on the ice chest?

[woodzie264]

Day 24 - pitching 

filmed a few “dry” practice swings with right arm only, then with ball, then both hands w/light left grip, the regular grip. 

I always love pitching drills, today was fun

[WillieT]

Day 24 drill - thought it was going to be a breeze.  But the only breeze was the one blowing outside. I found this to be extra challenging in that I could do better in single arm mode and that introing the lead arm into the swing brought out the tendency to send the ball everywhere but up and out. This drill reinforced the swing issues I have noticed such as swing out to in, how my hips don't clear and how I love to try to scoop the ball....I noticed toward the end of the drill that I was feeling a rhythm.  Also when I introed the lead hand and let it "float" in front of the club I hit much better to where when I did a full grip the same sensation of feeling the ball glide off the face was there...

 

BTW @iacas - we have a guy in our men's church group whose rotator cuff is so bad all he can do is pitch/chip one handed.  Around the greens he is deadly with a 9i, PW and putter....

[boogielicious]

36 minutes ago, billchao said:

Do you even know what day of the week it is anymore? 😜

No.😩

28 minutes ago, Double Mocha Man said:

What's the black & white photo on the ice chest?

It’s my iPad. I use MirrorVision to practice and film.

[metaswinger]

Day 24

Hit the mat a bit with this and that is a good thing.

 

 

[saevel25]

Day 24 Golf Drills, 

 

[Darkfrog]

Day 24

Did alright with the one-arm pitches, but didn’t feel like I had any control of the ball’s starting direction. Also it seemed like I thumped the sole of the club further behind the ball than when pitching normally with both hands.

After 25 balls with one arm, switching to both arms, even with my lead hand only lightly gripping the club, felt much easier.