Tiger Woods Seen Practicing the 9 to 3 Drill

[Joe Duffer]

Does anyone still practice or warm-up with this abbreviated 1/2 swing motion.

[BrianMcG]

Looks like he’s just hitting 50 yard lob wedges. 
 

Pretty much standard procedure of any tour pro warm up. Not necessarily any kind of drill. 

Edited August 25, 2021 by BrianMcG

[Hawkeye77]

I'll bet he's been seen doing that hundreds of times and not seen doing it thousands!

 

Not sure what you mean by "still" - I don't think it's out of fashion in any way to work on small swings.  Wedges - no brainer.  

 

Hit those 150 yard 7-8 irons as well!

[LukeDonaldsTiger]

As far as I know, he’s got a set warm up routine and always starts with a sand wedge, no glove on, just hitting little feel shots. Which is what I see him doing here. 

[Joe Duffer]

3 minutes ago, LukeDonaldsTiger said:

As far as I know, he’s got a set warm up routine and always starts with a sand wedge, no glove on, just hitting little feel shots. Which is what I see him doing here. 

I agree, I think you're right... I would love to know what "feel" he's looking for before he moves on to longer shots?  Was it a rhythm, was it a sense of connection?  I would love to know...

[SylvesterLundgren]

1 hour ago, Hawkeye77 said:

I'll bet he's been seen doing that hundreds of times and not seen doing it thousands!

 

Not sure what you mean by "still" - I don't think it's out of fashion in any way to work on small swings.  Wedges - no brainer.  

 

Hit those 150 yard 7-8 irons as well!

I actually do that at 8/100-120

 

OP

i practice 1/4,1/2, 3/4 swings but if I’m being honest the 1/4, 1/2 swings are the ones I’ll do because I know those will be more common on the course at some point. But I think that it’s a great routine to help get your contact and feeling a stable hip turn feel. Plus you can feel more of where the action of the swing happens because the shorter swing. 

[MK7Golf21]

2 hours ago, Joe Duffer said:

I agree, I think you're right... I would love to know what "feel" he's looking for before he moves on to longer shots?  Was it a rhythm, was it a sense of connection?  I would love to know...

Lol, it’s good contact. He’s warming up

[Precis1on]

Pretty much standard practice for me if I'm working on new swing feels. When warming up, if I can't make solid contact with a 1/2-3/4 swing, then there's probably little chance I'll be consistent on the course. I stick with it until I can. 

[cookout14]

I typically begin warm up with half swing 7 irons until I feel comfortable (usually 5-7 shots) thinking about three things:

 

* getting loose: priority #1, I’ve been sitting all day and am not the most flexible to begin with 

* tempo: I find it easier to groove a smooth tempo by not trying to hit to a certain number

* hand path / start line: helps me feel the in/out path and see the lines my shots should be starting on

 

An accidental benefit- I now have a repeatable 100/125 yrd 7 iron punch that I can move both ways, which is useful for a guy on the east coast with a wayward driver 🤷🏻‍♂️!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Joe Duffer]

On 8/24/2021 at 8:40 PM, cookout14 said:

I typically begin warm up with half swing 7 irons until I feel comfortable (usually 5-7 shots) thinking about three things:

 

* getting loose: priority #1, I’ve been sitting all day and am not the most flexible to begin with 

* tempo: I find it easier to groove a smooth tempo by not trying to hit to a certain number

* hand path / start line: helps me feel the in/out path and see the lines my shots should be starting on

 

An accidental benefit- I now have a repeatable 100/125 yrd 7 iron punch that I can move both ways, which is useful for a guy on the east coast with a wayward driver 🤷🏻‍♂️!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'll do the same, but with Sand Wedge... because it's heavier and shorter.

[Joe Duffer]

On 8/24/2021 at 6:10 PM, Redjeep83 said:

Lol, it’s good contact. He’s warming up

Brilliant! LOL 

[Lefty_3Jack]

Face rotating perfectly with everything else.  Toe up, rotating to square to target and closing and going back to toe up at 3PM.  I think the idea of the face matching your tilted plane is a myth.      

[dubbelbogey]

This is how I start and end most of my range sessions, but I'm not thinking of positions (3/9, 10/2, etc...) I'm hitting to real, physical short targets on the range, and ingraining what it feels like to hit to those targets. (sometimes the target might be nothing more than a stray ball or bare patch of grass).

 

While it's a good way to ease into hitting full swings, it's not just a warm up. This is real swing practice.

 

I could easily spend half my session's "ball budget" hitting these sort of partial shots. To me, it's a way to get a lot more reps in to teach my hands how to get the clubface squarely on the ball, without the fatigue factor of full swings.

 

 

[Joe Duffer]

Excellent post, well said indeed! 👍👍

[jholz]

I always start range sessions with 9-to-3 wedges (or "half-swings" if you prefer) as well.

 

As a drill/learning tool, the 9-to-3 swing is a great way to isolate your attention on the bottom of the swing and focus on contact mechanics. I honestly think anyone who wants to legitimately learn to play golf should start with 9-to-3's and perfect that before they move on to a full swing.

 

As a warm up, I also find it to be a great way to remind my body of the fundamentals of solid contact and essentially "diagnose" my swing for the day. Like others, I pick random targets on the range. If I can't manage to hit a ball on line and to the desired distance, I know something funky is going on.

 

When you talk about an idea like "finding your feel" I think there a two ways to think about it.

 

First, there is the "feel" of the swing. As anyone who has played this game for a while knows, your swing can feel the same one day to the next and result in vastly different outcomes. Or, your swing might feel vastly different from one day to the next. So, I'm always trying to see if my "feels" are getting me to the right place. If not, then I have to adjust and find a different feel that works.

 

Secondly, I have my "feel" for distance. I don't use the Pelz method or anything for pitches/less than full swings. I look at the target, envision the shot, and then "feel" the swing I need to make to get that result. So, those practice shots help me to see if I'm swinging too hard, too soft, or whatever, and when I get it dialed in, it provides me with confidence to go out on the course and execute.

[Joe Duffer]

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Edited June 19, 2023 by Joe Duffer