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The THP Range/Practice Thread

Purchase a 4, and 5 Callaway hybrids on the cheap. Both have adjustable hosels.

Hit those this morning. 56 balls. Dispersion was a bit wide both ways, but several would've had me putting after 130-140 yard approach shots. Not sure what the flex is, but there's a #3 on both Mamiya shafts.

These will be my first time messing around with adjustable shaft/hosel connections. Will be a fun experience.....I suspect.

Also picked up a 58/9 MD3 wedge with an "S" grind. Gave this club a few shots. Turns out to be a pretty decent club.

I paid $10 for all 3 clubs.

After hitting those clubs, I hit some chips/putts on a freshly punched, and sanded green. The chips checked up quite well due the sand. Putting was iffy. I had to use my own targets (birdie balls) as they haven't installed the practice pins as yet.

Just getting some swings in.
 
Spent some time this morning hitting those two, used Callaway wedges I purchased. Both are lobs at 58*.

Full swings, and short pitches. Kind of liking that MD3.

Also since I had my divot tool handy, I spent some time fixing ball marks in the practice green. It always amazes me that even on a practice green, most folks won't repair the damage they cause. These greens had been freshly punched and sanded last week, and were looking pretty good.....for a while.
 
Played a sim round today and worked on getting my core through the swing rather than just swinging with my arms. Picked up the distance I lost and stopped hitting gross, short, washy fades. It was neat.
 
Along with my usual practice, I spent some time, just goofing off with an old Orlimar 11* degree club. I was trying to get balls airborne off of thin lies.

Most were worm burners after about 60 yards, but there were a few balls that flew well. The good shots, using range balls, were flying about 150 yards
 
Was playing with the MEVO the other day and really saw how poor my impact was. That was the goal today. 7i and LW for most of the AM. Was cool with. Slight fog layer. Got a little better. I think these numbers are in the ballpark from what I can tell.

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Time to get some short game work in

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The sim will be getting a workout today.
 
Worked on dialing in wedges yesterday. With the hopes of moving to a new setup I want to understand what my distances are. Enjoyed seeing good dispersion.
 
Speed and strike! I am going to start working the ball both directions next season, on purpose, every shot. The focus I have to put into setup and concentration it requires for me to pull it off causes me to hit some great shots.

Regular season concluded today. I am happy. I was officially a 10.3 with rounds from previous years tallied. Today I finish at 7.6. I'm going to prove to myself I am capable of playing the Apex CB. I doubted myself. I don't now. I gots this.
 
Putting session



 
Range went to mats only till spring so it’s simulator or dog up my own yard till April
 
I have been trying to get in to see my instructor since May, and finally got in last night.

Struggle the last half of the season was setup and ball positioning, got it messed up, had a lesson with someone else to try and fix it, and nothing worked. Compound an injury into that, as well as the end of the golf season, and I was a mess.

5 minutes in, all of maybe 5-10 shots, and we had it fixed. Easy as that.

I overthink when hitting balls, or on the course. Is my setup correct? What happened, why did it happen, what do I need to do to fix it? Is my take away correct, is my transition proper, am I in the right position at impact. To a detriment, where it gets me thinking too much, and it freezes me up.

So what was wrong? My ball position, way too far forward. I've known this for ages, and been trying to remedy it, to no avail.
Put the ball back of center, even more than I think I should. Looking down I would never have said "that far back works".

Started with 8 iron, switched to 58* to really solidify the feeling, then back to 6 iron to transfer it to the longer irons.
Ball back of center, arm/hands/shaft form a straight line (this allows me to get the shoulder tilt I can never do normally), and get a feeling of hit down.

At one point, the issue of a grip change was suggested, and as much as I want to do one, this isn't the time. Talk to me in 3 weeks about it. No worries, switched the grip back, and kept working.

The struggle this year was hitting things fat, poor contact, and the slice that worked its way back in. Switch the position, lose the fat shots, eliminate the slice. "Whats the worst that happens if you put it too far back. You hit it thin. But a thin is still in play, the fats/slices are OB or leaving you way short."

So that is the cole's notes version. (not really)
Ball back in the stance.
Arm/hands/shaft form a straight line.
Hit down.
Hit a fatty? Hit a slice? Move the ball back.

Eliminate that bad shot, and replace it with something more playable.
 
Simulator session today seen 2 ball speeds of 170mph.... I'm usually 163-165 tops. Not sure what happened or why.... but I'm here for it.
 
Went to the range yesterday while my dog was being groomed up the street. Expected it to be an hour or two.

I guess the groomer was backed up. I spent 4 hours out there, hitting about 400 balls (lots of 1/2 chip shots towards the end). Rubbed a blister on a finger and it bled through the bandaid and onto my glove. Not my smartest move ever.

On the positive side hit a lot of good shots and I'm really happy with where my swing is tracking.
 
wadesworld said:
Went to the range yesterday while my dog was being groomed up the street. Expected it to be an hour or two.

I guess the groomer was backed up. I spent 4 hours out there, hitting about 400 balls (lots of 1/2 chip shots towards the end). Rubbed a blister on a finger and it bled through the bandaid and onto my glove. Not my smartest move ever.

On the positive side hit a lot of good shots and I'm really happy with where my swing is tracking.
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That's a lot of freaking balls to go out and hit, dude. I tap out after like 50.
 
War Eagle said:
That's a lot of freaking balls to go out and hit, dude. I tap out after like 50.
Click to expand...

It was. Not something I'm going to make a habit of. I just kept thinking, "surely they'll call soon."
 
Spent the morning working on 100, 75 yard shots to pin, with a painted, 10 yard diameter green. It was early AM, so I was wearing more clothes than normal. This effected my club selection.

I managed to put a few balls on the small green. Most of the rest being in the area. Yes, there were a few stinkers also.

From there it was 25 yard pitches over a bunker, and 4' foot high berm. I used mt 60* LW, with an abbreviated swing. I was hitting off dormant bermuda grass, which offered up a thin lie situation. The near zero bounce on my wide sole Ironwood wedge helped. I need put more time in on this shot for better ball contact.

Most of these practice shots involved my pre-shot routine.

From there I went to the practice green and rolled a few putts. This was just a glance, and putt practice. No real effort involved. Very quick reads. Still made a few.
 
Getting in a session in the garage sim tonight. The new pattern my coach has me practicing seems to be working well on the range but isn't as reliable on course
 
Been struggling with fading/slicing my driver the past few months. Was ball striking my wedges through my 3 wood amazingly during my sim round tonight. Shot a +2 and walked away a bit bewildered as It could of been 5 or more shots better if my driving was just a bit better. Decided to hit the driving range after the round to check some thing out. After a a couple of hits decided to check my club head alignment. I continue to forget with the Mizuno ST-Z driver that to get it straight down line it looks very closed at address for me. Once I got that corrected I started driving the ball great. Hopefully I can continue to remember this on the course so I can get my driving back on track like it had been most of the season.
 
War Eagle said:
That's a lot of freaking balls to go out and hit, dude. I tap out after like 50.
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Agreed my body taps out at 125 during range session. I generally like to limit my sessions to 75 balls if I can.
 
Ludin said:
Agreed my body taps out at 125 during range session. I generally like to limit my sessions to 75 balls if I can.
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Yes sir, 1 large bucket, 75ish balls and I am done.
 
Getting my chipping practice in my basement. One thing I have been really wanting to work on this off season was the confidence to control the flights of my chips better. Having additional versatility around the greens along with additional confidence I think can really help stabilize my rounds when they start to derail with my approach game.
 
Swing changes are hard. The last few nights I've been working on drills from my last online lesson and the slightest change takes so many reps to start seeing any changes in the full swing.
 
And what feels like a huge change is barely visible in video. But the grind is the grind. I can’t wait to kick this virus and get out to the range again. When I can’t go to the range I kinda miss the grind.
 
I went to the d-range just to get some full swing practice, and to work on my aim, and alignment. My aim, and alignment easily gets out of whack with out a monthly reminder.

I purchased a set (3i-9i) of older Browning Maxim clubs the other day just because of the very low profile heads, and I liked the grips they came with. They will never be my gamers, but a nice novelty, and perhaps the start of a "retro bag" to fool around with.

Once I got use to swinging them, they were pretty accurate for me. Even the 3i wasn't a problem. That said, distance was a big issue. Way shorter than my gamers.

As I was working my way through the bucket of 80 balls, I noticed that just about every ball flight had a nice, consistent draw to it. Even the shorter clubs had some draw. This was a surprise to me, since I've never been able to hit draw before. It was fun aiming right of my target, and having the ball curl back to my target. The fact I was drawing range balls was interesting. With a little club face, and stance manipulation, I also found I could hit easy fades with them.

A little history reading on these clubs told me they were made by Browning, the gun company. That Barney Adams had something to do with them before he started his own Adams Golf.

Another interesting part of the read was that Browning used slomo cameras to view the impact with the ball. They used the same equipment they developed to watch bullets from their fire arms. They determined that the ball did not roll up the club face as previously thought. Hence, the lower profile. The face of these clubs are not much higher than the ball itself. Even the club width is decidedly shorter than my gamers.

I mentioned above that I liked the feel of the grips on these clubs. Obviously they had been regripped. When I get around to it, I will go to Golf Galaxy, match them to a couple new grips for my gamers to see how they work out.

Just a fun time messing around, hitting balls.
 
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