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

[Shindig]

I'm not sure if this is the right thread to post this in (I debated the thread about putting and why to not accelerate through the ball) or not.   How does one practice the putting stroke slowly?

I'm starting to wonder if my issue with speed is a bad putting stroke, and there's something convenient that I'm doing well on the bead drill (the ruler one) fairly consistently.  So I want to do something to check that my stroke itself is okay, and I got mixed results from a drill from Utley's putting book earlier today.  

Other than "swing the putter very slowly" ... is that the right thing?

[boogielicious]

7 hours ago, Shindig said:

I'm not sure if this is the right thread to post this in (I debated the thread about putting and why to not accelerate through the ball) or not.   How does one practice the putting stroke slowly?

I'm starting to wonder if my issue with speed is a bad putting stroke, and there's something convenient that I'm doing well on the bead drill (the ruler one) fairly consistently.  So I want to do something to check that my stroke itself is okay, and I got mixed results from a drill from Utley's putting book earlier today.  

Other than "swing the putter very slowly" ... is that the right thing?

I don’t practice putting slowly because it is a slow stroke already. What you may want to do is practice the rhythm of your stroke. @iacas noticed on my Erie trip that my rhythm had variability with respect to putt length. So I went back and started Rhythm Training again. This COVID drill below really helps. I have a Tempo app on my phone and work on getting my rhythm to be consistent.

 

[iacas]

Slow doesn’t necessarily apply to putting. Except that it means don’t just rapidly hit a bunch of putts. Take your  time.

[Shindig]

4 hours ago, boogielicious said:

I don’t practice putting slowly because it is a slow stroke already. What you may want to do is practice the rhythm of your stroke. @iacas noticed on my Erie trip that my rhythm had variability with respect to putt length. So I went back and started Rhythm Training again. This COVID drill below really helps. I have a Tempo app on my phone and work on getting my rhythm to be consistent.

 

Thank you.  I really should do the entire practice plan -- Erik went through all that trouble to make it, then about three days in we discovered something really bad about my grip, so I switched to practicing that.  

But I'm definitely going to do this one.  It looks like I need a second alignment stick (I own one, and have a few pulled shafts I use other times), so I'll go pick one up (I hate to delay, but it's going to be tomorrow, not today).  That's going to be Monday's practice and for some time.

2 hours ago, iacas said:

Slow doesn’t necessarily apply to putting. Except that it means don’t just rapidly hit a bunch of putts. Take your  time.

Thank you; that makes a lot of sense.  I wonder if I hit them too quickly (in terms of attempts / minute) when I do the clock drills. 

[Shindig]

Update to previous:  after watching the video, I can definitely commit to doing the first part today (just installed the relevant app) and will get the alignment sticks so I can do the rest tomorrow.  Thanks again!

[Markdd91]

I know this is a decade old, but this is phenomenal advice, thank you Erik.

When I was in high school we had one of the best bands in the country, our director was strict and knew his stuff. I can still hear him yelling at us, “practice doesn’t make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect!

Although I understood this to be a very simple, and accurate, statement, I haven’t applied it to my golf game for some reason. Taking 100 bad hacks at the range isn’t making me better, time to break it down and work on putting the pieces together, simply, specifically, slowly, and short. 

[iacas]

"The best drill is doing it right."

[iacas]

 

[iacas]

The Key To Making Your BEST Golf Swing 🏌️ — Athletic Motion Golf- The Podcast

[saevel25]

I was listening to that the other evening, and thought about posting it here. 😉

 

[saevel25]

So, this came to mind the other day. I wonder if a good drill would be to set a timer for like 10 seconds. Then make a backswing that takes at least that long. I think 10 second is a long time. It might be too long, so maybe 5 seconds?
 

It might be good to have a reference in what should be a slow backswing. Setting a target time might help. 

[ChetlovesMer]

1 hour ago, saevel25 said:

So, this came to mind the other day. I wonder if a good drill would be to set a timer for like 10 seconds. Then make a backswing that takes at least that long. I think 10 second is a long time. It might be too long, so maybe 5 seconds?
 

It might be good to have a reference in what should be a slow backswing. Setting a target time might help. 

Not sure. It might depend on what exactly you are working on. Seems like their advocating going slow to get it right rather than slow for slow's sake. Do it slowly at first and then slowly speed it up trying to get to the point where you can do it fast. So for example if it takes you 3 seconds to perform the backswing the way you want to. Then try to do it in 3 seconds. Keep doing it in 3 seconds until you can do it in 2.5 seconds and so on. 

But to your point, a reference on how slow you want to go may help. Especially if you are one of those people who can't get slow. 

If you do the 10 second timer thing I'd be really curious to know how it works. 

[dennyjones]

I bet you have a metronome on your phone.

[iacas]

You don't need ten seconds. You can do it in 2 or 3 and that's often fine, or do it in steps.

[iacas]

[WillieT]

As @iacas wrote “This applies to golf, too. Relentlessly chip away at whatever you’re seeking to change. It’ll add up over time in a big way.”  Have to say my work on key points is seeing consistent results -  slowly chipping away at a better approach game, leading to more GIR and nGIR which makes for easier pars and more up and downs.