Hooks, anyone?
This morning I went to practice, in hopes of redeeming my swing from my atrocious performance yesterday on the golf course. Theme: setup and (lack of) tension. These were to be my only swing thoughts during practice. And the results were surprising to me. Incidentally, the weather was very pleasant, with a steady, two club wind directly in my face.
On setup: I concentrated on proper grip, posture, ball position (about 2″ inside my left foot, constant for all clubs). I also made more practice swings than usual, concentrating on reducing tension, light grip, no forcing of the club face.
I started off with 6-iron half swings using balls teed high. The balls were drawing nicely, so I got out the driver. The first four drives were perfectly straight. The next was also perfectly straight, but I went under it and hit a moon ball. I followed those with some duck hooks and then returned to straight. Next, I hit some 3-metals, mostly fades, but good shots. I managed to turn the fade back to straight flight.
Next up were the hybrids. I started with the 19-hybrid, hitting good shots with a slight draw or fade. I was very pleased with the ball flight. With the 23-hybrid, I was hitting mostly straight balls. With the 27-hybrid, I started with some slight fades, and managed to move them back to straight. Again, very pleased with the ball flight.
Then came the 6-iron. In contrast with my usual fades with the 6-iron, I was hitting hard, high hooks. After being unable to make the ball not hook, I went back to the 27-hybrid, where I hit some nice draws. Back again to the 6-iron, hooks. Hmmm…
I went on to the 7-iron, hitting a mix of hooks and draws. No fades at all, and certainly no slices. Very strange.
I moved on to the short irons, hitting the 8-, 9- and 10-irons with similar results, all mostly straight with only a slight fade or draw on the 8-iron. I went back to the 7-iron and found that I was now hitting draws. Back to the 6-iron, the hooks were turning into draws, until the final shot faded.
Strange practice session. Not a single slice to be found. I guess a combination of reduced tension and a ball position slightly forward of where I’ve been playing it helps.
Now that the weather is starting to cool down, I will be able to practice more often after work.