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The THP Range/Practice Thread



I'm working on a better takeaway and proper weight shift but need to start doing the glove under the arm pit drill. Inevitably had to dial the speed back to start getting better compression and flight for now but still ended up pulling the better contact shots. I guess I'm technically at tour pro carry distance numbers with range balls which is a good sign at this point.
 
Just hit the range for the first time in quite awhile. My driver swing has left me as of late and my irons aren't great either. This game is so HARD
 
jdtox said:
Just hit the range for the first time in quite awhile. My driver swing has left me as of late and my irons aren't great either. This game is so HARD
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Yeah even a week or two off and my swing will get a new issue to work out.
 
Just finished up at the range and see a glimmer of hope with my irons. Will it stick around is always the question. I so envy you low cappers who are naturals lol.
 
Wanted to do something different this morning. So, I dug out my old TE Ironwoods to mess around with.

First off, as a warm up, I hit 28, 15 yard chips with a 9i. That went pretty well, as most balls were on line with my make shift target pin.

My diy target pin is just a headless driver shaft stuck in the turf, with a towel hung on the grip end of it.

Next was 8i full swings to a short game area target pin. Only needed 14 of those to be happy.

After that I went to the range for some 5W, and 2i work. A small basket is about 40 balls. I alternated between the two clubs, with the 5W getting most of the better ball flights. I did hit some quality 2i shots too.

My focus was on swing tempo, and club face alignment at address.

I'm one those who's club face doesn't return to what it was at address on the down swing. So, I set up with the club face a little open, which returns it to square to my target line at ball impact.

Figured an early morning practice routine would beat the heat. It was already 80+ degrees at 7am. Worked up a good sweat, which is a good thing.
 
I got a little practice in tonight in the garage sim. Slowly working back in to full sessions
 
I did a TopTracer session today for club gapping. I figured out my distance loss. I'm striking the ball just slightly heavy and it causes me to close the club face and hook. Otherwise I have lost zero distance from last year.
 
jdtox said:
Just hit the range for the first time in quite awhile. My driver swing has left me as of late and my irons aren't great either. This game is so HARD
Click to expand...
100% agree. trying to really work on a better swing as I am too much shoulders and use that to close the club face. Also need better weight transfer. Trying to eliminate all or most of the bad habits that i have ingrained in my stupid body
 
Worked on everything but putting this week.
Monday, took the entire bag to the practice field and "played" 4 or 5 holes of a local courses.
Tuesday, the driver, 6i and SW
Wednesday, 3h and mid-iron
Thursday, driver, 9i partial swings
Friday 6i and SW
Tonight 3h

Am trying to incorporate some semblance of a pre-shot routine before every swing.
 
Walked 18 today, played really well.
After the round I chipped balls between 5-15 yards in our practice area for about an hour. I then worked on long lag putts(40-60ft.) for about 20 min.
I am really happy with the performance of my new left hand low grip. I have been really working a lot on it on my home putting mat and feel like this has really enabled me to start my putts on the line I want.
 
Been hitting my irons as solid as I ever have lately. Really liking this direction but if my tee game would cooperate we have something
 
Had a good range session today. Might have figured out how to hit power fade with my King Cobra Extreme driver. Was very happy with ball flight with that and my fw woods. Irons still a little inconsistent but getting there!
 
Went to the range just now to see if the shanks I had last round were gone. Nope! Just pure frustration. Nothing felt natural, I have no idea what has changed between rounds 2 and 3 this year but it ain’t good.

I have a round tomorrow with my boss and a few colleagues and I am dreading that. I also have a round Saturday morning with friends and now I don’t want to go near a course.

Just texted my instructor to see if he’s around with our current regulations. I need lessons.
 
Went out Thursday after work with a 7i and could not get to my lead side. Every swing felt like I was pushing the club head instead of pulling it. Contact and distance pretty much confirmed that feel. I just gave up.

Went out again Friday morning and the swing felt great. Just slowed down the tempo and hands a little and the distances and contact were back.

Crazy game.
 
As a high handicapper no surprise my iron contact is inconsistent. But lately my shorter irons from 7 on down have been ok. I can't understand why there is such a big difference in contact between my 7 and 6 iron. The 6 iron is more mishits than clean hits. Probably something like 70/30 on them. There are 3 par 3 holes at my home course that are 6 iron distance for me. And no surprise those are the hardest holes to par. If I bogey them I'm happy. I almost always have a chip or pitch on my second shot.

I probably spend more time with the 6 iron at the range than any other club. But so far its still a work in progress. Since I'm a guy whose only goal is to play bogey golf, I've been considering using a 7 iron to keep it straight and expect a chip on the next shot. But like with the other clubs, how am I gonna expect to get any better if I don't at least try to make it work? There have been rare occasions where I hit a nice clean 6 iron and land on the green. Just not very often.
 
Been hitting irons very well lately distance has been longer and straighter then ever, then I decided to make more adjustments on my timing on my swing in order to start incorporating a draw.
Big mistake I lost my swing and everything I was improving on, 3 days of hell trying to figure out what I was doing wrong. Yesterday I think I figured it out, seems my hips on backswing was not rotating correctly just a bit off, I started hearing the solid pop again on my net once I made a adjustment.
Tomorrow I will be at the range and hoping I figured it out.

Sent from my SM-N981U using Tapatalk
 
Absolutely f'ing everything is blocking right for me. I've checked my feet and they are square, and my shoulders are square. My guess is

-I'm leaving the clubface open when I line it up and just not noticing it

-I have a weak grip and am losing the club in the backswing (probably the most likely answer, I don't have a great grip)

-My upper body is spinning open when I follow through.

Plenty to experiment with on the range this week...
 
Just wrapped up on the range. Key takeaway...this game is really hard :ROFLMAO:.

First things first, I was excited to hit my new HL C521 hybrid. I must say, it really is easier to hit. I had no issue getting the ball in the air, and after a couple tweaks (first time hitting a hybrid in almost 20 years) I found a nice mid ball flight with my classic tail a little one way or the other. Very very pleased and excited to get that on the course.

As for my irons, it took almost the whole bucket to diagnose the issue. Started off with the 9 iron, just thinking get loose, hit a few nice shots, and then try out the hybrid. Well that was not to be. Contact was terrible, a lot of fat shots, even some shanks. I ran through my checklist of fixes I've written down in my phone; all to no avail. I eventually moved on to the 4-iron and hybrid and was striking both surprisingly well so I circled back. What I found was I had started crowding the ball 🤦‍♂️ I moved back from the ball a little bit and suddenly found good contact again. It's just amazing to me how quickly I can lose my swing/set-up. Took 50 frustrating balls before I finally stumbled upon what my issue of the day was. Thank goodness I wasn't on the course and taking 8 holes to figure out what was going on.
 
I don't record every round through GameGolf and I've certainly missed greens this year with my SW. But the graphic below shows the last 15 rounds with the club and distances I've put the most practice towards. It's an anomaly because the next best club is at 66%.

If all my rounds had been recorded, the actual percentage would probably be somewhere around 70% (great for me). But the point is, I now have a lot of confidence with the SW on shots between 45 - 85 yards. It's rewarding to see something positive and tangible come from practice for a change.

SWLast15Rnds.png
 
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In my search for a consistent ball flight, I went for an hour long lesson today. Mainly a refresher, reset the bad habits that have crept back in again, and hopefully right the wrongs.

Pretty simple, my grip is too weak. I end up with a really bad two way miss right now, and distance is just gone.

Tweaking the grip is hard for me, and I have never been able to get it to stick long term. It's just easier to go back to playing consistently sh***y golf.

Even with the grip change, that is completely foreign to me, it's gotten me straightened out, with a more consistent distance, and more of a draw (instead of my weak fade).

It's going to take some effort, but let's see if I can get it to stick this time.

Walked 9 holes after the hour long lesson, and I was just aching afterwards. Not really much positive from the round, just a free way for me to get out and see how things worked out in non-range conditions.
 


Currently at the range after my round trying to shed some of the crazy fun we were having. I'll be expected to perform this weekend (OldandDancingMonkey), so needed to find the smooth groove again. This is probably the one or maybe two times this year I actually go to the range after playing.
 
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Went out behind the house and worked on GW flighted shots and a 7i full swing. It took a lot of thoughts and feels just to start making decent contact and start hitting distances again.

The worst part is my inability to control the club face. There's just too much variance L&R - even with the partial swings - to build on the positive throughout a round.
 
Snuck out to the range this hot afternoon. Spent the session working my rotation, trying to avoid unloading the club at the ball so much. I'm starting to get the idea I think.
 
LOTS of work on posture and pivot.

Instructor gave me some good inside the house drills that have actually helped a lot with turning into that back leg and not sliding which lead to a loss of posture and absolutely no way to get the club back inside.

This will be the focus for the next two weeks while also trying to sharpen the short game before Myrtle
 
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