Jump to content
IGNORED

Practicing golf...


formula428
Note: This thread is 3405 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!

Recommended Posts

Since the post is lengthy, here's the actual question:

I've read some mixed opinions on practice golf balls -- plastic, nerf, the tube one, etc.

For practicing my driving (and 3W/5W), what practice ball yields the best results (most accurate ball flight) given my circumstances?  Keep in mind, I'm doing this in a suburban yard...so anything more than 40 yards is out of the question.



The entire post:

As indicated in my Intro thread, I have been playing for several years, but really never got "serious" about golf.  I used my fathers clubs...Triumph Master Plus perimeter weighted stainless steel (circa 80s?) with a T-Line putter.  However, the driver and 5w were very small, steel rigid shafts, and I was missing the 3W.  I did like the irons, though, and hit them quite well.

Last year, a friend's grandfather gave me a 10.5° driver w/Senior flex shaft.  It was definitely an improvement, but I'm a big proponent in owning respectable equipment in order to be decent.

With that being said, I just purchased some Taylormade clubs after reading some reviews, considering prices, and taking a few swings at the local store.  I definitely love these new clubs.  I've always hit my irons straight, even the lower irons, and that's still happening quite well (TM Burner Plus 4i-AW, Burner 1.0 LW).  I also picked up the hybrids (Raylor), and they are a dream in the rough, as is my new heavy putter (Scotty Cameron Futura Phantom II) which cut an average of 1+ strokes/hole off my game.

However, my driver and 3/5 wood (Burner 2.0) shots still need help.  Yep, I have the all-too-common slice.  It does help to slow my swing down (I had a previous history of swinging WAY too hard), but then I tend to hook the ball.  I have watched videos about squaring the clubface, know the proper stance, etc...but I know you have to actually take swings to get better.  Bottom line, I want to hit the ball straight (who doesn't?!)

Since everything set me back around $1000, I really don't have the cash to practice at the range multiple times each week, which brings me to my question:

I've read some mixed opinions on practice golf balls -- plastic, nerf, the tube one, etc.

For practicing my driving (and 3W/5W), what practice ball yields the best results (most accurate ball flight) given my circumstances?  Keep in mind, I'm doing this in a suburban yard...so anything more than 40 yards is out of the question.


Thanks!

Driver -- TM Burner 2.0 9.5º

FWs -- TM Burner 2.0 15º / 18º

Hybrids -- TM Raylor 19º and 22º

Irons -- TM Burner Plus (4i - PW, AW, SW), TM Burner 1.0 LW

Putter -- Scotty Cameron Mallet Phantom 2

Bag -- TM Stratus 3.0

Ball -- Top Flight Gamer V2, Titleist DT Solo

Link to comment
Share on other sites


You can work out your slice by hitting the plastic balls with holes in them in your backyard. Their ball flight matches what I get when I go to the range.

As for how far they go, I hit my pitching wedge about 60 feet. My driver goes about 80 feet, but I'm not sure exactly, because they all bounce off the roof of my house and back onto the lawn.

Link to comment
Share on other sites


That would work great.  I will most likely hit toward the street, so I don't care if they bounce over the street (it's not that busy).  I've even heard of some practice balls that exaggerate hooks/slices, which is just as fine since I ultimately want to hit it straight anyway.

A friend mentioned the nerf ones...any experience with those?

Driver -- TM Burner 2.0 9.5º

FWs -- TM Burner 2.0 15º / 18º

Hybrids -- TM Raylor 19º and 22º

Irons -- TM Burner Plus (4i - PW, AW, SW), TM Burner 1.0 LW

Putter -- Scotty Cameron Mallet Phantom 2

Bag -- TM Stratus 3.0

Ball -- Top Flight Gamer V2, Titleist DT Solo

Link to comment
Share on other sites


FYI -- I bought the Callaway dimpled foam golf balls.  They definitely indicate a hook/slice (not sure how exaggerated or accurately), and I hit my neighbors house when I took a swing in my front yard.  Has to be at least 40 yards.

I'll move onto the plastic ones...

Driver -- TM Burner 2.0 9.5º

FWs -- TM Burner 2.0 15º / 18º

Hybrids -- TM Raylor 19º and 22º

Irons -- TM Burner Plus (4i - PW, AW, SW), TM Burner 1.0 LW

Putter -- Scotty Cameron Mallet Phantom 2

Bag -- TM Stratus 3.0

Ball -- Top Flight Gamer V2, Titleist DT Solo

Link to comment
Share on other sites


I really like the foam orange callaway practice balls for hitting woods and long irons around the house. I have the room to hit my 6iron and up with full shots though, so I use real balls. I bought 5 bags of 60 for 80$ at Walmart during last winters summer sports closeout. A lot of mid range balls in there (NXT's, ONE's, Warbirds, WS Fifty's, Gamers, etc etc), and a a bunch of cheaper ones.

If you want to try a rock that goes nowhere, try Intech's golf balls .

In the Ogio Kingpin bag:

Titleist 913 D2 9.5* w/ UST Mamiya ATTAS 3 80 w/ Harrison Shotmaker & Billy Bobs afternarket Hosel Adaptor (get this if you don't have it for your 913)
Wilson Staff Ci-11 4-GW (4I is out of the bag for a hybrid, PW and up were replaced by Edel Wedges)
TaylorMade RBZ 5 & 3 Fairway Woods

Cobra Baffler T-Rail 3 & 4 Hybrids

Edel Forged 48, 52, 56, 60, and 64* wedges (different wedges for different courses)

Seemore Si-4 Black Nickel Putter

Link to comment
Share on other sites


Originally Posted by blankwall

birdie balls are good but more like 70 yards

I'm a HUGE proponent of birdie balls, but no way 70 yards unless you've got a nice wind behind you.  I carry my driver maybe 260, hit my 4i 205+, and I've never hit a birdie ball more than 50 yards without a pretty serious breeze helping.

To the OP, the birdie balls are definitely the way to go if you've got the space.  Feels much more like a real golf ball than the plastic whiffle balls.  Like I said, you won't need any more than 50 yards if you can switch directions you're hitting if the wind is helping too much in one direction.  And if you're not a long hitter, you should be able to go at least up to your longest iron without going over 40 yards.

They give you very nice contact info, as if you hit it thin the ball will flutter instead of spinning tight and buzzing, and I've found that even with fat shots (off a mat) you'll usually get a little flutter and not the nice tight buzz you get if you hit it pure.  I've also found that as you use them regularly you can tell the difference in the sound and feel between a strike near the sweet spot and a toe or heel job.  They give you better shape info than the whiffle balls I've hit, and they last WAY longer.  If you use them regularly they'll eventually crack.  They claim they'll replace them within 3 years but I haven't tried that yet.  Plus, they maybe even exaggerate some hooks or slices, giving extra motivation to swing smooth and easy and put the ball where you want.

For driver you definitely need to buy the little foam wedge they offer, or build your own.  In fact, with lower lofted clubs (for me 3i, 4i, 2h, and 3w), you'll need to sort of tilt the birdie ball away from the club face down the target line a bit, but I just have a little turf mat I hit them off of and have found it pretty easy to make it work all the down to the 3w off the deck.

Matt

Mid-Weight Heavy Putter
Cleveland Tour Action 60˚
Cleveland CG15 54˚
Nike Vapor Pro Combo, 4i-GW
Titleist 585h 19˚
Tour Edge Exotics XCG 15˚ 3 Wood
Taylormade R7 Quad 9.5˚

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

  • 2 years later...
Being the golf coach at Ohio state we have to find creative ways to practice during the cold months. We do a lot of mirror work, slow repititions checking our positions during the swing. Best way to improve fundamentals and technique!
Link to comment
Share on other sites


Being the golf coach at Ohio state we have to find creative ways to practice during the cold months. We do a lot of mirror work, slow repititions checking our positions during the swing. Best way to improve fundamentals and technique!

I agree. You don't even need to hit golf balls to improve your golf swing.

Great thread on practicing. Mirrors and video are great assets.

http://thesandtrap.com/t/54840/simple-specific-slow-short-and-success-the-five-s-s-of-great-practice

Matt Dougherty, P.E.
 fasdfa dfdsaf 

What's in My Bag
Driver; :pxg: 0311 Gen 5,  3-Wood: 
:titleist: 917h3 ,  Hybrid:  :titleist: 915 2-Hybrid,  Irons: Sub 70 TAIII Fordged
Wedges: :edel: (52, 56, 60),  Putter: :edel:,  Ball: :snell: MTB,  Shoe: :true_linkswear:,  Rangfinder: :leupold:
Bag: :ping:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awards, Achievements, and Accolades

FYI -- I bought the Callaway dimpled foam golf balls.  They definitely indicate a hook/slice (not sure how exaggerated or accurately), and I hit my neighbors house when I took a swing in my front yard.  Has to be at least 40 yards. I'll move onto the plastic ones...

One thing I've found you have to be careful about is contact. Foam and plastic you can hit way off center and be none the wiser. You can just draw a dot on the ball with a whiteboard marker, and then check contact position on the clubface after the shot to see if your strikes are centered.

Link to comment
Share on other sites


Note: This thread is 3405 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!

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Want to join this community?

    We'd love to have you!

    Sign Up
  • TST Partners

    TourStriker PlaneMate
    Golfer's Journal
    ShotScope
    The Stack System
    FlightScope Mevo
    Direct: Mevo, Mevo+, and Pro Package.

    Coupon Codes (save 10-15%): "IACAS" for Mevo/Stack, "IACASPLUS" for Mevo+/Pro Package, and "THESANDTRAP" for ShotScope.
  • Popular Now

  • Posts

    • Makes sense.  Like I said, I wouldn't have been upset at their original offer either, and based on the fine print it seems like they've held up their end of the deal.  
    • If you've only had to adjust retroactively one time in 8 years and have around 5 people each year without handicaps, that's like 40-50 people total so it sounds like you're doing a pretty good job. I think your questions give enough to go off of. This might be a good way to get new people to actually post a few scores during the 6 weeks leading into the first event. Something like "New members will be eligible for tournament money once they have at least 3 posted rounds in GHIN" or something like that. If they can get 3 rounds in prior to their first event, then they're eligible. If not, they'll soon become eligible after an event or two assuming they play a little bit outside of events.
    • This is a loooooong winded narrative so if you don't like long stories, move on. 😉 Our senior club typically gets about 25 new members each year. We lose about 25 members each year for various reasons (moved to FL/AZ, disabled, dead, too expensive). Of the new members, usually 20 have an active GHIN handicap. About 5 each year do not have a GHIN handicap. When they join our club, we give each member a state association membership that includes GHIN handicapping services. We play a series of handicapped tournaments over the summer. When we sign up a new member who does not have a GHIN handicap, we attempt to give them an estimated index until they have sufficient scores posted to have an actual GHIN index.  Our first event typically is around May 15 so, in theory, a new member has about 6 weeks to post a few scores. Posting season in the Mitten starts April 1. Inevitably, several of the unhandicapped individuals seem  to either not play until the first tournament or can't figure out how to enter scores (hey, they are seniors). That situation then leads to my contacting the new member and asking a series of questions: a. Did you ever have a GHIN handicap? If yes, which State and do you recall what it was? b. Do you have an alternate handicap through a non-GHIN handicap service or a league? c. What do you think your average score was last year (for 9 or 18) d. What was your best score last year? Where did you play and which tee was used? e. What do you consider a very good score for yourself? Based on their responses I attempt to give them an index that makes them competitive in the first couple events BUT does not allow them to win their flight in the first couple events. We don't want the new members to finish last and at the same time, we don't want someone with a "20" playing handicap to win the third flight with a net 57. In the event some new member did shoot a net 57, we also advise everyone that we can and will adjust handicaps retroactively when it is clear to us that a member's handicap does not accurately reflect their potential. We don't like to adjust things retroactively and in the 8 years I have chaired the Handicap Committee, we have only done it once. So here are the questions to the mob: Any ideas how to do this better? Any questions one might ask an unhandicapped individual to better estimate their index/handicap? Would it be reasonable to have a new player play once (or more?) without being eligible to place in the money?
    • Wordle 1,013 4/6 ⬜🟨⬜🟨🟨 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
    • Awesome! I got that a while back with my start word! Wordle 1,013 4/6 ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟨 ⬜🟨⬜🟩⬜ ⬜⬜🟩🟩🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Welcome to TST! Signing up is free, and you'll see fewer ads and can talk with fellow golf enthusiasts! By using TST, you agree to our Terms of Use, our Privacy Policy, and our Guidelines.

The popup will be closed in 10 seconds...