What Are You Working On?

[Littlebigman]

Just by reading about standing too close to the ball with your irons, hands almost touching the inner thighs, too fast of a tempo, instead of trying to score low I should just try to fix my long iron game and then worry about the score.  The summer is almost over and I have yet to shoot an under par round for 18 holes, but I have shot a 71 on a par 70, so I am right there, hopefully this switch in my swing will help me achieve my goal. The only goal I have had all summer, that and improving my around the green play.

[Stretch]

I think (and I probably shouldn't say this for fear of retribution from the golf gods) that after 18 months of thinking about and practicing my full swing almost every day, my body has -- finally -- more or less learned how it is supposed to wave a golf club at a ball.

That is to say, I can now do it more or less the same way every time without concentrating on anything in particular, as far as gross motor movements go. Which is allowing me -- finally -- to focus on some of the smaller nuances and get immediate feedback on those.

Right now I am working on getting a higher ball flight with my irons. Always been a low bullet hitter with mid to long irons and battle to stick elevated greens. Mike Mc suggested (via evolvr) keeping my weight more centered over the ankles at address (tend to hang my shoulders out in front of my toes) and trying to hinge my right wrist earlier in the takeaway. Those two changes alone had me hitting my 5 iron maybe 10 yards higher today.

[Inebriated]

- Driver setup.  Trying to hone in on where to place the ball in my stance, and how high up, for the best shot.

- Fairway woods.

- 3 and 4 iron.

- Chipping.

[bunkerputt]

Working on getting lower on my backswing and even lower on my downswing.  That's the feel anyway.  It looks pretty level on camera.  I've always tended to stand up some both directions leading to flips and an inability to finish in a proper position.  When your brain knows you're going to blow out a joint, it just slows your body down for you.  If you can't hit a full finish at speed, you can't keep your hands moving quickly through impact and the club tends to flip.  Getting the head lower with the butt back on the downswing lets you bypass the tension in the left hip by keeping the knees more fluid.  It's also easier to stand up to a full finish than it is to shift into a full finish.  I was lagging my PW so much it was flying around 170...pretty much like a 7-iron flight.  A few more drills and I can back off on the lag some to get the launch just a touch higher for the fall.  It's nice building that kind of iron game in Texas with 45mph winds.

[iacas]

Less goofy wrist movement at the top of the backswing. Arms down faster. Tucking butt more.

[Tiger Spuds]

Working on developing more power in the swing. Flexibility exercises for a fuller turn, concentrating on fully cocking the wrists and maintaining the shaft angle for longer on the way down. I carry around 255-260 at the moment but I'm confident I can gain another 10 or 20 yards.

[bunkerputt]

Working on the following:

Ballstriking :

* Feeling like the elbows are pointing at the ground throughout the swing.  They aren't but this move keeps my head centered and steepens my shoulder plane, which is something I've always struggled with.
* Neutral takeaway.  I tend to yank it inside and open up the face.  Then I arrive at my destination: compensation city.  Neutral, slow takeaway ~2 feet or so sets me up for good tempo and an on-plane downswing.

* Turning as deep as my balance will allow on the backswing.

* Coordinating left knee to target move and karate chop with arms to start the downswing.

* Staying in flexion past impact, finishing with the elbows pointing at the ground then the target.

Pitching:

* Same exact things as above, but backswing is shorter

Chipping:

* Same exact things as above, but backswing is even shorter

Putting:

* Good setup and neutral takeaway

* Good rhythm

Mental:

* Focus and ball flight visualization

[Stretch]

Looking ever so slightly more like Grant Waite.

[NuclearMike]

I'm working on making more solid contact with my irons.  I found that I was standing too far away from the ball on my irons last week and worked changing my position until I had a flat lie with the clubhead behind the ball.  It worked well in my practice sessions on three straight visits to the range but yesterday it seemed to all go south on me.  Where I had been making good contact throughout the irons on about 90% of my shots over the past couple of weeks yesterday I was down to less than 50%.  I work weekends so I'll be  back out on Tuesday, trying again.  I have such a love-hate thing going on with golf right now... but mostly love.  I don't have much time to play but practicing with a purpose is one of my favorite things.

[MiniBlueDragon]

Working on less tilt and more rotation with the left shoulder on follow-through.

Also working on staying in correct posture a little more and not leaning forward to the ball and conscious extension of the arms rather than the current passive extension (see http://thesandtrap.com/t/53429/my-swing-minibluedragon )

[JBird]

Working on my long irons (3,4).  Have lost the ability to hit these clubs this summer and have started to work a little bit more with these clubs at the range the last few nights to regain some lost distance and get rid of the slice that has developed.

[RPMPIRE]

Working on my irons in general. I've worked on my driver and woods and so far, I can somewhat rely on them to get me in or close to the fairway. But now I can't seem to him my irons to get me onto the green or even off the tee.

Also, working out my core and leg strength to support myself after my back injury. I want to play golf without the pain!

[inthehole]

So far this week, I"ve played one night, but practiced 3.    Spent 2 hours on short chipping from the rough one night.     Spent another couple hours on full wedge shots & lastly, spent a night with my driver.   I've got a great practice range at my club - bring a bucket of your own balls, and hit anything you want, just pick them up.    It's such a great place to practice...never anybody there.    The driver is by far the weakest part of my game, but I'll be damned if I'm going to give up on it without a fight.   I just need to hit a metric $hit ton of balls to get the muscle memory thing down so it starts feeling truly natural...

[JetFan1983]

I'm working on a bunch of stuff right now, but they are related to each other, and I understand each piece from a theoretical stand point:

-- On pitches and chips, I've now learned to stand closer to the ball and swing more straight back-straight through for better consistency. I used to take my hands too inward. This has been a money change. Supplementing it with the Quickie Pitching Video has been huge too.

-- Low Point Control- This involves maintaing the flying wedge, tucking the butt, secondary axis tilt, keeping the elbows together, straight arms....

Other things I'm working on include: the Ricky Fowler take-away, feeling like I'm keeping my right arm straight on the backswing, deep hands, a flatter shaft plane overall since I used to be too steep, palmar flexion to feel the correct amount of forward shaft lean, etc.

I mostly do the hit/stop weight forward drill. It's my go-to drill and it really engrains a lot of good things. It's so easy to screw up and hit it fat or thin with that drill. I absolutely love it.

Lately, I've been practicing mostly with my wedges. Those are my most unforgiving clubs and hitting the sweet spot, having a good sequence and tempo, and controlling my low point are absolutely critical with these clubs, more so than the others IMO. When I hit my wedges solid, every other club in my bag is good. I can hit my driver great, but that does not mean the other clubs will be any good. But if I'm hitting my wedges solid, every other club in my bag is good too.

Weird how that works. Anyway, I'm lamenting the end of the 2011 season.

I didn't play golf at all in 2009 due to injury. I played like 10 times in 2010 due to life getting in the way. I played a lot in 2008 (my first year), but I had no clue what I was doing. This was really my first true season of golf. Its sad to see it come to an end. But the three+ years of studying and reading prior to this season were monumental towards making this season happen. Even when I was injured, I never stopped reading this forum and studying. In fact, I read more and studied more as a result of not being able to do much in 2009.

Lessons with an excellent instructor tied all that studying and reading together this season.

Love this game.

[bunkerputt]

Working on flighting my wedges while maintaining a flying wedge.  No joke.

[threejack]

I'm working on getting draw out of my ball being that i slice it. this means maintaining my flying wedges, using my shoulders, and not flipping through impact.

[Pope33]

Officially wintertime in Wisc. I am working on my beer drinking skills in front of a 56" TV and watching some good President's Cup in Primetime, which is awesome. GO USA! (and beer)

[gwlee7]

I am going to be working on keeping the bill of my hat "looking at the ball" until I get it right.   I struggle with this and it is killing any hopes of consistency in my swing.