Practice wedges and short irons

[iacas]

3 hours ago, Jack Watson said:

Again practice is useless if you are spraying long shots trying to 'figure it out.'

What makes you think you're going to "figure it out" if you're just spraying your approach shots?

You said the only difference in the driver and the irons (I disagree) is in setup, so why couldn't someone "figure it out" with the driver, and then just "setup differently" with their irons and be consistent there? Why not learn to walk with a club they're likely to have fun hitting, so that they actually practice longer? Hitting a ball off a tee, I could argue, is also a good bit easier than hitting a ball solidly off the ground.

FWIW I disagree that the swings are the same and that setup is all that changes. They're generally the same, but in the history of the game, the great short iron players are rarely also great drivers, and vice versa.

Anyway, I think people should actually practice all parts of their game… in roughly 65/20/15 ratios, unless they have a glaring weakness.

[WUTiger]

Give us a hint: Did you have to go into witness protection because of your unorthodox views? I notice you changed your avatar.

5 hours ago, Jack Watson said:

Good wedges and short irons you have a great chance to give yourself a putt instead of a chip on the next shot.

Do you enjoy practicing these?  What's your range session like?  Is it more long clubs?  

My normal range-only session is a small bucket, about 30 balls. I'll do dynamic stretches and then do some half-swing chips to get my contact down.

Then, it depends what I'm emphasizing. Sometimes it's mainly 5i and 7i.

Other times it may be short irons and wedges. I do a lot of walking the ball up and down the range with a PW swing: quarter, half, and 3/4. Then SW. (Occasionally I do this, hitting sideways on an empty range tee, so I can check yardage with the ball I play on-course - not range balls.)

About once every two weeks I spend 15 minutes on bunker shots.

Then, I'll have a mainly long club day. Usually it's driver and 4H, or 4W and 7W. Sometimes all four. It is a time to drop the yardage sticks, check alignment, set-up and grip.

3 hours ago, Jack Watson said:

Practicing scoring clubs is so so valuable.  Spraying drivers all over is a complete waste of time.

Spraying drivers is not practice. It's cheap therapy. When I practice drives, I'm trying to generate a slight draw, and an occasional fade. I work on ball position, and tee height. If I'm moving through the ball well, I may tee it a bit higher. If I feel stiff, I know to tee it down a bit so I don't pop it up.

Another thing on practicing driver:  According to a Division II golf coach I took lessons from in my Oklahoma days, the driver is the most physically demanding club in the bag. So, practice driver early in your range session.

[Jerry in DC]

First let me say I'm all-in on LSW, long game over short game, full swing practice, etc.  That's what I do.  That's what I think people should do.  

I spend a fair amount of time at the range and like to look around and see what people are doing.  I see a lot of really bad swings being made by people with drivers in hand.  I don't know if those people are actively trying to get better or if they're just knocking some balls around.  I do think they'd at least prefer to get better.  I strongly suspect that those people would be far better served with a mid/short iron in their hands rather than a driver.  Making swing improvements is difficult enough - trying to do it with a driver seems like an unnecessary challenge.  

[iacas]

2 minutes ago, Jerry in DC said:

First let me say I'm all-in on LSW, long game over short game, full swing practice, etc.  That's what I do.  That's what I think people should do.  

I spend a fair amount of time at the range and like to look around and see what people are doing.  I see a lot of really bad swings being made by people with drivers in hand.  I don't know if those people are actively trying to get better or if they're just knocking some balls around.  I do think they'd at least prefer to get better.  I strongly suspect that those people would be far better served with a mid/short iron in their hands rather than a driver.  Making swing improvements is difficult enough - trying to do it with a driver seems like an unnecessary challenge.  

I agree with all of that.

But I think a lot of people at the driving range just enjoy hitting the driver. They're not really practicing (though if they think they find "something" that's a bonus), but they enjoy hitting a driver and are blowing off a little steam and stuff like that.

[Shindig]

17 hours ago, WUTiger said:

Spraying drivers is not practice. It's cheap therapy. When I practice drives, I'm trying to generate a slight draw, and an occasional fade. I work on ball position, and tee height. If I'm moving through the ball well, I may tee it a bit higher. If I feel stiff, I know to tee it down a bit so I don't pop it up.

Another thing on practicing driver:  According to a Division II golf coach I took lessons from in my Oklahoma days, the driver is the most physically demanding club in the bag. So, practice driver early in your range session.

Huh... I usually practice it last.  Maybe I need to move it up in my practice sessions.  I do try to hit a few drives because of the importance of driving well. 

[bm85]

To me playing golf better has a great deal to do with knowing, and applying feels. Hitting a 9 iron feels very different from a driver. Each requires practice, and it's more fun that way anyhow.

Edited August 14, 2017 by bm85