Hooks and draws
After work yesterday, I hit a bucket of balls at Golden Bear Golf Center. The weather was cool, with a very strong 2- or 3-club breeze directly in my face. I spent the practice session working on making the ball draw. In fact, it worked a little too well, as I ended up having a lot of hooks to deal with.
I started off hitting the 9-iron at the white flag at about 100 yds away. Because of the very strong wind, most of the shots were well short of the flag, most not even making the green. My first few shots were well-struck, but I then had some problems hitting the ball fat. I then moved on to the 7-iron, where the first hooks showed up. The severity of the hooks was definitely influenced by the wind. I hit very few fades on this day, in fact, the only shots that faded were hit with the hybrids.
After the 7-iron, I got out the 5-iron and hit some shots. Most were draws, some straight, no fades at all. The only bad shots were hit thin or fat. Next up was the SasQuatch 3-metal. I started off hitting snap hooks. One was so bad that the ball ended up a full 45 degrees to the right. I finally figured out that I was standing too far from the ball. Once I got it dialed in, I was hitting good shots with a slight draw or straight. Again, no fades.
I then hit some short wedge shots to get my finesse swing back in shape. I finally figured out that my hips were lagging my arms too much, causing me to hit behind the ball. Once I got synchronized, the shots were perfectly straight.
For the final balls, I hit a couple with each club, from the driver on down. I finally got the 23- and 27-hybrids drawing again. Again, the problem was standing too far from the ball.
No short game or putting practice today; I had only a limited amount of time. I was pretty pleased with my practice, getting the draw working again, finally!