500 swings a night
 

If you really dedicated time to work on your motion and make 500 swings a night, what would be your focus? what things would you work on?

stay awake?

Marching Exercises
 

The MacDonald marching exercises emphasizing a correct setup with Hip and shoulder back and full Pivot back and through with Arrow through the head, or RFT up and then Pivot plus Elbow Plane to Finish for starters.

Oh, and Tylenol. lol

IC T

Setup, start up, stationary head and plenty of start down waggles I think. That is if I can still stand after 500 swings!
Alex

500 swings sounds like a lot. The brain needs time to recover if you're working on technical issues.

I bet you get an equally good result, perhaps better, if you take 50 swings, working on something technical, then watch Two and a half men on TV while the incubator does its thing for the duration of the next 400 swings. Then go out again and take another 50 swings.

If you are talking about practice swings without hitting a ball - I wouldn't do it.

Yes I'm talking about practice swings without a ball. 500 swings not necessarily all in a row maybe a few 2and a half men breaks in between. Should take you about 5 hours

I seem to remember some research from the '80s about two groups practicing free throws. One group actually shot them in the physical world while the other simply mentally "shot" them (perfectly in their minds). I think the results were either both groups became equally proficient or the "mental" group became better.

Anyway, I've at points in my life mentally practiced playing perfect golf as I drifted off to sleep. It helped, and I didn't even know what I know now about the swing thanks to Lynn and you all!

(BTW, flying right over Lynn as I post from an Airtran jet headed back to Ohio from Orlando. Hey, Lynn!)

And I thought one hundred swings was a lot :laughing9 I usually work on the MacDonald Drills, Flying Wedges, Plane Line Tracing, Basic and Acquired Motion, Startdown Waggles, and depending on the time of night (and if the roommates are gone :eyes: ) i'll work with an Impact Bag. I usually do them in sets of twenty and do them until I feel confident with what I'm working on. That could be twenty reps, or a couple hundred on some nights :laughing9

In the foreward, Ben talks about getting Chapters 4,5 into your head as a prerequisite to getting better.

Might be a good place to start, with and without a club.

500 swings sounds excessive, and could lead to failing to get new grip, plane line, proper waggle, ect.

Swing, hold, rest, then back to the beginning of your address routine, even in the house, IMO. Maybe 25 of those, with deep focus, would be better than 500 sloppy ones?

Remember I said IF you had time to dedicate to your MOTION, most do not have the time. Hand motions count, any motion any swing with or without the ball. You could argue that making 500 swings without a ball might be more of a crash translation vs. Relative. Personally now that I have the right information and I know what to practice the only way for me to groove it is several hundred practice swings a day working on various different things, I just don't see how else to do it.

Go for it brother.

100 swings a night
 

Forming my correct Grip and Adjusted Address with slight Front Hip opening and slight forward shaft, I turn my Back Hip, feel the weight in PP # 3 and the left thumb and with a Balanced Stationary Head and know I'm on Plane right before I turn my chest and club Down , Out, and Forward watching the blur of the club as it pulls me to the Arrow Finish Swivel with Wedges still intact. :)

IC T

those are great things to practice. The key is working with a mirror or a reflection. Of course I play and hit balls as well but without doubt the at home practice has been the most productive. Make the correct motion and let the ball eventually get in the way.

Whip

Youre a good swinger already. Id suggest you do 450 putts on the rug from about 4' while your watching tv. But if you must ...how bout 50 non stop Wild Bill Melhourne type continuous full swings to work on MOTION, balance, lag. Brush the grass or rug in both directions , feel lag in both directions, swing the hands and let the club go in your tension free wrists (but with a firmish grip) the hands are just clamps. Feel the pressure points, all of 'em. Its the grass whip lesson , similar to the MacDonald exercises ....its very old, out of style but believe me it works.

I was starting to loose it the mid am qualifier and did a few of these and blammo it all came back. Made it home without leaking any more oil , qualified . Melhourne gave Hogan lessons so I imagine he did them......well actually I believe he did them for 20 minutes in the locker room prior to heading to the practice tee.

PS The lag and drag you feel when doing this is profound. Theres something about the reverse of directions that removes your ill founded golf intentions. You can hit shots like this, magical shots.......if you tape it I bet you see a slightly later release point too!! More ground/up in the Downswing Sequence. It sort of tricks your golf mind into taking a break. Brushing in both directions is key. Strike the match in both directions so to speak, lag in both directions.

I would NEVER take more than just a few practice swings without ball flight feedback. I'd be afraid I might be ingraining a flaw which had crept in.

Practice ranges
 

3-F-4. PRACTICE RANGES. Then with the stroke pattern selections made, the foregoing translation procedures should be applied. It will be found that the indoor practice range is unquestionably the most effective place to perfect the assembly and adjustment of the golfing machine, with occasional check out trips to the outdoor driving range. There, the hypnotic effect of distance, line and hazard drawing the attention away from the hands and inducing a compulsion to steer the ball, can be analyzed and procedures adopted for correction. Then take your findings back to the course for final-- or semi final-- fitting. The indoor range is simply not the place for that.

So-- until feel can dependably reproduce a selected procedure, there must be a visual and conscious surveillance of each and all components previously adopted-- right up to the one in process. (study 5-0)

The ball is a tyrant which demands perfection but causes us to manufacture all kinds of Snares. If we could all swing as if it were a dandelion instead of a ball golf would be easy. Therein lies the trick. The grass whips secret. What Lynn teaches if you ever get a lesson from him.

I believe Lynns first go round of teaching included many a winter hotel ball room session. Some net time but often not. One of his students came in a mid range single digit handicap golfer and emerged to win his city am as I recall. Lots of 12-3 work I bet.

I've almost made our garden keeper obsolete for the last year. I I cut the grass with a sand wedge all the time. If you know precisely what you want to achieve it's a great way of rehearsing new moves. But I need some grass to clip to make it work for me.

And even after 20 years of golf I still get ball-struck from time to time. One way to get out of it for me is then to make a few swings without a ball.