I thought it might be a good idea for us to put down that we practiced and what we practiced on and what, if any, were the results...
I'll kick it off..
Went down to the club's practice ground this afternoon, the pitching area was clear so I set myself up at 115 yards to the furthest pin, the next nearest was 105 and then the shortest was 85, it's only narrow so you can switch from 1 pin to another, which I like to do rather than keep going at the same one, this way I have to change my stance and club and re-set.
It's quite undulated so you have to disregard the bounces you get, so it's all about the contact, ball flight and carry distance for me.
After a few swings I soon realised I was swaying slightly and also constantly trying to pick the ball off the grass which was costing me distance, so I changed my swing pivoting immediately by dropping the left shoulder and found my ball striking was much crisper and I was attacking the ball so much better that I was taking a small divot, something I have never really done before, purposely!
After a large bag of balls and about 90 minutes I had it down to a tee and was very comfortable using my wedge & 9 iron to those 3 flags, I also adopted some decent 3/4 shots, so, I ventured over to the main practice area to put it into practice with my other irons, the wind was very strong now into and across me, I set up at 140 yards to a flag but I wasn't quite getting into the same comfort zone and couldn't replicate the same swing technique, so I reverted back to picking at the ball to get a more consistent strike but without the obvious swaying, not sure its right to have 2 different swing thoughts but I suppose it's what works best for you that matters, but I will work on trying to replicate what I seem to be able to do comfortably with my wedges into my mid-irons.
I enjoyed the practice session because I believe I got something out of it, I constantly see the low handicappers on the pitching range working at their game, it's such an important distance I feel, you see the best golfers hit poor drives and then have to surrender a shot to get back in play but there ability to get up & down is where the game is at, I can see myself out there a lot more if it can help me not throw silly shots away and improve my ball striking.
I'll kick it off..
Went down to the club's practice ground this afternoon, the pitching area was clear so I set myself up at 115 yards to the furthest pin, the next nearest was 105 and then the shortest was 85, it's only narrow so you can switch from 1 pin to another, which I like to do rather than keep going at the same one, this way I have to change my stance and club and re-set.
It's quite undulated so you have to disregard the bounces you get, so it's all about the contact, ball flight and carry distance for me.
After a few swings I soon realised I was swaying slightly and also constantly trying to pick the ball off the grass which was costing me distance, so I changed my swing pivoting immediately by dropping the left shoulder and found my ball striking was much crisper and I was attacking the ball so much better that I was taking a small divot, something I have never really done before, purposely!
After a large bag of balls and about 90 minutes I had it down to a tee and was very comfortable using my wedge & 9 iron to those 3 flags, I also adopted some decent 3/4 shots, so, I ventured over to the main practice area to put it into practice with my other irons, the wind was very strong now into and across me, I set up at 140 yards to a flag but I wasn't quite getting into the same comfort zone and couldn't replicate the same swing technique, so I reverted back to picking at the ball to get a more consistent strike but without the obvious swaying, not sure its right to have 2 different swing thoughts but I suppose it's what works best for you that matters, but I will work on trying to replicate what I seem to be able to do comfortably with my wedges into my mid-irons.
I enjoyed the practice session because I believe I got something out of it, I constantly see the low handicappers on the pitching range working at their game, it's such an important distance I feel, you see the best golfers hit poor drives and then have to surrender a shot to get back in play but there ability to get up & down is where the game is at, I can see myself out there a lot more if it can help me not throw silly shots away and improve my ball striking.
