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The THP Range/Practice Thread

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God that sounds painfully familiar. It's an ugly beast. Only thing that helped me somewhat was feeling like the upper and lower body rotated at the same time from the downswing. There will still be separation since the shoulders are turned more than the hips, but the swing thought of that kept me from turning the hips so fast that they can't turn anymore and the upper body has no choice but to snap through with little/no club face control if that makes sense.
 
It does.

I've got some serious range work in front of me, just trying to work up the desire to REALLY be into it, I know to make changes stick I can't half ass it.
 
Jman said:
It does.

I've got some serious range work in front of me, just trying to work up the desire to REALLY be into it, I know to make changes stick I can't half ass it.
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You've gotta fully commit to a swing change, plain and simple. If you half ass it and bail on it mid way, you only regress that much further. Stuff going wrong in a swing change is good since you can learn what you're doing wrong and self correct. It makes the hard work results so much sweeter.

I guess what I'm trying to say is fix it and get better already dang it hehe
 
Good 40 minute range session today.

I really need to remember to take the club back on plane, not above it especially with the driver.

And the forearm rotation should come natural. Don't fight it and don't force it.

Short game feels good. I'm excite for #thegauntlet
 
Jman said:
Struggling mightily with the driver right now, any driver.

So, I stopped bashing my head against the wall and did some short game work, nothing puts me more at peace now than that, it became a lot of fun for me in the MC prep and I'm happy it still is.

Irons are good, wedges are great, hybrids and fairway is awesome, driver is the bane of my existence.
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Been living in that bad dream for a couple months now. I believe that will be changing soon.
 
Just hit into the net for about an hour at a slow pace.

Worked on keeping hands back, and leading with left hip.

It will be a process, but I think I can make it happen.
 
Was going to skip the range last night, but decided to give it a try and hit the ball better than I have in two weeks. Go figure.
 
Hawk said:
Was going to skip the range last night, but decided to give it a try and hit the ball better than I have in two weeks. Go figure.
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I need to get back to the range, I've just been playing, but I've got to get crap in order for next month.

Hard to make myself go to the range after all those months of it being a necessity.
 
Jman said:
I need to get back to the range, I've just been playing, but I've got to get crap in order for next month.

Hard to make myself go to the range after all those months of it being a necessity.
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You know, it's just what I do, so I don't really mind. Sort of my way out of the house a couple nights a week (which you'll understand soon hehe).

That said, I'd had two solid weeks of weak swinging crap and was sort of tired of trying. Then I hit two balls in my garage with a feel I was trying to work on and it was night/day. I figured I'd better run with it and glad I did.
 
out hitting in back field . Know most of you guys are mid season swing ready . I'm kinda starting over .. Just so happy to hit in a nice warm day with no worries
 
Spent another 30 minutes with the putter and alignment rod. This time rolling balls watching for a pure strike.
 
Booked to the range after work to get some swings in before dark. Started off a little rough, with some of those weird wedge shanks making an appearance. Was fighting it a little bit so I went back to basics and got it smoothed out. Hit about 100 balls and had a good feel by the time it was all done. I really needed this session. My course punched the greens on Monday so work on the greens isnt an option for another few days.
 
I took the boy to the range yesterday to break in his new driver and hit half a large bucket with him. Swing feels surprisingly good right now. We'll see how long that lasts.
 
Hit a small bucket of driver this afternoon, first day in a while that my allergies were ok enough to spend some time outside. The bulk of shots were push draws, with some hooks and slices thrown in. Not having a consistent miss is driving me nuts. I almost want my "power fade" back, because at least I knew what it was going to do and I could aim appropriately.


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Veryslowsnail25 said:
Anyway, my questions are:

1) How would you play that shot?
2) What other 'nightmare' greenside shots can you think of that I can practise around the 9 hole course here. (Sticking to greenside to avoid losing balls and practise control a bit more)

Cheers all!
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I'd play it back in the stance, weight on the back foot and steep angle of attack as you say. The key thing for me with this kind of shot is to commit to your pace, if the pace is too heavy it will go too far, too light and it won't come out, work on finding what that pace is for you and keep the speed constant. If you don't have confidence in the speed you're swinging at you're likely to second guess yourself, slow down and thin it. Practice a bit just to be comfortable you know the pace to use.

Also, don't get hung up on practicing nightmare lies, you most likely won't see them too often in a round, practice your short game by all means but don't dive in to the hard stuff too soon.

How well would you play that shot if it was a downhill lie in the fairway? If you're not able to execute that shot well from simpler lies how beneficial do you think it really is to make the shot harder for practice?

When you're happy with your green side pitching and chipping from the fairway start going for it from the rough but from "normal" lies in the rough. If you hit 100 pitches, is maybe consider putting 5-10 into ridiculous lies but more for a bit of fun than serious practice.

Work on playing high flop shots, chip and runs and hop and stop pitches from the fairway, having a variety of short game shots in your bag will save you much more in a round.


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Actually practiced on a range today and felt pretty good. Wasn't doing anything groundbreaking just trying to pick some targets and hit them. Also worked with the 4 wood and having serious trouble let hitting this club.

I also did some video work to post up a little later.
 
Hit 2 buckets focused on fades and draws with 3 wood and hybo. Adjusted the 3 wood a little for lower loft, but hit it straighter and longer in standard settings. I was unable to practice my short game, my allergies were acting up. But will return tomorrow to finish off.
 
I had a productive session with the driver today. After getting frustrated with having two way misses on the course and at the range, I decided to just take my time and think about every swing. I want to dial the driver in at the range so I can have just one or two thoughts, tops, on the tee box.

After some weak fades and some line drive hooks, I decided to try swinging to right field. I know some people don't like doing that, but others think it's OK to do with the driver. Well, let me tell you, swinging to right produced some of the straightest tee shots I've ever hit, with great rollout. I moved on to irons for a while, did OK with those, and then back to the driver, just thinking "swing out to right". Straight as could be.

We'll give it a few more buckets over the coming days to see if it sticks.


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Had my second lesson tonight with my new coach and to say I came away excited is an understatement. The last lesson, the main was focus was extending to my target and really finishing away from my body - getting rid of the old baseball swing. Now that we felt that was progressing, tonight was phase 2 of my coach's plan. Tonight we worked on a 9 to 3 drill focusing on my right arm (front arm) really extending in my back swing and getting my hands away from my body. The result is cutting down on backswing significantly. From there it is allowing hands to pull the club down through the ball and follow through to the target.

This is completely opposite of what is normal for my hands thanks to many years of baseball/softball. Not only do they want to go deeper into the backswing, but they want to be closer to my head. It was awkward in the beginning, but a good awkward. I topped about 5 or 6 balls in a row, but then it started to click. Towards the end, I was finding that my swing felt effortless, that I was using less energy to get my hands through the ball and I was hitting it just far.

My coach taped a couple of my swings so we could compare. We watched a couple of my swings from my last lesson and then a couple towards the end of this lesson. What I was amazed at with my "old" swing, my hands had to do A LOT and I mean A LOT to get around my body and through the ball. With the "new" swing it is a more direct path. I have been asking my hands to do a lot during a round and I am thinking this will eventually reduce the workload I put on them.

We are going to meet again in another lesson in 3 weeks, but for the rest of this weekend there is going to be a lot of range time. I have plans to get a bunch of rounds in while I am in Rochester next week, so I really want to integrate this as much as possible.
 
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Finally found enough inspiration to get to the range last night and it felt pretty darn good. I started with my knock down 9 iron shot and shanked all of them lol, went to a 5 and hit about half well and then went to the 3 iron and no shanks. My head hasn't been right for a while, and I think the stress just really kills the golf swing. I pulled some woods and went through them with mixed results but most were decent and would have hit fairways, just not exactly what I wanted. Felt good to hit some nice shots though, today I'm playing with my son so let's hope it carries to the course.
 
Was not happy with how I hit the ball today. Going to try to get into a practice routing again this week. Even if it's a fraction of what it was pre mc something is better than nothing.
 
Followed up last night's lesson with a range session this morning and it was so-so, borderline a struggle. I really focused on the 9 to 3 drill that we did the night before, trying to integrate it into the swing. I found that the more I focused on the shortening the back swing and keeping it wide - the more I stopped with the follow through. When I focused on making sure I continued my follow through, I started topping a few - it was frustrating. The good thing is I can really start to feel when my hands get too close to my body and that is causing an inside out swing that I don't want.

Towards the end, I could start to feel the the extension in the follow through coming back and things were a little better. I normally see a draw and last night with the instructor I was seeing a baby draw for my ball flight. Today it was more of a fade, albeit a slight fade. Bottom line is that this next phase in the swing changes are going to take a little while. I was able to integrate the last change fairly quickly but this one is a little different.

Also this morning I was able to take the newly reshafted driver for a test drive and I really like what I am seeing. Previously I had a Fujikura Fuel X-Stiff shaft - a stock shaft from Cobra. Now I have a Miyazaki B'Asha Tour Issue in the club. Focusing on a smooth tempo, the ball was taking off like a rocket from the club face. The driver itself feels a little bit more sturdier and I think is going to give me some better results.
 
Went to the range w a buddy yesterday after work. Chipped w 58* to 5-6 different targets. Sunk my first shot, then two more over my time chipping.
Hit 8 irons w new swing, mostly good, some terrible.
Pulled out the driver and alignment rods, hit 13 really nice shots, only one big fade. Very pleased.
Then to the putting green, spent 20-30 minutes with lag putts, side hill putts, and finished with 6 in a row (2 each from 3, 6, and 10 ft).

Back to the range today, playing tomorrow.
 
mikedean441 said:
Was not happy with how I hit the ball today. Going to try to get into a practice routing again this week. Even if it's a fraction of what it was pre mc something is better than nothing.
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Oh and should note I kids want to win the Bridgestone Championship which is something to shoot for in next 4 weeks
 
The THP Range/Practice Thread

Hit a small bucket thinking about swinging out to right field again with my driver. Hit some big draws, but the majority were straight again and had plenty of run out.

Irons were a lot better than yesterday. Thinking about the front of the ball rather than hitting it usually leads to nice strikes, all I thought about was taking a divot in front of the ball. This was also the third time in a row that I hit my 3h well, so the 5w ponder is starting to fade away.


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