Practice at GBGC
A miracle happened! Dallas is cool enough today to practice after work. I haven’t been able to practice after work since May, due to temperatures well above 90 degrees F since mid-May. Today was nice and cool, about 78 degrees F when I arrived to practice.
I had a pretty poor practice today. I started first with 7-iron as usual, trying to hitting half swing draws. Not really working today, so I got out the big stick and hit a few balls to get loosened up. Most were fades, the draw just would not work today. I changed ball position, checked the backswing, but nothing really got the draw back.
I moved on to some old drills that were handy for getting the proper swing path. After a few swings with only my left foot on the ground, I was able to get the ball drawing again. I re-enforced the drill by hitting short 6-iron swings with the ball teed up high, the ball centered between my closely spaced feet. I was then able to get the draw working, which was a good thing, because I had only a few balls left.
The remaining full swing practice was with the short irons, all of which were straight but somewhat shorter in distance than usual.
I followed up on the short game green, hitting some lob wedges at various distances. It took me a while to get the swing grooved (early swings were long and right). I eventually got the swings working and hit some good lob and sand wedges. I also spent a few minutes in the bunker. The sand was very soft and I had difficulty getting the balls out of the sand with the face open. I gave up on that and had good results with the face square to the swing path. I ended the session getting three balls onto the green without issue.
I followed up with some putting practice. As usual, I simulated 18 holes of golf. Two drills of three balls at 6, 12 and 18 ft, followed by four drills at 9, 18 and 27 ft. I had only one birdie, but no three putts. My speed control was good today, but I had some difficulty with the break. I finished up with two long distance drills, hitting three balls each time from 45 ft. I had one three putt on both of these drills. I usually do better than that.
Tomorrow, Jarvis and I will play the Lake Park Executive Course again.