An interesting two days

I've gotten back from the UK and it took a few rounds to get back to my "tap in pars" game.

Thursday and Friday we started early and by the turn I was hitting on most cylinders.  I shot one over on each of the back nines.  Since I started on the front Friday and the back Thursday, I can claim that I was able to handle most of what the course had to offer.

Well, there is one caveat there, we played the forward tees Friday, which makes the course about 3 strokes easier for me as a couple of possible bogey holes become short iron birdie opportunities.

But still, one must hit the greens and putt reasonably.

The greens have had some problems recently.  They got too wet, then the weather turned really hot and it looks like the greens caught a fungus or something.  Putting was difficult as greens had uneven speed and could be pretty patchy as to surface conditions.

They reseeded the chipping green completely.  Interesting that they decided they couldn't rescue it with extra care.


One other swing thought and ability came to me in the back round today.  There is a lot of talk about pulling the club down and not pulling it towards the ball.  Something that doesn't make a lot of sense as the arms should just walk the club handle around.

I also watched one of the "gear" videos where they talked about hand speed in various parts of the swing.  Interesting is that the maximum speed of the hands is at about hip high on the down swing.  Oh, you don't try to slow down, but the club is coming out of alignment with the swing path and energy is moving outward and slowing the hands. 

The pro golfer they had measured had a maximum hand speed of about 23 MPH and it slowed to about 12 MPH as the transfer took place.  The club maxed out at 123 MPH -- there was about a 5 to one mechanical advantage in speed from the hands to the club head.

What I found I could do was to actually pull down the club and not instigate any motion towards to the ball.  It felt weird as I think I like to torque my body towards the ball and ruin my setup and alignment.  This new method seemed quite neutral and balanced.

I think this is very useful as it keeps me behind the ball and that allows for a more solid ball contact and better balance when the smoke has cleared.

I only about 5 shots with this, but they were all keepers. 

So I'll continue to test this.  It solves a lot of my problems if it's the proper thing to do.

I thought I might do an end of year equipment review.  I haven't bought that much, but I've formed the odd opinion about a lot of what I'm using.