Over the top
My last practice was Wednesday at the Golden Bear Golf Center, and it was probably my worst practice in months. Ball striking was poor, my misses were hooks or pulls and the long clubs didn’t work at all. Eventually, I gave up and went home.
This morning, I was determined to figure out my difficulties and get back into rhythm. I started off hitting 9-iron shots pretty well, though slightly pulled. I worked my way down to the 5-iron, hitting the ball pretty well. However, things went south from there. All my shots were pulls or hooks again. I tried everything to get my swing back, to no avail. Finally, I concentrated on swinging inside-to-out, and suddenly, I’m striking the ball perfectly again.
Golf must be the most frustrating game ever invented… 😡
Happy that I worked out my swing problem, my next problem that needed fixing was my tendency to leave putts short. I saw a drill during the PGA Championship yesterday and decided to give it a shot this morning. The drill is simple: drop balls in a line away from the hole one step apart and hit the balls from the closest out. I did the drill several times and it definitely helped me get my distance control back. I also modified the drill by taking several steps from the hole and then dropping a ball at each step. I did this until the last ball (of four) was 36 ft from the hole. If anything, I had a bit of a tendency to hit the balls a little bit longer than optimal past the hole (Pelz says 17″; I tended to have the balls end about 24″ past the hole). The drill worked very well. I’ve always been pretty good at direction, if I can get my speed right, I’ll be a lot better on the green.
Although the first part of my practice today was frustrating, I was very happy with the results: better ball striking and better speed control on the green. All in all, a pretty good practice.