It was the best of times, it was the worst of times
On Saturday morning, I practiced at the Golden Bear Golf Center. The day was warm and sunny with a slight breeze from the south.
I went to the range and warmed up using the pitching wedge, and mainly hitting chunky shots. Once I got dialed in, though, magic happened: I hit 10 near perfect pitching wedge shots at the white-flagged green, every one on the green and close to the flag. I’d have to say it was my best ball-striking with a pitching wedge that I’d ever had. That was the magic.
Unfortunately, it went down hill from there. I hit a good 7-iron or two at the blue-flagged green, but as I went lower in my bag, the worse the shots became. It got so bad that I went back to the pitching wedge to reload, but alas, the magic was gone. I hit every type of shot possible: low hooks, high hooks, worm burners, high slices, you name it. Yeech. I then spent some time with the driver; not much better. While I was launching the ball pretty well, I had a huge push and it took me many balls to get the push to straighten out. I ran out of balls before I really got my swing back.
Next, I went to the short game area to practice my wedges. There was a class of beginners clogging up the area, so the only open practice area was the bunker, so I hit a few shots out of it. My distance control was poor, but I didn’t leave any in the bunker. In the meantime, I’m dodging the occasional shank from the beginners and did eventually get hit in the leg; no damage done. My last drill was to go to the grass bunker and it a few chips from a severe uphill lie.
I then went to the putting green. I spent the first part of practice hitting 3-4 foot putts until I hit 10 in a row. Then I did speed drills with two balls, where I would move back 3 ft each time I hit two in a row. I made it out to 24 ft before I wasn’t able to hit two in a row. My last drill was lag putting from 30 ft, which I did pretty well.
By this time, I was worn out and sweating like a pig, so I called it a success and went home. Not a good day at the range (apart from a little magic with the pitching wedge) but I did have a good putting practice.