Short game good, at least
This morning, I practiced at Golden Bear Golf Center. The weather has been brutally hot here in the Big D, and I didn’t practice during the week because of it. This morning was overcast, with a breeze, so was a pretty comfortable time to practice. I started off hitting 8-iron shots to warm up. At first, my ball striking was very poor, but got better as I warmed up. I hit a lot of shots with my pitching wedge, trying to get my feel back in shape. I then got out the 6- and 4-irons and added them to the mix. My distances were longer today, but some of that was due to the wind. I never really hit a good shot with the 4-iron today.
Next up, I got out the hybrid, 3-metal and driver, and put impact indicators on them. I was determined to move the impact area away from the toe and back to the center of the face of these clubs. After much experimentation, I managed to move the impact back to the center, by addressing the ball at the hosel. I had very few hooks, most of my shots that missed were pushes. Distance was very good with the 3-metal, when well-struck; the driver was a bit longer as well. Much work to do here, but at least I’ve managed to get the sweet spot of the clubs back into action.
Next up, I visited the short game area and spent some time working on Pelz-style shots out of the bunker (ball forward, face open, open stance). I had a good practice, getting about 60% onto the green using his technique. Still needs work, but now I’m beginning to get some feel for distance and direction out of the bunker.
I also spent some time hitting short lob wedge shots at the different flags on the short game green. My touch was very good today and I was pleased with my practice, even stopping before I ran out of balls, because of the good results.
Finally, I spent about 30 minutes on the putting green, working mainly on speed. After a rough start, I had a very good practice, holeing a number of long putts and rarely leaving a second putt that wasn’t a tap-in.
Aside from the long clubs, my game is starting to come together after a long layoff due to injury and brutally hot weather. Tomorrow, I’ll hit the links.