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Net (and winter practice) question


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So I've got a net in the backyard recently and I try to bang some balls at least a few times a week. I also just picked up a launch monitor - so my question is how do you avoid picking up bad habits with a net? Obviously it's easy to know when you shank one or hit it square, but slices/hooks could creep in there and it might take a while to notice (in theory, I suppose the launch monitor should help there though). With the crappy weather it's been tough to get out, so it's net or nothing.

 

Any tips or drills? TIA

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Good question since it is very easy to groove a bad habit hitting into a net. I have first hand experience with that.

 

What launch monitor did you get? If you have one of the higher end ones that reads ball spin and ideally clubhead path then you can use that as the feedback mechanism to differentiate between good and bad strikes.

 

If you just rely on ball speed then you can end up grooving a hard pull. 

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I think going to the range from time to time would be useful.  Otherwise you might get caught up in ball speeds and could be hitting low ones without knowing it.  Which launch monitor did you get?

Edited by dsmil
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I agree with the above comment about trying to get to a range periodically to check your ball flight (or even a baseball field with shag balls, etc). A "drill" that I am using with good effect is hitting into my net with a 6 iron 1980s Wilson blade. The feedback on it is so specific I don't need foot spray or impact tape to know exactly where I hit it. Depending on if you are gaming irons with a lot or a little feedback (my Ben Hogan PTxpros are pretty short on specific feedback) it can be useful to work a really unforgiving club in. 

 

EDIT: Also beware of the bad habits you can pick up with hitting off a mat all the time. Especially wedges. Really hard to gauge your wedge play based off of a mat. 

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Good points on the bad habits that can develop…agree that just trying to crank ball speed numbers could lead to trouble.

 

I’d suggest to be very disciplined and have a purpose to some part of the swing your working on…that and double check it with some mirror work.  You’ll be better for it.  

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I hit into a net A LOT off a mat that is not forgiving on fat shots.  I film A LOT.  I have a PRGR radar so I watch ball speed and club head speed A LOT.  I use cheap foot spray A LOT.

 

I do A LOT of drills and not so may full shots.  I do like to play holes in my head.  Hit driver, check distance on radar, walk around the yard for spacing, hit appropriate iron and give myself a GIR or not depending on radar, walk around yard for spacing.  Rinse and repeat.

 

I supplement that with hitting putts on berber carpet (probably 8 on stimp) and on a 3 foot metal ruler.

 

I play twice a month and hit a few balls (sometimes as few as 10) before the round.  That's all it takes to fix any unwanted tendencies I may have picked up hitting into the net.  Often no adjustment necessary.

 

Slowly improving so it's working out well for me.

 

YMMV.

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I used to think that you couldn't get better (and you'd likely get worse) practicing on a mat and with a net. I was far mistaken.

 

Here's how you get better with each.

 

Obviously with a mat you can't see any divot pattern which is a good way to check a lot of swing tendencies. You can get away with a lot of poorly struck shots with a mat since the club will bounce more meaning fat shots turn out ok. Counter this by just hitting long irons and woods more than wedges and shorter irons. You shouldn't take much of a divot with these anyways since the swing is shallower and more sweeping, so the ball flight is much more realistic to grass. Also, you should be able to feel how well you strike it with any club and take it for what its worth - if you think you got away with one you probably did. Hit more drivers, because they say that's the most important shot in golf. Despite what all the companies making fancy tees tell you, the tee on a mat is probably pretty close to how it'd be in real life golf.

 

More importantly - with a net, the fact that you won't see any ball flight is actually great for making swing changes. Do you know anyone who likes to visit the range and not hit any shot up to their standards? Nets with no ball feedback are far better for making the big swing changes in the offseason for this reason. IMO, all new golfers should learn starting with hitting into a net which would avoid them being so discouraged by the poor ball flight patterns that they quit the game.

 

This stated, you have to be 100% sure you're actually implementing the swing changes when you hit this way. Video your sessions EVERY time. If you don't video and just guess that you think it feels the way it should, that's the deadly mistake. Video doesn't lie and you'll be amazed how core fundamentals like posture can slowly slide back to bad habits if you don't have a process in place to check them each session.

 

If you follow these directions, I'm very confident you'll come out of the cold a different and better player.

 

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What I've found with hitting into a net (which I do pretty much daily in my basement) is that it doesn't translate to the golf course.  One thing I just can't help doing is constantly experimenting with different swings, most of which seem to work swell when hitting into the net, but not so swell on the course.  For the ones that don't work so well, well, I only had the ball come back and hit me in the head once from missing the net; otherwise, I've either gotten really lucky, or just damaged a storage container or two.  On some occasions, the ball ended up going through a hole in the net that I was not aware of, so I now have one older net in front of a newer one for safety.  Beware if you are hitting outside and the ball finds a hole.  Hopefully you aren't hitting towards anyone's home.

 

I should probably do what putterboy suggests above, but I've pretty much decided that hitting into the net is more for fun and exercise, and I usually try to work out swing issues during casual rounds (which is basically all of them for me).  One thing hitting into the net has done is given me about 143 swings to choose from when the one I start a round with stops working.

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