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The THP Range/Practice Thread

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Cant wait to hit the range this week. Our course is getting a new strip of high end artificial turf installed today, and I desperately need to get some reps in (as Tiger would say). I've been hitting a weird pull draw off the tee, and struggling mightily with my new DHy. The weather looks great this week, so I may run out a few times and work on the full swing while the greens are recovering from a late season punch and top dressing.
 
I really stink at hitting the ball when it's below my feet. There's one hole on my home course where I always end up with this lie off the tee. Then the 2nd shot is over a small creek to a green with a false front that runs into the creek and the creek wraps around the right side of the green. With this lie, I always seem to hit the ball thin and right. I know this is the case, but I can't find anywhere to practice this type of lie around here.

I could get out on the course when it's empty and practice hitting this exact shot on this exact hole, but how many balls would I want to dump in the creek?
 
Lesson today - exclusively 25 yd pitch shots.
Only hit one fat - the last one of the lesson.
Good trajectory, good contact. Have to make sure that my weight is on my left side.
I also have a tendency to aim a little right, so I have to remember that. Otherwise, the results and the shot is getting pretty good!
 
I hit a bucket of around 100 balls at the range during lunch today. Hit some good shots and some not so good shots (especially as I got to the longer clubs). By the end I was hot and tired, which I think led to some of the poor shots. It was a nice break from work anyway.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Really really solid practice session tonight.
I can't believe how much easier golf is with a somewhat proper grip...its freaking effortless! I'm so excited to keep working and honing this new move.

I didn't want to risk ruining a great night so I didn't hit driver, but that'll be tomorrow night!
 
Hit a couple hundred balls and took some video. Working on the same things and just trying to hang in there for another week before my next lesson. I'm not going to have time to dedicate to practicing whatever he wants me to do full throttle until next week, so I want to wait until then to take the next lesson. Last week away from the range didn't help me on my progress, so it was good to get back to work and the session was productive.

Video shows I still need some help at transition and with my shoulder plane on the down swing. Still turning through flatter than I'm supposed to. Bowed wrist is good and flat until the very top, at which point I seem to want to steepen the shaft right at transition before flattening it out later in the downswing. That's not the way I'm supposed to do it.

The good news is comparing before and after videos shows improvement at impact and that's all I'm really trying to achieve with the other items. Head is actually dead on the ball or even ever so slightly behind it and there was almost a hint of shaft lean there. Compared to even a month ago it's improved and I can tell my ball flight is better. Even hit a few drivers that went close to as far as I think I'm capable of. I'm not across the line anymore, so backswing is better.

My 50-75 yard pitching swing was hit or miss. Good shots were good, but distance control is a little inconsistent (struggling with the shorter shots and not going long), the shorter swings are harder than normal to execute, and I'm hitting the occasional shank. I'm going to chalk that up to it just being the wrong time to work on it with all the other things going on. Worst case, I'll devote a lesson to it in the coming weeks.

Finished on the putting green with putting and chipping.
 
Hawk you are devoting a ton of time to your game this year. Going to be throwing up some low scores before too long I imagine
 
TexasHacker34 said:
Hawk you are devoting a ton of time to your game this year. Going to be throwing up some low scores before too long I imagine
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We'll see lol. Sometimes I have a hard time believing that, but I am approaching things differently this year since I just hit a plateau that seems to be difficult to get over. I just want to see a later release and the corresponding impact position. It'll add a lot of ball speed and a little better face control.

I think the change of direction will be a positive for me. I tend to get down on my golf swing quite a bit, but I like doing regular video since I can physically see that I'm making changes. I just need one or two little things to click right now and I'm searching to find the right movement or feeling to get there.
 
This is what I've accomplished with the work over two weeks. Small steps, but it's definitely better.

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I see some improvement indeed buddy. Good job.

Side note, what are you using for a camera? Using your phone? What are you using as a tripod or whatever to hold it?
 
ddec said:
I see some improvement indeed buddy. Good job.

Side note, what are you using for a camera? Using your phone? What are you using as a tripod or whatever to hold it?
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Yea it's my phone. I use it just because the video is good enough quality and I can upload right into V1 with no problems.

Old, old review, but I'm using the Rokbed Swing Shooter from Rokform. That thing that is like a golf shaft with an adapter for the phone case. It is freaking awesome, though it's expensive.
 
Hawk said:
Yea it's my phone. I use it just because the video is good enough quality and I can upload right into V1 with no problems.

Old, old review, but I'm using the Rokbed Swing Shooter from Rokform. That thing that is like a golf shaft with an adapter for the phone case. It is freaking awesome, though it's expensive.
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oh yeah I remember that thing. That was pretty pricey if I recall. Video looks good. I toyed with the V1 stuff a few years ago, but haven't tried it in probably 2 seasons.
 
ddec said:
oh yeah I remember that thing. That was pretty pricey if I recall. Video looks good. I toyed with the V1 stuff a few years ago, but haven't tried it in probably 2 seasons.
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What I like is that I can put it anywhere at any height just by sticking it in the ground. Then I can look at my screen before I take a video to make sure it's got the whole area in it. Very convenient, buy yea pricey.

V1 is ok. The biggest benefit is that you can do slow-mo and slo-mo advance.
 
ddec said:
I see some improvement indeed buddy. Good job.

Side note, what are you using for a camera? Using your phone? What are you using as a tripod or whatever to hold it?
Click to expand...

Hawk said:
Yea it's my phone. I use it just because the video is good enough quality and I can upload right into V1 with no problems.

Old, old review, but I'm using the Rokbed Swing Shooter from Rokform. That thing that is like a golf shaft with an adapter for the phone case. It is freaking awesome, though it's expensive.
Click to expand...

changes look good Hawk. i have fought your original wrist position for a long time so i know what you are going through there.

dean another option for tripod and not that expensive is the gorillapod which has an attachment for phones up to 7.1mm iirc and also an attachment for gopro. i have both attachments and have used the phone attachment with my iphone6. other good thing is it can be put on the ground or the legs can be wrapped around the handle on your bag or pretty much anything. I have used it for recording while its been on the ground and for us short guys it captures everything pretty good.
 
General question for those that go to the range a lot: how much distance loss do you see with range balls compared to regular balls that you use on the course? Our range has Srixon balls that are in pretty decent shape, but some of them are starting to show their age. I've made some swing improvements this year that have resulted in seeing good distances on a simulator, even when hitting range balls that my instructor has in his indoor space, but then I get outside on the range and the distances are lacking a little bit. I've read on different websites that anywhere from 10-20% of distance is to be expected, but I was wondering what others have seen.
 
arydolphin said:
General question for those that go to the range a lot: how much distance loss do you see with range balls compared to regular balls that you use on the course? Our range has Srixon balls that are in pretty decent shape, but some of them are starting to show their age. I've made some swing improvements this year that have resulted in seeing good distances on a simulator, even when hitting range balls that my instructor has in his indoor space, but then I get outside on the range and the distances are lacking a little bit. I've read on different websites that anywhere from 10-20% of distance is to be expected, but I was wondering what others have seen.
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I had that discussion with my pro last year. He even told me how some of the balls they use are 80% flight balls. Can usually tell the difference between a ball they find on the course and one of the range balls.
 
arydolphin said:
General question for those that go to the range a lot: how much distance loss do you see with range balls compared to regular balls that you use on the course? Our range has Srixon balls that are in pretty decent shape, but some of them are starting to show their age. I've made some swing improvements this year that have resulted in seeing good distances on a simulator, even when hitting range balls that my instructor has in his indoor space, but then I get outside on the range and the distances are lacking a little bit. I've read on different websites that anywhere from 10-20% of distance is to be expected, but I was wondering what others have seen.
Click to expand...

This is always such a bro-science topic and I never know for sure. I had a Srixon rep tell me 10% on their range balls, but I've never verified.

I do know that the range I've been at has some very worn balls and I get a lot of weird ball flights from them.
 
With balls that have the dimples worn off, really crazy crap can happen. Since the aerodynamic effect of the dimples is negated, the flow separates and you get really sharp direction changes, flare ups, and dives.

As for distance from range balls, I'd believe 10-20% - and it does seem to be more pronounced with longer clubs. The range I go to a lot has the ones that say "limited range" on them, since the farthest extents are at about 250 yards, and I've rarely reached it - I imagine a lot of the times I have are when a real ball gets mixed in.
 
Hawk said:
This is always such a bro-science topic and I never know for sure. I had a Srixon rep tell me 10% on their range balls, but I've never verified.

I do know that the range I've been at has some very worn balls and I get a lot of weird ball flights from them.
Click to expand...

Admittedly, I don't worry about this as much when I'm playing 1-2 rounds per week and I have a good gauge of my "on-course" distances, but it's been so long since I've played a round up here that I'm probably overthinking the range distances at this time. Plus, recency bias is showing: yesterday at the range was windy and the wind was into me, so some balls I thought I crushed with my 8 iron and they would come up well short of the 150 yard flag, whereas a normal smooth 8 iron on the course is 150-155.
 
I get different numbers at different ranges too, depending on the balls. My big hope this year was my most frequent range would buy new ones, but it's the same old garbage balls. I know what you are saying though. Even though it's not a perfect comparison, it's impossible not to look at distances and wonder what you're missing out on with crappy balls.
 
If I ever get out of work today im "supposed" to finally have the first range session of the year
 
arydolphin said:
Admittedly, I don't worry about this as much when I'm playing 1-2 rounds per week and I have a good gauge of my "on-course" distances, but it's been so long since I've played a round up here that I'm probably overthinking the range distances at this time. Plus, recency bias is showing: yesterday at the range was windy and the wind was into me, so some balls I thought I crushed with my 8 iron and they would come up well short of the 150 yard flag, whereas a normal smooth 8 iron on the course is 150-155.
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This is the exact same scenario that I've run into for the first two range sessions of the year. Same club and distance too lol. I really do think for me it's the wind and a little bit with the ball. The guy I work for who owns the range buys new balls every year, but won't roll out the new ones till the ground is harder.
 
I went to check my yardages at an indoor facility that utilizes Flightscope technology.

I initially tracked my yardages about 2 months ago for the 1st time.

I never used the data I gained at the time, b/c I didn't think my swing was consistent enough (not in terms of ball striking, but I thought the little changes I was messing with would alter the numbers significantly from one day to the next).

Anyways, comparing numbers today to the numbers I gathered 2 months ago:

The first numbers are from 2 months ago, and the 2nd from today, and all numbers are carry distance only:

GW: 105 / 107
PW: 122 / 129 (the largest disparity)
9I: 129 / 131
8I: 147 / 146

I didn't compare any numbers beyond that today, as I got too tired of swinging the clubs.

I was really surprised to see how consistent yardages are, b/c I feel like I'm always making swing changes. But, even with those swing changes, the yardages seemed to vary much less than I had assumed they would.
 
Hit 2 buckets around lunch time today. First of all, weather was better today, slightly helping wind instead of hurting wind yesterday.

My coach gave me 2 things to work on at my last lesson: turn into my right (rear) leg on the backswing by maintaining my knee flex, and then keep rotating all the way through my downswing instead of stopping my hips and flipping my hands to square the face. It's a bit harder to do the second thing consciously because things are moving so fast on the downswing, but the first one has been my focus, and I felt like I did some good work on it. Mainly hitting 8 irons to work on that, and the results are a pretty high ballflight that just keeps going for a while. I'm still flipping my hands at times which results in a bigger draw than I want, but if I get it right, the little baby draw that I want is there.

The other focus today was the driver, which has been awful going all the way back to last fall. I even brought out my old Bridgestone J40 driver to see if it was my swing or the club. What I figured out is that I'm a little more accurate with the J40, but it just can't compare in distance to my current Cobra driver. The bigger thing that I figured out is that I was overswinging too much due to an overactive right arm, then throwing the club from the top and not getting my lower body to initiate the downswing. Once I focused on a more controlled takeaway with a quiet right arm and not taking the club back so far, the entire action was more in sync and I could initiate the downswing with my lower body and move my weight towards the target. There was a slight helping wind (5-10 mph per my weather app), but there were some drives where I was hitting the base of the fence that is 255 yards away, which is something that I've only done once or twice in the past few years, which was pretty exciting to see. I also didn't hit very many quick hooks with the driver, which is my big miss. I still need to work on the accuracy with the driver, but I was pretty pleased with today's session. First round up here this year is going to come on Friday, I can't wait.
 
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