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The THP Range/Practice Thread

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BamBooBender said:
It's becoming glaringly obvious to me that my time on the range has been nothing more than exercise lately. I figured out this evening, I hope, why my iron game has been so poor this year. I keep forgetting to go through the fundamentals when I go to the range! Grip...check, stance...check, ball position...XXX! That's it, just creeping too close to the ball! Really nice to hit some solid irons again. So easy to overlook the basics and cause a lot of frustration.
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Get some alignment sticks and put them in your bag. Go to your local home Depot / Lowes.. Etc and get some driveway markers. A few bucks at most and make it a point you use them at every range session. It helped me immensely with my alignment at the target as well as my distance from the ball. It becomes second nature after a while.
 
DevRickus said:
Get some alignment sticks and put them in your bag. Go to your local home Depot / Lowes.. Etc and get some driveway markers. A few bucks at most and make it a point you use them at every range session. It helped me immensely with my alignment at the target as well as my distance from the ball. It becomes second nature after a while.
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This. This. This.

And it will BLOW your mind just how off your alignment really was. Took some major getting used to what it TRULY aligned felt like, and I'm STILL battling it. But the sticks have helped a crap-ton.
 
DevRickus said:
Get some alignment sticks and put them in your bag. Go to your local home Depot / Lowes.. Etc and get some driveway markers. A few bucks at most and make it a point you use them at every range session. It helped me immensely with my alignment at the target as well as my distance from the ball. It becomes second nature after a while.
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The bad thing is I have some of those in my bag all the time, but was too lazy to set them up for iron shots. Set them up for driver like I posted yesterday, but not for irons. Not surprisingly I'm hitting driver well ,and irons have been rubbish. I'm an idiot sometimes!
 
BamBooBender said:
The bad thing is I have some of those in my bag all the time, but was too lazy to set them up for iron shots. Set them up for driver like I posted yesterday, but not for irons. Not surprisingly I'm hitting driver well ,and irons have been rubbish. I'm an idiot sometimes!
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Yeah man you just have to get in a routine. Force yourself to do it as soon as you get there.
 
Jman said:
This. This. This.

And it will BLOW your mind just how off your alignment really was. Took some major getting used to what it TRULY aligned felt like, and I'm STILL battling it. But the sticks have helped a crap-ton.
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I still battle with alignment too, but this was just standing too close to the ball, causing me all sorts of issues.
 
DevRickus said:
Yeah man you just have to get in a routine. Force yourself to do it as soon as you get there.
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That is so true it's not even funny! It's so easy to overlook the seemingly small stuff!
 
Had a really solid range session today trying to work on getting lower at address and not swinging so flat, along with focusing on ball placement and forward press. Ended up hitting some of the most solid wedge and long iron shots I've hit in a while. Had a bit of a lull in the middle where I was hooking and thinning 3w and driver, but I wasn't bending the knees enough and the grip had snuck too strong. Once I fixed that I was hammering those clubs too. And had some good work in the sand today as well.

I'm feeling good right now, hopefully it can translate to the course!
 
I saw Shaney at the golf course today. He was show me the knee he tore the ACL on and it looks rough. Still swollen almost as bad as mine. :beat-up: His doc is going to do some sort of manipulation on it Monday, to try and release it so he can bend it better. He can only bend it so far and that's it. I hit some balls on the range and was hitting my irons pretty dang good. My focus today was keeping the club head on the outside of my hands on the take away. Then reroute the club on the downswing with my elbow tucked into my side and swinging out towards first base. I was killing my irons. Long, high and with a baby draw.

Shaney is such an awesome dude and is so supportive. I can't wait to tee it up with him again! The good news is his Planter Ficis has healed up since he has stayed off his feet for so long while healing his knee. :D
 
I'm back! Had several great range sessions today working on fundamentals. Happy to hit irons again!
 
Had a fantastic practice session today working entirely on my putting, which has been a huge weakness for me. First things first, I choked down on the grip a little bit as that matched where my body naturally wanted to setup, and it really allowed my natural swing to come out. From there, I worked on my pre-shot routine, and really doing it before every shot instead of getting lazy. I also worked on picking a spot to put to, instead of being lazy and assuming my brain would passively do that for me. Finally, I worked on my distance control and lag putting, starting from 10 feet and going back to probably 50 feet and getting it within a 3 foot circle. Results of the session were very positive as I very rarely left a putt short (thanks to Freddie's tip of placing a tee 18" behind the hole and hitting to that) and also because of my more free-flowing swing. I had a few 3 putts from a long ways off, but those were rare instead of the norm. To cap off the session, I went out to about 70+ feet and was able to get down in 2, with the first putt getting to about 4 feet. I think the change in where I grip the club along with sticking to my pre-shot routine has me on a path to recovery, and I'm really excited to get on the course during a round to see how everything holds up.
 
Had a 3 hour range session today. Have to find my timing again. Coming along slowly but seeing improvement. Here is a pic of my tools.
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I suck terribly between 50-80 yards right now. That's not good based on my long game. Closer in I feel like I've actually done something positive for my game with a few changes I've worked on. Hardly feel like I have time to practice everything I need to at the moment. Attempted swing changes aren't really sticking on the golf course either, but I'm going to keep at it.

Good thing is I don't really give a rip. I'd like it to come together, but embracing the mediocrity is a little refreshing.
 
Hawk said:
I suck terribly between 50-80 yards right now. That's not good based on my long game. Closer in I feel like I've actually done something positive for my game with a few changes I've worked on. Hardly feel like I have time to practice everything I need to at the moment. Attempted swing changes aren't really sticking on the golf course either, but I'm going to keep at it.

Good thing is I don't really give a rip. I'd like it to come together, but embracing the mediocrity is a little refreshing.
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It certainly changes your perspective. With no real competitive event in my future, I am just trying to keep the ball in front of me and have fun. Playing with THPers this weekend reminded me about how fun the game can really be if I just relax and enjoy it. Still some things I want to work on but I am not as worried about the when or how.
 
Preach on man. That's exactly how I feel. I kept telling braddman how much I loved playing golf. Not that I didn't before, but I've found a nice place at the moment where I can just hit the ball and not get too concerned about any improvement or lack of it.
 
Hawk said:
I suck terribly between 50-80 yards right now. That's not good based on my long game. Closer in I feel like I've actually done something positive for my game with a few changes I've worked on. Hardly feel like I have time to practice everything I need to at the moment. Attempted swing changes aren't really sticking on the golf course either, but I'm going to keep at it.

Good thing is I don't really give a rip. I'd like it to come together, but embracing the mediocrity is a little refreshing.
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Ive come to this realization as well my friend.

I used to get pretty upset (as you well know) if I would get into the 80's but I just don't care anymore.

I'm out there to have fun and I just don't get to practice enough to justify getting mad at sucking. Playing once a week isn't going to improve me as a golfer.
 
Nope. The amount of time I need just isn't there.
 
Agree with you guys.

My golf game was about as good as it ever was last year. But I also had time to hit balls and practice much more than I do now.

I'll flirt with a good score every now and again, but basically keeping it in play and making some good shots here and there will keep me satisfied.
 
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Lunch today!


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I had the worst weekend out of the sand at the GA/FLA "Gethering" at Kinderlou last weekend. Every time I got into a bunker, it was a double bogey (except the very first, which was a triple). I've always believed that sand shots were "the easiest shots in golf". But, whether it was the type of sand, or something else, I couldn't do it. So, today it was off to the range to reacquaint myself with sand shots. Jeebus! From the very first ball I dropped, to the last, every ball came out just as pretty as you please! Whether it was a short side explosion or the dreaded longer greenside bunker shot, I executed them fine. Just means it was probably a mental thing. I was completely relaxed this afternoon. But, after that first triple on Saturday, I was anything but relaxed in the sand at Kinderlou. (I still think their sand sucked). :alien:
 
Got in a range session tonight. The full swing work I've don't the past couple months seems to be pretty well engrained at this point. Tonight's goal was to deliver a bit more power through the zone. Not to get off on a tangent, but I really want to feel like I was delivery a ton of energy to the ball, yet stay as compact and in control like I've been working on. Also want to feel like I was fully extended down the line. Lately it's felt like I was wrapping the club a little. First few shots were a bit thin, then I widened my stance a hair and started absolutely striking the ball as well as I have. I took this move to the driver and it was a lot of fun to see the flight. After I felt comfortable I set out to hit various wedges, controlling trajectory and picking small targets. Good to get out and just work.
 
Went to the range. Cured the slice. Now i have the hook. I've realized that I'm probably always going to suck at this game. I think my investment from here on each season will be in clothes.
 
Range trying to fix my alignment and my slight OTT move. Some success, but there's more work to be done.
 
Out of nowhere I had an abysmal range session. Golf overload perhaps these last several days.

I've developed this funky little move where I massively open the face of my wedges/irons on the takeaway and then desperately try to square it up again at impact.
That doesn't work.
 
ArmyGolf said:
Out of nowhere I had an abysmal range session. Golf overload perhaps these last several days.

I've developed this funky little move where I massively open the face of my wedges/irons on the takeaway and then desperately try to square it up again at impact.
That doesn't work.
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Trying to slam the face shut never did anyone any good. Been there, done that, and unfortunately I'll probably be back to visit. :alien:
 
Hit a large bucket at the range today trying to get rid of a fade I've developed with my irons. It gets progressively worse the lower I go down in my irons. At the end I was doing much better but about every third shot would start on my target line and flare right as it got to its highest point. I miss my consistent baby draw.
 
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