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The THP Range/Practice Thread

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I like that approach and my plan is to do something similar, but not quite so thorough I guess. I am just going to buy another package after this one is done mid-year, and see what regular lessons during the season will do for me. I know that in year's past I'd get to the golf season, do fine, then struggle, struggle, STRUGGLE, then finally call him up. At that point I had already wasted a few weeks. Hopefully a constant focus helps me avoid those slumps or the stupid internet searching for a magic cure. I'd really like to make some measurable improvements this year.
 
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand lesson cancelled.

Schedule conflict, bummer. Reschedule for next Tuesday.
 
Hawk said:
I like that approach and my plan is to do something similar, but not quite so thorough I guess. I am just going to buy another package after this one is done mid-year, and see what regular lessons during the season will do for me. I know that in year's past I'd get to the golf season, do fine, then struggle, struggle, STRUGGLE, then finally call him up. At that point I had already wasted a few weeks. Hopefully a constant focus helps me avoid those slumps or the stupid internet searching for a magic cure. I'd really like to make some measurable improvements this year.
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I like that plan for someone playing off your HC keeping the progress going. Where I ended the year last year is higher than my posted HC so I went drastic with the plan.
 
Jman said:
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand lesson cancelled.

Schedule conflict, bummer. Reschedule for next Tuesday.
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This guy need me to call him?

golfinFF said:
I like that plan for someone playing off your HC keeping the progress going. Where I ended the year last year is higher than my posted HC so I went drastic with the plan.
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I think just having a plan is a great way to go at it. In the past I just sort of haphazardly did things, but I need some structure.
 
Eyeline mirror showed today. This is making my practice time much more efficient already.
 
I learned something very important at the range today....

Position at impact is the single biggest thing that affects the quality of my shots. (At least currently)
While this may not all that much of a revelation to the masses, it's a real eye opener for me :D

I've been working on impact position a lot in lessons but it hasn't clicked until today. I fight a scoopy chicken wing but today I slowed everything down and was very deliberate in getting back to impact at the demonstrated position I've been working on.

I could change the length of swing, get loose on plane, speed up, slow down, revert to locking my right knee and these things all had a minimal effect on the result as long as I was getting a decent impact position.

I'm going to hesitate at using "breakthrough" but it's definitely going to be my focus for a while, 200 balls showed that if I can maintain a solid impact position, the other flaws don't have such an detrimental effect on the outcome.
 
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Sounds like a great day at the range Joey, sounds like an epiphany to me
 
Maybe! I certainly came away in mild euphoria :D

I didn't really get that it could be so fundamental.
I've posted many times about swing thoughts and getting overwhelmed, but I found if I was focussing on impact, the rest either fell in to place or didn't affect so much as to mean the shot was wasted with a duff. I've been thinking about feet, knees, hips, grip pressure, takeaway, face, left wrist at top, plane, release, balance, follow through but focussing solely on the impact position (and being *aware* of impact position) made the other issues seem relatively minor (or corrected them as a consequence).
 
Sounds good Joey. Similar to me at the moment in that I've been having way to many thoughts during my swing. For be I need to focus on my transfer of weight and rotation, tough but getting there!


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Stuck at work so just stretching

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Worked on putting tonight for 45 minutes on the birdieball putting green with the Smart Square. Did something different tonight with my putting and it was actually working quite well. I was watching Jim Furyk putting today and noticed he had his left hand lower than the left hand. Well I changed hands and wow I was sinking more putts and was being more consistent. So I might have to keep that up so I can make more putts. After putting I worked on my swing by hitting balls for half an hour into the net. Seemed like I still had a good swing going after my lessons yesterday. Tonight I was really paying attention to my down swing and making sure I wasn't casting it. So good night worth of practice can't wait to get back out to the range.
 
 
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Loaded up the car and drove to a heated outdoor range today. Did some club testing and a bunch of practice. 200 balls, which isn't really my normal thing, but about 50% were drills from my last lesson.

Took me a bit (as usual) to really soak in what we were working on with the drills, but once I did flip the switch it was just night and day. Continuing to focus on the hip bump to transition from the top, but my big focus there is footwork and really planting my weight on my left side without opening my hips way up (I can gauge this if I'm rolling my right foot over rather than lifting up my heel at impact). That probably makes no sense, but does to me lol. That's all that matters. It feels extremely tense in my hips when I get all that weight to the left, but that's what I was told to look for.

End result there was center contact, and some nice high balls that drew in to the target. Always fun.

Longer clubs will need some work, but in reality, we haven't even approached that yet and I'm in no hurry.
 
Great stuff Hawk, glad to hear that the lessons are translating to an improvement as you ingrain the new moves.
 
Thanks Cookie! I'm surprised. I'm still sort of taking it slow, but the results have showed faster than expected. Still lots of work to do, but really just any measurable improvement is a win for me at this point.
 
I went to the range today and spent most of the time demoing some Bridgestone irons. I was focusing on hitting down and through the ball with a nice, easy swing. I worked on some distance control with my 52*, hitting full swings, followed by 3/4 shots and trying to control trajectory as well.

After the range, I went to the practice green area and hit pitch/chip shots and putted for a little over an hour. Brought about 10 balls with me and putted out every pitch shot I had. As far as my putting goes, I was focusing on making sure I was completing my follow through and the face was square as my misses have been short and right lately. I putted better and my confidence is on the uptick. Just need to make sure I keep up the practice.
 
Howzat said:
Eyeline mirror showed today. This is making my practice time much more efficient already.
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I picked one of these up today at the store, decided to buy it, then put it back on the rack. You like it? Could you describe a little how it works?

First outdoor range session for me today. Really worked on two things from my lesson Thursday night, correcting my takeaway (taped a pencil to the end of my grip, and visualized it brushing against my right thigh at takeaway) and not casting the club through impact (missing an impact bag a 6 iron shaft behind the ball). I saw a lot of good shots off the center of my 6 iron club face, and a few stinkers off the heel as I got tired and wore down. Also, for the first time ever, I walked away with about a dozen balls in the basket. I could tell when practice was over and simply brainless pounding of golf balls had commenced. I'm looking forward to continuing to work this plan (tomorrow).

#DoWorkDotCom
 
O'Carroll said:
I picked one of these up today at the store, decided to buy it, then put it back on the rack. You like it? Could you describe a little how it works?
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I use it for several things. Primarily to assist with set-up and posture. Basically making sure my eyes and shoulders are in the correct location. Also makes sure I am square to my target line. I got the EDGE model that is a little smaller and more portable so I can take it to the course. I will not only use it at the course to confirm the correct set-up but also to help train my eye on breaking putts and to do some gate drills. Here is a decent video on the model I have:



This shows how I use it paired with my plane board:

 
The THP Range/Practice Thread

Was able to find a range that was open. It's been more than a month since I've been able to hit outside, so was excited to give it a go.

Today was about swinging every club in the bag, then playing hole by hole of my home course. I focused on maintaining width and staying on plane throughout the swing.

7i and up was solid, so was driver, which I notched up to 12* for fun and I really liked what I see. The 5 and 6i came around and just like the SpeedBlades, the 5i has kicked out the 5h. I kept hitting the 4i and 4h side by side and am still not sure what's best. I'm leaning with the 4i though. FW's were inconsistent. I'm still searching for something to fill the gap from 4i to driver and will be taking my time figuring it out.

With wedges, really liked how they felt and just need to focus on getting them up higher.

I noticed when I was getting tired, I started reverting to laying off and getting under plane. That's something I'm gonna work on immediately.

Overall, it was a great range session and I'm already planning what to work on next time I can get out. Can't wait to get back the course.


Taps away
 
I'm nearing the panic button stage. Swing is all out of sorts right now.

Range session went back and forth between solid shots and terrible ones. Just could not get a feel for what I was doing, which is always troubling. In my experience, though, things like this are the result of a setup/grip issue. I shut down the session instead of getting too frustrated and moved to hitting pitches and putting.

The good news is that the putting is back to normal. I went back to just thinking about putting the putter back on the ball instead of focusing on following through in a low position. The result is that I no longer put crazy distance on my putts, and the stroke feels much more fluid and natural instead of forced. I'll keep working on that.


I planned on playing tomorrow morning, but I'll hit the range instead. I'll go back to basics and just make sure that my grip and setup are okay. I suspect that I'm doing something small and stupid that is making me do some crazy things with my swing.

Life of an amateur golfer continues...
 
Was probably something stupid man like not setting up comfortably on the range. Don't sweat it
 
It's all good. I'd be concerned if it was mid-July. But I should be serviceable even for the HHI Invitational.


My swing has just been in a funk the last couple rounds, and I haven't been able to shake it yet. It will ultimately be fine, though.
 
Got some putting practice in tonight. Made a small adjustment to my grip and setup based on the notes from my putting lesson and my distance control came back with a vengeance. I'm typically a decent putter but I was draining everything I looked at tonight.
 
I worked on chipping for 45 minutes today. It's cool to toe a wedge down and stroke it like a putter and see how well it can perform.
 
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