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The THP Range/Practice Thread

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Got to do about 30 min of putting tonight and experiments with a couple of grips with my new super stroke flatso. I also did an extended slow motion swing session while standing on a 2x4 which was recommended by my new coach to engage core muscles and work on sequencing


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adwillingham said:
Just got home from lesson #3.

As we looked at the swing on video, I was definitely seeing a better path than when I started. I certainly have too many thoughts running through my head right now during a swing, but at least I know they are the right thoughts. My setup is vastly improved, and actually organized instead of combining tips from various golf magazines. I really like that I am being pushed to actually make the right swing changes, not just tweaks to make the ball move in the right direction.

As I look back now, I always knew my swing was fine to get around a course, but there were so many issues that I didn't know what order to tackle them. Everything was based on timing, and when the timing was right, the ball would go straight enough to make some pars and get me under 90...but when the timing was even slightly off, the scores went up with it. Obviously there is a lot of work still to do, but I can already see at the range that the intended destination has more forgiveness (particularly in direction) since I'm not trying to coordinate body parts in such a small timing window.

This was the halfway point of the lessons I have already purchased, and I am booked for the other three, every other week until the end of April. The 80 minute drive each direction isn't fun, but it was absolutely the right place to go.
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That sounds very good lesson and it's great to see the progress, isn't it? My swing was much to reliant on timing as well and I've been working on getting away from that. It'll be much more reliable come July.

I hit the range for a while tonight. Worked on distance control with my wedges and trying to flight the ball with the PW. Also worked on mid and long irons, just trying to work on consistency and not swing too hard. Was trying to take a shorter, more controlled swing.

Spent some time working on the driver as well. I have Kang's J40, so I was hitting that a fair bit. Same thing with my long irons, I was just trying to keep my swing from being too long. I felt very focused and dialed, so I felt like I made the most of my time out there.

After the range session, I went to the practice green and hit out of the sand for a bit and some putting.
 
Done for the night. I stretched, ground forced, practiced in the garage and then did a lower body workout.

I sort of started out with a bunch of crappy full swings. Too long, out of sync, etc. Just blah. So, I thought a little bit about what we'd talked about last lesson, which was by getting the lower body going, I didn't have to take the big old swing. I wish I could just hammer that in my head. It's HARD. So, I went to what felt like a very straight armed 1/2 swing, right instep to left side, then just a really smooth turn and voila I was smacking the ball. Just that sweet little sound of compressing the ball. I peeked in the mirror and I was basically right here, which is right where I want to be.

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So, that begs the question for you faster swingers, what do you feel in your turn down into the ball? Would love to hear some thoughts on that - ideally a focus on what you feel. I'll tell you what I feel both ways (normal vs what i was feeling with the shorter backswing and less upper body exertion we'd talked about in my lesson) - this is after the lower body goes. Strictly talking upper body here.

1) Normal swing - very arms/hands heavy feeling. Lots of movement/effort. Like I'm pulling the club to the ball.
2) Almost just a subtle flick of the shoulders if that makes sense. I feel it right from both shoulders across the sternum, but very much a light effort. I don't feel my hands or arms much at all. The club sort of doesn't feel like anything either. It's at the top, I turn, and it's already at the ball and past it. Does that make sense?

I know that's really obtuse, but I'd like to see if anybody has anything to offer. I'm very much a person that needs to learn what things feel like before i can replicate them. I'm going to call my instructor tomorrow to get his thoughts as well.
 
I just feel unwinding. Coil up to the top, and then just let it all go.
 
Hawk, once I'm at the top. The feeling I have is this.
My hips start everything meaning that I work to feel my hip turn start everything. From there it's that big muscle flick like your speaking of.

I had had to work to make this happen, and it's really a huge difference, it's all sequencing. Start with very short swings, like at first waist high, then as it feels right slowly lengthen the swing.
 
T2GRN18 said:
Hawk, once I'm at the top. The feeling I have is this.
My hips start everything meaning that I work to feel my hip turn start everything. From there it's that big muscle flick like your speaking of.

I had had to work to make this happen, and it's really a huge difference, it's all sequencing. Start with very short swings, like at first waist high, then as it feels right slowly lengthen the swing.
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That's exactly what I'm talking about. I feel my feet start, moving up to the hips, and almost like there's no effort at all in the upper body (compared to what I've done forever). This is the conversation we had at my lesson, but I don't think I grasped what he was saying at all. We've been doing just what you are saying. Small waist high swings and have slowly lengthened them as my lower body has learned to sequence better.

It's not easy to do. Mentally it's not easy to accept lol. It would essentially go against everything my body tells me to do.
 
Hawk said:
That's exactly what I'm talking about. I feel my feet start, moving up to the hips, and almost like there's no effort at all in the upper body (compared to what I've done forever). This is the conversation we had at my lesson, but I don't think I grasped what he was saying at all. We've been doing just what you are saying. Small waist high swings and have slowly lengthened them as my lower body has learned to sequence better.

It's not easy to do. Mentally it's not easy to accept lol. It would essentially go against everything my body tells me to do.
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I used an impact bag and did a ton of stretching and yoga like moves, cause my hips and back were not ready for what was about to happen. If you take a club to the top, and hold it there. Do a solid hip turn and look where the club ends up. Maintain yours line angles and you'll see. Big muscles do all the work.


not sure what your feeling in your feet, we ain't dancing, that comes after you hit it tight! The you dance your A$$ off
 
T2GRN18 said:
I used an impact bag and did a ton of stretching and yoga like moves, cause my hips and back were not ready for what was about to happen. If you take a club to the top, and hold it there. Do a solid hip turn and look where the club ends up. Maintain yours line angles and you'll see. Big muscles do all the work.
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I've been doing the stretching for a couple months now and the hips are finally pretty decent. Can always be better though, so I continue to work on that as much as I can. Thanks for the input dude. I think what he's been saying to me finally makes a little sense. It's not an easy thing to grab conceptually b/c I think it goes against nature lol.
 
Going to really hammer home that 1/2 swing feeling over the next two weeks and use the impact bag before I hit balls. That's something he'd recommended.
 
Hawk said:
I've been doing the stretching for a couple months now and the hips are finally pretty decent. Can always be better though, so I continue to work on that as much as I can. Thanks for the input dude. I think what he's been saying to me finally makes a little sense. It's not an easy thing to grab conceptually b/c I think it goes against nature lol.
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It's all good bro! You're working your tail off....it will pay huge dividends.
 
Hawk said:
Going to really hammer home that 1/2 swing feeling over the next two weeks and use the impact bag before I hit balls. That's something he'd recommended.
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When I started with the impact bag, I did that for a while in slow motion, I slowly picked up speed. You'll find that with the impact bag you will want to get the hands through correctly, meaning with a little shaft lean, cause if you start flipping your wrist pain will ensue. So it's good for that as well.
 
Hawk said:
Do you feel like you're putting a lot of effort into that?
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I do, but I like to hit it hard haha. If you've ever played baseball, same unwind feeling
 
My arm, my arm, my arm...

Went to the range tonight for a couple hours trying to fight through some stuff. One being still having a lingering cold, but I digress. Nothing felt right with the irons, the short ones, the long ones, the all ones. Couldn't figure it out, so I just spent 1/2 an hour just practicing my bump and runs with 8-PW and working on 1/2 and 3/4 swings with the same. Then all of a sudden it clicked, my left arm was falling out and hinging. It was dark and I couldn't see out into the range, but grabbed my 8I and only had 5 balls left. Each and every one of them made that "nothing" sound and just took off...feeling nothing. Excited to get back out and work at it again.

Also figured something out with my alignment with the irons and woods. My driver, has been very disappointing lately and also something clicked after ball after ball not doing what I wanted it to do. I wasn't driving through and up with my right leg, just a lazy move. Once I remembered that, the next were just long and out there in the narrow fairway I imagined.

So, it started off miserable most of the range time, but a few things got me excited towards the end to go back and work on.
 
Hawk, that 1/2 swing thought has worked wonders for me. I had a long backswing and would get in trouble with the reverse pivot. That and a slow, shoulder driven takeaway are my only swing thoughts. The downswing just kinda happens for me with the hips opening and the arms come down from the inside. It took me years to get this move coming from OTT baseball swing. I don't really think about it anymore.
 
Good session tonight going thru the odds in the bag. Hoping to play 18 this weekend and take it to the course.
 
In addition to the 18 holes played, I did a bunch of chipping, pitching, and sand work today.
 
As my scores cannot be posted yet, I consider any round I play right now in Ohio to be practice, and as such, work much harder on fundamentals than I do on making pars. Last week I got out and played seven holes, and the touch was just off around the greens. It's a tough thing to accept when you put that much time into your game, only to lose a certain ability or level of execution after only a couple months of winter.

Last night though, it came back in style. I was so excited to see it. As I am working on a couple different moves with my irons, creativity was causing some missed greens, along with a ton of wind leaving me short. Nice thing about that was the ability to work on my short game, pitching, punching, flopping, etc etc from various types of lies. The progression was almost comical... First hole five feet, second hole four feet, third hole three feet, fourth hole two feet, and then I nearly drained my chip on number five.

Mind you, the last three were from the fringe, but seeing that touch return, the confidence in my swing, and the execution just made me crazy happy. More work to be done.
 
That touch is so hard to acquire for many. You got it dude. Im excited to watch you play in awe in Indy :)
 
Took my 7 iron to the range and just hit a bucket at half speed, trying to find my touch. I've embraced that my stock shot is a fade, so I mostly worked on aiming and really pushing down on my left foot at the top of my swing to get my weight shift started.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk
 
Went to the range over lunch. Struggled to start, I was pulling everything. Cutting across the ball.

I think I came to a realization as it relates to my downswing towards the end. I starting hitting some balls out near where I am used to hitting the ball with a nice ball flight. May hit the range again on the way home from work and pitch and putt as well.
 
Canadan said:
As my scores cannot be posted yet, I consider any round I play right now in Ohio to be practice, and as such, work much harder on fundamentals than I do on making pars. Last week I got out and played seven holes, and the touch was just off around the greens. It's a tough thing to accept when you put that much time into your game, only to lose a certain ability or level of execution after only a couple months of winter.

Last night though, it came back in style. I was so excited to see it. As I am working on a couple different moves with my irons, creativity was causing some missed greens, along with a ton of wind leaving me short. Nice thing about that was the ability to work on my short game, pitching, punching, flopping, etc etc from various types of lies. The progression was almost comical... First hole five feet, second hole four feet, third hole three feet, fourth hole two feet, and then I nearly drained my chip on number five.

Mind you, the last three were from the fringe, but seeing that touch return, the confidence in my swing, and the execution just made me crazy happy. More work to be done.
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Nice work.

Why can you not post your scores right now? Is it a cold weather thing?
 
Got out to the range at lunch time today and decided to take Mr. Leadbetter's advice and spent 90% of the time hitting wedges. I really like the move I am starting to make on the ball and feel like I am getting a hold of it. It seems like the more speed I add the better my ball striking is which is scary for a guy that usually leans on his tempo and not really going after it.

I also got another 30 minutes of putting in today but our greens are still healing from areation so not much to say about that. I feel like the putting is still a huge work in progress but I am getting more comfy with the SPI stuff and i feel like my despersion is narrowing around the hole. It is only a matter of time before I feel the putts will begin to drop.
 
Canadan said:
As my scores cannot be posted yet, I consider any round I play right now in Ohio to be practice, and as such, work much harder on fundamentals than I do on making pars. Last week I got out and played seven holes, and the touch was just off around the greens. It's a tough thing to accept when you put that much time into your game, only to lose a certain ability or level of execution after only a couple months of winter.

Last night though, it came back in style. I was so excited to see it. As I am working on a couple different moves with my irons, creativity was causing some missed greens, along with a ton of wind leaving me short. Nice thing about that was the ability to work on my short game, pitching, punching, flopping, etc etc from various types of lies. The progression was almost comical... First hole five feet, second hole four feet, third hole three feet, fourth hole two feet, and then I nearly drained my chip on number five.

Mind you, the last three were from the fringe, but seeing that touch return, the confidence in my swing, and the execution just made me crazy happy. More work to be done.
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My dude. Sounds like it's coming back to ya Capt. I can't wait to get back to Pine Lakes and tee it up with you and Chris.
 
Canadan said:
As my scores cannot be posted yet, I consider any round I play right now in Ohio to be practice, and as such, work much harder on fundamentals than I do on making pars. Last week I got out and played seven holes, and the touch was just off around the greens. It's a tough thing to accept when you put that much time into your game, only to lose a certain ability or level of execution after only a couple months of winter.

Last night though, it came back in style. I was so excited to see it. As I am working on a couple different moves with my irons, creativity was causing some missed greens, along with a ton of wind leaving me short. Nice thing about that was the ability to work on my short game, pitching, punching, flopping, etc etc from various types of lies. The progression was almost comical... First hole five feet, second hole four feet, third hole three feet, fourth hole two feet, and then I nearly drained my chip on number five.

Mind you, the last three were from the fringe, but seeing that touch return, the confidence in my swing, and the execution just made me crazy happy. More work to be done.
Click to expand...

Chipping from the fringe...interesting concept.

Glad to hear you are thawing out man, keep it up!
 
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