"5 Minutes Daily" Practice Challenge (December 2015)

[mvmac]

Welcome to the December Practice Challenge! The rules are the same as the last several months:

• Post every day during the month above. No back-dating or pre-dating posts or practice sessions.
• Detail what you did for at least five minutes of practice (indoors or out, with or without golf balls, etc.). Some of you have been slacking on this - give details.

Enjoy and practice hard!

[boogielicious]

I've done my same slow mirror work the last three days. Really focusing on flattening the shaft at A4 and closing the knees from A6 to 9 with getting my right hip forward and butt squeeze. I will be doing this most of the off season. It has to become automatic.

[collapse]

Where can I find the A-1,2,3 etc position photos?

[boogielicious]

28 minutes ago, collapse said:

Where can I find the A-1,2,3 etc position photos?

Off topic for this thread.

 

[Lihu]

Oops, posted in the November thread.

On 12/1/2015, 9:22:31, Lihu said:

Did some stretches to prepare for my round today.

 

On 12/1/2015, 6:33:13, Lihu said:

My round was in one work "Yuck." 1 birdie, bunch of pars, a few bogeys, couple doubles and a triple and quit on the 14th after a drive that ended up 20 yards from the pin in the middle of the fairway on a 272 yard par 4 because it hit a tree and bounced back in.

I seem to focus better when people are watching me, and if I really need to make a decent shot.

If on my own, I'm totally careless. Double yuck.

 

23 hours ago, Lihu said:

Did more hip turn drills and am trying a higher arm angle again to get the trajectory higher.

 

16 hours ago, Lihu said:

Practice round on a hybrid of two courses again.

Played 9 holes on the short and almost 8 on the longer course.

Hit the drive of my life (accuracy and distance) on the first 301 yard par 4 hole of the long course hitting the center of the fringe immediately after telling my instructor previous to @mvmac that I made it to a 10HC. He was totally watching as I made this cool long and accurate shot. Then I quietly bogeyed the hole after I bladed my 60 degree over the green into some bushes. One shot out of the bushes and 2 putt for bogey, but luckily he wasn't watching by then. My partner was surprised when I declared a 5 after finally sunk it thinking 4 or less. My playing partner was pretty surprised by my driving on the longer course after having watched me on the shorter course. I told him that without the trees to worry about I was able to make uninhibited swings. Another super cool shot was when I hit the center of the green on the par 3 8th with a 5i landing 6 feet past the pin and stopping within 3 feet of the ball mark. Of course, the ball landed 15 feet from one of the starters (who was playing that day) and one of the people I see on the range (I think he's one of the official types in the club?). They told me to hit up. Nervous about hitting them 15 feet to the side of the pin from 190-ish yards away, I really focused hard on accuracy and hit in a perfect line with the pin landing within a foot either side of it 6 feet past. I'm still figuring out how I hit that far on those two shots.

Of course, most of the round was hitting balls into other fairways, overshooting doglegs by 2 fairways, hitting almost every tree on the course, etc. Amazed that I walked away with only a couple doubles (ironically on the shorter course), 7 bogey and one possible birdie . My putting really saved my miserable playing today, and I should have just putt from that great drive on the first.

 

 

Today, did some hip turns. Preparing for a scoring round.

 

[RFKFREAK]

Oh, glad I saw this thread.  I've been wanting to participate again.

Haven't done anything today but will certainly do so when I get home.

[adam3553]

Hit up the range today. Still working on my transition and am really struggling. Im nice and shallow from A4 to A5 but I still stall and throw my right hand at the ball. 

[RFKFREAK]

10 hours ago, RFKFREAK said:

Oh, glad I saw this thread.  I've been wanting to participate again.

Haven't done anything today but will certainly do so when I get home.

Alright.

So tonight I did indoor practice because it's dark out when I got home from work.  In one of the recent videos I posted in myswing thread, @iacas informed me that my trail knee extends prematurely in the backswing.  Therefore, I worked with my 6I on my takeaway trying to find out when I should be starting to extend my trail knee and not lock it at the top of my backswing. 

 

[Lihu]

11 hours ago, Lihu said:

Today, did some hip turns. Preparing for a scoring round.

Hit a little more than 1 large bucket playing the round simulation game. It's a lot more tiring than just hitting balls, because I need to focus a lot more on every shot. Every shot counts.

[Lihu]

Did more PVC pipe swings focusing on the sequencing.

[adam3553]

Did mirror work today focusing on my backswing and transition. I think I need to practice slower when hitting balls. Im trying to incorporate this transition stuff into full speed too soon. Tommorow when I hit balls Ill be going no faster than 1/4 speed.

[RFKFREAK]

More indoor swings working on not extending my trail knee prematurely and making sure not to lock it.  Going very slow, probably 20%,  I'm also concentrating on taking the club back slowly so as to stay in control of the club and the timing of my trail knee. 

[boogielicious]

Did mirror work in the AM and played 18 in the cold in the PM.

[Lihu]

One large bucket and part of a small. Figuring out my body positions to reduce resistance during my swing motion. Gained some yardage and accuracy on my drives.

[adam3553]

Hit a bucket at the range making slow swings. I didnt do anything at full speed. Im still focusing on my transition.

[RFKFREAK]

I think this counts but worked on the same indoor swings focusing on the same piece, prematurely extending the trail knee.

[Lihu]

16 hours ago, Lihu said:

One large bucket and part of a small. Figuring out my body positions to reduce resistance during my swing motion. Gained some yardage and accuracy on my drives.

More of the same. The less resistance is making the swing much more efficient. I think I have some idea why my good shots were much better. It's nice being able to get at least that little bit. Made q few small adjustments. I am hoping that I am converging on my swing to whatever degree I can. . .

[Lihu]

8 hours ago, Lihu said:

More of the same. The less resistance is making the swing much more efficient. I think I have some idea why my good shots were much better. It's nice being able to get at least that little bit. Made q few small adjustments. I am hoping that I am converging on my swing to whatever degree I can. . .

Practice round waiting for my son and his friend studying their Physics AP together, conveniently near my home course.

Shot mostly par and bogey (due primarily to attempting to use the putter from up to 20 feet off the green. I'm playing around with this method, but find that it is not quite as reliable as chipping for me ending in mostly "3 putts". The pars that I got were in regulation. Enjoying longer drives with the changes to my swing quoted above, but unfortunate that I need to keep it in check. I tried to drive a green and ended up pulling it and hitting the top branch of a tree and landing another green. . .When I redid the tee shot, I ended up pulling it pin high but near another tee box. After walking up to my second drive, some people tossed the ball over to my playing partner from the other green. Wish I knew it was there, and I didn't think to look that far past the tree I hit. Ended up having to hit my second tee shot and another 80 yard shot over some trees (which I succeeded in doing with my LW off hard pan ). Then I putt just a tiny bit too much and the ball rolled 15 feet down past the hole. Steep downhill on a Teflon like putting surface. . .Well, that's golf. . .