"5 Minutes Daily" Practice Challenge

[Patch]

Day 160

Practiced hitting 80, 100, and 120  yard shots this morning. Target was a hill side, left of the flag pin. Everything was measured by Lazer, and GPS. All distances we're carry, since the unmowed grass did not allow for much, if any roll out. That also means, depending on on course turf conditions, these would have been longer shots, due to the added roll outs. This is a good thing for me to remember when taking my practice club selections on to the course for a score. 

Focus was on grip, alignment, and ball position in my stance. After that, it was just a matter of putting a good swing on the ball. I hit 20 balls for each distance. (C+)

I aimed at the hillside left of the pin so that after impacting the hillside, the ball would deflect towards the pin. It was also a much larger landing area, than if I was aiming directly at the pin. The pin was set at the bottom of the steeper, left slope, with a little more down slope to the right. 

After that it was just some casual putting on the practice green. There was more conversations than putting. 

Here's something I do when I have my Lazer/GPS tools with me. I measure the number of steps I take to cover 10 yards, which for me is 15. My walking stride is very consistent.  (If I step off 60 steps, I am at 40 yards) I started doing this before I had the electronics. Back then I would tape  measure off 10 yards (30') and count my normal walking steps to cover that 10 yards. Just another way of knowing yardages as needed. As I have aged, my stride has become shorter. Crap happens. 

[Patch]

Day 160........Part Two. Yeah, I practiced twice today. My much better half had some volunteer work up the street, so I figured why not. Almost made this entry a different color. 

It's windy, varying from a 1 club, to a 2 club blow. What better time is there to practice my "in the wind" game.

Hit about 20 knock downs into the wind. Ball back in my stance, with a delofted club. Hit a few more in both cross winds, adjusting for wind driven ball movement. (C+)

Putted balls to 18 practice pins. Had a pretty good ground wind. Had two first putt hole outs, and three 3 putts. Rest were all two putts. Most putts were in the 12-15 foot range, with three 30 +/- footers thrown in just because. Finished with a 1 over par 37. (A)

Now I am in the club house with pitcher of beer, watching the PGA guys, saying to myself "I would've made that putt". 

[JuanTheGolfer]

DAY 200!!!!   Spent 90 minutes on the putting green.  Worked for 30 minutes with my Pelz Putting Tutor to insure I start the ball on line.  Then 30 minutes on a distance control drill...   hitting putts from 30-40-50-60 feet into a three foot circle around the hole.  Then finished with the "Dottie Pepper" Drill.  Where you have to make three in a row from 3, then 5 and finally 7 feet.  Anytime you miss you start back at 3 feet.

[boogielicious]

Day 70, June 9 - After two 18 hole rounds in two days, took it easy today. Just some should turn work and light stretches. Playing 18 again tomorrow. 

[iacas]

Day 126 - June 9, 2018 - Hit some putts while @NatalieB warmed up to play in her tournament.

[Shindig]

Day 9.  I was working from home today, so I was able to use my break time to do some golf improvement;  I did at least five minutes of each of the following:

* Medicine ball drill for driver from LSW.  
* Chipping from a mat with a plush ball.  No real target, but trying to be more comfortable with the "chipping with a putting motion" motion.

* Various stretches, especially in the morning.  Even if I were to hang up the clubs, I get the feeling I should be doing this more often anyway... and I'm not going to hang up the clubs.

[HJJ003]

Day 38: 

Did some work throughout the day on rotating though my short game shots. However, spent over an hour this evening analyzing some courses I am going to play over the next month and see how my shot ones off the tee stack up and what strategies I would need to use on those holes. 

[Patch]

Day 161. Early, cool mornings at the golf course, is pretty darn relaxing. 

Was at the DR this morning with my full bag of clubs. Hit a basket of 80+/- balls. Warmed up with the ugly, well used looking balls. 

Focus was on alignment, and just hitting balls to my chosen landing areas. I made it a point to watch the ball flights.

I went through my bag, in a staggered sort of way, one club/ball at a time. Driver, LW, 3W, SW, 5W, AW, 7W, PW, 5I, 9I, 6I, 8I, and 7I. I hit each club 3 times in this manner. (B)

I took my time between each shot. I would walk to my bag, clean and replace the club with the next one. I'd look at each shot, step into my stance, and make my swing, which were all full swings. 

The last 20, or so swings were pitches, longer chips, and flop shots. The whole session took around 80 minutes.  

[Shindig]

Day 10.  40 ball bucket at the range (outdoors, with a ball, mats).  Focused the first dozen or so on hitting half shots with my 8iron without losing much flex in my right (back) leg -- I had been straightening by A3 and this I believe has contributed to my pulls and/or hooks.  Incidentally, hitting these slowly was the first time I can remember realizing during practice why we're told to practice slowly.  I had mostly been previously taking it on faith that I should do this.  Now I understand a lot more.  

After those dozen or so, I hit full swings, again, slowly;  some 8-iron, some 5-iron, some 3-hybrid, during practice swings focusing on my right leg and alignment during setup.  I think some of my poor shots lately may have been alignment-related, and that isn't something that really hurts to check.  I hit two drivers, both of which went long and straight (and to my intended target), so I put it away.   Over my last 5 rounds, I lost 0.05 strokes (average) vs 10 hcp on driving, so I'd like to maintain that, but if it doesn't improve from there just yet, I'm okay with it.  But it probably will improve along with my ball striking. 

I also hit about 25 chips, still worried a bit about form.  Next chipping practice I'm going to work on picking a target to land, that sort of thing.  I realized afterward that I haven't been doing this in a long while (in practice or on the course) and I think that's important. 

I then did a 3' around-the-clock attempt at the putting green (time is getting short as I have other plans today), and I made 8/12.  That's... not good.  And I've been doing so well on the ruler drill, so it worries me that I do something wrong when it's grass.  

Update: I just realized one of my last 5 rounds on GG is a par-3 course... when I made it my last 5 regulation rounds, I'm gaining .22 vs 10hcp on driving and .31 vs 10 hcp on approach.  Obviously I still want to improve my long game (long term improvement and all), but it's clear where a few quick strokes are going to drop.  Fortunately it's tournament season.

Update 2:  And GG tells me I need to work on my approach shots from 150-175 yards from the fairway to improve up to .41 (that's awfully specific) strokes per round.  So maybe I should work on my 5-iron (right in the middle of that range) a bit more? 

[boogielicious]

Day 71, June 10 - Played 18 with Steve, Bill and Jamieson at Fox Hopyard in CT. Nice course and fun time. 

 

 

[JuanTheGolfer]

DAY 201.    Serious practice day after a series of short days!!  Spent 3 plus hours on the range working through my six drills that were assigned by my GGGA Coach.   The purpose is to between keep the club in front of me, and quiet my head movement.  The played 14 holes from the Blue Tees, I was 3 over par before I gave into fatigue and took a short cut back to the clubhouse.   My time for dinner and a LONG shower.

The photo shows just some of the almost 200 balls I hit while practicing my drills.

[iacas]

Day 127 - June 10, 2018 - Putting work between the rain drops, baby.

[saevel25]

Day 6

Played 5 holes before it rained. 

[Hardspoon]

Day 1:

Practice session at the range, focused on clubface control, mostly with the driver.

[HJJ003]

Day 39:

5+ minutes of playing around with my new driver. Worked on hip turn and coming down on plane. Hard to do much with a sick toddler. Should be headed to the range tomorrow on my lunch break to put in some work with the big stick. 

[alleztom]

Day 1 Had a lesson and for the first time in ages life is not chaotic enough that I can develop a bit of a plan. 2 key points - 1) not spinning out the hip in the downswing (stopping an out to in and super steep AoA). 2) New putting posture closer to the ball and more upright. The 1 hour lesson counts as my deliberate practice today; when at home I'll be working on the putting, when at the range on the downswing move.

[Patch]

Day 161. Early, cool mornings at the golf course, is pretty darn relaxing. 

Was at the DR this morning with my full bag of clubs. Hit a basket of 80+/- balls. Warmed up with the ugly, well used looking balls. 

Focus was on alignment, and just hitting balls to my chosen landing areas. I made it a point to watch the ball flights.

I went through my bag, in a staggered sort of way, one club/ball at a time. Driver, LW, 3W, SW, 5W, AW, 7W, PW, 5I, 9I, 6I, 8I, and 7I. I hit each club 3 times in this manner. (B)

I took my time between each shot. I would walk to my bag, clean and replace the club with the next one. I'd look at each shot, step into my stance, and make my swing, which were all full swings. 

The last 20, or so swings were pitches, longer chips, and flop shots. The whole session took around 80 minutes.  

[HJJ003]

Day 40: 

1 hour session at the range. Freaking hot today. Still Struggling with my over the top move...but still working on my drill. Also got to hit a bunch of shots today with my new driver, and I like the way it feels. Made some slight stance adjustments and straightened out my ball flight a lot.