56 range buckets to better golf….

[dAS0]

Those shots under 100 yards are so important. What club felt the best from the 50 and 100 yards? I like the 9i and 7i for those distances, though for punching out, tree branches might require a different club. I just don't trust my wedges with full swings from wet fairways.

 

[hadi05]

Those shots under 100 yards are so important. What club felt the best from the 50 and 100 yards? I like the 9i and 7i for those distances, though for punching out, tree branches might require a different club. I just don't trust my wedges with full swings from wet fairways.

PW at 50yds and the 6i was dead on at 100 yds. The 7i and 9i felt really great too and were consistent at both distances.

 

[hadi05]

Bonus bucket…

Driver with 8 swings.

Not quite a TD face impact but it’ll be interesting to see how it plays out. Right @Canadan

 

[Canadan]

Bonus bucket…

Driver with 8 swings.

Not quite a TD face impact but it’ll be interesting to see how it plays out. Right @Canadan
View attachment 9239089

 

[hadi05]

My driver contact was WAY better today. I plan to hover the club before taking a back swing for the season and see how it goes!

 

[Chef23]

My driver contact was WAY better today. I plan to hover the club before taking a back swing for the season and see how it goes!

I have gone to the hover also. I am committing to it for the season.

 

[hadi05]

I have gone to the hover also. I am committing to it for the season.

Well…..

 

[hadi05]

I've had a lot of time to reflect over these last 9 buckets and I've had a lot of takeaways.

Golf
1. It's VERY easy to get our set-up completely messed up and this will have a lot of impact (no pun intended) on what our face angle and swing path look like at impact.
2. Going into range sessions with a goal and practicing with intent is important.
3. Give yourself a fairway and a specific target while on the range.
4. Have some randomness to your practice. It shouldn't be about hitting a 7i, 75 times in a row. Randomly select clubs for at least 1/3 of your bucket.

Personally
1. The mind, body, and soul are all interconnected. If one of them is out of line then it will have a negative impact on the other 2.
2. Preparing yourself for what's ahead of you is important.
3. Take time to reflect. It's a game changer.
4. Most importantly, don't ignore your spirituality. Your faith will set you free. Just like in golf, we can't force an outcome to happen, we can only accept what it is and move on. We should rejoice in both our successes and failures. For there is a plan for us.

 

[kiwichris]

This has been a great read and follow @hadi05 , love the work and thought you're putting in to your game and life, true inspiration.

 

[hadi05]

This has been a great read and follow @hadi05 , love the work and thought you're putting in to your game and life, true inspiration.

Thanks mate!

 

[hadi05]

This range session was mind blowing!!! It’s gonna take a while to upload all the pictures!

 

[hadi05]

Range Session #10 Impact Location....

Today's range session was all about impact location and feedback. @That post kind of got me thinking about that a lot in his driver tee height thread.


We all have different golf swings. Honestly there isn't really a right or wrong way to swing the club generally speaking. Obviously there are some ways that are better than others, but that isn't the topic in the post. Three key metrics to ball flight are impact location on the face, swing path and face angle relative to swing path. The next few buckets will really be about these relationships. Here's my biggest takeaway today. In many instances I could deliver a "consistent" impact location (a few I toyed with moving it elsewhere), but my ball flight wasn't always consistent..... This will be discussed in more depth on the next range session.

Today's exercise was all about randomly picking clubs and then taking 4 shots with that club and looking at impact location. After that was done. I randomly picked clubs to swing and hit the remaining balls in the bucket. I could have went Driver, 7i, PW or 3W, 62*, 5I, etc.

Using this foot spray for feedback was very helpful in determining what I was actually doing.

In our personal lives do we actually have a feedback loop that we use to see how we actually performed a task. Do we actively seek others input on how we performed a task or, do we just assume. This exercise led me to believe that really, I need to be more conscious regarding feedback from others...

PW


7i hit one out on the toe to see what ball flight looked like besides normal pattern


54* W Grind


6i


9i

5i tired to vary the length of the club some to see if it changed impact location (spoiler it did)


58* Z Grind


8I


5W tried to hit one on the heel to see what ball flight looked like besides normal pattern


62* Z Grind


3W


AW



Driver tried to hit one on the heel and see what flight looked like outside of regular strikes


Pictures of Clubs at the End of the Session

 

[That post]

Nice! I love using foot spray to work on impact location. I’m not sure if your familiar with Adam Young’s book “The Practice Manual” if you're not I highly recommend it. He talks a lot about practicing impact location and understanding what you see and feel based on that.

He’s a big believer in that type of practice to hone in on ‘hammering the nail’ exactly how you want to on command. His book helped me develop a way to practice that has drastically improved my game over the past 2 years. I'm on my 2nd readthrough of his book this offseason and it's just as helpful if not more than the first time.

 

[Doubleb21]

Nice work @hadi05! Days on the range like that are fun

 

[hadi05]

Nice! I love using foot spray to work on impact location. I’m not sure if your familiar with Adam Young’s book “The Practice Manual” if you're not I highly recommend it. He talks a lot about practicing impact location and understanding what you see and feel based on that.

He’s a big believer in that type of practice to hone in on ‘hammering the nail’ exactly how you want to on command. His book helped me develop a way to practice that has drastically improved my game over the past 2 years. I'm on my 2nd readthrough of his book this offseason and it's just as helpful if not more than the first time.

I’m re-reading the 4 foundations of golf and Jon talks a lot and works with Adam Young. This is a near and dear topic for me.

 

[That post]

I’m re-reading the 4 foundations of golf and Jon talks a lot and works with Adam Young. This is a near and dear topic for me.

Yeah I listen to their podcast off and on. His practical golf book is another favorite

 

[hadi05]

Bucket's #11 and 12. Swing Path and Face Angle..

I didn't take any pictures. Too many people around and they already looked at me like I was crazy, because for 2 buckets or 150 golf balls, I never hit the ball straight. I had one guy tell me I needed lessons.

So let's explore this a little bit. There are many things that have an impact (pun intended) on your golf game. There are many things you can do to your swing to help with distance etc, but one of the most important things you can do is have a consistent swing path in relation to face angle. Tour pros have this nailed down to an art. Elite am's have this nailed down. Most of us non scratch players, not so much. Ever wonder why you slice then hook, or push or pull, or all of these above? The picture below really helps understand ball flight trajectories compared to path and face angles. Obviously, we wish that we could have shot shape E,C,G in the bag but reality is many of us don't. My paths are E, D, H, G. If I get REALLY tired then A, B.




So, in bucket # 11 I focused on face angle. I would try various things to see what the result was. I tried opening or closing the club face at address first. I though for sure that this would have a big impact on path (looking at irons first). Honestly, it did not. In my mind's eye I was still focusing on hitting a straight shot and many of them didn't deviate as bad as I would have thought (still not straight though). So, I stopped sat down and thought about it. Next thing I did was tell myself let's open or close the face and I imagined the ball flight. Next thing you know I am hitting shots that look like F& D.

In bucket # 12 I focused focused on swing path. I focused on straight, into out and out to in. This was a lot harder than I thought it would have been to be honest. During this process I had an epiphany. There were two things that had a negative impact on my contact in the swing. #1 hip turn (loading) in back swing and some terribleness in wrist action at the top of the back swing.

In our personal lives we have many levers we can pull to make changes in our own lives. Many of those we may not have known to be possible as it's always just been what ti was. During these range sessions, I sat and thought about what levers do I have in my personal life that I can exercise that I haven't in the past that could give me a more repeatable outcome. I also realized that I should be afraid to experiment in my personal life to make improvements. Yes, many times I may fail but that's not really the point. The point is what did I learn from it, so that I can try something new to improve. Just like in business continuous improvement is key to success in our own personal lives. Don't be afraid to try something new, even if it is a huge failure. You never know..... there could be some great nuggets you find. I know I sure did and that was what bucket #13 turned into.

I did not do any random holes in golf during these two buckets. I was having way too much fun making terrible shots there experimentation.

 

[hadi05]

Bucket #13 last one with no pictures. New grip…

In buckets 11 & 12 I was focusing on swing path and face angle. In the midst of that I noticed concerns with my wrists. They were all over everywhere throughout the swing and at times hard to control. I decided in this bucket to experiment with my grip. I went from an overlapping grip to an interlocking grip.

It was uncomfortable, foreign and the initial results were terrible, except my wrists were staying in good form throughout the swing. It was what I wanted.

Being curious to what happened, I took some slow motion swings and found that the face was open at impact. After a few minutes of playing around I figured it out and could close the face.

I finished the entire bucket using random clubs only focusing on that grip and closing the face. I was much happier at the end of the session.

In life many times we have to take a closer look at why we’re struggling. Many times the solution is outside of our comfort zone and we need to have faith and trust the process. Deepening my spirituality and having faith is easier said than done. Many times in life were dealt a “bad hand” , or things don’t go our way. It’s easy in those moments to say “why me” or lose faith. It’s how we handle them and grow from those experiences that defines us. I’m learning I’m never alone both physically and spiritually. I’m going to trust the process.

 

[hadi05]

Bucket #14. Setting the club down with the face square.



In bucket #13 I changed the grip to an interlocking grip. I had mixed success at first. One of the areas I struggled was having the face square at address with my wrists in proper orientation so that I could easily close the face as I swung in an in to out path.

I sat and thought a minute and took a golf club and started to swing it parallel to the ground at chest height. I watched my wrists to see how they moved and squared the face.

i found something that worked for not only worked for squaring the club at address, not be wristy at the top of the backswing and get the face square at impact.



Having my arm and wrist straight out and club parallel to my chest I checked the club face to ensure it was parallel to the ground.

Doing this set me up for success. The results were outstanding! It’s eliminated a variable and that was a great feeling! Since this took some getting used to I didn’t do a random hole at the end.

Variability is always present in our lives. Anything we can do to eliminate variability can help us be more successful. Spiritually speaking, having faith and being steadfast to our beliefs can bring normalcy to the chaos that can be everyday life.

 

[hadi05]

Bucket #15 was a game changer!

 

[gkeller813]

Bucket #15 was a game changer!

That's a good day

 

[hadi05]

That's a good day

I’ll post it in a bit….

 

[MattyD-MPLS]

How about no buckets? I am committed to a practice 2024!

 

[hadi05]

Bucket # 15 A new preshot routine using mindset principles.



@Canadan and the most recent Off Course podcast with Bridgestone really got me thinking. I need to think less and visualize more……. Listen to the podcast for a lot more details.

If I’m honest I struggle with too many thoughts when I’m over the ball. When I was playing my best I didn’t think. When I started to struggle last year all I did was keep telling myself things. I spiraled down

During the bucket I committed to 75 shots using the exact same routine.

1. Stand 4 to 5 yards behind the ball in line with my target and pick my club (I had my bag about 15’ away from the mat.
2. Set my face angle with the club in hand.
3. Close my eyes and visualize the shot then doing my alignment line.
4. Commit to that shot with confidence
5. Walk up to the ball and set my stance thinking of nothing
6. Swing with confidence.

The results were outstanding! Did I hit every shot well. Absolutely not. Did I have comfort in my routine yes. What was best was my swing was so much more fluid than it has been.

When I had bad shots I wanted to rush. I forced myself to slow back down and visualize and trust the process.

I left the range session feeling great about what I had accomplished. More importantly I trusted myself and accepted the result.

I didn’t do a random hole as I wanted to focus on this and I’ll probably do another couple of buckets focusing on this.

Visualizing is both powerful and freeing all at the same time. Taking the time to visualize what you want to do can be a game changer in both your personal life and on the course……….

 

[gkeller813]

Bucket # 15 A new preshot routine using mindset principles.

View attachment 9245486

@Canadan and the most recent Off Course podcast with Bridgestone really got me thinking. I need to think less and visualize more……. Listen to the podcast for a lot more details.

If I’m honest I struggle with too many thoughts when I’m over the ball. When I was playing my best I didn’t think. When I started to struggle last year all I did was keep telling myself things. I spiraled down

During the bucket I committed to 75 shots using the exact same routine.

1. Stand 4 to 5 yards behind the ball in line with my target and pick my club (I had my bag about 15’ away from the mat.
2. Set my face angle with the club in hand.
3. Close my eyes and visualize the shot then doing my alignment line.
4. Commit to that shot with confidence
5. Walk up to the ball and set my stance thinking of nothing
6. Swing with confidence.

The results were outstanding! Did I hit every shot well. Absolutely not. Did I have comfort in my routine yes. What was best was my swing was so much more fluid than it has been.

When I had bad shots I wanted to rush. I forced myself to slow back down and visualize and trust the process.

I left the range session feeling great about what I had accomplished. More importantly I trusted myself and accepted the result.

I didn’t do a random hole as I wanted to focus on this and I’ll probably do another couple of buckets focusing on this.

Visualizing is both powerful and freeing all at the same time. Taking the time to visualize what you want to do can be a game changer in both your personal life and on the course……….

I played best when I'm in this type of mindful setup. Stand behind the ball and visualize. Then when I step up to the ball I'm in the go zone and I seem to 2nd guess a lot less. Glad you had a good session, and excited to see how it continues!