Short Game Getting Better
This afternoon, after work, I practiced at the Golden Bear Golf Center. The afternoon was warm with a soft breeze from the south.
I started out in the short game area working on short and medium length pitches with my lob wedge. I was really pleased with my pitching today, very possibly the best pitching practice I’ve had ever. Both my distance and direction were good today, and I had only a few poor shots. I also had a good medium and long chipping practice to go along with the pitching practice. While not as good as the pitching practice, my chipping was pretty respectable today.
Next, I went to the range and went through my usual full swing warmup. My sand wedge wasn’t very crisp to start, tending to hit the ball a bit thin. The pitching wedge wasn’t much better. My 8-iron shots were pushes, as were my first two 6-iron shots. My third 6-iron, though, was very well struck. My 7-wood balls were all high pushes, as were my 3-woods. The driver was back to its old tricks, either high pushes or snap hooks.
I followed up the warmup by going back down the bag. I hit a few 4-hybrids, all high pushes or hit fat. I hit a couple of 5-irons. The first couple of shots were all high and short, then the hook came back. My next 7-irons were just messy, so I got out the sand wedge and started hitting some short shots, concentrating on even tempo and soft hands. I finally started to hit some solid shots, so I got out the 9-iron and worked on striking the ball with even tempo. Finally, the shots started going straight again. By this time, I’d run out of balls, but someone had left some balls just down the range, so I moved my bag down a few positions and hit those balls, working on a variety of different shots. These included a few cut lobs, a punch shot or two, and a bunch of high, soft shots with all of the wedges.
By now, I was pretty much shot, so I rested for a few minutes and went home. I was very pleased with my short game practice, less so with my full swing, though I was happy to get my short irons a bit better today.