"5 Minutes Daily" Practice Challenge

[WillieT]

Day 165 (23 May 22) - still nursing the left foot, so I worked on transition from backswing to downswing using the 3w.  Followed with hitting hard foam balls (about 15 total) from my yard to my neighbor’s and back.  

[Shindig]

Day 78.  One of the side effects of WFH for two years prior is some of my work stuff is still at home and can't really move to the office easily (long story).  Today that worked to my advantage as I had a few hours' of stuff to do at home, and was able to spend some of the time (while programs were running, etc) in my golf practice room.  This amounted to 15 minutes of good, full swing practice -- about as many balls, slow swings, setup focused and remembering what Erik said in that podcast recently about students going slow when they should. 

[Darkfrog]

Day 128:

Started off with full swing working on priority piece but I was working too fast and not focused. So I did some short game drills instead. 

[Bob M]

Day 208 - Range/practice green to day.

Range - Hit about 50 balls. Tried not to rush the process (didn't always succeed); I am trying to get rid of my "attack the ball" impulse. I built the practice session around playing various holes on my course, taking time between clubs and going through a pre-shot routine. If I hit a particular shot badly, I'd hit a few more balls trying to nail it down. It will clearly take some time to get rid of the hit impulse.

Practice green - Started out by chipping with my 58* wedge, ten balls to a particular pin, then my Smart Sole C (that's right, the dreaded chipper) to a different pin, same approach. Got approximately 70% to within a realistic 1 putt range. Then worked on lag putting 30-40 foot putts, three balls, goal was to get within 3' or 4' from the hole, up hill and down hill putts. 

Edited May 24, 2022 by Bob M

[boogielicious]

Day 583: Played 18 solo at Laurel Lane today. It was a bit breezy and it felt like the wind was in my face for every tee shot! Focused on set up and tried to really have only one swing though with irons (Leaning Tower of Pisa) and one with driver (long slow high backswing).

[cdh79]

day 79: went to practice and then played a spontaneous 9 holes with some friends.. I played my best round on this course with a 38.. one birdie and 5 pars

[iacas]

Day 205, May 24, 2022

Got downtown early for lessons, so worked on some things.

[WillieT]

Day 166 (24 May 22) - weighted swing (using 10lb barbell weight like a medicine ball) rehearsals taking the weight up in the backswing turn and then letting the weight pull me through the downswing.  Followed it with 1/2 swings with the 6i and hard foam balls working on smooth. S steady.  No rushed shots as I wanted to evaluate what I saw/felt as compared to the flight of the shot.  

Edited May 25, 2022 by WillieT

[Shindig]

Day 79.  After work today, I went to a nearby putting green for an hour or so.  After some unguided practice, I did two drills -- 3' and 6'.  Their relatively flat green was closed, so I was on the one intended for "if you want to practice putts that break" (their other one isn't perfectly flat, of course -- how would it drain? Anyway).   From 3', I made 11/12 and then sank the remaining one for a score of 13 -- very happy!  I took 23 for the 6' drill, a score anyone with a handicap north of about 5, or if you are Boo Weekley, should be very happy with.  I recognize these drills are small sample size, but keeping 6' under 24 putts to finish makes me happy every time, especially since I knew some had to be played outside the hole today. 

[saevel25]

Day 08 - Using my windows as mirrors to do some backswing work. 

[Darkfrog]

Day 129:

Experimented with some different feels for the piece I am working on. Still haven't settled on something that works for me. Hit 30 balls with an 8-iron, taking breaks after each 10 balls to work on installing an irrigation system on the patio.

[Bob M]

Day 209 - Played 18 at North Kingstown today with @boogielicious. Greens were aerated about a week ago and were still a bit inconsistent, but otherwise a great day!

[boogielicious]

Day 584: Played 18 at North Kingstown with @Bob M. What he said!

[cdh79]

day 80: played on the toptracer at the driving range and shot a 76 at Pinehurst.. i know it doesn't count as "breaking 80" or anything, but I can use it as good motivation for when I play my next round..

[iacas]

Day 206, May 25, 2022

Practiced after Behrend meetings and before a GEARS lesson in the early afternoon. Backswing into downswing.

[WillieT]

Day 167 (25 May 22) -  worked on 3/4 to full swings with the 5i and hard foam balls.  Full swings were pushes, shortening to 3/4 ball flight settled to slight fade toward baby draw.  Worked balance of drill on keeping the swing in the 3/4 range.  Much easier to keep the weight forward and head in position with the shortened swing. 

[Darkfrog]

Day 130:

Really good practice session today.

Started off with a speed session, hitting balls with 6-iron while trying to swing as fast as I could, in sets of 5 balls. Since I had covid, I feel like I have lost some speed (although it could be that I quit speed training to focus on full swing motion). But I wasn't doing this to gain speed. Listening to "On the Mark" podcast on what makes a good student, I realized I have really poor discipline with the slow part, even though I try hard, so I thought I would just do a bunch of fast shit for 20 minutes to satisfy that corner of my mind and then move on.

Then I had a bit of a breakthrough on my priority piece. Working with slow 1/2 swings, I exaggerated the weight forward transition "fall toward target but not let my head tip toward the target too" feel. Something clicked when I realized how much I needed to feel shifting/leaning toward the target to actually strike the ball crisply. It just feels weird (no...different), like there is no way I can even hit the ball (but I did) and this was another lightbulb moment from "On the Mark", meaning I actually felt the change. After the first 5-6 balls I was striking them solid every time. I even wrote this down in my golf journal and circled it so I can repeat this tomorrow.

Edited May 26, 2022 by Darkfrog

[Shindig]

Day 80.  Wednesday is one of those long days, but I recently discovered a golf practice area not too far from work.  During dinner break I was able to get over there and putt for half an hour.  I did a 3' drill and took 14 putts total (10 + 2).