Well, It Was a Thought

So I'm hitting balls today.  I got the "happy" bucket, 150 balls.  I thought that I'd figured it out.  When I'm hitting at the range, where I don't miss drives, I don't use much lower body drive.  It just feels like a shoulder turn back into the ball.

Of course to test this, I have to turn on a large body motion and see if I can replicate the bad strikes I see 80% of the time on the course.

Well, of course, I find I can hit the ball very nicely with a large lower body motion too.  Not only that, it seems that the speed is up.

As the smoke clears and red tailed hawk cries above the range, I'm right back where I started.  I can hit them like a minor deity on the range and like a beginner on the course.

Well, I still have the short irons!


I was also playing around with an early wrist cock in the back swing.  I'm not sure how cocked they get normally.  The sound of the strike was pretty good. 

Walt, an earlier teacher, advocated an early cock, then just a shoulder turn to complete the backswing.

If I ever write the golf book, one of the lines is: "everything a pro has told you is probably true."

I must wind this up with the promise of additional research down the line.  Or maybe I'll just start to hit it ok on the course and then I'll move on to getting more club head speed. 

I've bought a monthly pass for November on the 10th, so I've got to play a lot to get my money's worth out of it.  I'm sure I'll have a few things to report.

I had kind of a strange 9 holes on Friday.  The front was the normal for my current golf.  Then on the back, it's an up and down at 10, same at 11.  A simple 2 putt par on 12.  Then I hit it to within one foot on 13 from 175 yards for a tap in birdie.  Another GIR on 14, which is kind of a long hole for me, but I'm putting with excellent speed and keeping the two putts in the trivial range and manage another par.  I kill a hybrid into 15 and two putt.  An ok drive and short iron turns 16 into an easy par.  Along about this time I realize I'm under par for the 9 and rolling along.

17 is another ok drive, with a reasonable iron and two putt.

Then 18, which is a shortish par 5.  I semi-top the drive, but it's straight and long enough.  I semi top a three wood, which is also straight and reasonable distance, so it's wedge in and a two putt for a one under par 9 holes.  This hasn't happened for a bit, but it feels pretty good.  No bogies and a bird, which is nice consistent golf for recreational golfer.

Then off to Costco for a Polish sausage - hot and tasty!  What could improve on all of this but a nice afternoon nap!