Range Report

I'm working on figuring out what I do differently at the range than on the course.

I also saw a video on youtube that talked about the major difference between ams and pros.  Which was that pros use their hips differently than even very good ams.  Basically they are quieter and do not have much lateral movement particularly in the back swing.  The ams on the other hand, push the hips back along the target line, the forward, causing the head / chest to teeter-totter about twice what a pro does.  I' talking angle to the target line here.


I was going to go to the range then play today, but ended up just ranging it. 

I tried to keep my hips quiet and fairly stationary.  I let them turn and such, but made sure there was no lateral shift on the back swing.  I don't have problems with irons at the course, so there is a good chance I do the right thing a lot.  My irons are not very long these days, but they are very straight.  If I'm not swinging at them well, I can't be too far off either.

As I kept the hips centered, it kept me over the ball and I was able to hit everything well.  When I say I hit everything well, I'm talking about 2 misses out of 100 balls.  I think I topped one shot and sliced one, otherwise off they went.

I'd like to think I've got the key to the difference, but it ain't over until we test it a bit. 

This brings to mind a round down in Albuquerque where I was kind of bunting the drives along and hit them very solidly.  I couldn't understand it and I've not recaptured it since. 

I talked to Sonny again a bit today too as he was coming in to do some teaching.  We concurred on the thoughts above. 

I'm guessing that when I feel I need to hit it a long way, then comes the over-backswing and then I'm stuck and will early extend and flip the hands. 

Sonny also thought that a big difference between ams and pros was that for ams the swing is a Ferris wheel and for pros it's more a carousel.  I thought there wasn't much difference between the two, but I can see the carousel being more of a flatter shoulder swing and more powerful than trying to spin the arms in front of you.

I'll play with that next and see if it revives some distance.

OK, off to Southern California tomorrow and some golf on Saturday.