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  1. 1. Do you take a practice swing?

    • Yes
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    • No
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Posted
I can't understand how you'd play without taking practice swings. Swings are always evolving, and you always have swing thoughts in your head. You take the practice swing to rehearse it, making sure it's right before going at the ball and halfway through realizing you forgot to do something and suddenly having to redirect the club.

Here's a better question, do any tour pros not take practice swings?

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Posted
I never used to but started to recently. I find that it slows me down just enough so that I can concentrate on my actual shot.

edit* I don't take a full practice swing ever, just usually a few half swings to get a rhythm down.

Posted
Here's a better question, do any tour pros not take practice swings?

I'd say that most don't take a *full* practice swing. They all or nearly all have their half-swings and similar exercises, but it's rare to see them rear back and let loose the way a lot of amateurs seem to.

In the bag:
FT-iQ 10° driver, FT 21° neutral 3H
T-Zoid Forged 15° 3W, MX-23 4-PW
Harmonized 52° GW, Tom Watson 56° SW, X-Forged Vintage 60° LW
White Hot XG #1 Putter, 33"


Posted
I can't understand how you'd play without taking practice swings. Swings are always evolving, and you always have swing thoughts in your head. You take the practice swing to rehearse it, making sure it's right before going at the ball and halfway through realizing you forgot to do something and suddenly having to redirect the club.

I tight a half swing to loosen up. But I see a lot of people taking practice swings and digging up the course. What's the point?

i try to have no swing thoughts when I play. I look at the pin, aim, and hit the ball. And as zeg has said, most don't take fu,l practice swings.

My Clubs
Driver - LV4 10* R flex
Wood - sam snead persimmon 2 wood (for windy days)
Hybrid burner tour launch 20* stiff flex.
Irons - Tour Mode 3i,4i stiffIrons - FP's 5-PW R-flexWedge - spin milled 54.14Wedge - spin milled 60.07Putter - Victoria Lowest round 2010: 79 (par 70)Latest rounds at...


Posted

I take one practice swing to get my rythm, sometimes I will just take a half back swing with my driver/woods ala AK and Mike Weir to make sure my takeaway is not too flat

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:tmade: V-Steel 18° - M.A.S Ultralight- Stiff
:ping: G400 4-UW - AWT 2.0 - Stiff
:tmade: Tour Preferred 58° ATV - KBS Tour-V - Wedge
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Posted
I'd say that most don't take a *full* practice swing. They all or nearly all have their half-swings and similar exercises, but it's rare to see them rear back and let loose the way a lot of amateurs seem to.

Yup. Look at Tiger before a shot. If he's hitting a cut you see him with the sawed off follow through with the clubface open, if he is hitting a big hook you see his hands dropping way down and coming way from the inside, etc. You never see him take that full 125 mph swing and taking divots like amateurs like to do.

In my bag:

Driver: Titleist TSi3 | 15º 3-Wood: Ping G410 | 17º 2-Hybrid: Ping G410 | 19º 3-Iron: TaylorMade GAPR Lo |4-PW Irons: Nike VR Pro Combo | 54º SW, 60º LW: Titleist Vokey SM8 | Putter: Odyssey Toulon Las Vegas H7

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Posted
Do you take a practice swing?

aren't you the kid who locked himself in the basement a few weeks ago?


Posted
Do you take a practice swing?

It's just part of my routine. I like to take one or two practice swings to groove the feeling I want and then make the same swing with the ball in the way.

In my Org.14 Xtreme Cart Bag
Driver: G15 10.5* TFC 149D Reg Flex
3 Wood: G15
Hybrid: Diablo Edge 3i
Irons: Diablo Edge 52* and 56* Wedges: CG14 Chrome60* Wedge: CG15 ChromePutter: White Ice SabertoothBall: Assorted


Posted
I don't think I've seen anyone practice swing and takes divots James? that would be strange

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Posted
I don't think I've seen anyone practice swing and takes divots James? that would be strange

Not on purpose perhaps, but you must've seen high handicappers taking a full practice swing and sometimes take a divot?

Ogio Grom | Callaway X Hot Pro | Callaway X-Utility 3i | Mizuno MX-700 23º | Titleist Vokey SM 52.08, 58.12 | Mizuno MX-700 15º | Titleist 910 D2 9,5º | Scotty Cameron Newport 2 | Titleist Pro V1x and Taylormade Penta | Leupold GX-1

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Posted
I've taken divots during practice swings before...

i dont do it on purpose but it happens

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909F3 18* 5 FW stock Aldila Voodoo
'09 X-Forged 3-PW Project-X 6.0 Flighted
CG15 56* X-Tour 60* Abaco


Posted
I can't understand how you'd play without taking practice swings. Swings are always evolving, and you always have swing thoughts in your head. You take the practice swing to rehearse it, making sure it's right before going at the ball and halfway through realizing you forgot to do something and suddenly having to redirect the club.

most of the guys on this forum don't even goto the range either anyway... guess they just hop from ball to ball hitting balls here and there.

DST Tour 9.5 Diamana Whiteboard
909F3 15* 3 FW stock Aldila Voodoo
909F3 18* 5 FW stock Aldila Voodoo
'09 X-Forged 3-PW Project-X 6.0 Flighted
CG15 56* X-Tour 60* Abaco


Posted
I'd say that most don't take a *full* practice swing. They all or nearly all have their half-swings and similar exercises, but it's rare to see them rear back and let loose the way a lot of amateurs seem to.

But the OP said no practice swings, no mention of full or otherwise. Not many people take full practice swings, and I don't ususally do it either, but

nothing ? I think most good players make a very small practice swing because under pressure your swing gets longer and faster, so the full swing feels like that short swing.

Posted
But the OP said no practice swings, no mention of full or otherwise. Not many people take full practice swings, and I don't ususally do it either, but

Yeah, kind of an issue of definitions; I think a couple more options would have been helpful. Nonetheless, I do see people taking full practice swings, and sometimes more than one, even on standard full shots from the fairway. Maybe not full speed, but pretty close. As I said above, I'll do this if I've been having major swing problems and need to find the right feeling again, but otherwise just the kind of small practice drill swings that you're talking about.

In the bag:
FT-iQ 10° driver, FT 21° neutral 3H
T-Zoid Forged 15° 3W, MX-23 4-PW
Harmonized 52° GW, Tom Watson 56° SW, X-Forged Vintage 60° LW
White Hot XG #1 Putter, 33"


Posted
i also take full swing practices if i'm waiting on a group a head of me. No point in just standing there, I'll pull my driver out and take some full practice swings.

DST Tour 9.5 Diamana Whiteboard
909F3 15* 3 FW stock Aldila Voodoo
909F3 18* 5 FW stock Aldila Voodoo
'09 X-Forged 3-PW Project-X 6.0 Flighted
CG15 56* X-Tour 60* Abaco


Posted
But the OP said no practice swings, no mention of full or otherwise. Not many people take full practice swings, and I don't ususally do it either, but

Sorry, i should re-phrase it.

I mean no full practice swings. what I do is a few 1/2 swings to loosen up. I mean taking a full swing.

My Clubs
Driver - LV4 10* R flex
Wood - sam snead persimmon 2 wood (for windy days)
Hybrid burner tour launch 20* stiff flex.
Irons - Tour Mode 3i,4i stiffIrons - FP's 5-PW R-flexWedge - spin milled 54.14Wedge - spin milled 60.07Putter - Victoria Lowest round 2010: 79 (par 70)Latest rounds at...


Posted
Probably to many, when not playing well I tend to start trying to slow down to much and guide the club.

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4 and 5H, 6I-GW Callaway Razr, SW, LW Cleveland Cg-14, Putter Taylor Made Suzuka, Ball, Srixon XV Yellow


Posted
I always take one full one. I have to see where I'm bottoming out. Sometimes I'm guilty of a divot, but I always repair it.

Note: This thread is 5034 days old. We appreciate that you found this thread instead of starting a new one, but if you plan to post here please make sure it's still relevant. If not, please start a new topic. Thank you!

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  • Posts

    • I would think of it in terms of time. The time it takes to get the arm angle into a good position to deliver the club with proper shaft lean. Another component is rotation, but that is also a matter of timing. It relates to how the body stalls to give the golfer time to hit the ball. If you have to get 80+ degrees out of that right elbow in one third of a second versus 50 degrees in the same time then you have to steal time from somewhere. It is usually body rotation. That does not help with shaft lean.  I agree in that amateurs tend to make the swing more complicated than pro golfers. 
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    • Day 580 - 2026-05-04 Played eight holes. Sometimes golf kicks you in the nuts. 😉 
    • I work with a lot of golfers who want more shaft lean at impact, who currently have AoAs that range from +2° to -2°, and who love to see the handle lower and more "in front of their trail thigh" from face-on at P6. And a lot of these golfers try to solve the issue by working on the downswing. They do something to drag the handle forward. Or they just leave their right thigh farther back so the same handle location "looks" farther forward. Or they move the ball back in their stance. Or they push themselves down into the ground to get the handle lower and increase (decrease?) their AoA (to be more negative). The real fix is often to get wider in the backswing. To do LESS in the backswing. To hinge less, fold the trail arm less, abduct the trail arm less. I had a case of this over the weekend. Before, the player had 110° of trail elbow bend, "lifted" his trail humerus only a few degrees, etc. The club traveled quite a bit around him, and he tended to "pick" the ball from the fairways. In the "after" swings below (which are mild exaggerations — this golfer does not need to end up at < 70° of elbow bend. These were slower backswings with "hit it as hard as you normally would" intent downswings), you can see that he bent his elbow about 70° instead of 110° and lifted his right arm an extra ~15° or more. You can't see how much less this moved his hands across his chest (right arm abduction), but it was also decreased. His hands stayed more "in front of" his right shoulder rather than traveling "beside" them so much. The two swings look like this: The change at P6, without talking about the downswing one little bit (outside of him telling me that he tends to pick the ball), is remarkable: Without 110° of elbow bend to get out (which he gets to 80°, a loss of 30°), the golfer actually loses slightly less elbow bend (70 - 50 = 20), but delivers 30° less elbow bend, lowering the handle and letting the elbow get "in front of" the rib cage… because it never got "behind" or "beside" the rib cage. If you look at this video showing the before/afters of P6, you'll note the handle location (both vertically and horizontally) and the shoulders (the ball is in the same place in these frames). This golfer's path was largely unaffected (still pretty straight into the ball, < 3° path and often < 1.5°), but his AoA jumped to -5° ± 2°. I've always said, and in talking with other instructors they agree and feel similarly, that we spend a lot of time working on the backswing. This is another example of why.
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