Getting skinny
I went to GBGC to practice after work yesterday, to concentrate on my short game, which I’ve been neglecting lately as I’ve worked on my full swing. My guide for the short game is Dave Pelz’s Short Game Bible. The weather was cool, around 55 degrees, very soft breeze from behind me, and sunny skies as the sun went down.
I spent most of my time hitting pitching, sand and lob wedges, trying to get good solid strikes on the ball. I had a problem over the last weekend hitting the ball fat, and now I’m trying to hit the ball “skinny” (but not thin). 😉 For the most part, I was successful, as long as I kept Dave’s mantra of “dead hands” and coordinated trunk and waist turns.
Of course, I wanted to see the ball fly, so I got out the SasQuatch 3-metal and hit some balls. At first, I was hooking the ball, just like last week. A few adjustments of my stance and I got the ball drawing perfectly or going straight. With the last few remaining balls, I went pin hunting on the blue and red flags, using the 7-iron to attack the blue flag and the 10-iron to attack the red flag. I hit the ball well, very slight fade or draw on the 7-iron and slight pushes with the 10-iron. My distance was somewhat longer than normal today, due in part to the soft breeze and in part to the fact that the fade has faded and replaced with straight or draw shots. I also hit the 6-iron and was pleased to see no fades at all, just straight or draw shots.
After finishing the bucket, I went to the short game area and hit short wedges with the sand and lob wedges, and spent about 20 minutes chipping. Distance control was poor on the sand and lob wedges, so I need to spend more time hitting these shots. Chipping improved over the practice so that near the end, most were in easy putting distance.