"5 Minutes Daily" Practice Challenge (April 2016)

[WUTiger]

Worked on short game for a half hour.

Practice chip-and-run with 8i, and 6i for longer rollouts. I'm focusing on a set-up with forward shaft lean, but brushing the grass on followthrough rather than clipping out  a divot. I'm getting smoother rollout.

Also worked on 3, 5 and 10-foot putts. I practiced on setting up properly, and visualizing desired path of each putt. Getting better at deliberate finish on putts - point toward hole.

Hit a few putts and chips going uphill and downhill on the terrace. We have 3 terraced greens to contend with.

[Avalanche]

Went to the driving range with my five year old.  Practiced alignment with long irons for about 40 minutes.  He hit at least three times as many balls as me with his little driver. 

[Lihu]

More half swings using just a PVC pipe club with rags tied to the ends.

Gives me just enough resistance to put that last bit of snap at impact. Taking it down from A6 to A8 using only my legs, hips and shoulders to make the turn. My arms are "passively" active, but I'm sure they are also being worked out too.

[boogielicious]

Back at it after 5 days with the flu. Mirror work at the gym. Took it easy as I was still feeling a bit under the weather.

[Avalanche]

Swung by the practice green on the way to work this AM.  Practiced getting up and down for 30 minutes.  I hit three balls to a pin on a sloping part of the middle of the green from six different angles into the green, at various distances (3 yds, 6 yds and 10-15 yds off green).  Up-and-down 4/6 times from beneath the hole.  Up-and-down only 1/6 times from above the hole (and one four jack.  lol).  Up and down 2/6 times from the either side of the hole.  For a total of 7/18.  I still have *plenty* of room for improvement, but that's much better than I was doing from around the green two months ago. 

[MiddleTees]

Played 9 at home course, hit 4/7 fairways with a nice drive on the par 5 6th and followed with a nice 3 w off fairway. My MSGA event for tomorrow was cancelled due to expecting snow. Next event is this Sat at Bidd/Saco. Broke my driver on 7th hole!! Go figure!!

[Lihu]

9 hours ago, Lihu said:

More half swings using just a PVC pipe club with rags tied to the ends.

Gives me just enough resistance to put that last bit of snap at impact. Taking it down from A6 to A8 using only my legs, hips and shoulders to make the turn. My arms are "passively" active, but I'm sure they are also being worked out too.

Took this to the range before it started raining (lightning and thunder), and I was hitting nice and high shots with all my clubs. Of course, I'm just getting used to this so I mishit many shots as well. The work I did at the mirror keeping my lead arm straight helped a lot.

[WUTiger]

Worked indoors today for five minutes. Practiced going from A1-A2 and A1-A4, using the glass in my office door as a reflective mirror.

I can now tell by feel if I am sliding () or rotating () my hips.

[Rainmaker]

Had a lesson this morning and did 2 quick practice session afterwards - just (not) doing the new move from the lesson.  So the idea here is that I need to drop the club vertically at the start of the backswing and increase the lag angle on the way down towards releasing it. 

So far this consistently results in my either taking huge fat shots and laying the sod over it completely or else hitting the ball and taking a massive divot after. 

It's just a matter of not doing it correctly, of course.  It will take some time.

I'm actually faking the top of the back swing.  In videos my hands are in the right spot but there's nothing dynamic about it and the club never gets loaded really.  

[Lihu]

On 4/25/2016 at 8:25 AM, Lihu said:

More half swings using just a PVC pipe club with rags tied to the ends.

Gives me just enough resistance to put that last bit of snap at impact. Taking it down from A6 to A8 using only my legs, hips and shoulders to make the turn. My arms are "passively" active, but I'm sure they are also being worked out too.

Doing more of these half swings with a straight arm.

[boogielicious]

About 20 minutes of mirror work focusing on getting the hips to turn a bit more from A4 to impact. Then I did a long stretch session. Still feeling a bit ill.

[MiddleTees]

IT IS SNOWING!!!!!

Combining steady head and weight forward drills with slow mo backswing drill hitting into net in barn. A good day to review my goals for 2016. 

[Avalanche]

It was raining like crazy this morning.  Did 5 minutes of putting indoors, and another 5 of back stretching and exercises.  Might try to swing by the practice range on my way home though.  

Edited April 26, 2016 by Avalanche

[Lihu]

More of the same on the driving range at lunch.

Simulated playing the course I am playing Monday a couple times. Planning on "playing it" 8 more times. One of the instructors at my home course told me it was not quite as difficult as I am thinking, but it doesn't hurt to be over prepared.

Some drives seemed acceptable, so I might be able to use my driver and 3W after all. We'll see. My 3W mostly behaved if not including some shorter shots. I mishit my 5i and 4is a couple times and will need to practice these a lot more if we end up on the blue tees. Otherwise, 6i should work fine on the longer par 3s.

[Avalanche]

Not very good conditions at the practice green.  Rainy and wet.  The practice greens haven't healed from being plugged, and are covered with whirlygigs from the maple trees.

Spent 20 minutes putting inside using the Putting Stick.    I probly shouldn't have spent so much time with my putter since I'm getting a new grip and 2" extension plug put on today.  Oh well.  

[Lihu]

More PVC pipe swings with half swings. I noticed that if I take the club literally back at A6, I seem to get a lot more speed on the downswing. The pivot in the mirror looks a lot more compact as well.

[Rainmaker]

Really struggling with the mental concept of not casting.  I can understand the pivot, I can even get my wrist flat and the shaft leaning a little bit . .but I'm still losing lots of lag, left wrist collapsing just after impact. 

I worked separately on letting the club drop into the top of the backswing and trying to get it a little more dynamic.  And then seperately on my pivot and also just trying to "force" my hands forward into impact to see if I could maybe find a feeling or something I could grab onto. 

Nah . . not really.  I can get my wrists not to hinge after impact but then I'm shanking it.  I can do it without a ball there pretty easily but as soon as the ball is there everything just feels really different. 

[MiddleTees]

Went to range today and hit a bucket of balls doing steady head and weight forward drills. Repeating routine I've been doing inside. Started out good, worse in the middle and finished good.Worked with 3w and old driver.