Simple, Specific, Slow, Short, and Success - The Five "S"s of Great Practice

[mvmac]

14 hours ago, iacas said:

I don't know. That's just my opinion. @mvmac may disagree and may like mapping.

I think it can help isolate a feel but slow practice is typically a much better way to go. My opinion on mapping has probably changed the last couple years.

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@Slowcelica, my take is mapping is very slow, more position focused, kind of piece by piece. Where slow swings are rehearsing the motion, just slow. Slow swings, "connecting the dots", helps you reinforce the move for full speed swings and on the course. I've tended to see mapping moves fall apart on the course.

[onthehunt526]

@iacas and @mvmac,

My instructor has had me doing this path drill for like 3 months now, when we first started it, I wasn't allowed to much past a takeaway position. I thought it was stupid at first, but you know what, good ol' Craig knows what the hell he's talking about. I'm hitting the ball much better with a draw and further (though indoors you never know). 

The 5 S's of practice really do work.

[Slowcelica]

On 2/9/2018 at 5:57 PM, iacas said:

Any specific piece? I'd rather not watch 31 minutes…

Sorry I forgot it’s a 30 min video, but like lihu said around the 25 minute mark he does some extremely slow swings and then a normal speed swing. 

On 2/10/2018 at 1:24 AM, mvmac said:

I think it can help isolate a feel but slow practice is typically a much better way to go. My opinion on mapping has probably changed the last couple years.

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@Slowcelica, my take is mapping is very slow, more position focused, kind of piece by piece. Where slow swings are rehearsing the motion, just slow. Slow swings, "connecting the dots", helps you reinforce the move for full speed swings and on the course. I've tended to see mapping moves fall apart on the course.

Thanks, I think I’ve been doing it wrong. I’ve been doing 3 slow practice swings making the change I’m working on, then hitting the ball with a normal swing. What I’m hearing I should be doing is, do slow swings to hit the ball maybe 50 yards at first and slowly ramp up the speed as I can, preserving the change. What’s funny is, when I was 8 I took piano lessons and the way I would learn songs was exactly like the violin section in the book. 

[Slowcelica]

On 7/30/2017 at 11:12 AM, iacas said:

Success, simple, specific right there, from the book…

Practice Perfect: 42 Rules for Getting Better at Getting Better.

(I've just started reading the book, so I can't comment on it right now, yet, but I am excited to read it, and the reviews are very good.)

@iacas 

I started reading this book or rather listening to it on audible, but the part of the book that talks about the mastering of 20% of the most important things gives 80% of the returns, what would you say that is in the golf swing?

[iacas]

13 minutes ago, Slowcelica said:

I started reading this book or rather listening to it on audible, but the part of the book that talks about the mastering of 20% of the most important things gives 80% of the returns, what would you say that is in the golf swing?

I don't think that really applies to golf.

Ballstriking is the most important part of the game, but even that is well above 20% of your shots. Heck, even if you only count iron shots, you're going to have about 18 per round, and if you shoot 72, that's still 25%. And irons (approach shots) are only about 40% of the returns, not 80%.

I'll think about it though as maybe there's some other kind of answer, like "fundamentals" (but what's fundamental? people have different grips, different setups, etc.).

"Advancing your ball" could work, but what does that really mean? Someone could argue that's 100% of the game, and I don't know that I could argue against them.

[Slowcelica]

1 minute ago, iacas said:

I don't think that really applies to golf.

Ballstriking is the most important part of the game, but even that is well above 20% of your shots. Heck, even if you only count iron shots, you're going to have about 18 per round, and if you shoot 72, that's still 25%. And irons (approach shots) are only about 40% of the returns, not 80%.

I was thinking break it down further, maybe something like mastering keys 1-3 will give you 80% of your returns, not particularly any one type of shot?

[iacas]

10 minutes ago, Slowcelica said:

I was thinking break it down further, maybe something like mastering keys 1-3 will give you 80% of your returns, not particularly any one type of shot?

I wouldn't say so, nor is that 20%. Heck, if I had to pick the most important key, it might be #5. But even #5 does you no good if you never hit the ball solidly.

[efdeel74]

agree...5S

simple....i take the simpleist swing

specific...i keep my hip dont move

slow....slower backswing

short....shorter backswing

success....straight ball flight

5S

right now i work on 'slow' and 'short'.

Edited March 12, 2018 by efdeel74

[iacas]

On 3/11/2018 at 11:41 PM, efdeel74 said:

agree...5S

simple....i take the simpleist swing

specific...i keep my hip dont move

slow....slower backswing

short....shorter backswing

success....straight ball flight

5S

right now i work on 'slow' and 'short'.

That's not quite how I've defined things. Success, for example, is not about the ball flight. And it's not about the "simplest swing" or whatever else, either.

[Slim_Pivot]

Awesome post. I did a decent amount of this over the summer, but not to the extreme. Since it is now very late in the season. I will be doing this to max.

[Bucki1968]

I'm really working on this type of practice. I have found out it's not the easiest thing in the world. I have a hitting net in back yard and yesterday I spent about a half hour out there and probably only made about a dozen swings total. I am also using video/swing caddie so I can get a better idea of what is actually working/not working. Man....this game has changed.

[boogielicious]

1 hour ago, Bucki1968 said:

I'm really working on this type of practice. I have found out it's not the easiest thing in the world. I have a hitting net in back yard and yesterday I spent about a half hour out there and probably only made about a dozen swings total. I am also using video/swing caddie so I can get a better idea of what is actually working/not working. Man....this game has changed.

It is hard to break the habit of just hitting balls. It took me a couple of years.

[nevets88]

Saves your back too! Or at least mitigates the wear and tear. So many wins. Not so much from perspective of range owner though. I basically leave a lot of balls in the bucket. I'm pretty much buying time on the range vs balls.

[WillieT]

Great read on this post.  As I read through the many comments, I was taken back to over a year ago when I began to try to really work on better ball striking. It has been a journey when I began mindlessly flailing away at balls and I have the video to prove it.  After the 30 Day Challenge in April, I slowed down, way down on what I work on.  It does come down to taking it note by note, bit by bit.  It is about not bombing drives, but working on the small parts - the note by note sequencing as Erik outlined in the original illustration.  The steps outlined here really point you to one thing - having great muscle memory that gives a repeatable swings at consistent distances. 

[DewSweeper09]

Slow and Short seems to work well for me personally when working on things.

[Wanzo]

On 1/18/2012 at 7:26 AM, iacas said:

I think the answer is this: always strive to operate at the edge of your capability.

I’m not sure this is the best spot for this question, but I’ve been wondering what you and others think about exaggerating a fault to the other extreme or should success be doing it “right”?  For example, my instructor has me working on keeping club head outside my hands to begin takeaway, and getting club more vertical at p3.  Is it ok to really exaggerate that to an extreme where it’s not correct, but feeling the opposite so that when I add speed it’s more normal?  Or is it best to just go slow enough where I’m always doing it correctly?  

[iacas]

Exaggeration is a success because it’s a changing of the picture. Yes, overdoing it is fine, especially early.

[nevets88]

Here is a recent post via Robert Rock/Mark Townsend on slow practice. The bit quoted below is from the Instagram post, the video is from Twitter.

Quote

This is something I’ve done since starting to video my swing. If you have a lesson you go away thinking you’re doing what you've been told, and you practise away and we all like hitting balls, and then you revert back to what you were doing before. If you want to speed the process along, in particular the takeaway, doing things in slow motion is great – making a swing change at full pace might take you a year or more or it might never happen. Slow motion might get it done in a couple of weeks. 

Most people don’t take on big swing changes and so they won't video themselves much but every lesson I give generally involves some sort of slow-motion work as I genuinely believe in it and think it’s the best way to actually change your swing.

I almost do it on every shot and, if I'm trying to work on a complete new backswing, I could get that done in a day or so. I'll rehearse it before every shot and video the first few hundred before every shot to make sure I’m doing it right – the video here probably took me about 30 goes to get it how I wanted it. If you can’t do it in slow motion then there's no chance of getting it right in real time, then taking it out onto the course is different.

In this video from a few years ago I was trying to get away from hingeing my wrists too early so I was trying to have a bit of a drag back of the grip first and keep the shaft at the same angle. At the time I was putting myself off a lot with how the club went back and I wanted to make the first part of the swing one piece so it didn’t put me off. Then, when I had that, I could set my wrists, and from there I would hold my right arm as straight as I could just to keep the shoulders turning and keep some width in it. 

Then there is a loop over-the-top move which pulls my left arm back out in front of me, people say it shallows the shaft but really it just gets the arms back out in front of your body and the right elbow forwards a little bit while the clubhead stays back. Now I do the complete opposite, I'm still trying to hit from the inside and have a bit of width but I'm now trying to get a bit more speed and height. 

Thoughts by me/Words by Mark Townsend