Long Iron Practice
This morning, I went to the Golden Bear Golf Center to practice and to attend the swing clinic. I arrived around 10AM, a warm, blustery day, heavily clouded. The wind was from the south and blew steadily at about 2 clubs, which was nearly directly into my face.
I spent the first 30 minutes on the putting green. The main putting green west of the main building is being reworked, so I used the green to the east. First, I hit 3 foot putts until I hit 10 in a row. It took three attempts to get past 7 before I hit 10 in a row. Next, I ran speed drills out to 24 ft, and then practiced lag putts from 30 ft. I was very pleased with my putting practice today; all the hours spent putting on the carpet are beginning to pay off.
Next, I went to the short game area to practice. First I hit about 20 balls out of the Pete Dye style bunker. I left only one ball in the bunker, but my distance control was really poor. I then spent another 45 minutes on long chips. My distance control still needs work, but this was one of my best chipping practices in a long time. I then practiced short pitches with the sand and lob wedges. Again, distance control wasn’t great, but I didn’t have any difficulty with fat or thin shots, so I was pretty happy.
I took a short break and went back to pay for the swing clinic. Alan and I spent the entire time working on long irons, as that is the greatest weakness in my game at the moment. My setup and grip were good today, so no adjustments were necessary, other than he had me stand slightly closer to the ball. The other adjustment was to get me to squat more on the downswing. My long irons are still a work in progress, but I did have a couple of really nice shots, and a few stinkers. In general, though, I was pretty happy with my progress today.
P.S. I practiced last Saturday, and developed heat exhaustion. I was about 2/3rds of the way through a full bucket, hitting driver, when I noticed I was panting heavily and sweat was pouring off me. I packed up my clubs and sat in the shade for a while recovering, and then went home. I haven’t practiced on the range since, except for a lot of putting and chipping practice on the carpet at home.