Long club practice
This morning, I went to the Golden Bear Golf Center to practice. The weather was cool but sunny, with barely any breeze.
Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my iPod for tempo training, and I certainly missed having it. I’d planned to do more tempo training today, and much long club work.
I started off hitting the 4-, 6- and 8-irons, along with the pitching wedge, and it was apparent from the beginning that I needed to continue my tempo training. I was pretty inconsistent today, hitting some very nice shots, but also a lot of stinkers. My path was pretty good all day, but I hit some hooks and slices, which had been absent while I was working on my tempo. After running this drill for a while, my swing deserted me, so I got out the wedges and practiced hitting each at the purple flag located a mere 65 yds in front of me. This practice was considerably better and I began to get some feel back in my swing. I still managed to hit a couple of fat shots, especially with the 64° wedge, but my wedge practice was quite good and I was pretty pleased.
Next, I got out the long clubs to practice. Today, I left the 3-wood behind and got out the Ping G2 7-wood, which I haven’t hit in months. I added the driver and 3i HALO hybrid to the mix. At first, I struck the ball very poorly, but noticed, again, that I had too much lateral movement, both on the backswing, and also on the downswing. Once I corrected that, I started striking the long clubs pretty well, especially the 7-wood. The driver never really behaved today; I only remember one well-struck shot. The hybrid was mixed but not as good as the 7-wood.
My next drill was the pin-hunting drill, where I hit 8 of 20 shots with a score of 4 or better. Results were mixed. I had one outstanding lob wedge shot and one hit so fat that I didn’t get half-way to the green. I hit one good driver, but most of the other long clubs were poor, except for a very nice 7-wood. Irons were mixed, had some really good shots but also a nasty high hook and a slice. Not my best effort, certainly.
With the last balls, I hit some 3-iron, 3i HALO, and 7-wood shots off the deck. Pretty mixed results here, but I did manage at least one acceptable shot with each club. With my final two balls, I practiced long punch pitches with the pitching wedge and 8-iron, with pretty good results.
Not my best practice, but not my worst, either. I’ll make sure I bring the iPod tomorrow.