"5 Minutes Daily" Practice Challenge (November 2015)

[the fish]

Got my first evolvr lesson back last night. I need to work on flattening the shaft from A4 to A5 (seems like everyone is talking about practicing this same thing this month). Went to the range to do a drill my instructor gave me. He wants me to take the club to A4, pause, move to A5, pause again (to make sure the butt of the grip is pointed outside the golf ball), and then hit the ball. He was right when he said it would feel completely uncomfortable!

I worked on this through a bucket of balls, swinging at maybe 25% effort, and going slowly. Damn near every shot sprayed right or was topped.  It seems that when I try to flatten the shaft, I am leaving the club face wide open.  If any of you guys that have been working on this have some insight or tips, I would certainly appreciate it.

[adam3553]

Mirror work today working on my setup, posture, and ball position. Also made slow swings focusing on my swing from A4 to A5.

[Lihu]

On November 17, 2015 at 5:48:36 AM, Lihu said:

Wrist loading and lag drills using an old gripped shaft.

More of the same., drives are getting better at least on the range.

[Lihu]

27 holes today. Played okay, I guess. Mishit a few, and made some bad decisions. Drives were fair to good.

Performance was actually about the same as my practice "playing" sessions. Only one or two strikes were significantly harder due to the lie.

My practice session simulated "play":

Quote

Just recently added simulating playing holes and do 36 putts for every 36-40 full swings. It takes a little longer, but helps me alternate clubs. I so drive-approach-chip-flop-putt and kind of track the shots. If my drives are off line by too much then I roll a ball to the side. If my approach does not hit the target greens, another ball gets rolled to that spot. The only way to reduce the number of balls collected is if I land a chip (roll doesn't count for or against this score unless it rolls off the green in which case it doesn't help reduce the collected balls) within 5 feet of a 50 yard flag, and If I 1 putt from the different flag positions. Kind of simulates playing holes as well. It's helped me on the course a lot because it forces me to count every bad shot on the range after my warm up period described in the quote above. It also forces me to get used to a pre-shot routine I do with all my clubs now.

I haven't seen a dramatic improvement in scores or anything, but I feel a lot more comfortable on the course.

 

Putting (and ball striking) is more solid now that I am counting every mistake I make at the practice range which makes me focus on the shots better.

[adam3553]

Went to the range today and hit 90 balls. Focused on my setup and posture before every swing. I also tried to make sure I had the right feeling from A4 to A5. I practiced pretty slow focusing on each individual swing. Afterward went to the putting green and practiced nothing but 5 footers. Didnt spend a ton of time here but made 10 in a row twice.

[Lihu]

7 hours ago, Lihu said:

27 holes today. Played okay, I guess. Mishit a few, and made some bad decisions. Drives were fair to good.

Performance was actually about the same as my practice "playing" sessions. Only one or two strikes were significantly harder due to the lie.

My practice session simulated "play":

 

Putting (and ball striking) is more solid now that I am counting every mistake I make at the practice range which makes me focus on the shots better.

Went to the range for another 2 hours of simulating playing holes. Played about the same as the actual holes.

 

[Lihu]

On 11/17/2015, 5:48:36, Lihu said:

Wrist loading and lag drills using an old gripped shaft.

More of this for about 5 minutes after warming up in my hitting cage.

[Lihu]

"Walk to end Epilepsy" ended my home course golfing weekend. hope they collect enough money for a cure. . .

Practiced more gripped shaft drills. Working on my timing.

[adam3553]

Went to the range today and hit one bucket. Focused solely on A4 to A5 making nice slow swings. I didnt hit one ball at full speed.

[the fish]

I wasn't near my computer this weekend.  However, both Saturday and Sunday I continued to work on flattening the shaft between A4 and A5.  I did not hit any balls this weekend--strictly practicing these alignments and the transition between them.  I did, however, have my impact bag handy so after posing A4 and A5 a number of times, I allowed myself to swing into the bag.

Separately, I continued reading LSW.  I'm a little better than halfway through at the moment.

[Lihu]

More gripped shaft swings to improve my timing. Tried out the Callaway XHot Hybrid 20 degree at the range with 5 balls. Without any warm up, I hit them really low whereas in the shop the flight was good on the simulator. Going to have to continue the evaluation this evening.

[boogielicious]

5 to 10 minutes mirror work with focus on centered hip turn and flattening shaft at A5. Also added closing knees faster from A6 to 8 with butt squeeze/right hip going forward and up at A8 to 9.

[Lihu]

7 hours ago, Lihu said:

More gripped shaft swings to improve my timing. Tried out the Callaway XHot Hybrid 20 degree at the range with 5 balls. Without any warm up, I hit them really low whereas in the shop the flight was good on the simulator. Going to have to continue the evaluation this evening.

Played about 18 random holes on the shorter 6000 yard course today. Finally, got a few birdie chances and made one on the last hole I played. Finally got one decent shot with my hybrid.

[adam3553]

7 hours ago, Lihu said:

More gripped shaft swings to improve my timing. Tried out the Callaway XHot Hybrid 20 degree at the range with 5 balls. Without any warm up, I hit them really low whereas in the shop the flight was good on the simulator. Going to have to continue the evaluation this evening.

I just picked up a Callaway X2Hot 19* and love it. Its the longest hybrid Ive ever played.

Went to the range today and hit a bucket. Worked on my transition some but most of my practice was used to focus on my setup and 9-3 swings with my PW.

[Lihu]

1 minute ago, adam3553 said:

I just picked up a Callaway X2Hot 19* and love it. Its the longest hybrid Ive ever played.

It's great, but I haven't gotten used to it yet. Got one decent shot with it on the course today playing a practice round.

[the fish]

Went to the range today and continued working on flattening the shaft from A4 to A5.  I hit a number of balls at slow speed, with pauses at A4 and  A5.  I worked my way up to hitting full swings.  I don't believe I am doing it correctly.  It feels like my right shoulder is dropping when I start my downswing.  I'll have to upload another video to evolvr and see if I'm at least headed in the right direction.

On the upside, I wasn't blocking them as far right as the last time I tried hitting balls with this new piece.

[Lihu]

Still trying to figure out why I topped my new hybrid on the course yesterday. Working at the range on this and my usual "game simulation". Getting on the course this afternoon in hopes to shoot a lot of the good holes and none of the really bad ones I did yesterday.

[collapse]

34 minutes ago, Lihu said:

Still trying to figure out why I topped my new hybrid on the course yesterday. Working at the range on this and my usual "game simulation". Getting on the course this afternoon in hopes to shoot a lot of the good holes and none of the really bad ones I did yesterday.

Do you often hit thin shots with your irons?