Working Hard…
… but not getting the results I want.
Last Saturday, I played a two-man best ball tournament at Grapevine Golf Club. I’d been working hard on my swing, but still had problems keeping the ball on the fairway off the tee. My irons have improved, but my driving, previously the best part of my game, was now pretty poor. I’ve been hitting a mix of pushes and hooks, and in general, not having a clue about where the ball was going to go off the tee. The howling wind didn’t help either. When I hit the shot solidly, I didn’t have any issue with the wind, but most of the day my shots were anything but. I really only had two well-played holes: #2 on Mockingbird (hit my hybrid just over the green and got up-and-down for par), #3 on Mockingbird (hit a very long drive with the wind, leaving me a pitching wedge to the green, which I hit pin-high into the center of the green and two-putt for par). I did manage another par on #6 on Bluebonnet, but that was after a huge push with the driver, a mediocre iron shot short of the green, a pitch hit thin well past the hole and bombing a 35 ft putt into the cup. The one hole that really describes how my day went is #1 on Bluebonnet. I hit a good drive just short of the fairway bunker, a low 4-wood to about 10 yds short of the green, a pitch hit thin over the green, a putt from off the green no-where close to the hole and 2 putts for bogey. And my putting was just terrible all day, which didn’t help.
Yesterday, I had a lesson with Mike Murray at Golf Galaxy. I told him about my struggles with the driver and the longer clubs. He put me on the video, and again, I’d reverted back to not having enough hip turn at impact, with a bit of a lunge toward the target. He changed my setup slightly so that my knees were more over my ankles (feeling a little like riding a horse). He had me hit shots over and over with my 4-wood, making sure to feel like my left butt-cheek was moving straight back on the downswing. Viola! Instant improvement in ball contact. He told me to expect to have to hit 1000’s of balls before fully incorporating that movement into my swing.
After my lesson, I went over to the simulator and hit some drives. My driving improved dramatically, and I hit some of the longest drives I’ve hit yet on that simulator. My swingspeed is slowly improving. I’ve not gotten it to 100 mph clubhead speed yet, but I’m averaging about 92 mph now. My goal is a consistent 100 mph clubhead speed.
As it turns out, Bridgestone was in Golf Galaxy doing ball fitting. We started with my usual ProV1 ball, then tried the Bridgestone Tour B330-RXS ball and the e5 ball. I had the best distance with the Tour B330-RXS ball, and he gave me two sleeves of balls to try out on the course. I’ll play them on my next round and see if I can tell a difference.