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The THP Range/Practice Thread

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Been a long while since I've been able to have a session, but today I was able to make it happen. I was thinking about my swing too much again so I wanted to focus on working the ball more by using a set up trick that let me use my regular swing to move it the ball. It actually worked. Once I got a grip on how the set up and swing was lined up, I hit shots in both directions pretty much on cue. The bonus was that I wasn't thinking about swing mechanics, which was the original intent anyway. Killed two bird with one stone today. Hopefully I can carry it over to my next session tomorrow. That might be the toughest part.
 
Struggled a bit today at the range. Only with the the long irons and driver tho. I'm doing something to cause my hips to just rotate and not move forward at all and it's causing an over the top move which is causing a dead pull. 7 iron down I wasn't doing it so for whatever reason I feel as if it's a tempo issue, which is something I've been fighting all year so far. Getting quick on my transition and it's driving me nuts. My tempo has something I've always took pride in staying smooth and being consistent with more often than not. I think I need a lot of time at the range just working with wedges for 100's of balls until I get a consistent tempo back engrained into my thick head.
 
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I love when my driving range goes to their summer hours, it stays open until 11 PM. I hit 2 buckets and then went to the practice green, but they shut the lights off at the practice green at 10 PM, so then I went and hit 1 more bucket. Big focus on the range was trying to take the feel that I have in my iron swing over to my driver swing. I also focused a good bit on staying balanced in my setup with the driver and maintaining the flex in my rear knee. I'm still overswinging with the driver and having my arms dominate the swing too much, but I was seeing much less quick hooks (my nemesis with the driver) towards the end of the session. I couldn't see where the balls were ending up, but there's a big tree that is 240 yards away from the tees and it looked like I was flying a number of shots past that tree with ease. I could feel that there was some heat on the balls tonight, whereas my driver sessions recently haven't had that type of feel at impact. I'm playing 9 holes tomorrow, then I have a lesson next week where I'm going to ask my coach to take a good look at my driver swing and continue to work on that.
 
Hit the range tonight, met a very nice older gentlemen. He admired my swing and gave me great praise for my strength and natural ability to hit the ball. It was great to meet him, recieve great feedback. He was shocked at my handicap , he thought by my striking I was a 5 handicap which is where I want to be. We both talked about all aspects of the game, i really enjoyed meeting him. Before leaving I informed him of ThP, may be checking in soon. Todays range session was the first time I had picked up a club in almost 3 weeks but the game was still there. A few small hiccups but nothing too drastic.


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Six4three5 said:
Struggled a bit today at the range. Only will the the long irons and driver tho. I'm doing something to cause my hips to just rotate and not move forward at all and it's causing an over the top move which is causing a dead pull. 7 iron down I wasn't doing it so for whatever reason I feel as if it's a tempo issue, which is something I've been fighting all year so far. Getting quick on my transition and it's driving me nuts. My tempo has something I've always took pride in staying smooth and being consistent with more often than not. I think I need a lot of time at the range just working with wedges for 100's of balls until I get a consistent tempo back engrained into my thick head.
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I know this struggle. Battled the same thing Sunday...it's a tempo issue for me too.

Nice idea of just hitting wedges, I use that or a 7i swing thought when I struggle.
 
Jaysfan said:
Hit the range tonight, met a very nice older gentlemen. He admired my swing and gave me great praise for my strength and natural ability to hit the ball. It was great to meet him, recieve great feedback. He was shocked at my handicap , he thought by my striking I was a 5 handicap which is where I want to be. We both talked about all aspects of the game, i really enjoyed meeting him. Before leaving I informed him of ThP, may be checking in soon. Todays range session was the first time I had picked up a club in almost 3 weeks but the game was still there. A few small hiccups but nothing too drastic.


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Click to expand...
Is it tempo? Or sequencing and timing
 
Since it was incredibly slow last night. I spent time on and around the greens hitting shots. These were from 60 yards with a 58. First one hit the pin and went to the right. 2nd grabbed just by the hole. 3rd I opened it a little more but didn't take a bigger swing so it it went higher and landed soft, but probably 8-10 feet short.

29240e8e743914b9aa23aafa84580240.jpg
 
Tonight...60 balls with the driver, no slices. A couple of fades, a couple of push lefts...and twenty-three drives in a row straight and long (long for me). That's never happened to me before. I hope it lasts!
 
Hit a small bucket at lunch, only had 1 dribbler out of the bunch and the rest were decent strikes with my irons. I worked on hitting the new 5w off the deck, surprisingly I need to have the ball a lot farther back than I expected. Once I stopped hitting them fat, I was hitting nice 200 yard line drives, which is exactly what I want out of that slot.

One thing I really need to work on is aim - I'm constantly left of my target. I have to set up what feels like extremely closed, but those shots end up fairly close of where I think I'm aiming. Even with an aim stick on the ground, I have to be really careful about my setup. I know from lessons that my shoulders tend to set up open if I'm not thinking about them, seems like my whole body is going that way now. Setting up this way gave me much straighter tee shots as well, just a tiny fade tail at the end.


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I've had two lessons over the past three weeks (first two of the year since the weather has been so bad). The first lesson was horrible because I found out that I developed a little bit of flipping the club over the long winter and rainy months break. I went back to getting good forward shaft lean, but it carried too much to my woods and had my hitting pushes or push-fades right and OB again. We discussed some pieces of the swing to tinker with for trial and error (grip, stance, alignment, weight distribution, etc.) and I came across some significant improvement with my irons, but the change in the woods off the tee (especially the driver) were just so-so. I played some of 9 holes with my instructor and only hit one pushed drive OB right, but had 6 playable drives (several very good). My irons were really well for me, but I hit a few pushes that put my just right of the greens on at least 5 holes. Despite not keeping score, I was playing well enough to shoot around 45 which is good for me.

Then last night while working on the range I received some un-solicited swing advice, but it helped. A college golfer that is at the club for the summer to help teach the junior league golfers was watching me on the range while he hit next to me. He politely began talking to me and told me about himself and the teaching he was doing. He then told me my wood woes were all related to the speed of my backswing/tempo. I've been told to slow my back swing down before (many, many times and by more than one person), but he said it was the root of my swing problem with the woods. He then gave me some swing thoughts to try like thinking about pausing at the top or reciting a phrase in my head to help with tempo. He then watched and had to tell me to slow down my back swing even more than I was (several times). Then I started hitting very long, straight drives consistently. I basically had to feel like I stopped at the top of the swing for a split-second. I know it probably didn't look like it. It turned out to be just enough time for my body to be able to collect my swing and get the club face closer to square at impact.

Now, hopefully I'm smart enough to immediately focus on this correction when I start to see the woods go right on me.
 
Solid range session again, was striking the 6 iron well. Landing over the 205 yard pin , all around good session except for my 3 wood


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For maybe 4 weeks in a row, I went to the range and worked on chipping.
The results were remarkable.
It went from the weakest part of my game to the strongest.

This last week I didn't go to the range at all until yesterday.
It was surprising to me, by just missing 7 days, there was already regression.
 
Jaysfan said:
Solid range session again, was striking the 6 iron well. Landing over the 205 yard pin , all around good session except for my 3 wood


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205 carry with a 6i is a heck of a lot of carry!
 
Wedge work yesterday for a bit. Becoming part of my routine and its paying off. Really having to work at remembering I don't have to press my hands so much, but old habits die hard. Finding a little check on my low skipper again, it's been a while.
 
Hit the range this morning first time I've touched a club in a month. It wasn't terrible but my butt has to get back to work in a serious way.


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UglySwing said:
205 carry with a 6i is a heck of a lot of carry!
Click to expand...

It was really getting out there, the recovery workouts after surgury helped me gain extra yards. I could get accustomed to this


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90 minute lesson today at the Jim McLean golf school inside Trump National Doral. This place is top notch and first class. Upon arrival they have an assistant take your bag to the range and called for my instructor Bill. After a quick warm up I met Bill and we talked about my game. I've been struggling with a two way miss and he took video of my swing. After a few 7 irons, we went inside the superstation. Here's a pic of the outdoor hitting area with overhead white canvas.

70bee0a27ffef7f79533d368efe51f40.jpg


We went to the Tiger station (because of course I was wearing my Nike gear) and watched the video. Just a bit inside and laid off on the backswing with a "flying" right elbow. A slightly open club face under the plane on the downswing and yep it's an inside-out swing path.

We worked on takeaway drills with the impact ball on my forearms and half swings. Then 3/4 swings more upright, pause at the top releasing the impact ball and hit the ball. Video was running the whole time face on and down the line so we would go back and check my positions. Within 30 minutes just the takeaway was a huge difference with clubhead in line with my hands on the DTL view, more upright and square club face on the downswing. Here's a pic of the station.

dcbb08f26d7fa2d3e9836717f47c9175.jpg


Back outside to see the ball flight and I was still coming from the inside with hooking ball flight. We did a drill where he placed an alignment stick about 4-5 inches behind the ball and almost touching the inside my right heel. Back to the slow takeaway and pause at the top, and I started hitting straight to slight fades. Faster, 3/4 swing and not so good but it's going to take time.

30 minutes left in the lesson and we worked on 15-30 yd pitch shots over a bunker. No issue there but we talked about a more vertical club at address and using the bounce. Off to the putting green and we worked on tempo. I have a bad habit of decelerating. Slow, short backswing and accelerate thru the ball on 10 ft putts. He placed two tees to give me an idea on how far back and thru. We then worked on lag putts from 30ft and watched me hit a few pretty bad and short. He asked me to hit a few looking at the hole "Spieth style". Wow sooooo much better!! We worked on a new pre putt routine including a practice swing looking at the hole then replicate that stroke looking at the ball. Amazing how much better my lag putts were with that tip.

It was a great lesson and learned a lot from my instructor. It's a shame he is leaving to Virginia in a few weeks as I was ready to sign up for a lesson package. They should be sending me video of the swing so I'll share once I get it.

X.man.....you're next brother!!
 
Canes said:
90 minute lesson today at the Jim McLean golf school inside Trump National Doral. This place is top notch and first class. Upon arrival they have an assistant take your bag to the range and called for my instructor Bill. After a quick warm up I met Bill and we talked about my game. I've been struggling with a two way miss and he took video of my swing. After a few 7 irons, we went inside the superstation. Here's a pic of the outdoor hitting area with overhead white canvas.

70bee0a27ffef7f79533d368efe51f40.jpg


We went to the Tiger station (because of course I was wearing my Nike gear) and watched the video. Just a bit inside and laid off on the backswing with a "flying" right elbow. A slightly open club face under the plane on the downswing and yep it's an inside-out swing path.

We worked on takeaway drills with the impact ball on my forearms and half swings. Then 3/4 swings more upright, pause at the top releasing the impact ball and hit the ball. Video was running the whole time face on and down the line so we would go back and check my positions. Within 30 minutes just the takeaway was a huge difference with clubhead in line with my hands on the DTL view, more upright and square club face on the downswing. Here's a pic of the station.

dcbb08f26d7fa2d3e9836717f47c9175.jpg


Back outside to see the ball flight and I was still coming from the inside with hooking ball flight. We did a drill where he placed an alignment stick about 4-5 inches behind the ball and almost touching the inside my right heel. Back to the slow takeaway and pause at the top, and I started hitting straight to slight fades. Faster, 3/4 swing and not so good but it's going to take time.

30 minutes left in the lesson and we worked on 15-30 yd pitch shots over a bunker. No issue there but we talked about a more vertical club at address and using the bounce. Off to the putting green and we worked on tempo. I have a bad habit of decelerating. Slow, short backswing and accelerate thru the ball on 10 ft putts. He placed two tees to give me an idea on how far back and thru. We then worked on lag putts from 30ft and watched me hit a few pretty bad and short. He asked me to hit a few looking at the hole "Spieth style". Wow sooooo much better!! We worked on a new pre putt routine including a practice swing looking at the hole then replicate that stroke looking at the ball. Amazing how much better my lag putts were with that tip.

It was a great lesson and learned a lot from my instructor. It's a shame he is leaving to Virginia in a few weeks as I was ready to sign up for a lesson package. They should be sending me video of the swing so I'll share once I get it.

X.man.....you're next brother!!
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Oh man this is good!!

Can't wait for my lesson on Wednesday at this Facility!

Glad it went well Canes!


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Hit around 400 balls today and finally got my left hand on the club in a way that does not stink up my swing. I've often thought that my left hand only serves to mess up my game, from putter to driver. I have in the past resorted to chipping and putting with my right hand only. Well, I found that when I can place it on the club correctly, it actually helps.
 
Jaysfan said:
Solid range session again, was striking the 6 iron well. Landing over the 205 yard pin , all around good session except for my 3 wood

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Damn, that's solid. Good job.
 
tequila4kapp said:
Damn, that's solid. Good job.
Click to expand...

I gained a club and little over the recovery process, too bad Tiger didnt attend where I was fixed for my back surgury. . I am loving how my games improved


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Tiredness and a stuffy head does not make for a productive range session....

Despite this I made some interesting discoveries with my driver which I really struggled with this morning. After hitting a lot of fades and a few slices I tried a tip that was in the latest golf magazine I received that said after you had set up to the shot, pull your right (back foot) back as this prevents you from coming over the top. First shot was not so good due to the slightly strange feeling but I then hit a few high towering drives straight down the middle of my fairway.... I need to get back to the range when I feel better as I was struggling to keep focused

Hit a bunch of wedges at the 50 and 100 yard markers and was pretty happy, then moved to another target at around 155-160 yards away and put a bunch of balls within 20 feet of the target which was very promising after my short game deserted me last round

Just a shame the weather was cold and breezy today otherwise I would have spent some time on the putting green as well
 
So today I went to the range trying a new approach to each shot. Before each shot I visualized the entire shot; my swing, the flight and trajectory of the ball all the way to right where I wanted it to land. I have to say I hit so many more shots on line and solidly than I typically do. I don't know if it was just a good ball-striking day or what but I really was liking the results. Ah, the power of visualization.
 
I'll be headed for practice tonight for sure. All short game work for a while. Full swing feels pretty solid right now.
 
I'm headed to the range for a few hundred later tonight.
I just want to work on basic ballstriking throughout the bag and then I'm going to practice chipping/pitching from nasty lies in the rough.

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