A tale of two practices
I’ve managed to slip in an hour or so of practice after work the last two days at the Golden Bear Golf Center. Yesterday, I had a miserable practice, just miserable. I hit the wedges fat, I hit hooks with the long irons, hit pushes with the short irons. Anything but straight. Yeech! I was so dejected that I skipped putting and chipping (the short game area is still closed; opens April 15).
Today, I was determined to have a good practice. The weather was sunny and warm, no breeze at all, very humid. I had just two swing thoughts: no reverse pivot, and slow & easy. It worked. I started off with the sand wedge hitting 1/2 to 3/4 shots at the purple-flagged green. While my distance control wasn’t perfect, at least I was making crisp contact with the ball. I hit only one fat shot out of about 15 balls. Next, I went through the bag, hitting shots until I hit a good shot with each club at a specific flag. I hit really nice pitching wedge shots at the white flagged green, and followed with some nice shots with the 9-iron. I then got out the 6-iron and hit shots at the red flagged green. I wasn’t hitting them on the right trajectory, so I got out the 7-iron and hit some nice high shots just right of the flag. I went back to the 6-iron and managed a good shot, though pulled slightly. I also hit the 5-iron at the blue flagged green, but wasn’t pleased with the low trajectory. I moved on to the 3-hybrid and hit fades with it. I then got out the driver and hit some balls, eventually getting nice draws well over the trees flanking the blue-flagged green.
With the remaining balls, I went back through the bag, hitting a good shot with every club, including even the 4-iron, though I used a tee. 😉 I hit some beautiful shots, and also noticed that my carry distance is improving, about half a club. At last, something to be excited about! My last two balls I hit the pitching wedge, and distance was much improved, but I pulled both shots.
Finally, I spent 20 minutes on the putting green chipping with the 8-iron. While not as good as my last chipping practice, still managed to get two-thirds of the chips within 3 ft. By now, the clouds had rolled in and a few drops of rain fell, so it was time to end my practice.
Ran out of time and wasn’t able to putt, but I was really relieved that my practice yesterday was just an anomaly.