"5 Minutes Daily" Practice Challenge July 2016

[woodzie264]

7/18 - after morning walk, took less lofted clubs and went thru grip, stance, slow takeway, and balanced swing. 

I find it interesting that even though it's no different than with a wedge, for some reason my eye just doesn't like the less lofted clubs. 

Also, after reading how many TST'ers hover during pre-shot routine, and then paying attention to the guys doing it yesterday, I tired that this morning during the sequence described above. I liked it - I get the feel that it will foster a more angled downward swing which may help me (I'm a sweeper, generally no divot). 

[onthehunt526]

7/18/16:

Worked on my chipping and pitching motion... I need to get my no doubles game going again around the greens.

[roamin]

7/18/2016:

About an hour of practice today. Started with slow backswings with my 52W, focusing on a steady head and no sway, then incorporated slow downswings, focusing on good weight transfer, and then finishing the shot every other time. Then hit about 15 shots working on club face control, picking a target about 10 yards out and alternating shots to the left and right of the target. Did a few short sets of pitching practice and practiced pitching two balls at once. Finished up with some putting practice. Practiced straight 3-4 footers from different angles and then set up a ball "gateway" on a straight putt and practiced hitting balls through it from about 5 feet away.

Edited July 19, 2016 by roamin

[Chilli Dipper]

Rehearsing the transition of shifting weight onto the lead foot. If the weight goes onto the outside of my trailing foot during the backswing, it's difficult to shift it forward, so keeping the pressure around the arch of my left foot is important.

[RandallT]

Couple of crazy days here, but I did manage to practice. Screwed up my daily streak of posting, but the golf was good! Yesterday was 45 minutes at the range. 30 minutes diligent video evaluation, watching for the backswing, transition, A5 and A6. Not much progress, but managed to not backslide visually even thought it felt uncomfortable again.

Also spent last 15 minutes going through the bag, loosely hitting shots with the feels I've been working on. Got a sense of ball flight (I usually rarely hit full shots at range). Bit disappointing as there was no consistent pattern. Most straight, but not too powerful. Some pushes, pulls. Some slices and hooks. 

I'm always amazed that some people have a pattern of their shot. I'm pretty far into lessons, and I never have a consistent pattern. Some left pulls, some of those draw, some hook, some fade, some slice.  Same with the straight shots. And again with the pushes (some draw, some fade, others straight pushes, etc). I can get any shot at any time. Maybe over time, one will predominate, but it seems to me, they're all about equally likely.

[onthehunt526]

7/19/16:

No double bogey chipping practice this morning...

[boogielicious]

10 minutes mirror work. May go to the range later for some drills.

[roamin]

7/19/2016:

Warmed up with slow backswings. Didn't feel loose today and just hit some easy wedge shots to my "practice green" for a while. Only thoughts were easy/short swing, and clubface control back and through. Then spent about 10-15 minutes practicing 3-6 foot straight putts.

[Chilli Dipper]

No time for a lot of practice today, so today's practice was mostly the same as yesterday's. Rehearsing the weight shift some more; this time, though, I had a 5-iron in my hands while doing these drills.

[woodzie264]

This was my post yesterday that apparently was not "submitted" as it was still in my response window when I pulled it up to post my practice for this morning:

"7/19 - chipping and putting. Spent most the time this morning chipping and picking out the right landing spot. "

My my post for this morning:

7/20 - something old, something new.

The old: more grip, stance, slow take-aways. I think I've really engrained this now after only a few weeks which never would happened under my old "practice" habits of hitting on the range 2-3 times per month.

The new: worked on my follow through heights, ie lower finishes for lower ball flight vs middle and higher finishes for higher flights. 

[boogielicious]

10 minutes mirror work before my workout. I went to the range yesterday and the video shows I am having an easier time flattening the shaft with the driver than the irons. Worked on that today.

[onthehunt526]

7/20/16:

Played some holes today focusing on keeping my clubface square at address...

[roamin]

7/20/2016:

Went to driving range today. Slowly worked through my irons, starting with a few slow backswings and then hitting some full shots. Focused mainly on clubface control. Lots of nice straight shots, and a few slight draws, but not many. Had some pushes off to the right, but I could feel the difference in the clubface during the downswing and through impact, where as I normally don't notice that.

[Chilli Dipper]

Practice winging in the backyard while grilling this evening. The main focus was getting the body moving in the right sequence (legs, torso, shoulders, arms, club) on the downswing.

[woodzie264]

7/21 - grip, stance, hover, slow take away...attention to weight shift on down swing and again working on different finishing heights for varying ball flights. Just with 8 iron. 15 mins

[onthehunt526]

7/21/16:

Continuing to work on the square clubface at address. It really looks "closed" to me but it's not... I hit a few absolute lasers this morning... I just have to work on getting used to hitting it further with my irons... I'm hitting 160 yard 8-irons... which I am not used to.

[boogielicious]

10 minutes mirror work before stretching. I'm playing my league 9 later.

[Chilli Dipper]

I was able to go to the practice range this afternoon. I started out with some 75-yard wedges, then moved up through the irons, paying particular attention to getting my ball position right. I then hit some drivers, then some 4-woods off the deck. I still had a lot of balls left after that, so I simulated a few holes at my home course.