Today's range session.

[Iowa Hawkeye]

Went 52 up to driver thru my bag as usual for full shots. Tried a few new things. I have a little push with my irons, so I used some printer labels on my clubfaces and saw I was hitting about here - [----*--) on my clubfaces. Moved up a few inches, put the ball a tad forward and rounded my swingpath a bit and it corrected that for the most part, now I have to develop that as a habit.

Still can't hit my dang 5 wood for anything.

Driver has been launching high, (19-20 on the monitor), so I teed down a scoach moved it back a hair and slid my right foot back to help the fade (my hands cant roll the club square as fast as I deliver it). Lowered and lengthened it a tad, kept the fade about 5-8 yards off center, so not too bad.

Figured out that I attack the ball to agressivley in the sand, got more of a sweep going and did ok there.

Chips still need work, but flops and pitches are looking good, had a few flag rattlers and many close.

One thing I tried just for the heck of it was coming back past paralell. Felt strange, but kinda neat. Timed it with some good lag and hit some bombs with the 7i, but didn't get a consistant flight because I get so much more speed it's hard to keep it on the same plane. Maybe an offseason thing to work on, who knows.

The putter is going back lefty, at least for this week. Jarred many more from 6-10 ft than I did right handed. Right handed has a bit of a lag advantage, but overall, I am better lefty.

Moved my front foot outward a few degrees and it has helped a little with my stability. I think that I need to work on my back foot pivot, my hips are tight and not allowing a full hip rotation like I would like. Also focused on posing the shot out to encourage good shoulder and chest turn. I don't have a good finish, but when I'm on with my swing it's a nice "High C" Geoff Ogilvy type finish. Other times it's abbreviated a bit.

Back to Chip/pitch, I've been working on the hinge and hold and its working pretty well. Any advice on how I need to follow through on the specific shot types? I tend to come through with my elbows close to straight after contact and finish about straight out, never letting the club come all the way up after the shot. On my flops I open the 60 up a bit, not much but I'm getting some really nice high Big Break flop wall type shots. On those I tend to break the elbows and let them go weak after contact so I finish about paralell with my upper arm, my forarm at a 45* angle and the wrists still hinged.

Overall, good day. Humid, sweated a lot, raking those big practice bunkers after all that sand practice sucked.

Any comments or suggestions are greatly appreciated.

[NotAStick]

Went 52 up to driver thru my bag as usual for full shots.

May work for you, but I can't do it. I have to groove my swing with a club. I hit half a bucket with ONE club each time on the range. Then I vary the other half. I know my swing pretty well and I can tell what club will help me groove the swing. When I'm off with my drive, I sit there with an 8i. When I'm pushing my approach shots, I use a PW. When I'm making poor contact with my irons, a 3/4 swing SW or GW. Half a bucket. Once I think I "got it down", I hit that many more so that I know I've grooved that swing. I don't want to hit one club a few times, hit one solid and then switch... I want to hit it solid and then keep doing that until I'm sick.

Tried a few new things. I have a little push with my irons, so I used some printer labels on my clubfaces and saw I was hitting about here - [----*--) on my clubfaces.

Grab an old muscle-back iron with a similar lie as your clubs. Try using it on the range a bit so you can feel those. Just a thought.

Moved up a few inches, put the ball a tad forward and rounded my swingpath a bit and it corrected that for the most part, now I have to develop that as a habit.

eww, I hate moving the ball and swing plane around, unless i'm sure it's wrong. Each time I try to adjust for some shot-pattern.... if you're adjusting the wrong thing, you're just digging a deeper hole. If I make a swing change as drastic as you described, I've got 2 buckets of balls waiting for JUST that swing thought.

Still can't hit my dang 5 wood for anything.

Why not? Topping it? Does it fit you? Maybe the swing weight is way off. If it's a mismatched club, it may have a drastically different swingweight than your other clubs and be very difficult to pair with what else you have in the bag.

Driver has been launching high, (19-20 on the monitor), so I teed down a scoach moved it back a hair and slid my right foot back to help the fade (my hands cant roll the club square as fast as I deliver it). Lowered and lengthened it a tad, kept the fade about 5-8 yards off center, so not too bad.

Teeing it down and moving it back in your stance usually increases spin and does little to help with launch angle. Are you sure it's not the position of your hands at impact?

Figured out that I attack the ball to agressivley in the sand, got more of a sweep going and did ok there.

I find it doesn't matter as long as you hit it a consistent distance behind the ball. Swing fully, but softly and whether you hit it sharply or sweeping, it will come out (this is for good sand, not that rock hard crap at some courses and will vary the trajectory).

One thing I tried just for the heck of it was coming back past paralell. Felt strange, but kinda neat.

Eww. don't do that. most pros work constantly on SHORTENING their swing. Making it longer is just ick.

The putter is going back lefty, at least for this week. Jarred many more from 6-10 ft than I did right handed. Right handed has a bit of a lag advantage, but overall, I am better lefty.

Distance is more important than line.

Just my humble opinion.

Moved my front foot outward a few degrees and it has helped a little with my stability. I think that I need to work on my back foot pivot, my hips are tight and not allowing a full hip rotation like I would like. Also focused on posing the shot out to encourage good shoulder and chest turn. I don't have a good finish, but when I'm on with my swing it's a nice "High C" Geoff Ogilvy type finish. Other times it's abbreviated a bit.

This sounds too technical to me. So many thoughts like that is bound to make you jerky and mechanical. Maybe I'm wrong.

Back to Chip/pitch, I've been working on the hinge and hold and its working pretty well. Any advice on how I need to follow through on the specific shot types? I tend to come through with my elbows close to straight after contact and finish about straight out, never letting the club come all the way up after the shot. On my flops I open the 60 up a bit, not much but I'm getting some really nice high Big Break flop wall type shots. On those I tend to break the elbows and let them go weak after contact so I finish about paralell with my upper arm, my forarm at a 45* angle and the wrists still hinged.

So technical.... hold the club like it's a live bird. Imagine you have a dove in your hands. Now hit. If you didn't kill the bird.... or toss it... then you had a good follow through.

hehe good luck there!! that's quite a session. I usually stick to one thing at a time. I'd rather spend 4 hours grooving a swing than splitting up my time so much. That's just me. I can be kind of a nut.

[Iowa Hawkeye]

May work for you, but I can't do it. I have to groove my swing with a club. I hit half a bucket with ONE club each time on the range. Then I vary the other half. I know my swing pretty well and I can tell what club will help me groove the swing. When I'm off with my drive, I sit there with an 8i. When I'm pushing my approach shots, I use a PW. When I'm making poor contact with my irons, a 3/4 swing SW or GW. Half a bucket. Once I think I "got it down", I hit that many more so that I know I've grooved that swing. I don't want to hit one club a few times, hit one solid and then switch... I want to hit it solid and then keep doing that until I'm sick.

I usually have my swing down fairly quickly, and I get a bucket called "The Boss" it's go a looooooot of balls, ~350, maybe.

Grab an old muscle-back iron with a similar lie as your clubs. Try using it on the range a bit so you can feel those. Just a thought.

Used to play them until this season, needed something to help me get down on the ball more consistently.

eww, I hate moving the ball and swing plane around, unless i'm sure it's wrong. Each time I try to adjust for some shot-pattern.... if you're adjusting the wrong thing, you're just digging a deeper hole. If I make a swing change as drastic as you described, I've got 2 buckets of balls waiting for JUST that swing thought.

Well, it really wasn't drastic, just minor tweaking, and it's a swing that I make with my wedges sometimes, so I just have to remember to apply it to my other irons.

Why not? Topping it? Does it fit you? Maybe the swing weight is way off. If it's a mismatched club, it may have a drastically different swingweight than your other clubs and be very difficult to pair with what else you have in the bag.

It's a really small, steel head. I think it is an early version of a "TP" club. I just keep it around for a bag filler, don't use it much. A good FW is my next purchase.

Teeing it down and moving it back in your stance usually increases spin and does little to help with launch angle. Are you sure it's not the position of your hands at impact?

Fairly sure. That's what I was told it looked like by a pro/fitter. I bring my hands earlier with the longer clubs, just need to work on rolling em.

I find it doesn't matter as long as you hit it a consistent distance behind the ball. Swing fully, but softly and whether you hit it sharply or sweeping, it will come out (this is for good sand, not that rock hard crap at some courses and will vary the trajectory).

My problem was I almost chopped it and got little distance.

Eww. don't do that. most pros work constantly on SHORTENING their swing. Making it longer is just ick.

That was just for the heck of it, I'm not gonna take it to the course

Distance is more important than line.

It's pretty close, just maybe less than a foot on most lags.

This sounds too technical to me. So many thoughts like that is bound to make you jerky and mechanical. Maybe I'm wrong.

Probably, I just need to find a good consistent one to stick with.

So technical.... hold the club like it's a live bird. Imagine you have a dove in your hands. Now hit. If you didn't kill the bird.... or toss it... then you had a good follow through.

Like the last point, I just need to find one and perfect it.

hehe good luck there!! that's quite a session. I usually stick to one thing at a time. I'd rather spend 4 hours grooving a swing than splitting up my time so much. That's just me. I can be kind of a nut.

I do a lot of swinging at a tee and ball mark, just hard to find the time to make a couple hour trip to the range to actually hit balls. I feel like I get enough work in on everything to be beneficial. Being 18 and in college plus working full time in a pharmacy on a varied schedule makes things tough.

[NotAStick]

Cool.

Good luck man! Keep it up. Practice makes perfect.