"5 Minutes Daily" Practice Challenge

[Darkfrog]

Day 1

Just had a lesson over the weekend so good time to start.

• Warmup with 100 jumping jacks
• Worked on setting up to the ball to eliminate my tendency to have sloppy posture at address (too close to ball, not enough room for arms to hang correctly)
• Practice swings: Worked on making a full shoulder turn in my backswing as I have unconsciously shortened my backswing to barely left arm parallel since my previous lesson and basically stopped turning my shoulders. Cue for me is to feel just a bit of tension in my trail hamstring and hip.
• Full swings with a 7 iron with a full shoulder turn in the backswing, and turning my hips during downswing so they're open at impact

[DrMJG]

Day 483

Made adjustment to my plan for today to work on my shoulder and hip rotation to get rid of a captain hook that seemed to have come for a visit this past week or so.  Perhaps it came in when I twisted my back a few weeks ago and which I simply ignored and kept playing.  

Some good progress as I went on, but not comfortable with the changes yet.

[ChetlovesMer]

Day 33

I didn't see my coach today. But I worked on the set up, and grip he and I talked about last week. I'm kind of getting back to basics. 

Last week we looked at some video and took some video. This has been invaluable to me. It is amazing how far from the "old you" you can drift if you dont continually check yourself. 

So today I worked on my grip and i worked on making sure my knees, hips, ribs and shoulders were on the same plane during set up.  I was getting all out of whack and didn't even realize it. 

Thus the rebuild, and back to basics. 

[Shindig]

Day 175.  Two times around the cup, once from 6', once from 4'.  

[Darkfrog]

Day 2

• Warmup with 100 jumping jacks
• Pitching practice 30 yard shots
• Full swing 7-iron, working on different feels for transition to get my sequence straightened out.

[ChetlovesMer]

Day 34

I just finished 15 minutes of chipping practice in the basement. Really simple drill. I've done it before. I put 2 hula-hoops on the floor, one about 7 yards and one about 10 yards and chip a ball into the first hula-hoop, then chip one into the farther hula--hoop. Then I switch clubs and repeat. I'll do this with my LW, SW, GW and PW. I do each club at least twice for a total of 16 balls. If time allows, I'll do it more than once. ----> Just one time through today.

However, I'm really hoping this evening to start back up on my SuperSpeed Golf training. I miss it. 

[Shindig]

Day 176.  Did an actual drill:  4', make all 12 (eventually).  Set a personal best with 21 putts to do it and didn't fall under .500 after the 4th putt.  Made 7 first pass, then 3, then 1, 0, 1.  A total of 12+5+2+1+1 = 21 putts, a personal best for this drill.  Obviously I want to get that down and one day make 12  

[Darkfrog]

Day 3

Indoor putting practice in my living room. Worked on 4-6 foot putts, with the target being a golf ball placed in the center of the room. My house is not even close to level and the area rug is very thin and smooth over hardwood, so I am able to practice uphill, downhill, left to right, right to left and multiple variations. Didn't do so great, only hit the target 21/50.

[DrMJG]

Day 485

Finish 3 days of physically working on the turn sequence to allow a better loading up on the right side of the  body, better shoulder position and fuller hip rotation.

 

It helped that I did a lot od the work with the infamous Orange Whip® which allowed be to feel not only the fullest of actions but work as well on a better sense of the lag.  Tomorrow I will load up with the clubs and balls.

[ChetlovesMer]

Day 35

I got with my swing coach today. We worked on the driver. Yay, my favorite club! 

We are in the process of simplifying my take away and transition. But today we worked a lot on my swing path. Again getting back to basics. The KISS principle (Keep It Simple, Stupid) is becoming my new golf mantra. Anyway, today was GREAT! I felt like I couldn't miss with the driver. So, my coach gave me a new game to play. 

Here's how it works. You pick a fairway. Mine looked about 25 yards wide, it might be 40, hard for me to judge, but it seemed "fairway-like". Basically, my fairway was the distance between the yellow and the red poles out on the driving range. Then you pick a minimum distance. Today we used 225 yards. Now, you need a large bucket of balls. 

You hit your driver. If you hit it more than 225 (in this case carry as we were using the Trackman), and between the yellow pole and the red pole you count that as having hit the fairway. After you hit the driver, you have to hit another club at a target, then another club at a different target. Then you hit your driver again. You try to hit that same fairway as before. Then you hit two different clubs at two different targets.

Each time you are trying to hit your targets with your other clubs, but you are only keeping score with the driver. You have to hit 28 out of 28 drives into your "fairway". You can hit draws, fades, straight balls what ever. Just try to get all 28 into the fairway.

Why 28? Because in a normal round of golf you might have to hit as many as 14 drivers. If you can hit 28 fairways in a row, 14 should be easy, right?  Well, today I hit 24 out of 28 in "the fairway", including the first 12 in a row. Great practice today. Really hit it well. By the way, I could have made the 225 minimum 235 or even 240 or more and still had the same score. I was hitting the driver great today. 

 

 

[Shindig]

Day 177.  Did 2x the drill where I try to make 12 balls from 4', around the clock.  Not the "make them all eventually," just "attempt 12 and count how many you make."  First round:  made 7/12, tying a personal best (going from memory not written notes).  Second round, made 8/12 despite missing my first one and my last two.  I must have looked silly fist pumping the 8th made one (10th overall).  Worth it.

[Darkfrog]

Day 4

• Warmup with 100 jumping jacks
• Tried the alignment stick in the belt loops drill to work on hip turn. Only hit 30 balls, because my kids woke up at 4:45am (1 hour before my alarm) and I was too tired to do more.

[Shindig]

Day 178.  Once around the cup from 6' (made 4/12, not bad, but not great) and then a few casually from 12', focusing on getting to the hole. 

[DrMJG]

Day 436

More work one getting the hips around and keeping the lag solid.

What came about today is a much better sense of line and a return to my slight draw.  As well, better yardage off of the tee with both the driver and 7i.  Need another day of focus to get the actions back into my swing without thinking too much.

[ChetlovesMer]

Day 36

Being that today is Halloween. I had many obligations with my kids. So, after we finally got them to bed, I snuck down to the basement and got out my metal yardstick. Spent 10 minutes rolling putts down the yardstick. Tomorrow I will get back with my swing coach. Approach shots are on the agenda. 

[Darkfrog]

Day 5

• Warmup with 100 jumping jacks
• Saw on the Golf Practice Drills topic the Hips Preset Drill, so tried it out and it was very helpful. Did about 50 reps with a 7-iron.

[ChetlovesMer]

Day 37

Okay, got with the swing coach again today. We are pretty much going to be starting an approach shot series for the next couple weeks. Currently that's the part of my game which needs the most work.  Today was set up, and quieting down my lower body. 

 

[Darkfrog]

Day 6

• Warmup with 100 jumping jacks
• More Hips Preset Drill, as I’ve found it really helpful. Also transitioned to full swings trying to get in this position.