"5 Minutes Daily" Practice Challenge

[boogielicious]

Day 18, July 4. Spent an hour sweating do my drills. I only hit maybe 25 balls, but felt like I walked 18. 100% humidity and I are not friends. 

[Lihu]

Day 1: of posting this again. I've been practicing daily, but have not had a lot of time to get on the forum.

My daily routine has been to take the club smulator and swing about 10 to 20 times to loosen up my lead arm deltoid and shoulder in general. I consciously keep my lead arm straight during this motion. Next, I focus on the left arm (I swing lefty). I try to stretch the pectoral muscles and all associated rear shouldder muscles to get that "spring effect" at the top of the swing. Next, I focus on the wrists. Lead wrist flat, and rear wrist gently flexed the right amount. Next, I focus on my "triangle". Keep it loose to my body.

Now the work begins...I take two lighter swings that stretch the rear shoulder and chest muscles, then make my usual hip first movement to "cock" my torso and left chest, then let the swing happen. The aggressive swing is to insure that my wrist cock is retained all the way to A6, then let my torso, chest and arms  release all the energy. I repeat this about 10 to 15 times, and try to get the "whip" happen at A7.

Loving my results. My latest stats from the Mevo with range balls are: Driver 236 carry (43" driver with the tip trimmed 1" and the butt trimmed 1.75"), spin down to 2700 rpm, SM 1.35 SS, 14.5 LA, 103.5mph average. 3W 225 carry, Mizuno MP032 7i 158 carry. Pro-V1, I only have a few readings with my driver averaging about 253 carry.

I go to the range about twice a week, but am doing the resistance club simulator for 20 minutes a day. I've played only 5 rounds this summer, and need to get out there.

Although my game is pretty bad, I still feel good getting to the greens. Bad things happen around the greens . Last round I lost $5 at $1 a skin and was given 10 strokes to a local pro golfer, mostly because of my putting and chipping... 42 putts that round and I chipped about 18 times...and not on every hole

My average BP is finally 118/79, and weight down to 188 (I'm about 5'10.5") partially hydrated. My goal to drop below 183 fully hydrated. 

I hike three times a week with my wife 8.3 miles / 100 floors according to the iPhone, and my heart rate gets to 151 peak rate. Average 145 for the uphill part.

Still loving that Mevo that I bought from this site!

[Patch]

Day 184

Did my "hit the ball over the hazard" shots this morning. 

The set up is a sort of of deep, green side bunker, with a high burm on the far edge of the bunker. A practice pin is in back of the burm, maybe 15' feet away. My shot is to clear both the bunker, and higher burm to get the ball near the pin. What I try to do is land the ball on the down slope of the burm, and have the ball roll to the pin. Any ball that does not clear the top of the burm will roll back down into the bunker. 

Today's shots were from 10, 20, 30, and 40 yards from the front edge of the bunker. Since the grass was in between it's twice weekly mowing, I was hitting out of "semi" rough, with the ball sitting down a little. Half, or a little less of the ball was above the grass. 

Focus was on set up, aim/alignment, and club selection. I hit 14 balls from each distance from the bunker. (B-)

8 balls didn't clear the bunker. Those balls became bunker practice balls. One stroked all 8 out of the bunker, that had firm, sun baked sand. (A)

After that, I loaded up my gear and met the family for the local holiday parade. 

[iacas]

Day 151 - July 4, 2018 - Hit balls at the range after seeing that the course was JAM PACKED. @NatalieB was with me and was introduced to a small hitting station.

[saevel25]

Day 6

Spent 30 minutes putting, working on the putting arc. 

[J M Brown]

Day 9 July 4th, 2018

i worked on putting today and 125 yard pitching wedge shots.  The putting drill I did was putt 3 ball from 3, 6, and 9 feet. My thinking is if I get to where I can make the majority of my putts from 9 feet in I can have less 3 putts.  On the wedge shots I hit full swing pitching wedge shots trying to get as close to the target as possible. 

[JuanTheGolfer]

DAY 225   Spent 25 minutes on the range, warming up... focusing on turning versus swaying on the backswing.  Then played 18 holes at World Woods - Pine Barrens course in Brooksville, FL.   While my ball striking wasn't particularly great nor was my putting, I still shot 78.  Which is one shot higher than I have ever shot on this course in 5 years of playing it.  Feeling better and better about the quality of my misses LOL!!

Edited July 5, 2018 by JuanTheGolfer

[HJJ003]

Day 63:

5 minutes of mirror work just working on set up position. 

[Shindig]

Day 33.  Evening trip to the range;  mats, balls, outdoors, fireworks.  7-iron work with my priority piece (involving hitting the ground hard and not having much follow through, not as what we want the swing to become but as a way to change the picture at impact).  I also hit a few utility metal shots with this and then a few not-working-on-drill drivers.  30 balls, one hour.  I also did the 10' putt drill from Broadie's text;  got to 10 points on hole 33.  No 3 putts in that range, but left enough short and had enough that didn't go in.  I need to keep doing this drill and improving my ability from 10'. 

Edited July 5, 2018 by Shindig
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[Patch]

Day 185. 

I like to make my practice sessions fun. I rarely work with drills any more, preferring to hit actual golf shots. All things considered, all I really care about anymore, is a good club face impact position. As long as my club face is in the right position at impact, the ball will usually fly to my intended area of touch down. Some days are just more accurate than others. 

Today I bought a 60+/- basket of ball for full swing practice. My target was flag about a 150 yards away (+/-). I used this flag for all my clubs. Obviously some balls flew past it, while others fell short of it. As long as the balls flew some what, on line with that flag, was all I wanted to see.

Today my focus was on set up, aim, and using the same swing tempo/speed with each club. I already know what my clubs' average carry yardages are, so the distance to the flag didn't matter. 

I also know my home course layout pretty well. Well enough to the point where I already know what clubs I will usually use on each hole. This being the case, I played my home course, on the driving range, one hole at a time, in sequence. Obviously when playing the actual course, different situations will pop up, that will require me me to use a different club. The idea of using the 18 holes on the driving range, just makes it more fun, while getting in full swing practice with each club. It  was a (B-) session. 

After the range I moved to the practice green. One ball, putted to 18 practice pins. 6 clockwise, and 6 counter clockwise. The other 6 were what ever came to mind. Most first putts were in the 10-15 foot range. Some had breaks, while some were almost straight. I also threw in some longer (25' +/-) first putts . 

Focus was on reads, alignment to those reads, and lag distances. I also worked on my front hand starting my back swing. 36 putts would be par. I had 29, with 3 one putts. ( A+)

Edited July 5, 2018 by Patch

[JuanTheGolfer]

DAY 226   Spent 2 hours on the putting green working through a putting performance improvement plan:

• Made 25 in a row from 3 feet
• Hit 20 putts in a row inside a 3 foot circle around the hole from 20 feet
• Hit 20 putts in a row inside a 3 foot circle around the hole from 30 feet
• Hit 20 putts in a row inside a 3 foot circle around the hole from 45 feet.

When I did this same drill earlier in the week, I could never achieve the 45 foot level.  Pleased to see I did today... and it only took 3 tries!!   Missed the first two putts short, and then made 20 in a row!!   Then the rains came AND I had to prep my home for a showing -- since it is for sale. 

Putting is one of several parts of the total performance improvement plan.  However, each day you have to start with putting to earn your way to the next level.   The next level which I will do later today if it stops raining is chipping and pitching.    I think if you can achieve all the levels which include bunker play, irons to target greens, woods, etc. with minimal restarts you can do it in about 4-5 hours.   Which makes for long practice days in 90 degree heat.

Edited July 5, 2018 by JuanTheGolfer

[HJJ003]

Day 64:

Speed Putting drill today. Worked on 10 feet intervals back from 10 feet to 50 feet. Had to score a certain amount of "points" from each location to move to the next distance.  Probably 30 minutes of putting. 

[DrMJG]

Started today, though in reality started a few days earlier.  As an older golfer, I need to get the body more ready.  I go through a 5 minute routine of stretching (saw it someplace, not sure where) Start with a series of10 times raising a club over my head with both arms, followed by 10  toe touches (for now bending at knees).  Then 10 times moving the hips right then left, as it would happen in a swing without moving the torso, then ten time torso only.  If any stiffness remains, then a few "extras"   I take my wedge and do a few swings to put it all together before going to the club, swing, focus for the day.  As I hit the range on a daily basis thus helps me get ready to hit the ball.  So far it has been followed with about an hour hitting the range spheres.  IF we ever get rain in phoenix, I will do the stretch/wedge part on my covered patio.

Edited July 5, 2018 by DrMJG

[iacas]

Day 152 - July 5, 2018 - http://www.gamegolf.com/player/iacas/round/2266136

[saevel25]

Day 7

https://bnc.lt/yzOb/zinsP3QHjO

Played 9 holes. Tried to implement the shorter swing feel. Timing was off except for he last hole. 

Short game left me tonight.

[J M Brown]

Day 10 July 5th, 2018 

Tonight I worked on more of the same.  I started my practice session drawing a line in the ground a taking swings taking a thin divot after the line. I also did the same drills as before addressing the ball taking practice swings with the divot on the front side of the ball.  After 3 practice swings I step to the ball and hit it. This really seems to be working for me. I’m not hitting the ball fat much any more and my consistency with ball flight and trajectory are getting better. My distance control is also getting better. Before I never knew how far each iron would go consistently because I wasn’t sure if I was going to hit it fat, thin, or pure.  I seem to be hitting the ball pure more consistent than I previously had. I’m going to continue doing this drill for another couple days before recording my swing again and sending it to evolvr for review. 

[saevel25]

Day 7 still

went to the range to work things out. Figured things out with the pitching and worked on getting the timing down on my shorter swing feel.

[Shindig]

Day 34.  Wow am I spoiled.  I felt like I did nothing right while playing today, yet I hit 8 GIR and 4 more near-GIR.  Didn't warm up at the range, putted for maybe 5 minutes... which is a problem because I struggled with putter speed all day.  Of the 8 GIR, five were bogeys, two were pars, and I made a birdie at #18.   Here's the round if you want to check out how I did: http://www.gamegolf.com/player/Shindig/round/2266324

Three tee shots I'd like back, and one par-5 at that course I think next time I might play hybrid off the tee.  Gotta figure out these smart pars on par-5s if I'm ever to claim that no sixes challenge.

Today's round had two doubles and a triple, and one double and one triple were holes 3 and 2, so ... pretty good overall.  I am definitely getting better and this practicing regularly is probably part of it. 

(addendum:  in addition to 8 GIR and 4 near GIR, I also hit two greens with full swings but not for GIR)