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The THP Range/Practice Thread

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Finally got my s*** together tonight and man did it feel good. I've still got a bunch of work to do but at least I'm playing golf again.
 
Just practiced some takeaway mechanics for pitch shots that Roger Cleveland showed me at ECPC.

Also got about 80-100 swings in with irons 7 iron mostly.
Worked on takeaway and tempo.
 
I was able to get to the range today. Worked on balance and hip rotation, as my teacher picked up on a couple things at my lesson on Monday that seemed to make a lot of sense. I've been over turning and over rotating my hips, which has been definitely affecting my swing speed with the longer clubs (because that's when the turning really gets out of hand). Definitely saw progress and mainly focused on staying centered throughout the swing.

About 35 yards out in the center of the range I go to, there's this shopping cart. I keep trying to hit lob shots into the cart and get really close, but just can't seal the deal. I've even tried punch shots to at least hit the side of it, and again, many very close shots but haven't nailed it yet. Now I'm honed in on it and it will happen. The side result of this is staying sharp with the wedges as we get deeper into the off season.
 
A bucket of balls...I'm getting closer with my irons but am still a mess with the driver.

On the practice green I did a drill I saw Lee Jansen explain on his short game show on GC. A gate drill for 10 foot putts with one set of tees just outside the width of your putter and a second set of tees 3 feet in front of that on your exact line (place a ball exactly on your line then put two tees down, thereby creating the second gate). This drill is great because it helps three things:
1. Controlling your stroke (ie stroking the ball through the first gait without hitting a tee)
2. Feedback on your ability to roll the ball over your mark (ie, getting the ball cleanly through the second gait)
3. Feedback on reading the putt. If you roll the ball through the second gait and miss the putt high or low you know your line was wrong.
 
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Continued progress today, which is great.

Iron play is coming along nicely. This range has an island green that is 26 yards deep and 26 yards across, with a pin exactly in the middle at 147 yards. I hit 9/10 balls on the green with an 8i, which is very good for me. More importantly, trajectory and shot shape are coming back to normal. What a relief.

I spent a decent amount of time taking Pelz shots at 50 and 75 yard targets. The 50 yard targets are marked by buckets and I'm yet to sink one but that is okay. The 'misses' would mostly leave me with nice putting chances.

I even hit 5 straight drives that while not great were at least playable. The way I've been with the big stick lately I'll take it.
 
i need some serious range time. the only consistency in my swing today was the inconsistency.
 
Some chipping into a box in the living room. This new (to me) chipping method using the bounce of the SW takes a bit of thought yet.
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emart2173 said:
i need some serious range time. the only consistency in my swing today was the inconsistency.
Click to expand...

No star shots today? There had to have been a few.
 
Got out yesterday with my new Alpha 815 paired with my Grandaddy Project X LZ 7.0 X-Flex shaft.
Here is the 2nd swing I took with this combo. Talk about laser rocket!
It's a 10.5°, set to -1 with Neutral face and Gravity Core down....all I can say is...wow!

http://youtu.be/9jMtAIC-5qs
 
Different day mostly similar story for me this morning at the range. The irons were even better - I was able to break the island green into quadrants and hit balls to specific areas. The Pelz shots are still reliable and should save me shots tomorrow. My driver is just terrible though - everything is right of Reagan.
 
Spent 3 hours at the range today, working through the entire bag. However, it was 45 degrees and raining cats and dogs. It's covered, but the rain was blowing in so much, my entire left side is soaked.

Still did some awesome work tonight - which I needed.
 
10y - 100y - 10y by 10s drill with my 55°. Only had to reset once on the way up and twice on the way back down. Definitely good to know the limits of this wedge.
I feel my chipping has improved greatly since yesterday.
 
sudseh said:
10y - 100y - 10y by 10s drill with my 55°. Only had to reset once on the way up and twice on the way back down. Definitely good to know the limits of this wedge.
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Please explain this drill
 
Spent an hour at range finding shaft for DBD. Looks more and more like the tour green. Working on a small swing change and when executed properly it produces great results. Had lost some swing speed this summer do to trying to shorten swing. In doing so my turn suffer. Noticed by our pro. A half hour with him and my shoulder turn is back and swing speed has jumped from 95 back to 103/105. Happy guy. Just hope I can take it to the course tomorrow.
 
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10y - 100y:
Start 10y from the pin. This is your "home". Any time you miss three at any distance, you have to start over from home. Make this one then to 20y, et-cetera, to 100y (or the long end of your chosen club - full swing 90% power).

100y - 10y:
(easy mode - this is your new home; hard mode - 10y is still your home and you reset to the beginning if you miss three)
Make this one then to 90y, et-cetera, to 10y.

If you are familiar with the "around the world" drill in basketball, this is the same thing but with distance changes rather than location and distance changes.
tequila4kapp said:
Please explain this drill
Click to expand...
 
After some stretching, my swing just seemed grooved.
Good clean contact on seemingly every shot, wasn't fighting anything...

Spent about 2 hours swinging.

Tired now... But very happy.
 
Over my little winter vacation I got in a sim session with my son and a day out on the golf course. Very inconsistent right now which is surely due to lack of practice/playing. One day I feel very good and the next I am terrible. Or more terrible than usual. May just pay for a few lessons to get myself in the habit of practicing a little.
 
Canadan advised me to try swinging easier for better results and I worked on that today. More consistent control, with about the same distance. It's just hard to mentally commit to swinging easier.
 
captaincaution said:
Canadan advised me to try swinging easier for better results and I worked on that today. More consistent control, with about the same distance. It's just hard to mentally commit to swinging easier.
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Isn't that the truth.

I was working on that a couple weeks back and the results were crazy. Swing speed with my driver even improved, as did ball speed, contact consistency, and dispersion. But my brain just won't let my body do it out on the golf course.
 
Hawk said:
Isn't that the truth.

I was working on that a couple weeks back and the results were crazy. Swing speed with my driver even improved, as did ball speed, contact consistency, and dispersion. But my brain just won't let my body do it out on the golf course.
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Yeah, I was getting about the same club head speed with the driver too. Now I just have to work on consistent contact. Ball speed was too slow for the swing speed.
 
Hawk said:
Over my little winter vacation I got in a sim session with my son and a day out on the golf course. Very inconsistent right now which is surely due to lack of practice/playing. One day I feel very good and the next I am terrible. Or more terrible than usual. May just pay for a few lessons to get myself in the habit of practicing a little.
Click to expand...

After my last range session I came away underwhelmed. I know it's been awhile bc of my wrist, but the swing I have has potential I want to maximize. I reached out to my pro and have set up time to get a look and see where we can fine tune.

I'm going out to practice & get in 18 so I can write down certain areas I want to focus on. I'm not looking for that magical score, just want consistency. I know that comes from practice, but I want to practice good habits & not reinforce bad ones.
 
Yea man I found to have much of any measure of consistency I had to practice all the freaking time. That's what I did most of last year. And it wasn't like I was out there knocking down PB's either. Just a fairly level season.
 
Hawk said:
Yea man I found to have much of any measure of consistency I had to practice all the freaking time. That's what I did most of last year. And it wasn't like I was out there knocking down PB's either. Just a fairly level season.
Click to expand...

I made big strides this year with my game/swing & was all due to the lessons. I tapered off after PGA & it's showing. I may not be able to practice a ton, but when I do I want to maximize it. Quality over quantity
 
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