"5 Minutes Daily" Practice Challenge May 2016

[MiddleTees]

30 minutes of My tee shot drill and 10 minutes chipping both inside using net.

[Lihu]

6 hours ago, Lihu said:

More half swings, this time insuring that my shoulders are aligned correctly using an ipad as a "mirror".

Beat about 240 balls at the range, and felt like it was a complete waste of time. Other than getting in a few good shots, it was tragically doomed to do nothing for me. I did at least retain my alignment every shot, but other than that a total waste. I'm never going to get 2 buckets at a time again.

[WUTiger]

Practice range was open today despite heavy rains yesterday afternoon and last night.

Got in about 45 minutes of practice in three parts. One goal: ensure my left shoulder is under my chin - at top - on full swing.

• Practiced quarter swings with 7i to feel proper rotation into ball. Finished up with a dozen full shots. Need to make sure I bend knees a little more, it helps stabilize me throughout swing.
• Practiced quarter swings with driver, and followed up with about 20 full shots. I'm finding that the XR.16 works best when I have it ball teed up about 1/2" above crown of clubhead. Any higher and I tend to get pop-up or sprayed shot. At 1/2" high, a smooth swing produces a high shot that carries about 20 yards longer than my old driver.
• After a break, I finished up with a dozen or so GW shots. Started out with some "feel" practice swings, feeling the club hinge open and turning through smoothly on downswing. Worked on walking quarter, half, and 3/4 swing shots in and out on the range. The different swing lengths had fairly good distance separation. Best shots were making contact on the third or fourth groove from bottom of clubface.

In my workouts, I need to work more on stretching my hamstrings. They get a little tight toward end of rounds, which causes me to stand up sometimes - shift weight toward heels - rather than staying down and through the full shots.

[onthehunt526]

5/8/16:

Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's out there.

I played 27 holes... It was very windy and I didn't play very well the first 18... (I was in the 90s) I played a solid at handicapish last 14... The first 13 holes were bad... +19 over the first 13 played the last 14 in +7... I really need to work on my game from 100 and in, I'm losing most of my strokes in my game 100 yards and in... I think the 5 and 6 irons are going back in for now, I might even out the 4I back in eventually... On windy days I need the iron...

I practiced lag putting for an hour after the round... I need some work on this as well.

[Rainmaker]

I practiced for about an hour just now, hitting all 7 irons into the net.  I've come upon this massive realization in the last few days.  Well, I started realizing it about 6 weeks ago but I finally realized it in the last couple of days.  The first time I ever picked up a golf club, I was about 14.  I took my Dad's clubs down to the range with a buddy, lined up to the ball and promptly hit the ground way behind the ball.   Between ages 14-17, I played once in a while, never practiced and hit a huge, unplayable slice. 

I didn't play golf again until I was about 35.  I got motivated to try and improve but I kept hitting this huge slice.  After a few months, I quit again.  I didn't "quit" . .I just didn't play anymore, lol.  About a year after that, I won a free year golf club membership in a raffle - so I tried again to improve.  I signed up for a package of 10 weekly lessons with a local pro.  I barely improved at all during those 10 weeks.  I didn't understand *anything* the pro was telling me.  I realize now he was right . .but I totally didn't get it at the time.  I stopped playing again.

When I was about 38, my wife signed us both up for an "intro to golf" class.  For the first time ever, I made some tiny improvement.  I still hit a huge slice but it was a bit more playable.  Over the next 4 years, I went through periods where I practiced quite a bit and also not at all.  I probably actively practiced for 2 years of the 4.  Certainly not huge hours, but let's say 30 minutes a day, on average. I started hitting a draw.  I increased my driver distance to around 220.  I could hit big hooks if I wanted to, etc. 

It was after a long period of not playing that I decided I wanted to start again . .so I hit the range a few times and booked a lesson.  At that lesson, my teacher told me I needed to stabilize my legs.  I tried doing that and realized I couldn't even hit the ball, lol.  All of a sudden it was like it was that first time I ever swung a club and I'm hitting the ground a foot behind the ball. 

That was 6 weeks ago and, since then, I've worked super hard on trying to understand what's going on.  I did some video analysis, asked some questions here and realized I was casting it big-time.  The whole leg thing was something I concocted to move my impact forward so I didn't hit the ground before the ball.  But I never fixed the real reason . that I could never understand where impact is.  

Swing, don't hit.  Let the club collect the ball.  Keep the club in front of you.  Hit down on it.  Swing to the target, yada yada yada.  There is not an idea out there I didn't read or see and it meant nothing to me.  I had 2 different teachers try to convey it to me - one with diagrams and pictures and demonstrations and drills. .another with "forcing the position" and drills . .and it never registered, not even a bit. 

Without this concept, 90% of all golf instruction is pointless and misleading.  I know a lot of people suffer from this misconception.  How do you get it, though?  I have no idea, honestly.  It was like a gift that I got it, lol.  I finally got it by doing what I call a "reverse downswing" drill.  Starting from impact and going to the top of the back swing. I don't know if it would work for anybody else . .or if it's just a matter of you have to work and work at it until you can finally "Get it".  There's a huge trust thing involved.  I really, really, really believed with all my heart that my target was the back of the ball.  So much so that I could listen to hours and hours of logical explanation to the contrary . .and still keep doing it. 

All these positions that seem totally impossible to get into are not that difficult when you have the correct intention.  Not to say that I look like a tour pro or ever will . .that's not what I mean.  But having forward shaft lean.  Increasing the angle at the start of the downswing, etc.  That stuff just happens when you're aiming at the right place . .which is not the back of the ball. 

My practice session tonight really confirmed this for me.  NOW, I can finally work on a bunch of things my teacher has been trying to get me to work on.  I can extend my arms through impact.  I can keep my legs quiet.  Plus I realized I have no coil in my back swing.  None.  My attempts at getting some coil have been fairly humorous, so far.   

I posted this here because, in my mind, these are just practice notes . .not some kind of golf-wisdom, lol. It's helpful to me to clarify my thoughts. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dinoma]

I did more work on chipping today, using the 'putt' chip as linked below. I'm keen to get my 0-50 yard woes firmly behind me, putting is going well so it's almost a 25-50 woes now. Looking at my up and down from various distances over my last 20 rounds I am averaging 3.01 from 75-120 yards and 3.15 from 25-75. I don't wish to be the one man stat-buster so the chipping is getting a firm overhaul. I'll also be working on the mini pitches later on in the month.

 

[WUTiger]

Rain showers predicted for next 48 hours.

Did five minutes of A1-A4 motion drills using glass in office door as reflective mirror. If I'm relaxed on takeaway, I do better job of having my left shoulder under chin at the top.

[boogielicious]

10 minutes mirror work before my workout. I'll be going to the range to hit a small bucket later and work on the same drills.

[Lihu]

More self aligned half swings at my net. Working from home today, while people replace the entire some AC/heating equipment in my house.

Ordered the high speed memory for the high speed cameras, finally. Will probably get them later this week. The video I took two weeks ago was very jittery and I couldn't figure out why, until I looked at the 90MB/second requirement.

[onthehunt526]

5/9/15:

Work on pre-shot routine and alignment... Working on lining up before I take my stance so I'm lined up straight.. 

[MiddleTees]

Doing more of My tee shot drill and chipping inside using net. 

[RandallT]

30 balls at the range to reinforce previous days' mirror work. Shortened A4 club position (full shoulder turn) with right elbow tucked close and in front of shirt seam.  Club well shy of parallel.  Slowly down through A5 to A6. At A6, no cupped wrist. Hips slightly open to target. Club inside hands. Rehearse slowly, and then do a slow motion all the way through the ball from A4 to finish.

Results: meh. Contact still iffy, body feels awkward, but it is better than the most recent video above. I verified via video about 10 times that better positions at A4/5/6 are being hit more frequently. Not always, but better. 

I'll hopefully try faster speed swings next time, but for now it's a challenge to do slow swings with a ball present. Slow speed feels like I'm guiding club with my arms, rather than driving it all with hips/shoulders. Maybe speeding it up will help make it more natural.

[krupa]

Spent about 30 minutes chipping and practicing full swings with a pitching wedge in the backyard.  

[sirhacksalot]

Worked on grip that works good for controlled pitches and full swings , no big changes just a lil stronger firmer left with weaker weaker right. Then short but powerful swings into the net that “felt” like I was starting the downswing just after the takeaway. Really ¾ to parallel or just past but the feeling is that I do the take away then hit the ball. 

[iacas]

A lot of short game shots today with the golf team at Nationals.

[Lihu]

10 hours ago, Lihu said:

More self aligned half swings at my net. Working from home today, while people replace the entire some AC/heating equipment in my house.

Ordered the high speed memory for the high speed cameras, finally. Will probably get them later this week. The video I took two weeks ago was very jittery and I couldn't figure out why, until I looked at the 90MB/second requirement.

Played 17 holes (skipped one because of slow play). Hit a lot of greens. A lot more than usual. It's fun rounds in the evenings after work that make me realize how much fun is golf.

[Dinoma]

Another 30 mins working on my chipping and short pitches. I'm really working on using the bounce for the pitches and starting to get some consistency with distances and consistency. It's a large missing part from my jigsaw so hopefully its one I can take out to the course with confidence.

[WUTiger]

Trapped in my office between rain showers and meetings.

Doing some motion work, reviewing 5 Simple Keys concepts, for 10 minutes. I'm finding the diagonal sweet spot path seems to match up with the "floaty load" motions of the TST Pitching video.

On range this weekend, ensuring the downswing with wedges was in to out helped me get better line and more consistent loft on shots.