"5 Minutes Daily" Practice Challenge (March 2016)

[Lihu]

12 hours ago, Lihu said:

No need for the sensor. I was a able to get draw flights out of my drives again. Just a little open at impact was enough. Still working on loosening them up to get more open at impact. I think there's some more power to be had. So, the ping i25 is working again, but really sensitive to bad swings. I'll have to make sure to swing correctly so I won't insult it so much. . .

Needed to use the 3.5" tee to get my desired flight from the PIng i25. Other than that, I think it's a pretty reliable driver for the course. We'll see this afternoon.

[boogielicious]

10 minutes mirror work before my workout. 

[Dave325]

Did about 3 hours in the yard working on drills and the priority elements from my Evolvr analysis. Focused on slower transition from A4 through the downswing to get the sync of weight forward with hip and shoulder turn through impact. (Alternated between driver and 6 iron). Worked at thrusting through ball in the hip slide (I guess that's what you call it) while keeping the head steady up to impact (I realized I had the tendency to move the head forward up to impact resulting in a push fade (ugly). Slowing everything down for now to get the feeling ingrained. Worked on more pitching practice to wrap things up for the day. 

[Lihu]

18 hours ago, Lihu said:

Needed to use the 3.5" tee to get my desired flight from the PIng i25. Other than that, I think it's a pretty reliable driver for the course. We'll see this afternoon.

Yeah, it was horrible. I got one decent shot with that driver all day on the 9th hole, and it was shorter than I wanted.

It seems like I have to be on my best mechanics behavior to have a halfway chance of hitting this driver. I need to be on my best behavior and I wasn't. I was too naughty.

Well, all my other clubs seemed to have benefited. In retrospect, I should have not switched from this club last season.

 

[MiddleTees]

Slow mo backswing drill hitting balls into net in barn. I used an old 5 wood, 9i and 5i . Focus was on hitting balls off tee, inside out path and square club face at impact. The last few sessions I am standing a bit further away from ball at address, hoping to flatten plan some and more direct route to ball from inside. 

[Dave325]

Spent a few hours working on the drills, then full swing with driver and 7 iron, focusing on transition at A4 to finish... Hip/shoulder turn and weight forward extending the legs at Impact while keeping head back and steady. Did a few slow motion drills on this transition. Then worked on pitches. Later this evening, moved to garage and continued slow full swing with 6 iron and hybrid. Took some videos here and did a review in Sl-Mo. Swing is coming along and the pic is definitely changing for the better. Heading out for a round with auddy in the morning. Going to focus on the weight forward hip turn and head back tomorrow. Going to swing a tad less to focus on the mechanics.

[Lihu]

14 hours ago, Lihu said:

Yeah, it was horrible. I got one decent shot with that driver all day on the 9th hole, and it was shorter than I wanted.

It seems like I have to be on my best mechanics behavior to have a halfway chance of hitting this driver. I need to be on my best behavior and I wasn't. I was too naughty.

Well, all my other clubs seemed to have benefited. In retrospect, I should have not switched from this club last season.

 

Played 9 and got a couple good drives, finally. Going to use this club from now on because all my other clubs work much better with my best swing behavior. Was focused and not lazy because otherwise my driver would make me suffer. I got decent flights (for me) on the course with all my irons except when I hit stuff. One 7i from a terrible lie went hosel on me. Ouch. Something that hadn't happened since the fall.

One birdie, 3 doubles.

2 lateral penalties. Nailed my 4i, unfortunately. Unfortunate because it flew the green left side and bounced into the left side hazard. Recovered the ball 30 yards past the green in the ditch. Sliced driver into bank and rolled in water on hole 6.

Son shot 40.

[MiddleTees]

Short yoga routine to stretch the hitting into net in barn. Slow mo backswing drill, full swing, 3/4 swing and a swing I'm calling a hinge drill in which I hinge wrist in backswing and turn them over through impact. Very exaggerated right now.

Nor'Easter on the way, was hoping to avoid. Shouldn't stay on the ground long . Plan a couple more range visit next week then take this swing to the course!?.........⛳️   GIR

[Lihu]

Did more transition moves. Working on my chipping even though I think my chipping is reasonably good. Also working on my Easter Egg hunting skills. It will help me find balls better.

[Dave325]

My golf buddy canceled our round, so I thought the time would be better spent at the range. Worked on my focus items with driver and 7 iron. Irons looking good, but not so much for the driver. I seemed to pick up tha old fade again (arg). I need to work more on my shoulder turn (left shoulder coming around on the follow through). After that, spent a lot of time on pitching, chip and putting. All those are looking real good, but going to have to work harder on the driver. Tried to slow the swing down to 1/2 speed and try to str5aighten thing out. 

[MiddleTees]

Short yoga routine to stretch and slow mo backswing drill in barn. Focus on hitting par 3 tee balls using old 5w, 5i and 9i, inside out path and square club face at impact.

[Lihu]

21 hours ago, Lihu said:

Did more transition moves. Working on my chipping even though I think my chipping is reasonably good.

More back swing and more takeaway moves. Will test out on the range.

[Big Lex]

Thankfully it's easier to remember the practice than it is to make the posting.

It's been mostly the same. M-F chips and pitches off a rug in the office into a bubble-wrap filled bag.

Putting on a rug, 6-10 footers. Intermixed with putting through a gate designed to get it started on line.

Things are thawing and I was able to hit 100 ten-footers at my course on Friday, and a few more again yesterday.

Oh and I've started select full-swing drills. The wall drill, followed by some easy "dry" driver swings in the front yard. My 51 year old body needs to start the year gradually to minimize injury risks. Also been doing ab work and stretching in the gym. 

 

Edited March 21, 2016 by Big Lex

[Dave325]

Worked in the yard today on driver and 6 iron full swing and backswing drills. Focus today on figuring out the rhythm and slowing down the transition to about 70% to build on consistency and a solid strike (I really need to get rid of that excessive fade that eats golf balls).

Key note here is the feeling in two parts... Transition to A4 (soft chest pointing to ground).... Then hip / shoulder rotation and weight forward through impact. Two focus areas I need to work on: Left Shoulder turn (seems to stall at A6) and continuing hip rotation through A7 forward. I turned this into a slow rehearsal drill as a pre shot routine. More to come tomorrow.

Spring is coming... Fired up the lawnmower and mowed the lawn tonight. That will make for a nice practice turf tomorrow.

[Lihu]

8 hours ago, Lihu said:

More back swing and more takeaway moves. Will test out on the range. course

Played 20+ holes and finally figured out what I was doing wrong with my Ping i25 and all my irons. I was picking up my head early (Key 1 failure). IDK why but my steel shafted driver helped keep my head down at impact. The PIng feels so light that my body almost wants to bounce up immediately. I spend a good 4 holes purposely holding my head steady. Once I got it both my irons and driver were much better. My miserable scoring episode is hopefully over. Tested this out on 12 more holes with good success. Ouch. Will take to the range tomorrow morning. Taking lots more video.

[MiddleTees]

Short yoga routine to stretch, adding more positions into routine. Takes about 20 min. I will take this routine to course and use it before starting round and warm up. Then on to medicine ball routine, dead lift routine and backswing drill using weighted club in gym using mirrors. Then home to hit some slow mo drills into net in barn. Most of yesterday's snow, (6") is almost gone. 

Today. I noticed two different positions of parallel club at top of backswing. One is above my right shoulder and the other is higher up halfway between right shoulder and head. Will be interesting to see what ball flight comes from each of these positions next range session.

[Lihu]

Maintaining that steady head. Works pretty well. Getting nice high shots on the range.

[Dave325]

23 hours ago, Dave325 said:

Worked in the yard today on driver and 6 iron full swing and backswing drills. Focus today on figuring out the rhythm and slowing down the transition to about 70% to build on consistency and a solid strike (I really need to get rid of that excessive fade that eats golf balls).

Key note here is the feeling in two parts... Transition to A4 (soft chest pointing to ground).... Then hip / shoulder rotation and weight forward through impact. Two focus areas I need to work on: Left Shoulder turn (seems to stall at A6) and continuing hip rotation through A7 forward. I turned this into a slow rehearsal drill as a pre shot routine. More to come tomorrow.

Spring is coming... Fired up the lawnmower and mowed the lawn tonight. That will make for a nice practice turf tomorrow.

More of the same on this today. Though today I spent a lot more time on the backswing and downswing drills. Then, slowing down both iron and driver swings to 50% speed. Starting to feel better with the transition.