"5 Minutes Daily" Practice Challenge (February 2016)

[boogielicious]

10 minutes mirror work before my workout. Focused on getting the hands going further out from A4 to A5, which helps lay down the shaft. I would do the backswing to A4, stop, then to A5 and stop. I would then look in the mirror to see my position. Then I would continue to A8-9.

I also made sure my weight was moving forward from A4 to 5.

[adam3553]

Had a lesson today. Me and my instructor worked on my pivot and the way my hips are supposed to work in the downswing. Ive finally made some progress on getting my hands moving out instead of down in transition and the proper pivot is my next priority

[the fish]

I've been having difficulty (more than usual) with spraying my drives all over the place. I hit a bucket of balls today, mostly with driver. Worked on trying to "find the fairway".

I found that I had better results if all or part of the logo was on the back of the ball, and I could focus on hitting the ball in exactly that spot. I've never given any thought to the way I place the ball on the tee, but I am going to give this method a try.

[Dave325]

Working today with the Driver on the focusing with the takeway ..... hip and shoulder turn (along with the wrist hinge). By the looks of the video, I think I still need more hip turn (it felt more turn than it shows). I spent some time watching this on Analyzr Pro and uploaded to YouTube. That is a nice easy way to publish the videos. Just put one on MySwing....

Followed up with some work on the 8-iron with the same swing thoughts. It was getting a bit cold, so moved to using the 7-iron indoors with the 1/2 swing. 

[Lihu]

More hip turn/weight shift drills. Working on the takeaway/backswing part.

[boogielicious]

Mirror work before my workout. Focused again on getting the hands further out from A4 to A5. For the pivot, focused on butt squeeze from A6 to 8 and getting my knees to close together faster. These are all from my Evolvr lessons last year.

[adam3553]

1 hour ago, boogielicious said:

Mirror work before my workout. Focused again on getting the hands further out from A4 to A5. For the pivot, focused on butt squeeze from A6 to 8 and getting my knees to close together faster. These are all from my Evolvr lessons last year.

We seem to be working on similar things. My priority has been to get my hands more out from A4 to A5. Ive just now started working on my pivot.

Today I went to the range to practice. Worked on the correct motion of my hips in the downswing. Made nothing but slow swings as Im trying to ingrain this feeling. This is one of the only range sessions I can think of where I did nothing at full speed. Im trying to get my hips to square when Im at A5 to A6 then Im trying to pivot around my left leg while not rolling onto the outside of my left ankle.

[the fish]

Went to the practice green at lunch and played another round of horse with my friend.  I beat him by one letter this time.  Again we intentionally chose difficult shots.  I chose a number of shots with the ball nestled down in the rough, and also chose one with the ball in the fringe but resting against the rough. 

[Dave325]

Did a couple sessions in the backyard. First, with the driver and 8-iron. On the driver, worked with the clubface hits (sprayed the face). Then work with the hip/shoulder turn and added the wrist hinge. I really noticed the difference between with added more wrist hinge. Thought about the tempo and slowed down the backswing about 50% and noted my transition. Reviewed the videos and noticed some lifting up of my head at the transition (the Analyzr really helps to isolate this). 

Did another afternoon session with the 8-iron and added the hybrid with the same aforementioned swing thoughts. Later on, worked on the 7-iron inside with the 1/2 swings. Looks to be a regular session. Also, worked a bit on the shoulder turn drills that Brian gave me to do. Started every swing with this... I think this feel is starting to take hold. Also started thinking about the left knee (from Dave's video... Adding flex inward and not bowing toward the right knee). More work on this tomorrow.... Hoping to get out to the range tomorrow possibly.

[boogielicious]

11 hours ago, Dave325 said:

Did a couple sessions in the backyard. First, with the driver and 8-iron. On the driver, worked with the clubface hits (sprayed the face). Then work with the hip/shoulder turn and added the wrist hinge. I really noticed the difference between with added more wrist hinge. Thought about the tempo and slowed down the backswing about 50% and noted my transition. Reviewed the videos and noticed some lifting up of my head at the transition (the Analyzr really helps to isolate this). 

Did another afternoon session with the 8-iron and added the hybrid with the same aforementioned swing thoughts. Later on, worked on the 7-iron inside with the 1/2 swings. Looks to be a regular session. Also, worked a bit on the shoulder turn drills that Brian gave me to do. Started every swing with this... I think this feel is starting to take hold. Also started thinking about the left knee (from Dave's video... Adding flex inward and not bowing toward the right knee). More work on this tomorrow.... Hoping to get out to the range tomorrow possibly.

Are you filming your practice? Even filming the slow drills can help. I will film the drill then look at it to see if I am doing it correctly.

[Dave325]

3 hours ago, boogielicious said:

Are you filming your practice? Even filming the slow drills can help. I will film the drill then look at it to see if I am doing it correctly.

Yes, I just started doing this more. I used to only do it to send in to Evolvr, but now I do it a lot more. I also just purchased Analyzr this past week so this makes it even easier and better. Thanks for the tip! 

[Lihu]

Practiced my short game and putting. Hit my 80-150 yard clubs on the range practicing my slow backswing.

[adam3553]

Practiced at the range today. Working on my hip movement in the downswing. Also working on key #2 by making nice slow swings. Ive been checking myself in a mirror at home making sure Im doing this priority right.

[BlackandGold]

I have a 2'x6" mirror I set up at an angle against the wall.  I use it to examine my putting stroke.  By taking the ball out of the equation, you can focus on setting the club up square and level.  I have a bad habit of setting up with the toe slightly raised and taking the club back too far which results in a lot of problems.  This system, although simple, has enabled me to check my position from a different perspective and made my practice sessions more productive.  It gives me peace of mind and promotes proper alignment and reduced the number of variables at work while I make some changes.  I have a indoor putting hole (half circle with diameter of 3.5") and made a sharpie marker on the back of the "cup".  Aim small, miss small.  I have a little break *left to right* on a side of my room so I can practice a different way when things get boring.  I try to do this twice a day.

[Dave325]

Started the day with a 4-mile run, then headed to range. Spent most of the time working on the driver with shoulder / hip pivot. I discovered something interesting as I was trying to find a good feel. I used to use this one on the backswing... But moving the right shoulder blade to the left. Then, when I start the downswing, begin moving the left shoulder blade down to the right leg. I had this issue on the downswing where Brian pointed out that my left shoulder was popping up and causing heel strikes. This was a difficult thing to get the feel for, so spent a lot of time walking through the swing with each shot. Who would have thought that a large bucket of balls would take two and half hours, but it's all good. By the end of the bucket, it was starting to come together.

Then, headed over to the putting green for some practice there. I went through and did the putting drill that Dave W talked about in the drop 3 strokes video. 

Still had some daylight, so drove over to another range that has a great chip/pitch green. They keep about 100 balls laying around and has different lies and mounds for a good workout. Spent an hour working through the wedges, focusing on the technique from Erik's chipping and pitching video.

[the fish]

I played a practice round today at my home course.  Did not score well today.  Nothing in particular felt bad, but everything just felt 'blah'.

[adam3553]

Went to the range after work and continued working on my downswing pivot. I actually moved up to hitting 7 irons doing the drills today. Ive only used my pw since thursday as Im trying to slowly ingrain the proper hip movements.

[Lihu]

More long game drills. Backswing transition and takeaway drills prior to each shot on the range for the first 10 shots. Planning on doing these drills at the beginning of every practice session.