"5 Minutes Daily" Practice Challenge

[Moose68]

Day #6.

Just hit on the range today, it's really windy, so I worked on keeping my ball flight on target with my 5 iron, and then hit about 40-50 wedge shot from 40-60 yards.   Wind was blowing 20-25mph, at and across me to the slice side, so hitting into it and trying to hit a little draw to keep it on line was really good practice for these windy, cloudy Florida winter days.

[iacas]

Day 300 - December 10, 2018 - Really good session downtown working on a few pieces, plus some final touches to some training aid reviews.

[DrMJG]

Day 149:

Aftermy now usual 5-10 minutes with the orange whip thing, I decided to focus primarily on shots off the tee: Driver, GX-7, 8i and 7i.  I know some will use other clubs, and so do I from time to time.  But these are the usual suspects.

Today, I focused on a few specific things so that when I play a round, I have a fairly solid idea of what to expect.  So today I concluded the following:

Driver: does what I expected, distance of roughly 225-230, mostly straight but I do err right if I mis-hit.  I expect good loft from this 12º club. Sometimes I feel as if I hit too high

GX-7: I lose about 10-15 yards in distance.  I tend to pick this club off the tee if I need to account for some hazard, a narrower fairway or simply not too great a distance to the green.  I also have developed an ability to fade or draw as needed to avoid a large growing piece of wood.

8i: my stiff wind into my face choice.  Again, not as much distance but I am able to keep it down a bit so I don't lose more to weather conditions.  This is the oldest club in my bag.  And not a great iron at that.  I keep it primarily for what I can make it do and sentimental value (my only ace, decades ago, came from this club after a lucky bounce and roll.

7i is my go to club for shorter Par 3's and is my most inconsistent club for now.  I get great loft but distance and line are suspect.  I tend to practice this more than others in this grouping because I still need to build the repertoire.

(Also sometimes in this group in my 4h, but I did not play it today.)

 

And now a bit OT: @iacas said some nice things about my posts in this topic the other day; I thank him.  The reason I write so much is not a way of showing off; I am not all that good, yet.   Rather it comes from my days as a professional singer, when I kept a journal of my practice more to take stock and to remind myself of what worked and what did not.  In short, this is a way of talking to myself.  

Edited December 10, 2018 by DrMJG

[HJJ003]

Had to start over again:

Day 1: 

15 minutes of pitching work trying hit utilize the bounce more especially off tight lies. Good results mainly. 

[JuanTheGolfer]

DAY 381   Spent about 2 1/2 hours plus on the range working on Key #2... with lots of drills.  Then headed over to the putting green to try a new drill from Lawrie Montague, owner of Pro Tour Golf College.  It involves putting from 3, 4.5 and 6 feet onto an 8 1/2 by 11 piece of paper.  The ball must stop on the paper to be a success.  The drill is putting from all three distances AND each try being a success. Or you start over at 3 feet.   Give it a try and you will find out that paper is slippery!!

[DeadMan]

Day 60: Back to mirror work today. Just working on that feel of softening my wrists in transition.

[Patch]

Day 344

I arrive at the practice area early enough, and was able to practice 100 yard shots with my retired game balls this morning. Even being retired, the feed back these balls provide is more reliable than range balls. 

Actually, I was hitting 100 yard "carry" shots, since this 100 yard flag was in semi rough that allowed for very little roll out. Maybe one or two bounces of less than 5'. So, with that info, I was using my 110 yard club fly the ball to the flag. (+/-). 

Focus was on body alignment, posture, and club face aim. An intermediate target about 2-3 feet in front the ball was used for club face aim.  These are all parts of my pre-shot routine

I also paid attention to my one piece take away at the start of my back swing. It helps to get me to the top of my swing in a proper position, which helps to keep my down swing more correct than not. If I srart my down swing from a good position, I will get to my impact position in good shape. Probably helps to get, and keep me on my playable swing plane. I have never paid any attention to what my swing plane is. Never was important to me. It is what it is.

[boogielicious]

Day 66, December 11

Warmed up with stretches and some core strengthening work followed by mirror work at the gym for about 45 minutes. Focused on my priority piece with a couple of feels. First my right elbow staying close to my left arm from A4 to A6 (pitch elbow feel) and also left shoulder rotating up and back through impact. Did mostly mapping swings with a 6 iron and 3 wood. Felt like a pretty good session. Finished with stretching.

[DrMJG]

Day 150, another milestone

Went to a local course, where I could do my range work off of turf in place of mats and get some work on a green with rolling lawn as opposed to putting mats.

I was fairly happy with hybrids off of the turf, as that was my principal focus.  Good loft and carry from all of them, with my 3h a very pleasing surprise. I got the distances I was expecting based on the work from last Saturday and Sunday.  There was a bit more  drift in both direction from on line, but not so much that I would have been out of bounds based on the actual course.

I took some time with a few drives to make sure I could actually place tees where I need to.  I know it is silly to think of this as a practice item, but as I do spend a lot of time off mats, it was worth it for me.

Most of the putts I did were from 3-4 feet away.  While there were no killer breaks, I did have to account for them so it was another thing to account for.  Vast majority were either a direct sink or close enough so that a follow up putt was barely a tap in.

The goal now is to put it all together and have fun doing so!!

[JuanTheGolfer]

DAY 382     Attended the monthly hour plus session on the mental side of golf with Bill Nelson of Mind Management Academy, Bill works with a lot of PGA, LPGA, .... players.  This session was a semester wrap-up, with a 50 item quiz on areas covered this last semester, personal review of what has helped and what each of us still need to work on to improve our mental performance... and lower our scores.  The home for a little work on fitness and swings with my shortened 5 iron working on positions.      Now heading to the couch to review my semester notes and solidify my action plan going forward.

[iacas]

Day 301 - December 11, 2018 - Did some work with the SureSet training aid, seeing if it is good and whatnot.

[HJJ003]

Day 2:

Long day at work and I’m exhausted. Mirror work only, just working on not getting out over my toes on downswing. Proper weight shift and all. 

[DeadMan]

Day 61: Mirror work again today, working on that feel in transition of softening my wrists.

[Patch]

Day 345

I have 13 practice routines I use that fit the way I play. 3 of those are drills. The other 10 are actual shots I see the most of when playing. Some of those are "get out of trouble" practice shots. The rest, I practice to help stay out of trouble.

Today it was my (combo) pitch, chip, and putt practice routine. It's a simple routine, where after warming up, I take one ball, from various locations around the green, and pitch or chip the ball to a targeted hole. Then putt out as needed.  The idea is to hole out that ball,  in 3 strokes or less, a high percentage of the time. 4 strokes is barely acceptable, while 5, or more strokes is very disappointing, but easily forgotten before my next practice shot. A little mental practice there so to speak.  

Focuses on all strokes, are always on green reads, verticle body alignment, posture, club face aim, and landing area. 

This morning was a good time spent practicing

[boogielicious]

Day 67, December 12

Similar to yesterday. Warmed up with stretches and some core strengthening work followed by mirror work at the gym for about 30 minutes. Focused on my priority piece with a couple of feels. First my right elbow staying close to my left arm from A4 to A6 (pitch elbow feel) and also left shoulder rotating up and back through impact. Did mostly mapping swings with a 6 iron and 3 wood.

Followed with a golf-specific resistance training.

[iacas]

Day 302 - December 12, 2018 - About 15-20 minutes of good work. A bit too much speed, but messed around a bit with the same feelings. Generally speaking I'm liking the backswing, and the transition will be a major focus this winter.

[DrMJG]

Day 151

Worked mainly with specific clubs: 5i, 6i, 50º, and the big D.

First worked with the wedge as my warm up club.  Got good distance but was ending up a bit right.  Worked some to make sure I was doing nothing with grip or stance to encourage the off line finish.  Everything felt good, so I simply opened the face a little bit and that allowed me to it closer to the sweet spot.

5i is my, perhaps least played club.  And, like I have said in the past, I cannot at this time predict how the club will play when I swing the weapon.  So I went back to my set up to account for and make sure of everything from where the ball is placed at the address, distance from my body to club, face position, grip... everything!

After 15 whacks, I have come to find all of the areas factored into my best shots. I have written them down and tomorrow will see if this old brain remembers all.  Good distance and improved line for the last 10 balls.

The 6i benefitted from the work on the 5i.  From the first hit, distance was as expected and line was good.  Will work with these two from the start tomorrow.

My driver was solid and included one out of the ordinary shot that was pegged by tracker at 265 yards, and I believe it, as it hit the back fence on a bounce.  As I was the only one at the range at the time, I am sure it was my shot!  Ok, I got the great long shot out of my system for the next year and I settled down to 225 for an average shot.  

I had a bit of a bit of back and forth as to the line I hit.  I would say there was a 10-15' off line right and left of the shots except when I took a somewhat slower rhythm for the shot.  If slowing down the rhythm will center the shots and still retain 210-225 off the tee, I will accept that.

 

[DeadMan]

Day 62: Mirror work again today. Still working on that feel of soft wrists in transition.