Weekend update from the last two days: Am working on keeping arms connected, hinging out and up, and keeping my legs stable.

Have also been doing a little short game routine where I chip from 15, 20, 25 ish then pitch from 30, 40, 50. I just get a shag bag and hit a full bag at each distance. Idk, I feel like that's coming along reasonable.

8/20/17: Yesterday I hit 2 buckets (videos to follow), think it's really starting to come along. I also have been doing a short game routine which is basically randomize these 6 distances [10-15, 15-20, 20-25, 25-30, 35-40, 45-50] and hit a bag from each.

amazing juxtaposition between you and your range-mate behind you.

without searching past posts in this thread, have you seen dagolfdoc's ultimate practice routine thread? http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/93...actice+routine

Wow that is really funny

Yea I've seen it, I'm not ready to start it because I'm so bad I'd stop at [all the putting things] but I'm probably going to wait until stuff goes on sale and buy a random heavy putter and work on putting over the winter. I'll definitely get there at some point though, it seems awesome.

That reminds me, what are the options for indoor tracking devices? I didn't really leave room for a setup in my house but I should be able to put something makeshift in my garage over the winter so I can at least hit balls a few times a week (into a net perhaps?). I know Trackman needs like 20 feet of space (and assumedly a screen to hit into?), I was thinking I'd just pull my car out of the garage and put a hitting mat down + sensor or w/e, didn't know what the options were.

Skytrack is probably the best for the money and doesn't need a ton of room. I think any of the camera based systems work well indoors. The top is probably gc quad foresite one but pretty sure it costs a few times more than skytrack but will give you club data as well. I think the quad even can get putter data now which you wouldn't think is all that important but it really is a game changer imo.

Make sure you don't go cheap on the mat though. From the amount you put into practicing it will not be good for your body elbows, wrist to hit thousands of balls on a bad mat during winter.

If I could swing all my clubs in my condo I would probably get skytrack since I am more concerned about cost and we lose a few months from winter in Ohio.

I had to take last month of season and all winter since my elbow was hurting so bad from making the mistake of getting an unlimited range pass at a place where they grass range is never open. Don't want to take chances unless you are at a course with mats and just use them to warm up a little.

What would a good mat be? After doing some googling it seems like there aren't any that have good reviews, do I make something with 1x2s or something?

Check out the Country Club Elite mats. I have only heard good things, that said I haven't tried any of the good ones.

I had one of these in my basement before I moved, great mats.

8/23/17: For something like 4/5 days I've kept up this routine of hitting a bucket, doing ~300 chips/pitches, and then hitting the ~60 balls in the shag bag. I have a few days that I didn't post here but here are today's. Really working on getting some bow or at least flattening in my wrist.

The reviews look awesome. Will definitely look into getting something for the winter.

8/27/17: Played the same course I'd been playing up in Alberta from the whites (only 5850), shot 109. Lot of 3 and 4 putts. Unbelievably bad driving, probably hit 10 of them, 2 in the fairway, 2 into questionable places, and 6 just straight out of bounds. Think I'm going to play this course again today and try not to drive more than ~5 times on the round.

Par'd 3 out of the last 4, and missed a par putt by half an inch short on the other. Momentum! (Chipping, pitching, wedges, all v good)

edit: I'll try to keep notes of my round today and also maybe take some videos on the range before it

Yeah post a hole by hole report if you can. It's hard to believe your wedge game was good and you shooting that poorly. If you are regularly 3 putting from inside 30 feet then that seems like an area to work specifically on.

How do you hit drivers at the range? Fwiw if the course is only 5800 yards a driver may just be a bad play on the tee even for a pro. A lot of par 4s narrow drastically at some point and if your driver is going to land in the narrow zone it's just not the right club. For 5800 yard course you could tee off with a 6 iron and should break 100 if your wedge game is serviceable.

Swing looks really vertical to me in those last DTL videos, especially that last one. Looks like you are lifting straight up Furyk-style... coming down very steep also. Looks like an OTT slice swing to me, you should be coming from the inside at a shallow angle, looks like you are doing the opposite.

Honestly I think you may be thinking too much about hand positions, bowed wrist, flat wrist, etc. Especially at this early point in the development of your swing. When I am striking it well (not as often as I'd like), that stuff happens automatically as the result of a smooth tension-free swing.

I am a fan of old-school teachers like Knudson, Percy Boomer, and de la Torre because they treat the swing as one fluid movement, not a series of positions to be mastered individually and then cobbled together.

I realize everyone learns differently though, for me the trend towards hyper-technical instruction is paralysis by analysis.

Funny you should mention that...

8/28/17: Today I had some bets on the round so I took it more seriously (and stopped hitting driver) and shot 91 on the same course I shot 109 on yesterday (5850 yards from whites).

1: 284 yard par 4 that plays very downhill to the left, 8i, 60d wedge, two putts, par
2: 471 yard par 5, I hit a perfect 4i and am ~215 or so (drive it down into a valley, hole v slightly elevated from there), I decide not to go for the green since there's trouble around, I hit an easy 9i just inside the 100 yard marker and decide I can get it to the front hole location with a 60d wedge. Fat. Try again, fat. Chip and 2 putt for double.
3: 156 yard par 3, middle of the green and two putts, par
4: 354 yard par 4, 7i, wedge or 9, two putts, par
5: 356 yard par 4, middle iron to the right fringe, 8 or 9i, I had 7 feet for birdie and I 3 putted (ran it by, missed from 2 feet), bogey
6: 172 yard par 3, I think this was playing in the front of the green, 8i, two putts, par
7: 290 yard par 4, poor contact tee shot but it was okay in the middle of the fairway, pretty sure I hit a fat 9i, then a fat 60d, then a 45 yards pitch to middle of the green, but it was a back hole location and I 3 putted from 50 feet, triple
8: 498 yard par 5, hcp 4, slightly blocked tee shot out to the right, chunked one just in front of the creek, some low middle iron, wedge to middle of the green but 50 feet with back hole location, 4 putts, triple
9: 294 yard par 4 back up the mountain to the clubhouse, hcp 2, slight hook off the tee and it trickled down on the left hand side, decent enough lie in some kind of thin grass. So I have like 125 yards, green is maybe 10-15 yards above me, totally blind shot, I step behind it to try to figure out my line-- turns out the line for my ball to the flag is literally a tree. So I aim basically one foot right of the tree and hit one of the best dozen approach shots of my golf career probably to 20 feet, hole high. 2 putts and par.

10: 488 yard dog leg right par 5 across a 150 yard water carry or so. I hit my 4i hard but it gets away from me into the woods on the right (really wasn't far from being perfectly with the contour of the fairway). I find the ball but I take an unplayable, hit a solid 7i out of the rough to the 100 yard marker, stick a SW to hole high and two putt for a great bogey save
11: 334 yard par 4, downhill. I hit nearly a perfect tee shot but it went in the fairway bunker, 9i in from 150ish. I hit what seems like a solid shot but it's a little along the right side and I hit a tree and it goes 90 degrees to the right into the fescue. My playing partner hits basically the same shot and his grazes the branches and drops down an island between sand traps with a pretty easy chip-- basically top 10% result vs bottom 10% result on almost the same shot. I lose my first ball, drop where it went in, and hit a 60d wedge to 15 feet, two putt, double.
12:
13: 354 yard par 4, most beautiful hole on the course, well struck tee shot but went into the rough just out of the right bunkers (there's a downhill area so I think this was only 5i or 6i), hit a 9i that just barely didn't get to the green, an average chip from an uphill lie to ~10 feet, two putts, bogey
14: 506 yard par 5, hcp 1, mediocre tee shot out to the right (I think I hit a tree but stayed back in play), super thin 5i out to the left, ~150 in 9i out of poor stance and hit it into a front bunker still ~20 yards from the hole (and 5-10 yards below the hole) (front hole location). Here I hit what my playing partner said was the best golf shot he had seen in his life. I basically v slightly opened the face, decided I couldn't really get a serious sand shot up that far so I just hit down on the ball and flopped one to one foot (he said he almost dunked and stopped in its' tracks)
15: 120 yard par 3 over water. First gap wedge was well struck but kind of got away from me and ended up maybe 5% short and out to the right, went in the water (just a cpl yards from safety). Second tee shot was about hole high but off the green to the left, chipped it to ~10 feet and two putted for triple
16: 302 yard uphill par 4, tee shot a bit to the left and left myself I think ~150 uphill and hit an 8i to 20 feet and two putted.
17: 155 yard par 3, fat tee shot to 60 yards from the pin (back hole location), safe wedge short to 35ish feet and two putts
18: 394 yard par 4 (very downhill the dog leg left), I hit a medicore/poor tee shot that went into the right fairway bunker (hole slopes left), safety 60d wedge to good layup spot 110 yards from the hole, SW to just in front of the green (very far front hole location of a 3 tiered green), beautiful chip to 6 inches for bogey

Thoughts: I can't remember hole 12 for some reason but I got a bogey. I hit one or two putts from 8-15 feet, I don't really remember what holes they were on though.

Where in Alberta? I'm in Calgary.

I think it'd look a bit differently on more recent swings, I'm working on turning shoulders more, getting into right hip, staying connected, etc. I'll post some tomorrow (actually now that I think about it I may not have posted most recent videos)

I'm in Canmore

Forgot to post these from the weekend:

Cool. I don't know of any other forumers in our area but we should do a round somewhere. I'm on the west side of town so could always scoot out and play somewhere in the middle like Cochrane or something.

Sure, I'm not too familiar with courses in that area but I drive by 'em so I'm sure there are some good ones, feel free to shoot me a PM (but give me a day's notice or so since I don't check 2p2 that often)

8/30/17: Canmore golf and curling club (played the golf course this time, a golf ball wouldn't stop on the ice), 6095 from the blues, 69.2/118

I started writing up the round but I deleted it, too many forgettable holes. I shot 103 with 4 GIR and 44 putts, including a 4 putt from 18'.

Swing videos from the last two days:

I really like it where you stop your backswing.

Can you post some vids of when you hit bad shots?

Prob late for this, but make sure you get one that u can use your own tees with. At least for me, having to use those bulky rubber insert ones has basically made me not use my skytrak for my driver.