Apparently I was very subconsciously bothered by the horror that had become my golf game. Today I again landed at a place where I could work on my game. I rolled over to Greystone GC (Romeo was closed for and outing) and they were happy to supply me with unlimited balls since there were tons left over from an outing earlier in the day. I must have hit 300 balls.
I was driving the ball great. I worked a little more on getting my hands perpendicular to the target by training my brain to hold the club back further in the stance. While this feels retarded, it is actually a good alignment. From that point on I was able to feel my hips and hands releasing at impact and ripping the ball again. No more pain. Of course, this radical change to my address is not without it’s problems. Mainly, I now have a tendency to hit the ball a little right with the irons and even a bit of a slice with the driver. However, the ball is flying a lot better. In the middle of the session I had the 7 iron dialed in and was pouncing on the flag at 160 yards. Two strokes in a row I flew it inside 3 feet of the cup, took a big hop and stopped.
I also got back to the 65 yard money shot I had down earlier in the year. I’ve got that flying right on the target line every time and it’s just a matter of lengthening the shot for distance. (I worked on the Ernie Els “nipper” shot a few times and was only able to get it to work 3-4 times. A nipper is a shot that is hit like a very crisp and hard chip. It hits the green with a tremendous amount of backspin, hops once and stops. It’s awesome when it works but it’s like hitting a flop off the fairway. Pretty when it works but ugly if you hit it heavy.) I must have used over 100 balls on the little 65 yard shot alone.
One more day of practice and I’ll be ready to play again on Monday. It seems I’ve gotten past that embarrassment.
IN OTHER NEWS: I received my one book for grad school and have gotten a good run on it. I leave for Huntington in only 5 days.
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