Practice swings vs hitting a ball

uscheese · August 1, 2019

Had a great lesson this morning (2nd with this teacher) and I love what he's saying and the drills he has me doing. For some darn reason though I can't translate the slow motion or practice swing into my real swing. The moment I put a ball down and actually hit it I swing too far inside, too far across the line, suck the club back in etc etc. Besides repetition, how do you train your brain or body to do something new?

glk · August 1, 2019

Feedback aid - mirror, alignment sticks, pool noodle, . . .And reps at varying speeds and varying lengths. Occasional video to confirm you are doing drills correct. Few drills reps. Then hit a ball or two. Repeat. Don’t just rake the next ball over. Quality over quantity. And depending on the issue you don’t need a club or to hit balls all the time.

RobertBaron · August 2, 2019

Practice swings are pretty much worthless except for getting a feel for tempo and staying loose because your body isn’t actually trying to hit an object and it just knows.

Try putting a row of tees in the ground and work practice swings where you try popping them out of the ground. Or even a leaf for irons. Basically give yourself an object to strike or hit however many balls it takes to ingrain a new fell (you’ll need video to confirm what it feels like. If possible setup a camera or iPhone DTL and an iPad near the ball so you can see what different feels feel like. )

milesgiles · August 2, 2019

I think we all know that feel..

Swinging slowly whilst still hitting at a ball seems to help me. If you normally hit a 5 iron 160, slow it down to 120, or less. You’ll have a much greater chance of getting your swing sequenced as your coach wants you to.