What are you working on this Winter

realgolfgeek

Summer months I tend to tee of between 7 and 8am. In the winter time, in the past I haven't been able to play due to frost/weather etc early in the mornings so this year, I'm planning on maybe going playing only one round per month, but spend a good bit of time practicing.
My aim is to practice my short game 80% of the time, with the remaining 20% working on my longer irons.

Found this quite useful also from Mark Crossfield.

What are your plans, play as per normal, rain, hail and hell ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6N07mBGqbY

alxmorgan

Good idea for a thread.

I also need to play early and frost and dark mornings are an issue. I also only really get a chance to practice at a range once a week.

I could possibly practice at my course but that would be as alternative to playing so can't see that happening.

Taking all that into account short game will be very hard to practice so it'll be long game mostly. I am thinking of investing in a Swingbyte or Skypro to help focus me. Skypro for example has groove mode where you can work on things such as tempo and based on how well you are doing you move up levels (bronze, silver etc) based on tighter and tighter tolerances.

Anyway my main thing this winter is to go to the range with a plan everytime. No more raking ball after ball and just hitting as I find I end up leaving frustrated and having gained very little a lot of the time

GreeBo

alxmorgan wrote: »

Taking all that into account short game will be very hard to practice so it'll be long game mostly.

I used to think this but now I still do it. All it means is that you work on where you want the ball to land, rather than where it ends up.
So for chip and runs or pitches make your target when you want to the ball to land and "forget about" the hole. (Of course you are still going to adjust the roll for the slower greens, but you are focusing on something else)

That means you get very good at being able to drop the ball where you want, the rest is just adjusting this position as the greens change over the seasons...

Worked for me anyway!

realgolfgeek

alxmorgan wrote: »

No more raking ball after ball and just hitting as I find I end up leaving frustrated and having gained very little a lot of the time

I know that feeling, I used to hit 200 balls at a time at the range.
And it was completely pointless, I was only making my bad habits more repetitive!!
I've gotten very strict though the last 6 months.
I'll only bring 2 or 3 clubs with me, and only take a bucket of 40-50 balls.
Before, I would have gone through that many balls in probably 10-15 minutes!!
After each shot now I try to analyze how and why the ball went in a certain direction or flight and take my time between shots. Only thing I don't like about the driving range is not being able to view your divots. The divot never lies !!!

Putting stroke is something that can be practiced indoors and I intend on working on that.
I have a 4 year old that fetches the balls back to me, well trained eh

alxmorgan

GreeBo wrote: »

I used to think this but now I still do it. All it means is that you work on where you want the ball to land, rather than where it ends up.
So for chip and runs or pitches make your target when you want to the ball to land and "forget about" the hole. (Of course you are still going to adjust the roll for the slower greens, but you are focusing on something else)

That means you get very good at being able to drop the ball where you want, the rest is just adjusting this position as the greens change over the seasons...

Worked for me anyway!

Fair point. I could see this as useful for pitches but can't see myself chipping off mats. The slower the smaller the swing the less realism there is when using mats IMHO.

alxmorgan

realgolfgeek wrote: »

I know that feeling, I used to hit 200 balls at a time at the range.
And it was completely pointless, I was only making my bad habits more repetitive!!
I've gotten very strict though the last 6 months.
I'll only bring 2 or 3 clubs with me, and only take a bucket of 40-50 balls.
Before, I would have gone through that many balls in probably 10-15 minutes!!
After each shot now I try to analyze how and why the ball went in a certain direction or flight and take my time between shots. Only thing I don't like about the driving range is not being able to view your divots. The divot never lies !!!

Putting stroke is something that can be practiced indoors and I intend on working on that.
I have a 4 year old that fetches the balls back to me, well trained eh

Interesting one...I would have agreed with you before but not so sure anymore. What does your divot tell you ?

realgolfgeek

alxmorgan wrote: »

Interesting one...I would have agreed with you before but not so sure anymore. What does your divot tell you ?

Up until about 18 months, I rarely had a divot. I used to try and scoop the ball up as I couldn't get my head around the logic that you had to hit down on the ball.
I soon got over that and started making much better connections, ball first, then turf. I used to slice the ball and my divots, every single time, for me, were always going from right to left, i.e. I was coming over the top. When I hit a straight one, my divots were dead straight.
Now when I hit a bad shot, first thing I do is look at my divot as a first clue.
I saw an interesting video on divots a few weeks ago, I'll try dig it up and post it.

Milkers

Ideally if you are on plane and hitting the ball dead straight your divot should point just a little left of the target.

realgolfgeek

Here you go Alex.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m74OBO7W8fM

alxmorgan

Milkers wrote: »

Ideally if you are on plane and hitting the ball dead straight your divot should point just a little left of the target.

This is what I now believe. If you are hitting down i.e. low point of swing is after ball then you are also going right in terms of path which means ball will draw (assuming face square to target). So if you adjust path a little left then it should go straight.

With driver you ideally should be hitting up and so path is leftward promoting a fade so you should adjust path to right to hit it straight. Hence why they say ideal strike with driver is up and out

Checkout this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-89M1vt66FA

And this explains it very well

http://www.andrewricegolf.com/2011/07/understanding-swing-plane-and-club-path/

realgolfgeek

Milkers wrote: »

Ideally if you are on plane and hitting the ball dead straight your divot should point just a little left of the target.

I would question that ...
I believe it should be fairly straight.

alxmorgan

realgolfgeek wrote: »

Here you go Alex.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m74OBO7W8fM

Can't argue with that. Some talk about divot telling you about ball flight which I don't believe it will.

For example a divot pointing left can be either a pull or a slice depending on club path. Club face determines where ball starts, club path determines how it curves

slave1

Nothing, come back gagging for some golf after a break.
Alternatively, play right through once the weather is there....

alxmorgan

realgolfgeek wrote: »

I would question that ...
I believe it should be fairly straight.

Read the Andrew Rice piece and see what you think.
I do believe this to be true based on my experiences this year. I now play with a slightly leftward path (very minimal) on irons to hit it straight

GreeBo

alxmorgan wrote: »

Read the Andrew Rice piece and see what you think.
I do believe this to be true based on my experiences this year. I now play with a slightly leftward path (very minimal) on irons to hit it straight

The "perfect" swing is In-to-In as we are swinging around a rotating body (same for all clubs) , so the divots will point slightly left. The steeper the swing the divot, hence do divot with a driver off a tee (though you can when hitting it off the deck)
Swinging In-to-out will give a draw, assuming a neutral club-face.

alxmorgan wrote: »

Fair point. I could see this as useful for pitches but can't see myself chipping off mats. The slower the smaller the swing the less realism there is when using mats IMHO.

Ah I wasn't taking mats into consideration at all....I meant off the turf!

alxmorgan

GreeBo wrote: »

The "perfect" swing is In-to-In as we are swinging around a rotating body (same for all clubs) , so the divots will point slightly left. The steeper the swing the divot, hence do divot with a driver off a tee (though you can when hitting it off the deck)
Swinging In-to-out will give a draw, assuming a neutral club-face.



Ah I wasn't taking mats into consideration at all....I meant off the turf!

So you disagree with what Andrew Rice says ? I believe in to out will give a draw if you hit the ball perfectly level. But if hitting up with driver you are on the inward portion of the hoolahoop (arc) and so path is going left which will send ball to the right.

You can practice on turn in winter ? (I'm assuming range here)

Milkers

realgolfgeek wrote: »

I would question that ...
I believe it should be fairly straight.

Slightly left of target is fairly straight, depending on your specific definition of "fairly". And you can question it all you want but it's a simple fact of the club head traveling on an arc and the divot happening after impact.

alxmorgan

Milkers wrote: »

Slightly left of target is fairly straight, depending on your specific definition of "fairly". And you can question it all you want but it's a simple fact of the club head traveling on an arc and the divot happening after impact.

With the advent of systems such as Trackman they can measure these things to the finest degree. So what Milkers says is held to be true. But slightly is important here.

In fact they are railing against the hit down idea. You want to catch the ball before bottom of arc but degrees down are very small. Focus these days is on shallow strikes (few degrees down at most) with forward shaft lean to reduce dynamic loft.

I'm a trackman believer

GreeBo

alxmorgan wrote: »

So you disagree with what Andrew Rice says ? I believe in to out will give a draw if you hit the ball perfectly level. But if hitting up with driver you are on the inward portion of the hoolahoop (arc) and so path is going left which will send ball to the right.

You can hit up and in to out and the ball will draw (again assuming neutral clubface)
How else would you hit a high draw off the tee?
I think you are always swinging on the hoop, but the hoop can be rotated left or right causing a push or pull (with a neutral face)
Moving the ball is when you are doing one of the above without a neutral clubface.

alxmorgan wrote: »

You can practice on turn in winter ? (I'm assuming range here)

I dont get the question here....we have a grass range so I just practice there as usual.

Mister Sifter

Face angle and swing path are not the same thing.

alxmorgan

GreeBo wrote: »

You can hit up and in to out and the ball will draw (again assuming neutral clubface)

True but according to trackman a neutral club face with a positive AOA hit in to out will go straight (can't rememeber the ratio. If it was 1 to 1 for example then +5 AOA with a 5 degree right path goes straight)

GreeBo wrote: »

How else would you hit a high draw off the tee?

You hit up but you hit out "more" than is required by the ratio to make it go straight.

GreeBo wrote: »

I think you are always swinging on the hoop, but the hoop can be rotated left or right causing a push or pull (with a neutral face)
Moving the ball is when you are doing one of the above without a neutral clubface.

A push is when you have a right path and the face is too close to the path and it doesn't curve back enough (or at all). A pull is just the opposite.

Moving the ball occurs when there is a differential between face and path (and that differential is greater than the ratio needed to negate AOA)

GreeBo wrote: »

I dont get the question here....we have a grass range so I just practice there as usual.

Meant to say turf...lights or can you just using during daylight ?

GreeBo

alxmorgan wrote: »

Meant to say turf...lights or can you just using during daylight ?

No lights...but the moon is pretty bright....and I've only been locked in twice...:o

sydneybound

Good thread however first off I think its too early to be talking about winter golf. I shudder at the thought of the golfing year going this quick and to be honest weather in October is generally grand in the scheme of things when compared to April/May which some see as prime golfing months. I like to think of winter golf starting properly in November.

Every winter I like to do a bit. Get down to the range once a week and then play every weekend but also take a break when the weather gets really bad generally being in January for about three weeks. I find this break to be very important

After the break I'm normally chomping at the bit to get back in early February and funnily enough some of my favourite US tour events are on then, The Waste Management, AT&T at Pebble Beach and the World Championship Match Play which all add to the appetite.

I need a few lessons this winter as i'm doing little things wrong which is taking distance off my shots (I found those videos very useful, must watch more), here are a few of the things I'll work on.

- lower ball flight trajectory
- develop a constant draw
- improve 50/100 yards however I feel I say that every winter

Ben1977

Winter plan is to take about 6 lessons. Had 2 early this year and it made a big difference. One of the lessons will be on course to identify issues with decision making and alignment. When I can it will be all short game stuff.

ShivasIrons

Best thing anyone can do this winter is learn what non centered hits will do to a golf ball, we don't live in a world of pure hits, find out what your mis-hit is and what it does to the shape of your shots, especially with a driver.

charlieIRL

Am going to work on long irons. Am happy with my driver and from 100m in. Its inbetween that hurts my game

CarefulNow!

short game and driver! Both are poor enough for 5 HC...

Also source a club close to home So I can start competing for a spot on teams!

m r c

I intend on working on two parts of my game.
Most evenings I'm going to drill my takeaway with my long clubs. I'm in the habit of fanning the face open and Having it inside my hands on the way back. I want to get used to having it a little outside my hands and more closed when it's parallel to the ground on the way up.
The second thing and only part where I'll be hitting balls is from 100 and in with most emphasis on chipping to try and get up and down more often.
I kept stats this year and I only got up and down an ave of 1.9 times per round.
And I didn't hit many greens either :-)

FixdePitchmark

In a strange place for me, where i have to consolidate the things going well. Irons,

But have a pull / push with driver, poor putting.

Will have to decide if i need to go to pro for pull, push. Will i'd say. Will try avoid range as much as possible as resulted in a few injuries last year. This will be hard as indoor range is very inviting in winter.

Last year played winter golf every week, was bloody cold but enjoyed it. Always a wind at my place too.

Will go to the course every week.

But after reading this thread , maybe a small break, say January is not a bad idea, like a holiday from work or most other things. Everybody needs a break to keep the head fresh and enthusiastic.

alxmorgan

FixdePitchmark wrote: »

But after reading this thread , maybe a small break, say January is not a bad idea, like a holiday from work or most other things. Everybody needs a break to keep the head fresh and enthusiastic.

Did this during the summer. Two weeks without touching a club ( which is a lot in height of summer) and did me the world of good. I was getting frustrated at lack of progress and it started affecting my enjoyment which affected my results which lead to frustration and on and on in a vicious cycle

After the break I felt much better about everything and started enjoying it more and entered a virtuous cycle. So January seems like a good time to do the same.

ssbob

FixdePitchmark wrote: »

poor putting.

When you say poor putting, are you looking at stats or are you thinking you are poor at putting?

How often do you spend on a putting green in comparison to the rest of your game? It is afterall 40% of the shots you will take in a round.

Sometimes you find that people give out about missing 5 footers and then when you ask how often they practice it, they say "era 10 mins on the putting green before the round"

I too am guilty of not practicing putting enough:rolleyes:

shaneon77

alxmorgan wrote: »

Did this during the summer. Two weeks without touching a club ( which is a lot in height of summer) and did me the world of good. I was getting frustrated at lack of progress and it started affecting my enjoyment which affected my results which lead to frustration and on and on in a vicious cycle

After the break I felt much better about everything and started enjoying it more and entered a virtuous cycle. So January seems like a good time to do the same.

I had to do the same myself for 3 weeks this summer. I was chomping at the bit to get back and it resulted in some good form after.

shaneon77

http://thesandtrap.com/t/43037/ball-flight-rules-hitting-a-push-draw here is a good thread which explains a push draw (the shot i am trying for all the time) It relates to some of the discussion on this thread and may help clear up some confusion.

FixdePitchmark

ssbob wrote: »

When you say poor putting, are you looking at stats or are you thinking you are poor at putting?

How often do you spend on a putting green in comparison to the rest of your game? It is afterall 40% of the shots you will take in a round.

Sometimes you find that people give out about missing 5 footers and then when you ask how often they practice it, they say "era 10 mins on the putting green before the round"

I too am guilty of not practicing putting enough:rolleyes:

About 1.5 hours a week.
This is a new thing over last month.
Has worked. But not enough work.

Slight improvement. But very unusual for me to have under 30 putts
With 7 or 8 girs.

Not a big man for keeping putting stats . But if your missing 5 footers . 3 footers left right and not center. You just know you have a problem.

I think too much about stroke path and loss confidence on short ones.

But agree. Am guilty of practicing stuff im good at.

ssbob

FixdePitchmark wrote: »

About 1.5 hours a week.
This is a new thing over last few month.
Has worked. But not enough work.

Slight improvement. But very unusual for me to have under 30 putts
With 7 or 8 girs.

Not a big man for keeping putting stats . But if your missing 5 footers . 3 footers left right and not center. You just know you have a problem.

I think too much about stroke path and loss confidence on short ones.

But agree. Am guilty of practicing stuff im good at.

Putting would be my strength(although not lately) so easy for me to talk about it. I was listening to Dave Stockton on the Petter Kessler show and he was comparing putting to snooker or pool whereby you don't see snooker/pool players practicing their stroke beside the ball yet they get the required feel in their shots. In other words take the thinking out of it like Brandt Snedeker does or like Rory did in Congressional!

At least the 0-5 Footers are something that can easily be worked on at home on a carpet!

You are saying you are rarely under 30 putts, is your chipping/pitching when you miss greens getting you within 1-putt range?

FixdePitchmark

ssbob wrote: »

Putting would be my strength(although not lately) so easy for me to talk about it. I was listening to Dave Stockton on the Petter Kessler show and he was comparing putting to snooker or pool whereby you don't see snooker/pool players practicing their stroke beside the ball yet they get the required feel in their shots. In other words take the thinking out of it like Brandt Snedeker does or like Rory did in Congressional!

At least the 0-5 Footers are something that can easily be worked on at home on a carpet!

You are saying you are rarely under 30 putts, is your chipping/pitching when you miss greens getting you within 1-putt range?

Thanks ssbob, will have a think about what your saying.

Sorry for drifting off, but perhaps my chipping could be a factor. Will stat it out and study what i should be doing, Not a fan of stats on course because thinking about my score is not great for my mental side. lol, you cant win.

Thanks will update in hows your game.

ssbob

FixdePitchmark wrote: »

Thanks ssbob, will have a think about what your saying.

I expect to see you on the putting green at 8am on Sat morning in Palmerstown:D

John Divney

But I think a snooker player gets the distance control by pulling the cue back and forth, getting it right in their mind, exactly how we do practising beside the ball. The reason they don't do it beside is because it's a face on game and aiming it requires you spend the practice shot focusing on the object ball and the distance control in one practices move.

Putting like Snedeker would be a disaster for many people.

ssbob

John Divney wrote: »

But I think a snooker player gets the distance control by pulling the cue back and forth, getting it right in their mind, exactly how we do practising beside the ball. The reason they don't do it beside is because it's a face on game and aiming it requires you spend the practice shot focusing on the object ball and the distance control in one practices move.

Putting like Snedeker would be a disaster for many people.

You might be better off listening to Dave Stockton talking about it on that Podcast rather than me explaining it here but I guess what he was trying to encourage was less of the tying yourself up in knots thinking about the putt.

Someone mentioned to me before when you throw someone a set of keys you don't generally have practice throws yet your distance control is pretty good the vast majority of the time, so this is in-built in your body!

Of course you've got to look at the line/slope etc but not overthink a putt!

Wombatman

Driver...Driver...Driver.

After that ......... Driver.

Cost me so much over the summer. Scratched holes and doubles were 90% bad drives. Could be a top, a slice and sometimes a pull.

Working on slowing it down, keeping everything loose, releasing through the 1o'clock position where noon is the target line and believe it or not....... not looking up too soon.

Good session at the range at lunch time.

This is me next season.



My problem now is the body in pic 10 is in pic 9 instead.

John Divney

ssbob wrote: »

You might be better off listening to Dave Stockton talking about it on that Podcast rather than me explaining it here but I guess what he was trying to encourage was less of the tying yourself up in knots thinking about the putt.

Someone mentioned to me before when you throw someone a set of keys you don't generally have practice throws yet your distance control is pretty good the vast majority of the time, so this is in-built in your body!

Of course you've got to look at the line/slope etc but not overthink a putt!

Cheers, I'll have a listen.
I agree with the read putt, make decision, commit. I like the visualization of seeing exactly where the ball drops in the hole, so that takes a but of focusing, it's not as easy as it sounds.

On the Snedeker thing, I love watching him, and dislike slow play as much as the next guy, but I get a bit annoyed every time the American commentators say 'Oh that's how amateurs should play the game', it would ruin most amateurs, as they have so little of the skill he has, they will just naturally hit their go to bad shot after a while, rushing is a disaster for most of us.

alxmorgan

I'm gonna be practicing starting my weight left and keeping it there on pretty much all shots. I struggle to get over to my right side and back again in the second or so the swing takes so its much better to be left than risk being stuck out right.

Plus keeping everything left discourages me from overswinging which is another issue I need to continue to work on.

alxmorgan

John Divney wrote: »

But I think a snooker player gets the distance control by pulling the cue back and forth, getting it right in their mind, exactly how we do practising beside the ball. The reason they don't do it beside is because it's a face on game and aiming it requires you spend the practice shot focusing on the object ball and the distance control in one practices move.

Putting like Snedeker would be a disaster for many people.

Stocktons point is that practicing beside the ball compromises your focus on your line. He prefers no practice stroke ( he uses a swinging right hand to gauge it - much like as if he was throwing keys as ssbob mentions)

Be he says if players must use practice strokes then to keep them behind the ball as they enable focus on line to continue

spacecoyote

Have gotten 4 lessons & a swingbyte for my birthday & picked up one the spa well range vouchers on just treats today, so have everything in place for when the scoring season ends.

Putting is pretty hot last few rounds so not worried about having to work too hard at that.

Chipping needs work to improve consistency.

Other than that main focus is to fully eradicate the over the top swing that's crept back into my game this year

Outside of golf technique want to work on fitness & flexibility.

Busy times ahead