Is The Swamp Now a Lake?

[gmbtempe]

Nice little hazzard to hit over...now getting to the green you would need a wet suit.

[Richie3Jack]

I got to play today as we had two days of sunshine. All of the water is drained out. The greens were slow, but oddly enough I putted really well on them. The only hole in rough shape is #12, which runs parallel to the left of the hole in the pic. They drained quite a bit of water off the fairway, but about 1/4 of the fairway is in bad shape.




3JACK

[GPStyles]

you've hit balls every day for 4 months?

Jeez, I'd love to see how good I'd be playing after doing that!

[okie]

You would think better...BUT generally less is more! In recent months I have "limited" my practice to two session per week. In addition to that I have limited my range work to 30 balls per session. The withdrawal symptoms were acute! I am guilty of sloppy practice habits (as are many PGA Tour pros) in that I work on a multiplicity of components simultaneously using an unobservable full motion. I have actually started to use the book we all love so much! So yesterday I was working on component #17 alone. I hit 15 balls with a golf ball wedged under the outside of my right foot (got a nice hip turn for free!) and then I did the penny drill on my left foot. I "quit" while I was still a fan of the game! I guess I am not against everyday practice, but most people never quit hitting ball while they are ahead, or have actually accomplished something. Saturday I am devoting my "30" to 7-19/Lag Loading. Speaking of which. Question:

What am I doing when I am using my pivot to assemble and load my power package at top?

[Richie3Jack]

You would think better...BUT generally less is more!

I used to think the same way. The more I would practice, the worse I would get.

Now thru TGM and understanding the components of the swing, understanding lag pressure, understanding what my flaw tendencies are and learning feel from mechanics, more practice is beneficial to me. Now I can work on different things as well. Instead of working doggedly just on my swing, I can now practice that for a bit and move onto other things like working the ball, trying to replicate real round situations, chipping, etc.

It's like the old saying, perfect practice makes perfect. I've become sort of like Hogan in the sense that I really enjoy practicing because I am infatuated with the feeling of hitting it flush which now I can do repeatedly because my alignments are much more precise.

I do look at it like I don't want to be out-worked by somebody else. But the key is that since my results are so much more precise, hitting balls is now a beautiful thing to experience.







3JACK

[KevCarter]

I used to think the same way. The more I would practice, the worse I would get.

Now thru TGM and understanding the components of the swing, understanding lag pressure, understanding what my flaw tendencies are and learning feel from mechanics, more practice is beneficial to me. Now I can work on different things as well. Instead of working doggedly just on my swing, I can now practice that for a bit and move onto other things like working the ball, trying to replicate real round situations, chipping, etc.

It's like the old saying, perfect practice makes perfect. I've become sort of like Hogan in the sense that I really enjoy practicing because I am infatuated with the feeling of hitting it flush which now I can do repeatedly because my alignments are much more precise.

I do look at it like I don't want to be out-worked by somebody else. But the key is that since my results are so much more precise, hitting balls is now a beautiful thing to experience.







3JACK

It's wonderful to have a blueprint for the swing, something you can see in black and white to help you when you are having problems, or even just to try something new.

I really appreciate Rich's efforts to help us better understand that blueprint, for anyone who hasn't been following his blog, you need to!

Thanks Rich,
Kevin

[okie]

I get what you are saying. The fact that you play as often as you in addition to practicing as much as you do makes you a special case The swing, or hit is simply a vehicle...you gotta take it for a spin! The old saw of practicing like you play applies here. I was once told by someone that it took Hogan a considerable amount of time to hit a relativly small quantity of balls when practicing. That is the essence of my point. I would also contend that practice time should be goal oriented. When The Goal is met practice time is over. So in my previous example it is a worthy goal (given the cumulative mess of years of non-practice practice) for me to demand that I focus on just one component for the duration of the session. In fact, it exposed the slighest of sways! My weight was moving to the outside of my right foot INSIDE my shoe. I have a bad habit of buying shoes that are 1/4 size too large in hopes that the feet will be encouraged to grow! The benefits of TGM are inumerable but isolating the stroke into compatible/incompatible components is the genius. Now you can actually work on one thing (OK maybe two) at a time. I leave my practice session looking forward to the next. I have only once thrown a club on a golf course (dear old dad slapped me with a 6 month golfing hiatus) but the driving range has been a heli-pad over the years!

[gmbtempe]

you've hit balls every day for 4 months?

Jeez, I'd love to see how good I'd be playing after doing that!

I used to think that but over the last 6 months I have played more and practiced more, taken lessons....I still have the same handicap, its actually slightly higher. Now I am making changes all the time and searching for works for me, but the only thing that has improved is some of the short game shots.