Mixed, but better
I went to practice at Golden Bear Golf Center this morning. When I arrived, a light wind was from the north and the skies were cloudy. While I practiced, the winds shifted gradually to the west or southwest and the skies cleared.
I started off warming up with 7-iron shots off the turf. I then moved to hitting alternating 3-, 6-, and 9-irons, with mixed results, having some issues with hitting the ball fat. As usual, when I hit it fat, the main reason is rushing the downswing; once I got the tempo back, I started hitting some very good shots with the 9-iron, and some good shots with the 6-iron. Unusually, I could not seem to get the 3-iron in the air. After that, I switched to hitting alternating 4-, 6- and 8-irons, and later threw the hybrid into the mix. Again, mixed results, but when I did everything right, I was hitting slight draws with good distance.
I then got the 3-metal out of the bag. I started off hitting shots off the turf and had some difficulty getting the ball airborne. I soon adjusted my stance to be a little closer to the ball, and that did the trick. I hit some good shots after that.
I next hit some full pitching wedges. I initially had trouble hitting the ball fat; again, not rushing my downswing seemed to fix it, although most of the shots were pulled a little left.
My last drill was pin-hunting. Unlike yesterday, I didn’t do very well, but again, I hit a very nice couple of 3-metal shots off tees to the green with the blue flag, about 180 yds away today. The first shot was a draw that ended left of the green, but the second hit the green pin-high slightly to the right of the flag and continued well past. I also hit a pretty good hybrid shot just short of the green and right of the flag, probably a 165 yd carry. I also hit a 9-iron toward the white flag at 115 yds and hit pin-high. That’s an improvement over the yardage I usually expect with the 9-iron.
I had a bit of golf elbow today in my right arm, so I skipped chipping and short wedge shots and went to the putting green to work on speed. After some initial frustration with my speed, I got my touch back and was able to get the speed right.