Practice - What Are People Working On

[phillarrow]

I struggle with distance control too - my reading of line is pretty good I think - I use feet as well as eyes for line, and always take two things I heard to heart 1) The majority of amateurs miss on the low side 2) pros miss high, and Amateurs miss on the low side —— this has helped me

Distance control is far my biggest putting concern.

Has anyone tried the Heads Up Putting technique? Apparently Spieth uses / used it

Briefly, but found it too weird. I use it for my practice swings but just can't make myself do it on the actual stroke. I get the idea behind it, but it just didn't feel like I could ever stick with it.

 

[RichA]

To vary the distance, vary the length of backswing but keep the same tempo throughout the stroke

My short game used to be my only strength. I didn't have a tempo and change the swing length. It makes me cringe to write it, but I guess I just relied on "feel" and adjusted my swing speed with the same backswing.
I had lessons last year and the pro got me using the tempo technique, varying backswing length and saying "one thousand [backswing] and one [downswing]" for chipping and putting. It worked in the lesson but was a miserable failure on course and I went back to just using feel again.
Is this woolly, untechnical technique a thing that many people use or am I just uncoachable?

 

[Bdill93]

Do you have a miss - are you short and underclubbing / fatting it, long?

Left / right - do you think it’s set-up alignment or a tendency to push it right or hook / pull it left?

Honestly think club selection is one of my strongest things - im not too proud to pull a longer iron if needs be.

Sometimes I fat - but not often - and I can learn to live with the very odd fat.

Left/ right is the big issue - it can go either Ive worked strongly on my set up alignment as my old man always used to point that out to me. Id say the right shot comes into play more often than the hook, but as previously stated, it really can be either.

 

[Tryhardgolfer]

Everything! I feel as though my golf is like pushing a wheelbarrow - I get one thing put right and something else falls out!

 

[Troymcclure]

Backswing. Last year, backswing. Next year, almost certainly backswing. My range time is spent labouring under the delusion that I’ll one day stumble upon the perfect combination of wrist hinge, forearm rotation and arm lift, and the rest of the swing will magically then fall into place. I don’t improve.

 

[Ethan]

More deliberate, tighter and shorter backswing and keeping the club more in front of me rather than pulling it inside.

 

[chrisd]

More deliberate, tighter and shorter backswing and keeping the club more in front of me rather than pulling it inside.

Good idea, I do that and at times it feels like a Tommy Fleetwood swing, which is good as far as I'm concerned. I also don't fan the club face open, and return to the ball without any wrist movement with the shaft ahead of the club head at impact.

 

[Ethan]

Good idea, I do that and at times it feels like a Tommy Fleetwood swing, which is good as far as I'm concerned. I also don't fan the club face open, and return to the ball without any wrist movement with the shaft ahead of the club head at impact.

I like Fleetwood's swing and think that punchy sawn-off swing can be very effective. He looks a bit weird with the long hair but no beard, though.

 

[Deleted member 1147]

I don;t really practice, but when I'm next having a knock I will be working on long putting, and feeling the stroke being made by the right shoulder, rather than the left.

 

[chrisd]

I don;t really practice, but when I'm next having a knock I will be working on long putting, and feeling the stroke being made by the right shoulder, rather than the left.

What effect do you get from that feel?

 

[srixon 1]

I’ve had multiple lessons over winter and the swing has changed a lot. I used to pull the club far too much on the inside on takeaway which led to me compensating by coming around OTT and slicing horribly . I now have what feels like a more vertical take away and then drop the club ‘into the slot’ with a slight in to out path. This is now working really well but fighting tendency to close clubface too much which causes on occasion bad hook. Overall I’m really pleased with how things are progressing but a mile away from where I want to be.

Like you, I used to take the club back way too much on the inside. Had quite a few lessons and one pro in particular said that I was coming over the top on the downswing. This was long before trackman and other such gadgets. Although I was “coming over the top” my shot shape was always a slight draw or straight. My bad shot was a block to the right. This swing got me down to 3 so I never fiddled with it, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Fast forward a few years and I have my swing checked with modern technology that shows your swing path on a screen. Turns out that my “over the top” move was actually bringing the club back on to the correct plane for the downswing, and not actually properly “over the top”. I have now “fixed” the inside takeaway but for a while afterwards I did “come over the top” properly. It took a while to get used to seeing the ball curve to the right instead of the left. After a lot of range time (balls on our range are free ?) I am back to hitting the ball straight again with only the occasional out to in move.

The moral of the story, fixing one fault can highlight or create another one which could actually make things worse. The golf swing is a never ending misery of trying to get it perfect. Something I don’t think many ever achieve.

To answer the OPs question, I turn 60 this year and now most of my practice is chipping and putting as it is the only way my lowish handicap will be competitive on longer away courses.

 

[srixon 1]

This! 100%!

Golf is hard enough without trying to get the bloody ball into a sodding hole that is far too damn small!

P.S. I'm not very good at putting...in case you haven't guessed!

Are you Delc reincarnated?

 

[phillarrow]

Are you Delc reincarnated?

Ha ha. Nope. Was he crap at putting too?

 

[Deleted member 1147]

What effect do you get from that feel?

Don’t know yet, but it’s something I’ve been recommended I try.

 

[srixon 1]

Ha ha. Nope. Was he crap at putting too?

He was obsessed with making the hole bigger, had the yips I think. Actually an alright guy as I met him at an HDID golf meet in Cheshire a few years ago. He was blackballed by admin from this forum.

 

[SteveW86]

my main focus this year will be getting the ball in the hole with less strokes

 

[CountLippe]

I struggle with distance control too - my reading of line is pretty good I think - I use feet as well as eyes for line, and always take two things I heard to heart 1) The majority of amateurs miss on the low side 2) pros miss high, and Amateurs miss on the low side —— this has helped me

Distance control is far my biggest putting concern.

Has anyone tried the Heads Up Putting technique? Apparently Spieth uses / used it

Is this actually true? When I misread, I miss on the high side - I look for break which isn't there! If I miss on the low side it's usually through pushing a downhill left to righter or pulling an uphill right to lefter. Poor stroke rather than mis read!

 

[HeftyHacker]

Is this actually true? When I misread, I miss on the high side - I look for break which isn't there! If I miss on the low side it's usually through pushing a downhill left to righter or pulling an uphill right to lefter. Poor stroke rather than mis read!

Yeah I've heard/seen the same about amateurs missing low.

It does make sense (to me) for a high side to be the better miss as you could slightly misread it and the pace could save you.

Eg. If you underhit a high side misread, the break could still bring the ball to the hole.

Only way that could happen with a low side miss is if you drilled the ball straight through the break, by which point it may be travelling too quick to drop anyway!

 

[Tryhardgolfer]

Like you, I used to take the club back way too much on the inside. Had quite a few lessons and one pro in particular said that I was coming over the top on the downswing. This was long before trackman and other such gadgets. Although I was “coming over the top” my shot shape was always a slight draw or straight. My bad shot was a block to the right. This swing got me down to 3 so I never fiddled with it, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Fast forward a few years and I have my swing checked with modern technology that shows your swing path on a screen. Turns out that my “over the top” move was actually bringing the club back on to the correct plane for the downswing, and not actually properly “over the top”. I have now “fixed” the inside takeaway but for a while afterwards I did “come over the top” properly. It took a while to get used to seeing the ball curve to the right instead of the left. After a lot of range time (balls on our range are free ?) I am back to hitting the ball straight again with only the occasional out to in move.

The moral of the story, fixing one fault can highlight or create another one which could actually make things worse. The golf swing is a never ending misery of trying to get it perfect. Something I don’t think many ever achieve.

To answer the OPs question, I turn 60 this year and now most of my practice is chipping and putting as it is the only way my lowish handicap will be competitive on longer away courses.

OMG! I think I've found home. I love all this golf swing talk! Thank you. I am trying to keep my back swing shorter. Its working some of the time but when I go for a lesson, it's the first thing I notice when he shows me the video ?. I think my backswing gets longer when I'm trying to hit the ball further. If I play well I start to think if only I could hit the ball further.... then disaster strikes and my extra long twizzle back swing returns!

 

[srixon 1]

OMG! I think I've found home. I love all this golf swing talk! Thank you. I am trying to keep my back swing shorter. Its working some of the time but when I go for a lesson, it's the first thing I notice when he shows me the video ?. I think my backswing gets longer when I'm trying to hit the ball further. If I play well I start to think if only I could hit the ball further.... then disaster strikes and my extra long twizzle back swing returns!

John Rahm does ok with his short backswing.