Have you ever seen a pro do this rope thing?

[TheCityGame]

This is an article from Sean Foley at Golf Digest.

 

He says, Two pieces of rope, each about 25 feet long, and an alignment rod or clubshaft stuck in the ground on your target line. That's all you need to improve your accuracy in several ways. I see this simple practice station on PGA Tour ranges all the time.

 

Really. I don't spend a lot of time watching PGA Tour Pros practice, but I have literally never seen this. Never seen it on youTube. Never seen it on the Golf Channel. Never seen it in a magazine, but I guess Sean Foley sees it ALL THE TIME.

 

I'd also like to see him take a cut that ball in his video. Even with a good swing, I don't see him not hitting one of those ropes at least 1 time out of 10.

 

Also, if you REALLY need practice on this, you're going to be replacing and fixing those ropes all the time.

 

Lastly. . .I've just never been a fan of doing things on the range that I can't take to the course. You know what I use to determine if my ball is flying straight at my target? My eyes. Actually, sometimes I do a "drill" where I pick out an alignment aid on the turf (divot, discoloration, etc), line the shot up from behind my ball, and then never even look at the target again. Just line up the face with the "aid" and swing down that line. It's a good technique if you're not good at visualizing targets. You can also line up the face outside the "aid" and swing out/in to work on fades and draws.

[Petunia Sprinkle]

Didn't Tin Cup start using the rope thing after meeting Renee Russo?

[2bGood]

The big issue I see as they he claims "you can see if the ball starts inside or outside the ropes".

Unless I hit a terrible shot I never see what my ball has done it's first 25 ft of travel

[5 O'Clock Charlie]

He must hit it pretty straight. The stick is inline with the flag, not accounting for any curve on the ball.

[iteachgolf]

Single rope and alignment stick is EXTREMELY common on tour. Will also see two alignment sticks creating a gate. It's all about cleaning up start line getting externally focused at something in front of you while giving you a frame of reference for the start line. I've had my players do it for years and is very common at the top levels of golf in some form or another.

[TheCityGame]

[quote name='iteachgolf' timestamp='1446125648' post='12522934']
Single rope and alignment stick is EXTREMELY common on tour. Will also see two alignment sticks creating a gate. It's all about cleaning up start line getting externally focused at something in front of you while giving you a frame of reference for the start line. I've had my players do it for years and is very common at the top levels of golf in some form or another.
[/quote]Like a rope outside the path and stick inside? Are they as close as Foley has them?

When you say, "getting externally focused at something in front of you while giving you a frame of reference for the start line" are you talking about some "object" between ball and target as a reference to start the ball on? Learning to do that and putting it in PSR was a big part of my improvement from a few years back. On every single shot. Even 1 foot putts.

[RichieHunt]

I've never seen the ropes on an actual range on Tour although I only go to about 2-3 events a year on the Florida courses.

I have seen the alignment rods sticking up vertically and the player trying to hit right over them. Vijay Singh comes to mind as a player that practices this quite a bit.

Hitting the rope with the club won't hurt the club and the rope should be able to withstand that. I think there are strong points to the drill in that it helps clean up the launch direction, but I would worry about getting away with questionable mechanics because I've figured out the launch direction with the questionable mechanics.

It's kind of like Tiger's putting stroke on the SAM Puttlab. Certainly, he was an incredible putter...but his mechanics were quite questionable and you can see it would take an extreme amount of practice to get that stroke down pat. And I don't have the time to practice that much. I would rather work with simpler mechanics and slowly ingrain those movement patterns so down the road I could repeat them without having to practice as much.








RH

[starsail85]

[quote name='RichieHunt' timestamp='1446126762' post='12523026']
I've never seen the ropes on an actual range on Tour although I only go to about 2-3 events a year on the Florida courses.

I have seen the alignment rods sticking up vertically and the player trying to hit right over them. Vijay Singh comes to mind as a player that practices this quite a bit.

Hitting the rope with the club won't hurt the club and the rope should be able to withstand that. I think there are strong points to the drill in that it helps clean up the launch direction, but I would worry about getting away with questionable mechanics because I've figured out the launch direction with the questionable mechanics.

It's kind of like Tiger's putting stroke on the SAM Puttlab. Certainly, he was an incredible putter...but his mechanics were quite questionable and you can see it would take an extreme amount of practice to get that stroke down pat. And I don't have the time to practice that much. I would rather work with simpler mechanics and slowly ingrain those movement patterns so down the road I could repeat them without having to practice as much.








RH
[/quote]

Questionable mechanics ??

[HitEmTrue]

[quote name='TheCityGame' timestamp='1446126309' post='12522988']
Like a rope outside the path and stick inside? Are they as close as Foley has them?
[/quote]

I think he means one rope, starting after the ball and going to the stick, like in the article.

[chrisgilly09]

Poor choice of words lmao, he was a right aimer and allowed for more closure in his downswing/follow thru. I dont care how much time it took to maintain that stroke, you dont change something that gave you 14 majors

[starsail85]

[quote name='chrisgilly09' timestamp='1446136409' post='12523872']
Poor choice of words lmao, he was a right aimer and allowed for more closure in his downswing/follow thru. I dont care how much time it took to maintain that stroke, you dont change something that gave you 14 majors
[/quote]

I get that tiger liked to arc his stroke and release the blade but I wasn't aware /do not think he aimed right and pulled it

Tiger always had good lines apart from occasionally addressing toe side

[chrisgilly09]

Easily attainable information, something like a degree right on SAM and closed the putter more to compensate. Obviously very consistent aim and stroke mechanics though, so the finished product worked just fine

[starsail85]

[quote name='chrisgilly09' timestamp='1446141069' post='12524326']
Easily attainable information, something like a degree right on SAM and closed the putter more to compensate. Obviously very consistent aim and stroke mechanics though, so the finished product worked just fine
[/quote]


Did not know this, face was more closed at impact than address?

[Slothead]

poor article in my opinion from Foley on several levels. one, if tee boxes are an optics issue to the terrain, all the more reason TO NOT use the ground as a reference- the target is the sky and the start line is the trajectory.

also don't like the casualness given to the order and leaving open to interpretation what comes first. he says:

[quote]First, it trains you to aim your body and clubface correctly.[/quote]

clubface is aimed first, and body second to the face....big difference in process if not understanding the downfall here.

[Ri_Redneck]

Drill seems fine to me. I see hundreds of "golfers" that have no clue where they are lined up.

BT

[Santiago Golf]

[quote name='mizunostaffer' timestamp='1446127688' post='12523098']
[quote name='RichieHunt' timestamp='1446126762' post='12523026']
I've never seen the ropes on an actual range on Tour although I only go to about 2-3 events a year on the Florida courses.

I have seen the alignment rods sticking up vertically and the player trying to hit right over them. Vijay Singh comes to mind as a player that practices this quite a bit.

Hitting the rope with the club won't hurt the club and the rope should be able to withstand that. I think there are strong points to the drill in that it helps clean up the launch direction, but I would worry about getting away with questionable mechanics because I've figured out the launch direction with the questionable mechanics.

It's kind of like Tiger's putting stroke on the SAM Puttlab. Certainly, he was an incredible putter...but his mechanics were quite questionable and you can see it would take an extreme amount of practice to get that stroke down pat. And I don't have the time to practice that much. I would rather work with simpler mechanics and slowly ingrain those movement patterns so down the road I could repeat them without having to practice as much.








RH
[/quote]

Questionable mechanics ??
[/quote]

I think SAM would say the same about Crenshaw, THEY BOTH KNEW HOW TO READ GREENS VERY WELL,

[birly-shirly]

I like the drill. I think it's tough to over-emphasise aim and alignment.

My best score on my home course is 73, which I have shot twice. One of those times, I was out by myself for practice and I laid an alignment stick down on practically every shot from tee to green.

I understand that the alignment stick is a crutch that I can't use in competitive play - but I don't think it's a coincidence that I scored so well using it.

The one area I've never used it is in putting. As regards Tiger, and his aim and compensations, my understanding is that he was taught to putt as a kid in much the same way as the Stocktons teach putting now. Focus on visualising the roll of the ball, not on stroke mechanics. Stockton actually goes so far as to say he likes a loop in the stroke, precisely because it takes away the pressure of worrying about precise alignment issues.

[596]

I personally like the idea he presented. Seems like a great way to work on alignment and ball flight. 9 out of 10 golfers I see playing have no idea what they are really aimed at. Alignment is a huge error in in most peoples games.....well except on WRX.

[Cwing]

Link? Video?

[HitEmTrue]

[quote name='Cwing' timestamp='1446155161' post='12525536']
Link? Video?
[/quote]

"[url="http://www.golfdigest.com/story/sean-foley-pros-accuracy-drill?mbid=social_twitter"]This[/url] is an article from Sean Foley at Golf Digest."

[Shambles]

That rope thing is a fancied up old excercise which was always a lot of time and trouble for very little gain to me. I find it a lot easier to simply eyeball and toss a coin out to target. Occupies a lot less of the practice green too. The teaching pros used those things, or similar to make ideas a lot easier to grasp for a small audience and to dress up a lecture but that's about it.



Shambles

[nevets88]

[quote name='iteachgolf' timestamp='1446125648' post='12522934']
Single rope and alignment stick is EXTREMELY common on tour. Will also see two alignment sticks creating a gate. It's all about cleaning up start line getting externally focused at something in front of you while giving you a frame of reference for the start line. I've had my players do it for years and is very common at the top levels of golf in some form or another.
[/quote]

[media]http://youtu.be/xf2HGgc4iEs[/media]

[media]http://youtu.be/YqGosJtJYc8[/media]

[NCHACK85]

Is that like an updated version of the two alinement sticks?