The THP Range/Practice Thread

[Hawk]

I feel like I'm preparing for the Morgan Cup all over again with the winter practice. Got another satisfying session in last night and ended it on a high note. Minor grip change is coming along pretty easily and I feel like I'm getting my weight moved around better. Results have been promising with irons in particular. I really feel good about them right now. Driver is sort of odd and I obviously am doing something wrong because I'm not feeling the same explosive (that's a relative term, by the way) power that I do with my iron swing. In fact, it's really just plateaued and nothing I do seems to change it. Not that I'm looking for anything spectacular out of it, but I feel like I can get more out of my swing.

I keep trying to tell myself to be wide going back and tight coming down, but I do feel like I might be doing the opposite with the driver. That big driver shaft just changes things somehow.

So, that's good news for me. Winter practice rules. Tomorrow I get a lesson and my hope is that I can go in there and get a little positive reinforcement on the things I've been working on. Also, need a critical eye on the driver swing to help me a bit.

 

[JRod]

I feel like I'm preparing for the Morgan Cup all over again with the winter practice. Got another satisfying session in last night and ended it on a high note. Minor grip change is coming along pretty easily and I feel like I'm getting my weight moved around better. Results have been promising with irons in particular. I really feel good about them right now. Driver is sort of odd and I obviously am doing something wrong because I'm not feeling the same explosive (that's a relative term, by the way) power that I do with my iron swing. In fact, it's really just plateaued and nothing I do seems to change it. Not that I'm looking for anything spectacular out of it, but I feel like I can get more out of my swing.

I keep trying to tell myself to be wide going back and tight coming down, but I do feel like I might be doing the opposite with the driver. That big driver shaft just changes things somehow.

So, that's good news for me. Winter practice rules. Tomorrow I get a lesson and my hope is that I can go in there and get a little positive reinforcement on the things I've been working on. Also, need a critical eye on the driver swing to help me a bit.

Good to hear dude you're still working with Chris I assume?

 

[Hawk]

Good to hear dude you're still working with Chris I assume?

Yea I am. He got rid of my GIANT backswing yips somehow. He's a god among men.

 

[JRod]

Yea I am. He got rid of my GIANT backswing yips somehow. He's a god among men.

He's the only one I trust around here with my swing. I'm really happy to hear your work is paying off.

 

[Hawk]

He's the only one I trust around here with my swing. I'm really happy to hear your work is paying off.

Thanks buddy. It's coming along. I'm practicing a lot more than I did last year somehow. Too bad the next time we tee it up we'll both still look like hacks lol.

 

[JB]

Really good stuff Hawk. Glad to see it is coming around and that you have a game plan in place.

 

[DawgDaddy]

Spent 3+ hours yesterday hitting about 75 balls and chipping and putting. Have been in a 3 month long slump as I have been working hard on my swing. It has been ugly but I actually hit the majority of balls very well. Putting is still spotty but I focused on set up and tempo and it seems to be coming around too. I will see if there is any improvement in my score at the weekly blitz tomorrow.

edit - the biggest thing I am working on is the sensation of swinging faster, not harder. This is pretty foreign to a mostly self taught hacker.

 

[JRod]

Thanks buddy. It's coming along. I'm practicing a lot more than I did last year somehow. Too bad the next time we tee it up we'll both still look like hacks lol.

Whatever at least we have fun doing it. I gave up trying to shoot a decent score with you years ago

 

[Hawk]

Really good stuff Hawk. Glad to see it is coming around and that you have a game plan in place.

Thank you sir. Best time of the year to practice. No distractions.

 

[Hawk]

Spent 3+ hours yesterday hitting about 75 balls and chipping and putting. Have been in a 3 month long slump as I have been working hard on my swing. It has been ugly but I actually hit the majority of balls very well. Putting is still spotty but I focused on set up and tempo and it seems to be coming around too. I will see if there is any improvement in my score at the weekly blitz tomorrow.

Good luck tomorrow, DD

Whatever at least we have fun doing it. I gave up trying to shoot a decent score with you years ago

Exactly. Maybe this is the year we break the curse.

 

[Buckjob]

weather has been straight up killing me havn't been able to hit the range like i want to this winter..... but been working on my putting a good amount in doors. SeeMore has been helping me get a solid stroke down.

 

[dcbrad]

I feel like I'm preparing for the Morgan Cup all over again with the winter practice. Got another satisfying session in last night and ended it on a high note. Minor grip change is coming along pretty easily and I feel like I'm getting my weight moved around better. Results have been promising with irons in particular. I really feel good about them right now. Driver is sort of odd and I obviously am doing something wrong because I'm not feeling the same explosive (that's a relative term, by the way) power that I do with my iron swing. In fact, it's really just plateaued and nothing I do seems to change it. Not that I'm looking for anything spectacular out of it, but I feel like I can get more out of my swing.

I keep trying to tell myself to be wide going back and tight coming down, but I do feel like I might be doing the opposite with the driver. That big driver shaft just changes things somehow.

So, that's good news for me. Winter practice rules. Tomorrow I get a lesson and my hope is that I can go in there and get a little positive reinforcement on the things I've been working on. Also, need a critical eye on the driver swing to help me a bit.

Hawk that is awesome man. I am heading to the range tomorrow to continue the renovation of my swing. With being sick the last week, I haven't been able to swing in about a week and a half, so I am getting back into it.

I'm looking forward to hanging out with you guys in Chi-town this summer.

 

[Hawk]

Heck yea buddy! Good luck tomorrow. Trust me when I say I know it's a long road buddy. Enjoy it though. There's a lot of fun to be had in improvement.

Just a short session tonight. One thing I'm trying to do is incorporate something other than the 7 iron into my practice/drills. Lately I've been going with 5/7/9 irons and alternating every 5 shots so I don't get too comfortable. Finally felt like I was able to hit some consistently decent 9 irons tonight. Suffer from the high floaters at times and it was nice to get some solid contact.

 

[dhill]

Weather sucks here right now. I really want to get to the range. And being out of town some last week and this week isn't helping. It will be cold here next week but looks like no rain.

Keep up the good work fellas.

 

[RayG]

A variation on the first suggestion is to pretend play a course during your driving range session. This gets you more engaged, makes you think and breaks up the boredom of just banging balls.

I've been doing this for a long time. If I go with a friend, we share the stall (especially if a nice day in winter, you HAVE to) and decide which "course" we will play. We know the 3-4 courses we play very well, so we know where balls end up, even if they were sliced or hooked. We get into a little match play thing just hitting greens in reg in our heads. Any shot is agreed upon or compromise is taken. Putting is a little contest on the carpet in the snack bar area that is usually closed in winter. If solo, basically the same thing- I'll either play the 18 from one course or a 'best of' selection. If I'm lucky that might leave 30 balls left in the bucket and I can work on a specific issue. It might be swing plane, grip pressure, leg action, etc... Maybe the last 4-5 will be "Driver Bombs" just to let off some steam.

 

[arydolphin]

Hit the simulator again for 1.5 hours. Since the simulator gives launch angles and ball speed, I was working on trying to lower my launch a little bit with my irons, I think that I'm hanging back a little bit and lifting the ball up a little bit. I was mainly hitting my 8 iron, my launch angle on not-so-good shots was around 20-22 degrees, I'd like for it to be under 20 degrees. When I hit shots with the launch angle a little lower, it usually means that my hands are more in front of the ball and I gain a little ballspeed as well. It's a slow process, but I'm definitely going to keep working on this so that I'm "covering" the ball a little more at impact.

 

[Hawk]

Nice work, Ary. I see something similar with my short irons when I'm not doing things the way I want. A scoop that results in higher launch and wiener length distance.

 

[Playdough]

I got to put my left hand putting in play today. My speed is pretty solid, my lag putting was good. I was decent from 10 feet in. I think with more and more work and practice that its going to be my putting grip for the future.

 

[Hawk]

How long did it take you to get over the initial weirdness, PD? Or has that happened yet? I messed around with that a couple years ago and I just couldn't shake that feeling.

 

[Playdough]

How long did it take you to get over the initial weirdness, PD? Or has that happened yet? I messed around with that couple years ago and I just couldn't shake that feeling.

Actually took about one putt. I mess around putting left handed all the time for fun. So going left hand low didn't really bother me at all. Im still going back and forth between ten finger and interlock but I think interlock is going to win out.

 

[Hawk]

Right on. My instructor putts left hand low. Good luck with it.

 

[arydolphin]

Nice work, Ary. I see something similar with my short irons when I'm not doing things the way I want. A scoop that results in higher launch and wiener length distance.

Wiener length distance is a good description for about half of my shots today. I was getting really frustrated, I think that my 8 iron is my 150 club and I had some shots that were only carrying about 130-135, I wasn't happy about that.

 

[Hawk]

Wiener length distance is a good description for about half of my shots today. I was getting really frustrated, I think that my 8 iron is my 150 club and I had some shots that were only carrying about 130-135, I wasn't happy about that.

I know that feeling and it sucks royally. What I don't get is that it's so much more common in the scoring irons for me. I have no doubt you'll get it figured out though. This is the perfect time to work on it.

 

[Oregon Golfer]

I got to put my left hand putting in play today. My speed is pretty solid, my lag putting was good. I was decent from 10 feet in. I think with more and more work and practice that its going to be my putting grip for the future.

I play occasionally with a guy who is a solid player and he putts left-hand-low. He says though that he can only do it from about <10', longer than that he goes back to conventional for more feel. Did you experience any of this?

 

[arydolphin]

I know that feeling and it sucks royally. What I don't get is that it's so much more common in the scoring irons for me. I have no doubt you'll get it figured out though. This is the perfect time to work on it.

The weird thing is for me is that I can keep the launch down when I swing at about 50-60%, but the distance is lower. So then when I try to take a full swing, the launch goes up and I have issues with the ball not really going anywhere in terms of what I'm used to. Of course, this is all simulator stuff anyways, so I take it with a grain of salt.