"5 Minutes Daily" Practice Challenge February 2017

[roamin]

2/24: My dad's in town for the weekend. Played 18 today and got my butt whooped. Shot 96 (48/48). It was sad, I was a yard off the green in regulation on the first two holes but doubled them both. Putting let me down, kept misreading breaks and pushing putts right when I did get the read correct.

On the extremely bright side...the recent weight shift/head movement/resulting fade development is solved. If you don't have a My Swing thread, you should definitely start one. I was able to easily identify my issue what I had started doing wrong again, just by reviewing old posts and comparing old and recent video, and then corrected it immediately. Also, a discussion I read in another member's swing post (starting here) helped me realize why @iacas told me "I'm talking about your arms, not the shaft" when he was pointing out that the arms should be less around and more up. It seemed redundant at the time.

Warming up on the range today, I was back to (the new) normal and hitting smooth, high, draws with my 9-iron; and actually getting about 8-10 yards of draw instead of the usual 2-3 I typically see on the range. The shots were so nice, I was a little afraid to try any other club. Grabbed my 7-iron and after a few slow-mo swings and regular practice swings...same result. Perfect, high, and aim-able, draws. Sadly, nothing looks as good on the course as it does off the mats, but we had a great time and have two rounds scheduled tomorrow. So, I just got the bad round out of the way. Look out, Pops! 

BTW, proof is in the pudding...

Spoiler

p.s. sorry to turn this into my swing post, just felt it was important to emphasize the benefit I've found in having one, to the folks who are in this thread. If your putting this kind of time into practicing, you owe it to yourself. 

[b101]

24/2/17 - more mirror work with P2 and P3 the focus. This is definitely starting to feel more natural.

On 22/02/2017 at 10:47 PM, woodzie264 said:

2/23 - So I'm putting these two video clips here because:

1. they are my first ever attempt at filming my swing & making a youtube video, so in a sense this was good practice for something that will hopefully better my game

2. because these are my first attempts, the quality is too poor (too dark, too far away, and done in my driveway with no actual ball flight to observe) to start an actual MySwing thread

I have had only one formal lesson in my life about 15 years ago, so I'm sure I have a tons of swing flaws. TBH, I fear the amount critiques I'll get, but I do want to establish my priority piece. I will say that I learned a lot just by watching my swing video - I have quite a bit lateral movement in the FO view. Pretty sure this is bad since I don't see good golfers doing it, but I've really worked on accentuating my forward weight shift over the past few months...maybe to the point of shifting back too far just to get the shift forward. I guess when I get a better set of videos done and start a MySwing thread, I will find out!

 

Well done for taking the plunge and posting videos. Lots of good things in the swing and I'm sure when you post the my swing thread, someone will give you the right tips to move forward. Well worth doing though; I've gained a lot from mine. Keep it up!

[woodzie264]

7 hours ago, b101 said:

Well done for taking the plunge and posting videos. Lots of good things in the swing and I'm sure when you post the my swing thread, someone will give you the right tips to move forward. Well worth doing though; I've gained a lot from mine. Keep it up!

Thanks man, I'll give it a go again and start a swing thread

[boogielicious]

2/25 - Backyard range session into my net. Worked only on 7 iron float load feel and key 3. Filmed it for possible lesson upload. 

[b101]

Had a practice day at the course; went out with about 2hrs of light left and played loads of different shots around greens from 50-75 yards. Particularly worked on putting from off the green, varying pitch trajectory and hybrid putting from inside 100 yards. Spent a lot of time in the short game area with one ball, just playing up-and-down games. Also did a strokes gained putting drill which puts me at +3 (I took 32 putts when I should be aiming for 29) over a wide range of putts, from 3 feet to 45 feet with uphills, downhills and big breaks. No 3 putts, which was great, but so many lip-outs. Still need to work on my tempo to allow me to really commit to the stroke, though.

Had way more fun than I thought I would and I'll definitely do this again another evening. Particularly enjoyed it when I made the putting drills competitive and varied.

[RandallT]

2/25: 5min backswing to top, checking wrist, elbows close, full turn. 

[woodzie264]

2/25 - slow swings with focus on steady head with less lateral movement in backswing. 

[Mico]

19 hours ago, RandallT said:

No more pole dancing practice on public busses?

LMAO. Understood Randall! It was very PG, no bumping, grinding or even slicing,

 

[Mico]

20 min

Sklz swing trainer To warm up

did new routine with 7 iron and driver

1. Stop at the top and swing thru from inside

2. Pump drill

3. Step thru

4. Full swings

feeling the club close on its own, better lag

tomorrow go to range and play 18 with el aleman

 

 

[roamin]

2/25: Played two rounds today with dad at a different course than usual. Shot 96 and 93. A few nice strings of pars and made several amazing putts (). Mostly bogeys other than that but managed a couple of absolute blow-up holes in each round that helped to guarantee 90+ scores from an otherwise very nice day of golf.

I could complain about "sand-traps" sans-a-single-spec-of-sand with 10-foot wide puddles in them, or mushy fairways, or waiting 5-minutes for the 4-some in front of you on every shot, but there wasn't a notes field on the scorecard. 

Practice is paying off, though. Hit my drives farther than ever, draws when I wanted them, and the fade didn't let me down when I needed it. 3/4 "flighted" shots are the new go-to approach of choice all the way out to 160+ with my 3-iron, and (n)GIRs have jumped up considerably. I've rambled on about my short-game improvements before, but it continues. Holed a pitch shot from about 10 yards and stopped 2 others 6 inches from the pin. Gotta play some more rounds from the front so I get used to stringing pars together. Realized today that I don't just get nervous about it, I also get cocky. Weird combination. 

[b101]

26/2/17 - more slow takeaway work. Heading to the range later and will spend time really working on transitioning this work to full swing. I think the feel needs to be that my left arm is glued to my stomach, but will check with video later.

[Mico]

Great session on the range. Feeling the lag. Turn and bam the ball would. Very enjoyable. Went to play afterward and swing stayed with me part of the round before I lost it.

44-50= 94 highlights of two birdies and even par thru four holes. Went downhill from there. Two of 13 fairways and only 3 GIRs

 

[woodzie264]

23 hours ago, woodzie264 said:

2/25 - slow swings with focus on steady head with less lateral movement in backswing. 

2/26 - ditto

[boogielicious]

2/26 - Backyard range session. About an hour working on Key 3. Also did some pitching around the yard now that the snows gone. Filmed.

[woodzie264]

2/26 Part II:  15-20yd pitching practice in front yard for 30 mins while playing catch (football) w/my two boys....alternate shot format 

[roamin]

2/26: Worked on clubface control this afternoon. I set up an alignment stick about 20 feet out and hit 50 shots with my pitching wedge using short swings and slow enough to make sure I started the ball at the stick, either straight or with a tiny draw.

Later in the evening I hit 50 easy (50-75%) shots with my sand-wedge, normal awareness of hip-turn and balance, but focus on smooth transition and "letting the club do the work" as my dad says. I really like the ball striking with this drill. Maximum power with minimum effort, and very consistent ball flight.

 

[b101]

Couldn't sleep, so did ten minutes of p2 work in the spare room

[woodzie264]

2/27 -  kettle bell swings for balanced, forward weight shift with focus on steady head

plus shoulder therapy