What would happen if?

[RGDave]

You spent 3-4 days hitting 100s of balls with no intention of caring about where the ball went a great deal or the distance etc. but concentrating on just one element of your swing?

I've been working hard, the swing feels good, the ball is going in the right direction. BUT every now and again, one of my old habits creeps in.

I think it happens because as some point during practise, I flick a switch in my mind from doing purely "the thing/drill/exercise" and thinking about the finished product (the shot).....

Any thoughts?

 

[SocketRocket]

If you can perfect what happens through the impact zone then the direction/distance etc will take care of themselves.

 

[kid2]

Well Dave if its any use to you i practice 2 times a week and if i can squeeze a third in i will....

I couldnt buy a decent shot last weekend if i tried...Had one of the worst rounds iv had in years...

So tonight i went up with the sole purpose of hitting it well....For the most part i was....Direction was off initially as iv come from fading the ball to drawing it and im still working out how far right i need to be starting the ball....

After having my swing looked at on video a few weeks ago it became apparent that i wasnt bending over enough at the hips and my stance was a little narrow...Iv since sorted this and the quality of strike has practically doubled in force....

But tonight i hit the odd fat one...Hit a few pushes and i had the one shank....I now know though why i shank...I was standing a little too close to the ball....
aia just accept now that i will hit the odd wayward ball and just shrug it off...I think that it all comes with experience.....The better we get the more comfortable we become with OUR swing and the more things start to fit.....

You've just got to accept that its impossible to hit that many balls without hitting a gammy one.....Just keep the head down and trust the swing.....

I now take big divots, I swing on more of a rotary swing, its a simple enough swing to learn too......Im still learning it but its coming together.....
My ball flight has gone from a fade to a draw im hitting less club into greens than i was and its just about trusting what you've been told to do....

If Tiger woods says that it takes 1000's of balls to ingrain a change and Pro's have the time to do those things then its going to take the average Joe like you and I a smidgen longer me thinks....Stay Patient.:thup:

 

[JustOne]

I think poor pactice comes from trying to hit the same (perfect?) shot every time, especially when it's not working. It's better to work on your rythm and if that means forgetting your drill for a few shots then so be it. If I went to the range to practice one element in particular I'd probably write it down so I don't just go with the other 1,501,984 swing thoughts I'm likely to have

 

[RGDave]

If I went to the range to practice one element in particular I'd probably write it down so I don't just go with the other 1,501,984 swing thoughts I'm likely to have

LOL

I was just thinking out loud mostly (you know me).

I mean, consider this scenario............

A player goes to the range with just 1 intention. He has a drill or thought to work on, he may have had a lesson etc.

OK, so first few balls are a bit dodgy, but soon he gets in the groove and knows that the "thing" is happening.

Balls 10-50 are good, except the change has upset the direction and timing, although the balls are being hit well.

So, for the end of the bucket, he just hits the ball and works on hitting it OK for tomorrow's game.

BUT, what if, during those last few balls, he was just going back to the old swing....therefore achieved nothing....

 

[JustOne]

I wouldn't panic... only Homer can ingrain a swing change within 1 bucket of balls... the rest of us take 3-12 months of constant grind

Performing a drill isn't an exact science.. it's supposed to help you reduce/overcome a fault generally by exaggerating... you shouldn't perform the actual drill within your swing.

 

[sawtooth]

You spent 3-4 days hitting 100s of balls with no intention of caring about where the ball went a great deal or the distance etc. but concentrating on just one element of your swing?

I've been working hard, the swing feels good, the ball is going in the right direction. BUT every now and again, one of my old habits creeps in.

I think it happens because as some point during practise, I flick a switch in my mind from doing purely "the thing/drill/exercise" and thinking about the finished product (the shot).....

Any thoughts?

IMO you should always have a target to aim at. Otherwise how can you know whether they are straight shots, pulls or pushes.

There is a big difference hitting balls on a open field compared to the course where you need to thread the ball down fairways, to the green, etc.

Practise should be as close to what you would normally do on the course I think.

 

[RGDave]

Practise should be as close to what you would normally do on the course I think.

I agree. That's what I do. What I'm wondering is when, at the end of my practise, and stop the focussed work on something, do I actually kind of throw out the exact thing I've been working on?

 

[RGDave]

Performing a drill isn't an exact science.. it's supposed to help you reduce/overcome a fault generally by exaggerating... you shouldn't perform the actual drill within your swing.

Yes. I've always thought this way. It works exactly this way when you have a drill when you over-do something to get something else back on track. Like trying to hit big pushes to calm down pulls and draws, say.

My current "drill" isn't a drill so much, I'm just trying very very hard to keep my head behind the ball. I need something more "aggressive" than just trying to do something, and it crossed my mind to set up something excessive - like, (I don't know), building something outside my front foot (or a chair, or pole/umbrella) and just hit 100s of balls like that.

The thing is, I've seen the light. When I keep my head in the right place, I seem to get great extension out the other side of the swing and the ball goes MILES. It's like an epiphany.....get it right and suddenly the years of short hitting seem gone. It's also addictive....

 

[HomerJSimpson]

My teaching pro has a view "substance over style" so providing you are in control of the ball and the direction, then stop worrying how it looks or feels

 

[RGDave]

My teaching pro has a view "substance over style" so providing you are in control of the ball and the direction, then stop worrying how it looks or feels

Hmm....

I'm enjoying the thread, but still searching for the ultimate drill to stop me lunging forward....the harsher and more impossible the better, I'm in that sort of mood.

 

[Region3]

Hmm....

I'm enjoying the thread, but still searching for the ultimate drill to stop me lunging forward....the harsher and more impossible the better, I'm in that sort of mood.

Practice on the edge of a cliff, or up against an electric fence.

I sometimes put a 1/2" thick piece of wood under the outside of my left foot which stops me swaying target-wards.

 

[RGDave]

I sometimes put a 1/2" thick piece of wood under the outside of my left foot which stops me swaying target-wards.

Whoa....now that's a tip. I'll try it.

t.b.h. today, I hardly noticed myself getting too forward, actually the opposite. I hit a few 5 woods (off tee peg) where there was no chance on earth I'd lunged forward, as the ball came off the face sweeet but very high!

Most importantly, my first 2 short iron shots were peachy, definitely got those good. Pretty happy today, just got to now keep the driver down or try out my lower loft G15.

I will try the idea....

 

[Region3]

Whoa....now that's a tip. I'll try it.

I have no idea if it's a good idea or not since my scores are getting worse, but it does a good job of stopping you sliding on the downswing.

I can really feel the inside of my left thigh pulling as it forces me to turn instead.

There is a school of thought though that you shouldn't have aids to prevent you from making the error (sliding or whatever it is) because you (more specifically your body) don't learn from it. 'They' say that you should use something to exaggerate the error to force your body to stop doing it.

The example I saw was on a video that someone linked to a few days ago by the Titleist TPI people, and they used swaying backwards as an example.

One guy deliberately swayed too far on the backswing and the other held on to his shirt to try to stop him. This doesn't teach the body anything, so instead of holding onto him to stop him moving, he pushed him away (exaggerating the sway away from the target) to force his body to counteract it to stop moving too far.

I don't know how that translates to our question, but I found it interesting.