Backyard Driving Range

For the month of June I am officially not a member of CECC. My annual membership ended on May 31 and I am putting together a proposal for renewal that will be voted on later this month. There is a good chance that I will be back out there starting in July, but for the time being I have been bouncing around town playing and practicing at all the other courses around.

I have also made a backyard driving range that I have found to be both convenient and a wonderful way to eliminate outcome from practice and get more process oriented. When you are on a range it is so tempting to obsess over the ball flight which can be a good thing as you can learn a ton about your swing based on the ball flight, but when you want to work on one or two very specific aspects sometimes too much external stimulus can be a negative.

Here is a video of the setup I have going on right now:

Utilizing the awesome resource that is TrackMan I can pinpoint one part of the swing at a time to focus on and practice. For this session, I was trying to figure out what it felt like to not shut the face at impact. Since making some swing changes with Bruce Furman I have had a tendency to do everything correct except to still flip my wrists at impact, which is something I used to have to do to square up the face. Now that I am keeping the club on plane I no longer need that correction in my swing and need to establish a new feel. By hitting into a net I can focus solely on that feel.

It’s not exactly a world class range, but when in need the backyard can make a great practice spot.

For the next three weeks I will have to find a new routine. I’ve gotten pretty spoiled in the past two years by having access to a wonderful practice facility and now will have to alter my day-to-day activities. To be honest, I am not sure where I will be practicing, but I do know that I will be varying my location which is a good thing as far as learning is concerned. Over the past few days I have practiced/played on 5 different courses and learned something new from each of them.

The courses around town are quite pretty too. Here are a couple shots from Heron Lakes:

So much good golf in the Pacific Northwest. I’ll be working my hardest to get a solid letter to CECC’s Board for their late June meeting, but in the meantime let me know if anyone is around Portland and wants to practice or tee it up at one of the courses around town.

15 Responses to "Backyard Driving Range"

Nick Chertock says:

June 10, 2013 at 10:31 am

Dan: I totally agree with you about the benefits of practicing hitting into a net and not worrying about the flight. Lots of teaching pros in the forums I run disagree with the principle but I find it easier to surrender to the specific goal when not concerned where the ball eventually lands. It’s still an external focus vs an internal focus as long as you know what you’re trying to achieve.
Nick Chertock says:

June 10, 2013 at 10:33 am

Dan: This is a look at my backyard setup, I just finalized this video last night directed at a golf pro who asked me to do a challenging drill that I would have difficult doing at a driving range because I’d be looking at where the ball went.

https://vimeo.com/68027029
Rbonser says:

June 10, 2013 at 11:51 am

Send me your Trackman information love to look at it!
Ryanbonserpga@gmail.com
thedanplan says:

June 10, 2013 at 1:42 pm

I’ll send it soon. Let me get some new numbers with the new sticks this week and I’ll send it over or post it.
thedanplan says:

June 10, 2013 at 1:42 pm

Your swing is looking really solid lately.
Nick Chertock says:

June 10, 2013 at 3:37 pm

Thanks man. Yours too of course.

After watching what you’re working on with your flat arm swing I realized I had a similar issue so I’ve been working on it. Have you made any swings where you felt like you didn’t have to flip your hands at impact to square it yet?
Nick Chertock says:

June 10, 2013 at 3:39 pm

Ryan: Did you come here from the Golf Teaching Pro group on Facebook?
Richard Chen says:

June 10, 2013 at 4:27 pm

Hitting down like for iron shots has the hands pass to the front of the ball before impact with the club shaft leaning forward. For the normal driver swing, the ball is hit either at the bottom of the swing arc for a level hit, or at the upward part of the swing arc after the clubhead had passed through the bottom point of the swing arc for a upwards hit.

For iron shots, or fairway wood shots, the release is delayed to ensure the hands have passed the ball before impact, so that the club shaft is leaning forward at impact to have the clubhead still traveling on the downward part of the swing arc at impact. When the teed up driver clubhead is still on such downward part of the swing arc at impact, it is called a “late hit” which has both the hands in front of the ball, and the driver shaft leaning forward. For the normal driver swing, the hands are normally at the back of the ball at the moment of impact with the club shaft vertical and not leaning at impact.

Incorporating waggling during the driver setup helps to prevent late hits, late release, or incomplete releasing, so that the ball will be hit with the hands not in front, but behind the ball with the club shaft swung to fully vertical by impact. Hogan’s book describes waggling with the heel of the leading hand turning downward, and the thumbs and forefingers turning to point downward to vertical during the forward waggle to the back of the ball. A side article in a golf magazine suggest imagining compressing the back of the ball with the driver clubface during the forward waggle, which encourages the hands to stay behind the ball before impact so as to “compress” the back of the ball, These encourages making a full and complete releasing of the hands with the driver before impact. Imagining swinging and releasing the clubhead to a target on the ground (like the clubhead is a mini bowling ball) about seventy to eighty yards down the fairway can promote a robust swing, and a full and complete releasing of the hands for the driver shot at impact. Although waggling is seldom used now days, waggling can be employed during the grooving process.

If the upper body opens to much before impact, the excessively opened shoulders before impact tend to pull the hands in front of the ball prematurely before the driver clubhead impacts the back of the ball. Bobby Jones, Nicklaus, as well as others tilt their heads away from the target during setup to reduce opening the shoulders too much before impact.

To help keep the hands at the back of the ball without getting in front of the ball at the driver impact, Woods describes widening the driver stance during setup. Herman Williams in his Youtube clip on the setup describes having the upper leading arm more on top of the chest rather than pressing on the side of the chest during setup. This shifts the leading hand more in back of the ball during setup, and it lessens the leading side of the chest from pulling the leading arm, and the leading hand too much in front of the ball before making the driver impact.

When the driver is swung pass parallel at the top of the backswing, it may increase the time to complete the release before impact, resulting in late hitting, as the release cannot be fully made in time before impact, causing the clubface to remain opened, and catching the clubhead still on the downward arc before the clubhead has time to bottom out to travel on the upward part of the swing arc.
thedanplan says:

June 10, 2013 at 5:16 pm

every single shot, my big miss right now if forgetting and accidentally flipping the wrists causing a snap hook. That’s the final piece in the new swing.
Your neighbor says:

June 11, 2013 at 10:01 am

You hit that goddamn ball one more time……
Robert Johansson says:

June 11, 2013 at 11:08 am

stay back in the down swing no trouble hitting up.
David says:

June 11, 2013 at 2:19 pm

Hi Dan,

I’m a long time reader, but first time poster. I have to “throw the flag” on this post. You get a set number of months every year where the weather is amendable to practice and course play, and you have torpedoed the month of June. This seems like a significant lapse in focus and execution on your part.

I have to wonder with the travel, certification courses, new sticks, etc, if your focus/execution is not slipping.

Best wishes for redoubled efforts and continued success
Clay Ballard says:

June 11, 2013 at 6:01 pm

Hey Dan: I am new to the blog, but have been checking in on you every once in a while to see how things are going. I am a golf instructor with RotarySwing.com. I just wanted to say that you are right on track with your practice and are doing great. Excellent work with the backyard practice area. By eliminating the result you can focus on the movements of your body as opposed to the flight of the ball. This is something I preach all the time.

You may be interested in reading the Talent Code which is an excellent book about how talent is made (not born), the same way you are practicing right here. Keep up the hard work!! It won’t be long before you are a + handicap!

~Clay Ballard
thedanplan says:

June 12, 2013 at 9:15 am

How do you mean David? How is working on the driver in the backyard in the evenings a negative? It’s a new way to learn and in my mind is quite a positive as it allows for some specific focussed practice. Everything else you mentioned are ways that I am either literally improving (fitted clubs) or that I am learning about mechanics and the golf swing.
Thank you for being a long time reader and please do let me know how these things are negatives towards practice,
Dan
thedanplan says:

June 12, 2013 at 9:16 am

haha, I did hit one over the fence…

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