Up before the sun
This morning, as the sun was rising, I practiced at The Practice Tee with some friends before work. The weather was cool and clear, with a 1-club breeze from the north. It was quite a change to practice in cool weather instead of the usual brutal Texas summer heat.
I warmed up with the 7-iron and then moved on to hitting the 8-iron, 6-iron and 4-iron. I had a bit of trouble getting a smooth swing going this morning. I just couldn’t seem to get moving very quickly. It took a while, but I finally started hitting respectible shots. Next up was the driver and hybrid (I left the 3-metal in the car, planning to try out my new Cleveland 2i HALO, but I ran out of balls). The hybrid I didn’t hit very well today, but the driver I hit pretty well, though an rare hook or slice slipped in.
I also put impact tape on the hybrid, 6-iron and driver to see if I’ve improved the number of strikes on the sweet spots of the clubs. I’m happy to report that my impact zones on all clubs has improved, moving closer to the sweet spots on all clubs. With the driver, I’m just to the inside of the center of the club (I had much difficulty in the past with toe strikes, that problem is gone), on the hybrid, I hit most shots on the center, but low on the clubface; with the 6-iron, the impact zone was at the right location but a bit low on the clubface. I’m pleased that I’ve improved from the toe strikes that plagued me a few weeks ago.
Next up, I ran a pin-hunting drill. My performance was subpar today, hitting only 7 out of 19 as very good (4) or excellent (5). The driver performed the best, 3/4 shots very good or better.
My final drill was more speed drills on the putting green; again, I had a very good putting practice. Maybe some day I’ll get that same performance on the course.