"5 Minutes Daily" Practice Challenge (March 2016)

[Dave325]

Started the day with a 2.5 mile run, weight and kettle bell workout, followed by a few rounds of boxing on the heavy bag. Warmed up a bit in the backyard with the driver and 6 iron working through some the backswing and downswing drills.

Played a round in the afternoon, but had mixed results (posted 100). Started keeping a log and had a better back nine. End up with the following:

Fairways hit = 8

GIR = 4

nGIR = 5

Putts =34 (no 3 putts, but had a 4 putt on a par three, which is a bit embarrassing)

Positive side: Short game chip and putts has immensely improved with the technique that Erik taught me while in Erie. 34 putts was an all time best, and, if I used the putter off the fringe (which happened a number of times), I counted this as a putt. Hybrids and irons are still looking better, but just need more time with the swing changes. Staying on course with my priority items... I'm not leaving my wing man, Maverick.

Negative side: Driver off the tee is still a bit of an issue. The good thing... no shanks or heel hits. The bad thing... a bit of an excessive fade has creeped in. I noticed at one point that my grip needed adjustment (needed to turn more to the left... made the change on 14 and wrote that up in the notebook). I had 3 or 4 lost ball penalties that cost me with these wayward drives (I really need to stop that bleeding, seriously). I tried a few pitches, knowing that I need work on these (some miss hits here)... but gotta keep trying to do the right things here. 

[WUTiger]

Spent half hour on MBN - West web site. Worked up decision map for Monday's round.

 

[Lihu]

10 hours ago, Lihu said:

More back swing transition work and observing my wrist loading at the top.

Learned something for only the 50th time again. Keep my transition slow and even pause a teeny bit at the top. Started to hit draws again. I don't know why I keep forgetting to do this, or why I start to speed it up.

Wrists set automatically when I slow down enough. I feel totally stupid for speeding this up and letting my swing drift off into this crappy fast transition.

[boogielicious]

10 minutes mirror work. Focused on flatter shaft at A5. Review of my video from the range yesterday showed me reverting a bit and getting steep again leading to some OTT swings.

[Lihu]

Rain, hail, lightning. Missed out on my free round. Even my son's tournament was cancelled. I would say something like "In my day, we even played with thunder and lighting in the fairway trees. . ." except that I started golf after him.

Practiced more of the slow transition thing that I "discovered" I was screwing up for the 50th time again. . .hope this is the last time I have to make this discovery again.

[tosob]

It is 55 in NW Indiana today and going to be 65 on Tuesday. Still some snow on the ground . I spent Half and hour calling around to find a course that was going to be open Tuesday. 

I worked through my bag this morning. Loosened up the hit some chips, pitches then full swings for most of my clubs. 

I found somewhere to play Tuesday. 

 

[MiddleTees]

Short yoga, medicine ball, dead lift and backswing drill with weighted club. Not hitting any balls today. Slow motion swings with focus on path and club face.

[Big Lex]

Late to the party but I'm in.

March 7, 2016

1. Chipping. In my office, off an oriental/low pile carpet, into a bag filled with bubble wrap. The swing thought is to roll the ankles, left ankle in going back, right ankle in going forward, and let the rest of the body be passive. Goal is to hit all of them cleanly. I vary length of swing, how much I choke down on the wedge, and ball position, so as not to engrain the motion with only one set up position.

2. Putting. 6-8 footers, on the same carpet. Goal is to try to make as many in a row as possible. Only thought or mental image is to swing the putter head toward the target.

[Dave325]

Worked on pitches in basement, where I setup a target. Still need work on the short pitches while swinging with the hips and letting the club fall. Also, did three 30 minute sessions in the backyeard with driver and 7-iron. Focuses on backswing and downswing drills with the iron. Then, focused on the driver issues I was having yesterday in the round. Three elements I discovered that I need to remember... 

1. Soft chest pointing to the ground at A4

2. Relaxed the right arm a bit at A4 and let the club drop a bit.

3. Pause at A4 and make sure to start downswing with hip bump.

* Start the pre shot routine with the downswing drill with a double pump. Reset and swing.

I think part of my issue yesterday was in the transition at A4 and the club shaft coming too vertical.

[Lihu]

8 hours ago, Lihu said:

Rain, hail, lightning. Missed out on my free round. Even my son's tournament was cancelled. I would say something like "In my day, we even played with thunder and lighting in the fairway trees. . ." except that I started golf after him.

Practiced more of the slow transition thing that I "discovered" I was screwing up for the 50th time again. . .hope this is the last time I have to make this discovery again.

Little break in the rain. Hit the range with my new found discovery and got pretty decent results up to 5i. The balls didn't carry the normal distances, as it was 50F and drizzling, but the flights were reasonable. It's funny that they ball took a long time to drop. I think I will be more consistent up to 5i*** and can't wait to take it to the course as soon as the rain clears up.

 

***My swings with 4i and 3i felt more solid and I even hit one 3i pretty far, but after hitting a hosel rocket with the 4i my hands were stinging pretty badly. Just didn't want a potential repeat. . .

[WUTiger]

Played first18 of year at Myrtle Beach National - West. Review to follow - need laptop (this fr. Cell phone.)

Wild first round... started on #10. Bogies on 17, 18, 1 through 4, 8 and 9. Good long clubs, irons terrible!

 

 

 

[Lihu]

On 3/7/2016 at 5:24 PM, Lihu said:

Learned something for only the 50th time again. Keep my transition slow and even pause a teeny bit at the top. Started to hit draws again. I don't know why I keep forgetting to do this, or why I start to speed it up.

Wrists set automatically when I slow down enough. I feel totally stupid for speeding this up and letting my swing drift off into this crappy fast transition.

No, they don't.

Sigh, working on combining wrist loading, slow transition with weight shift/hip turn in stages.

1) Hip turn/weight shift drills

2) Hip Turn/weight shift/slow transition drills

3) Hip Turn/weight shift/slow transition/wrist loading drills

If I mess up then I go back to 1. Hopefully I don't mess up the stuff to get to one or it's back to basics again.

The swing speed radar is very useful at this point.

[tosob]

Hit some balls in the garage this morning, just trying to loosen up. Playing for the first time this year.

[boogielicious]

10 minutes of mirror work at the gym before my workout. Focused on A5 position getting my hands further out to help flatten the shaft. In addition, worked on the tempo from A4 to A5 let is drop to A5 to get better sequencing.

[Lihu]

3 hours ago, Lihu said:

No, they don't.

Sigh, working on combining wrist loading, slow transition with weight shift/hip turn in stages.

1) Hip turn/weight shift drills

2) Hip Turn/weight shift/slow transition drills

3) Hip Turn/weight shift/slow transition/wrist loading drills

If I mess up then I go back to 1. Hopefully I don't mess up the stuff to get to one or it's back to basics again.

The swing speed radar is very useful at this point.

I only had to regress 4 times today between 60 and PW between steps 2 and 3. Starting to show some good results.

I was able to carry the 235 flag with range balls in wet 50F temperatures. Roughly 240 yard carries. At first, I put too much wrist too early and pulled a few shots. Once I regressed back to my wedge and practiced the timing better I was able to hit them straight. Then I worked my way back to my driver and got 5 shots with 240 straight carries with my Titleist 910 D2 9.5 Kaili R/mid shaft, nice high shots. I think there was even a light breeze against us because those 5 shots were well beyond the "ball line".

I pretty much put everything I had behind these shots, but feel like I can get a little more from the wrist "release" timing. All the shots were okay but still not as good as that one shot from my last round (3-4-2016, hole 13, 49F E. O. Nay). That shot is now my "goal". It was the most powerful shot I ever made, and I would really love to reproduce it.

[MiddleTees]

Short yoga routine to stretch, medicine ball routine, dead lift and backswing drill using weighted club and mirrors at gym. Then out to range where I hit a large bucket. Did a little warm up with 9i then used backswing drill with driver for few shots then hit 14 drivers full swing. All were playable. Moved on through bag. Less excited about short irons. Work to do but pleased to hit playable drives. 

[Big Lex]

Chip/ultra-short pitch shots. Same as yesterday. Looking for solid contact, ball first, center face. Thinking "roll the ankles."

Putting: a few putts through a gate. Practicing solid, square hits. Also experimenting with stroke while looking at target and not ball.

[Dave325]

Working today for a few hours on the driver and 7 iron in the backyard. Really nice weather today. Focus on backswing and downswing drills with the iron. Focused on driver setup, relaxed wist and pause at A4. Also, made a slight adjustment in my setup... Moved an inch away from the ball with both clubs.

Worked in the basement on pitching and chipping stroke, letting the club fall for the pitch and starting the hip turn slightly early. Did a little target practice with the pitches and hit 10 in a row with the short pitch.