We've launched the new forums! Read more here

The THP Range/Practice Thread

Spent some time with my youngest Granddaughter this morning. We spent a lot of time on green reads, and what makes the ball do what it does.

We also spent time on 40 yard shots over a bunker, with a 3' foot mound, to a pin about 5 yards behind the mound. The front edge of the bunker was 30 yards away. Any ball that didn't clear the bunker, or the mound, became bunker practice shots. There were a few of them, as well as few balls on the down slope to the pin.

She's a new enough golfer to still be intimidated with this type of shot. Just trying to get her use to it.

We get together most Sunday mornings to practice on our short games. She sees a lady lpga pro for her full swing game. We trade ideas.

She will be playing on her highschool team in this, her senior year shortly. Her goal is to qualify for state competition like her older sister did last year. Her school has new golf coach this year. Hopefully he will be better at mentoring "all" his players than last year's coach was.
 
Spent 2 hours tonight going back through the basics trying to get to a better top position. My swing has gotten incredibly sloppy
 
Was out in the early AM yesterday. We have a cold front moving through the area, with day time temps in the 102*f range. Cool, 82*f degree morning.

Started out with my 2 Ironwood, and 48* degree wedge. Hit 56 balls, switching back and forth between the two. I have the 2i in my bag for lower shots in windy situations.
Distance, and dispersion was pretty good with both clubs. I love hitting 2 irons.

From there it was 28 chips from 10' feet, from various aeas off the green, to 3 different targets. Actually holed a few. Another 18 ended up with in easy 1 putt range. Wish I could do that well when playing. Pretty much all of these chips had some break to them. It's that type of practice green.

After that it was 10' - 15' foot putts to 18 pins. This, using 3 different pins. I was looking for anything under 36 putts. Again, most had breaks involved. I was doing really well, until the last hole, where I 4 putted to finish with a 37 putt number.

Finished up hitting 20 open club face, open stance, flop shots with my 48* degree wedge. Could've seen better results with this routine. Consistent distance was an issue. Not a problem as yet.

Going to play 18 holes later today, if the air quality is in a less harmful range. The Mojave Desert south of us is burning up, and the smoke is a problem. Two previous bouts with covid has left me with minor copd issues.
 
This will shock no person that has ever played golf, but it's been a rollercoaster of golf-induced emotions the last six days. I went from hitting my clubs as well as I've ever hit (a week ago today) to not being able to hit the ball the very next day. My ball striking became wildly inconsistent, my distances went to nothing, and the more I tried to fix my swing the worse it became. Finished the week with 99, 95, 95 and a desire to quit golf.

I took Monday off, but hit the range after work last night (in the wonderful 107* heat). Right before leaving work I had a moment of clarity and realized I was extending early and casting the club (due to standing up out of my swing during the backswing. I worked for an hour before I ever hit a ball. Keeping my spine angle and staying in my swing felt embarrassingly foreign initially, but proved to address my major issues. I hit 5 shots (approximately 75-80% of full) with each club, starting with my 56* and working to my driver, being extra aware of my posture and remaining "in" my swing.

I am inconsistent with my full rotation through the ball, BUT I didn't hit even one ball thin/fat/pulled/pushed in the way that my early extension and casting have recently made my norm. I made consistent contact with the center(ish) of the club face, saw much straighter ball flight, better trajectory, and a return of distance.

I've been playing this stupid game long enough to know that I'll never have everything figured out, but it sure is encouraging to see a season of potential taking shape.
 
Practiced in a few, off, and on rain showers this morning. Kind of different and fun. No thunder, or lightening in the area.

As usual, I started with my 2 i, and 10 iron, switching back, and forth between the two.

From there I worked on the 4 uneven lies I see a lot of. Used my 52* degree wedge. (11iron?)

After that it was 30 yard pitches, and then 5 yard, off the green, chips. Also used my putter from 1-3 feet off the green for few shots.

Finished up with just putting. Used 6 pin locations, 5-10 yards apart from each other. CW, CCW, and random for 18 pins. Had 35 putts.

Just a nice easy morning of golf practice.
 
With the infection last week it's been 2 weeks since touching my clubs, aside from the putter, so I had to get out the range

Timing, flexibility, contact, everything was out of sync in the beginning, but by the time I got to the woods things were clicking and the ball was launching

Went back to irons and had much better contact and flight, but still a little low and and the heel.

I'll hit into the net tomorrow in further prep for the round on Saturday , but damn it felt good to be out there finally
 
Spent a lot of time putting on the practice green this morning. I didn't putt well yesterday while playing. I developed a pull. Misses to the left to be exact.

I am thinking I was getting too "handsy" in my putting stroke. So, this morning I worked on quieting down my hands. Especially my right hand.

I started off with a drill I have use in the past. What I do is turn both my hands on the grip with my palms facing up as much as possible. I rotate my left hand ccw, and my right hand cw. What this does is that my hands are now opposing each other. One can't over power the other, and forces my stroke back into my arms where it belongs. I've known golfers who also used this drill to help with their yips.

I putted one ball to 36 practice pins. All my 1st putts were from 12'-15' feet. All my first putts, and most of my second putts had breaks involved.

The 1st eighteen holes I finished up with 39 putts. I lost strokes during the first 8 holes. The 2nd eighteen holes I finished at 36 putts. So, this gave me 28, two putts holes. My drill was working.

I will probably do this again for two more practice sessions before easing back into my normal grip on the club.

After putting, I played 18 pins, chipping from at least 10' feet off the green. I have a way of scoring my chipping practice. My chipping club is 35" inches long. Any ball that finishes at the hole, in side that 35" inches, is a win for me. I went 10-8 for my effort. Some of those 8 were just out side that 35" inches.

Today's was a time consuming practice session, but well worth it. The 75*f morning temp made easier.
 
Hit the range and par 3 course today. Par all around. The notable moment today were drives however. Seems the strength training is paying off. Numerous drives over 290 today with my TSR3.
 
Hit the range again today as I'm still way to inconsistent on course with driver. Had a former coach look at my swing and help me see where it's going wrong.
 
100 balls and a wedge range

No days offIMG_1414.jpeg
 
The short version: against my better judgement I went to a scheduled driver fitting Saturday. Due to recent swing collapse (about 3 weeks ago) I hit over 100 hundred balls with an array of driver/shaft combos and 100% of those shots made me want to cry. Awful. Left dejected. Played 18 with my oldest yesterday morning and, shocker, everything continued to get worse with my swing. Left our home course ready to quit golf, but pulled off at the driving range before going home and ran into the club pro from that course. He gave me a 2-minute lesson and then I proceeded to hit 2 large buckets of range balls with some of the best contact (56 degree through driver) i've experienced in far too long. I was at a complete loss as to what was causing my issues and his (educated) eyes saw the issue after watching two swings. One tiny change made a world of difference. What a relief.

Also, the fitting wasn't a total loss as I learned a great deal regarding my spin numbers (out of control; 4,000-5,500) with my driver. Made a couple tweaks (including dropping loft from 9.75 to 8.25) on my TSI2 based on what I learned from the debacle and my driver distance increased by 30+ yards. Best ball flight I've seen in quite some time.
 
Early AM, before sun up practice session today. Nice 74 degree weather.

Started out with 43 putts to 3 different practice pins. My par is 36. All first putts were from 12-15 feet. All putts had breaks. Trying to decide between 2, maybe 3 putters to use tomorrow.

Next was chipping practice to those same 3 practice pins. Another 10-8 score.

Moved to pitches from well off the green after the chips. Had a 9-9 score.

Finished up with 5i, and 7i full swings. (28) Dispersion was almost decent at best. Then again, I was not using my normal gamers.
 
20230807_104456.jpg
Back out today, the first time in a week touching the clubs. In the span of a week everything outside of the hitting areas has gone brown....

I went out today with the intention of working on wverything my instructor had given me. Grip change, flare the front foot, handle angled to front pocket, wider stance, more shoulder tilt..... and absolutely screwed up everthing. Thinking too much, too much at once maybe, and the grip change alone has me hating it.

Next time out is going tonmaybe just be a couple tweaks. The grip? I don't know that I can actually physically do it.

At the end, I walked away just dismayed. Felt like a waste of time. Hit nothing well, just struggled. Tweaked my wrist a couple days ago, and then Saturday morning I formed/ripped open a blister on the inside of my right thumb while sealcoating the driveway. Undeterred, I bandaged up, wrapped up, and powered through.... but if I had known this would be the result I would have just done short game and putting.
 
Spent a little over an hour working on my iron swing tonight. Hoping it carries over in my round tomorrow!
 
Spent a couple productive hours at the range last night after work. I worked drills specifically addressing releasing the club with my body, instead of with my arms, and adequate upper body rotation. I hit a large bucket of balls taking just a partial backswing, rotating my upper body through the ball, and allowing the club to release post-impact. I was able to feel (and see) the difference in this and what I've been struggling with (early extension and casting the club) consistently. I hit two more large buckets using full swings that implemented the feel from the drills, focusing on my breathing/tempo, and one(ish) swing thought. For the first time in a great while I saw consistent contact, consistent ball flight, and even a little confidence begin to creep back in.
 
Getting a little bit concerned that I am starting to lose my driver swing (probably happened a while ago, but seems exaggerated since my last lesson). Trying to incorporate some changes, that help encourage more of a draw...... but it has really introduced a big two-way miss. Before it was either straight or a fade. Now a massive hook, or a slice, and a big loss of distance. I already hit up on the ball a fair bit, and I feel like these tweaks have me hitting up even more...... to a severe loss of distance.

Short game, primarily greenside has started to come around again. A round of 8 iron bump and runs, and 54* chipping, really left me much shorter first putts. Sinking those putts happened more often than not, so that was really really encouraging.

Putting: more attention needs to be put on recognizing slope lol. Seeing the putt is downhill, and not adjusting the stroke for that, well that was a big mistake on a couple holes.

125yds to around 50 yds.... needs so much improvement. That dreaded chunked approach shot is still in my head, and it happened a couple times the other day. Need more swings, more practice swings, pay attention to ball position more.

Things are definitely coming along. Playing super fast yesterday had me realizing my wood/long iron ball striking is better than I had though. Short irons have plagued me though... the part I practice the most is definitely the worst part of my game right now consistency wise.
 
Apparently my dog loves YouTube golf videos LOL
24636f5e918ec9e3cbb23ff81b0dd1b7.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Out on the wedge range this morning working on 50-100 yard shots then to the driving range where woman commented on my ball strikes and asked for tips on her stance and rotating as she was slicing every shot. Gave her some tips and she hit her best drives of the day 🙂
 
Did some work on the range to stop using my entire body to rotate. My overswing caused reverse pivot is something I really want to fix. I focused on moving only my chest and shoulders but didn’t try to resist lower body movement. The weird thing about that is I started dropping my hands in the slot on transition. That’s not something that usually happens. It’s a weird feeling but contact was much more consistent even while trying to learn the new feels.
 
When you have a massive breakfast on the range that completely changes your swing and even improves your putt 😳😳

 
Yesterday, and today I was on the d-range working with my D-7w & 5i-6i. Just working on my swing tempo, timing, and balance with these clubs.

We've had a few days of rain (finally) which means the short game area (100 yards, and closer) is soaked pretty good. Putting greens are running real slow too. We don't get much rain around here, so no need to practice short game stuff in those conditions. It would mess me up when it dries out.

Kewl Beans on the cooler weather. ;)
 
Sundays means range time for me, and off I went this morning, 10*c. Jeans and a long sleeved shirt makes for good golf attire right?

I am kind of burnt out on the range right now, mainly because I am feeling sort of stuck. The things I want to work on are mainly on-course... but don't have time in the schedile for rounds right now. Trying to reset some things after my last lesson, take 2-3 ideas instead of 7-8.

Driver was horrendous last round, but I think I ironed out some of my issues. Tweaking the stance, solidifying the ball position for what I want to do, and just getting the swing thought correct again. Straight to slight draw. Better distance. Just an overall better swing. Hopefully I can carry this over to a round on Friday.

Iron work today was pretty bad, even by my own standards. Just having a hard time concentrating this morning.

Short game was pretty short on time. Did some basic drills then cut it short so they could cut the greens.

All in all, I want to carve out more golf time, and cut out some of the range time. Probably the bigger issue is the range is paid for, rounds are all out of pocket. Leaves are hitting the ground, mornings are cooler, and time for golf is getting swapped out a lot for yard work :(
 
Worked on putting from off the green. Maybe 3' foot, or so. What ever my putter length, plus a little is.

On a fun note, there was a guy chipping with his 8i on the same green with me. He saw me using my putter for the same chips, and asked me about it. Short story shorter, he now putts from just off the green too.

After that it was 52* wedge, full swings, walking around just aiming at various targets. With all the rain we've had, the turf has soften up considerably. I was able to take mini divots. My drop, and stop shots were better. Apex was higher also.
 
Been working a lot recently on impact position. I have been been plagued with casting for a long and trying to just neutralize it at the moment. Really making headway an focusing on clearing the hips so that I feel comfortable having the hands come through the impact zone and not leaving it way right or casting and pulling way left. Did that for 35 balls. Did another 15 with impact tape and hitting different spots on the face. Then went full bore driver for 18 shots with a cruising average of 108 mph and topping at 112 mph. Hitting some dingers of drives. Then wrapped with 7 shots on my 3 wood with a couple off the tee and a couple off the ground. Really focusing on my carry as I have a drivable par 4 on my home course that with a cruising speed higher on my driver on days I am hitting it well I would carry the driver long and go OB as it only plays 285 yards slightly up hill.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top