New Favorite Practice Drill

Practice
#1

I wouldn’t normally gush over something like this, but I GOTTA scream this one from the rafters, like being in love…

I spent a few weeks doing Harvey Penick’s “The Slow-Motion Drill” (Chapter Thirty Nine in “The Little Red Book”) inside, on carpet, with an otherwise unused five iron, exactly as prescribed. During the course of this experience, I underwent 1) a hurricane, 2) visitors from out-of-state, 3) course aeration, 4) sundry other excuses not to hit the range or the course, for about three weeks. Just the Drill and the carpet.

Then yesterday I got out on the range for the first time in weeks. Everything I felt both mentally and physically related back to the Penick SloMo drill. It totally redefined what I think about and how I feel my swing. The results were stunning. I also had a launch monitor behind me, so I was able to numerically relate what being off for three weeks looks like in terms of club head and yardage.

I was totally stunned. I mean, literally. Every ball in the bucket was a consistent model of the desired shot, both in shape and carry. I swung three clubs for the bucket - started off with a 5 wood, then a driver, then an 11 wood. No mis-hits, no embarrassments, no curves.

Penick’s SloMo drill stresses left foot, right elbow, and weight transfer, all framed in slow motion, over and over an over. I didn’t really “get it” until I went out to the range. Then alla sudden everything felt just like it did during the weeks of doing the exercise. Even my mental patterns were changed.

I’m gonna do this exercise every night… forever. I’m sold on it. Stunned by its effectiveness.

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Too many things to work on, dont know where to start
I'm not progressing
#2

I posted this in a earlier thread called 9-3 drill. Do this for a half hour on the range…everytime you go…see what difference this makes with your ball striking…https://youtu.be/hAADrjkwvXg

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#3

What club does this replace?

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#4

I use it to replace my 5 iron. It’s the far end of my fairway wood collection, which along with a 4 hybrid, completely replaces my irons up to and through 5. From 6 onward, mine is a conventional bag.

Thus far, I’ve got a Driver, 3W, 5W, 4H, 9W, and 11W. I’ve been keeping an eye out for a 7W, but I haven’t found one I want just yet.

Side note. My favorite club is my 460cc driver. Followed by my pitching wedge, and finally my putter. Those are my three favorite clubs. I’m considering dumping more long clubs in favor of more wedges if push comes to shove…

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#5

I really like this concept, and if it works, it hits one thing I’ve been searching for… a repeatable at home drill that incrementally improves your golf game…

Found that YouTube video of it and thought it was a fairly good walkthrough of the concept.

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#6

TK and Gentle Ben swore by Mr. Penick…can’t go wrong with that philosophy any time!

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#7

One of my partners has one and he uses it to replace his 7 iron. He hits it like 120. Its like 26*. I hit it about 170ish so it’s about a 5 or 6 iron for me.

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#8

How do you keep interested doing the drill? I have tried similar things in the past and find that after about 4 swings I have found that my concentration is exhausted. Maybe that’s part of the drill or maybe I should just do 5 swings multiple times a day? Any thoughts?

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#9

I think that’s what I like about it… you do it for a few minutes and then move on… just do it multiple times a week.

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#10

Then this might be the perfect drill for you! Mr. Penick doesn’t suggest doing this drill more than about 4 swings, so you could be the target audience he had in mind.

For me, I keep my “unused five iron” in the family room next to the carpet I swing on, and every time I’m otherwise unengaged or bored, I pick it up and swing the drill for a few minutes. Doing this “every so often” for me means about a half dozen times a day. If I worked in an office instead of remotely from home, I’ll bet I would be logging HOURS of slomo!

But I also keep a putter in the same location. I’ll start putting for five minutes almost every time I make eye contact with the club.

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#11

Sounds almost exactly like how I like to do things. I’m pretty sure I will do it more than 2-3 times a week though. :). I form habits relatively easily and stick with them. I just find it best to keep them to a short amount of time. My attention span as I have gotten older just isn’t the same on all things.

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#12

Pete Cowen is a huge cheerleader for “dry drills”. You can google / youtube his set of drills to add in. 5-10 mins of dry drills and impact bag work a few times a week can make a big difference

if you remove the golf ball, you are actually in a better state of mind to re-code the software

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#13

Really liking this drill… I’m really trying to reconnect with my driver, and taking some time to slow down and romance it feels pretty good… Hopefully it carries over to the course!

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#14

Take it out to dinner and don’t be cheap!
Seriously though, I’m kinda hoping that you start a new topic here about your Romancing The Driver. I have recent thoughts I would add to it.

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#15

Haha… and of course I listened to @jon podcast today talking about driver fitting and now I want to fly to NY and get fitted by Woody…

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#16

This is becoming my experience with the drill. It’s way more exhausting than it sounds.

OTOH, I’m learning a ton about my body position, what my arms and hands are doing, and how none of it was helping each other.

Gripping hand, I think I’d be a lot more awkward and tentative if I tried the same drill with something I do unconsciously, like parking a car.

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#17

This sounds like something I should try. Currently working on incorporating a few fundamental swing changes my instructor has been working on with me. My lesson package has run out now and I don’t have the budget for more until the new season so I’m on my own over the winter!

Also, it is a timely reminder that the Little Red Golf Book is an awesome source of golfing wisdom that I haven’t looked at enough for a long time.

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#18

Read this section of the book last night (was a gift from my in-laws a few years ago), and wow is this absolutely brilliant!!!

Gonna work on this myself going forward! A lot. Well… not a “lot” but frequently and consistently :+1:

And… gonna read carefully, and over and over, thru the whole damm book again (and again :wink:).

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