practice swings

[wingback]

just something that may help, I think a practice swing concentrating on finding the bottom of the arc in front of the golf ball is vital, just thinking about divot in front ensures that the hit is at the correct moment ie at the ball and beyond, far to often the hit is too early resulting in fats and pulls, my routine is take a few practice swings to feel the correct bottom of arc position this trains the brain, then I move straight into the shot the body will repeat the action cant tell you how much this routine has cleaned up my iron shots reducing fats drastically.try it I know it will help.To help feel the late hit motion turn the club upside down and listen for the swoosh at and after the ball.

[Triggers]

I've been trying to find a good pre shot routine, but a few questions about what your describing

If your practice swing is the exact swing as your real one, wouldn't you be taking a divot every time? I've tried similar to what you've described, basically trying to 'graze' the grass at the bottom of the arc..but ideally it should be maybe 1/2'' lower?

It seems difficult to trying to reproduce the exact swing, but a SLIGHTLY lower swing arc

[wingback]

yes ideally you would take a divot but the green keeper would not be happy, so yes, brush the grass but crucially make sure you brush the grass in front of the ball, where it should do.then step straight into the shot trying to recreate the late hit this should help to reduce fat shots.hope this helps.

[chspeed]

I've been trying to find a good pre shot routine, but a few questions about what your describing

If your practice swing is the exact swing as your real one, wouldn't you be taking a divot every time? I've tried similar to what you've described, basically trying to 'graze' the grass at the bottom of the arc..but ideally it should be maybe 1/2'' lower?

It seems difficult to trying to reproduce the exact swing, but a SLIGHTLY lower swing arc

No practice swing can be like an actual swing - you're not hitting a ball. Unless you can completely fool your brain into believing there's no ball in front of you (in which case you should probably take up a more interesting hobby than golf), you will swing differently.

Personally, I hate the practice swing. Most of us amateurs take way too long over the ball as is, and their "practice" swings just make it longer.

Maybe it's the word that's the problem. It's not practice. It shouldn't be. Practice should only be done on the range or when nobody is waiting behind you. The goal of the preshot routine (much better phrase than "Practice swing") is to calm your mind and body by repeating a routine before you make an athletic motion.

[Triggers]

No practice swing can be like an actual swing - you're not hitting a ball. Unless you can completely fool your brain into believing there's no ball in front of you (in which case you should probably take up a more interesting hobby than golf), you will swing differently. Personally, I hate the practice swing. Most of us amateurs take way too long over the ball as is, and their "practice" swings just make it longer. Maybe it's the word that's the problem. It's not practice. It shouldn't be. Practice should only be done on the range or when nobody is waiting behind you. The goal of the preshot routine (much better phrase than "Practice swing") is to calm your mind and body by repeating a routine before you make an athletic motion.

Yea, that was my initial thoughts regarding it not being a real swing. I'm just starting out so I haven't quit figured out what suites me. Last week I went with sort of 'practice turn' before it was my shot.. that way when I was up, there wasn't a lot of wasted time.

[Patch]

My practice swings are always better than my real swing when the ball is supposed to get in the way.

[Lihu]

just something that may help, I think a practice swing concentrating on finding the bottom of the arc in front of the golf ball is vital, just thinking about divot in front ensures that the hit is at the correct moment ie at the ball and beyond, far to often the hit is too early resulting in fats and pulls, my routine is take a few practice swings to feel the correct bottom of arc position this trains the brain, then I move straight into the shot the body will repeat the action cant tell you how much this routine has cleaned up my iron shots reducing fats drastically.try it I know it will help.To help feel the late hit motion turn the club upside down and listen for the swoosh at and after the ball.

Good post. I prefer hitting on grass ranges just so I can gauge the divot position.

[saevel25]

I hardly ever take a full swing as my practice swing. I'd say 70% of the time I just practice my backswing feel and or length. The only time I actually hit turf is when I'm pitching to get the feel of the lie I'm in.

[newtogolf]

No practice swings unless I have an awkward lie or in deep rough and I want an idea of how the club head will travel through it.

[dchoye]

Seldom make practice swings. If I do then Usually it's with a fairway wood on an uneven stance and not sure if I'm going to cut it or draw it and need to make practice swing over the ball to confirm then I reset behind the ball to locate my target after I decided which direction my shaft will travel

[wingback]

well its helped me im level for my last 36 holes iron play much improved

[JKolya]

In general I am not a fan of practice swings for the reason that you said - they do not emulate a real swing at all, and therefore you are rehearsing a different swing. That said, they can be helpful to rehearse one aspect of the swing - ie, if you are struggling with swaying back on the backswing, or opening the face relative to the path, or whatever, a practice swing can be to rehearse that one aspect. Currently I am working on getting my hands low and keeping my right shoulder down longer (my miss is snapping forward where the left shoulder goes up, the right down (not rotating fully) which results in casting and fat shots with an open face), so I take practice swings to get the feel of my arms moving down first, and then rotating through. But, the practice swing as a whole does not do my any good (unless I were to take it at full speed, and take a divot).

I deal with players on a daily basis who take 4-5 practice swings, and then hit their shot extremely fat - especially when pitching or chipping, and they will comment that the swing feels good, but when they step up to the ball something breaks down. I will point to their practice swings - you can usually tell by the shade of the grass or even a small mark where they were hitting, and its constantly behind where the ball was. They mis-hit their chips and pitches because they rehearse the wrong swing and then execute it. So in that, I guess a practice swing could be helpful if they realized what they were doing and then corrected it, but instead they just rehearse a bad swing and then execute it.

[wingback]

yes good post above so yes make the golfer aware of the error on the practice swing ie hitting behind the ball get them to feel hitting/brushing the ground in front of the ball hopefully the penny will drop, cant think of a more simple concept, as you say poor golfers lack awareness more than anything, on greens i see it time after time just plain not appreciating common sense stuff.