Ever since I went to the swing clinic, I’ve been unable to hit any golf balls due to my aching lower back. I’ve been to my physical therapist twice and my back is improving, so I hope to get back out on the course soon.
The only good thing about my back injury is my putting. I can still practice putting, as long as I practice only 10 minutes at a time. So, ever since I built my new S2R putter, I’ve been practicing my putting 3 or 4 times a day (on the carpet) and my putting stroke is really getting grooved.
I really, really can’t wait to get back out on the course.
Earlier this week, I built a new putter using a Tom Wishon Golf S2R Model 3 putter head. I used the Tom Wishon Golf straight putter shaft (no link I can find) and a Tom Wishon Golf V-Series putter grip. The club was built to 34.5 inches in length and has a swingweight of E-4.
I have not hit my new putter on a putting green yet, but I’ve been hitting some very nice putts on the carpet and am very pleased with the sound, touch and performance.
In my never ending quest to improve my game, I went to the Swing Clinic at the Golden Bear Golf Center this afternoon. I arrived early and went to the end of the range to warm up. I started out with the pitching wedge, and hit fat, fat, fat shots. I switched to the 9-iron and began to get my swing ironed out. I then got out the 7-iron and started to hit some decent shots, tending to pull the ball a little. The big hook wasn’t to be found today, for the most part.
Alan was the instructor today, and we started out with the sand wedge at the purple flagged green. I hit the wedge pretty solidly and he thought I was hitting it pretty well. The fat shot was no where to be found. Next, I got out the 7-iron and I hit a few balls, tending to fade the ball. Here I am at the swing clinic, wanting to fix my hook, and I’m fading the ball. (This game continues to baffle me). After I hit a few balls, he adjusted my grip. My left hand was fine, but my right hand was too far clockwise. He moved it counter-clockwise until it fit better over my left thumb. This had the immediate effect of making the shot dispersion smaller. He also adjusted my stance slightly to give my shoulders more tilt to the right. After that, my ball-striking improved pretty dramatically. As always, he’s able to fix me up and get my swing back into shape. The main thing he wants me to work on is to not freeze over the ball before I swing.
I hit a few drives, mostly well-struck, though there were two or three moon balls in the mix and also hit a few 5-woods, and that’s when the hook came back. My final drive was a perfect slight fade right over the blue flagged green, carrying about 220. Time was up and I headed home happy with the swing clinic.
Last time I practiced on May 1st, I managed to tweak my lower back. On Friday, I finally felt good enough to go to my long delayed driver fitting with Dave Murray. Dave’s shop is at Spring Creek Golf in Plano. I wanted to see which of two Tom Wishon Golf clubheads would fit me best, the 949MC or the 525GRT.
I warmed up on the range with my 7-iron, striking the ball cleanly, but with a big hook. I was puzzled as to why I was hooking the ball (my dreaded reverse pivot wasn’t evident), but Dave took one look at my swing and saw I wasn’t driving my right knee toward the ball on the down swing. On my next swing, I drove my right knee toward the ball, and it went straight. Hmmm… nice to get a little lesson along with the fitting.
First, I hit the 949MC 460cc clubhead with a 10.5° loft, which Dave had fitted with the ZT shaft in regular flex. I didn’t get enough spin with the driver, so we moved on to the 525GRT at 9.5° with a high-launch Interflexx shaft in stiff flex. I needed about 0.5° more loft to get my ideal launch angle. My best swings had a 230 yd carry with this club.
I also hit my current SasQuatch Lucky 13 driver, and it showed a launch angle of 17° and a spin of 3500 rpm, which he said causes me to lose distance because the ball will tend to fall out of the sky and not run after hitting the fairway.
We decided to go with the 11° loft 525GRT head with the mid-low Interflex shaft in regular flex, instead of the high-launch shaft, to compensate for the fact that the loft is slightly more than I need. Length was set to 44.5″, as I hit the club better when I choked down on it about 1/2″ (he had built the club at 45″). So, I ordered the club and should have it late next week. I’ll visit the range and give a report shortly thereafter…
This afternoon, after work, I had a spare 45 minutes to hit some balls at the Golden Bear Golf Center. The weather was partly cloudy with a breeze from the south.
I started off hitting sand wedges at the purple-flagged green, and had a really frustrating time with hitting the ball fat. Annoyingly fat. Instead of fighting it, I got out the driver and started to bust some balls. My first drive was a perfectly straight, but lower in trajectory than usual, bomb, right at my target green flag. I alternated hitting the driver with 9-iron shots, concentrating on keeping the reverse pivot out of my swing. About 60% of my drives were well hit; I did have a couple leak right, either pushes or one or two slices. Only one hook snuck in. I was pretty happy with the driver. Most of my 9-iron shots were straight as well, though it was hard to tell if distance was longer or shorter due to the incoming wind.
I also hit a few 5-wood shots, but never really got that club going at all, tending to hit the ball thin and low. I finished off practice with a couple of pitching wedge and lob wedges to the purple-flagged green. This time, they were pretty well struck and not hit fat. I ran out of time and wasn’t able to putt, chip or practice my short game.
A decent, but not great, practice.