Drills and hitting balls.

I decided on going to the range today and probably will be using it a lot more in the short term, despite my dislike of hitting from the mats. Right now I have to concentrate on drills to groove specific swing motions and repeat them time and again, not caring where the ball ends up to much, just how it flies. At the pitch n’ putt, I can only hit 5 maybe 10 balls, before I have to go find them and you end up trying to remember where the balls ended rather than what you’re supposed to be doing. Also, now I’m coming into the ball from the inside the impact on the range mat is less jarring on my elbow; anyway, at this time it feels like the right place to practice.

I have a list of drills to work though, well two lists actually, an inside list and an outside list. The first is doing positional stuff like grip and set up, takeaway that I can do at home. The second list has those drills that require space or a ball to be hit.

So on the range I think I made a break through by figuring something out to do with how my hips move. I have always had a straight right leg at the top of my backswing. Watching a down the line video last night of Zach Johnson I noticed that his hips move differently to mine. Whereas I move my right hip back from where it is at address, he moved his left hip in and his right hip stayed fairly static, certainly did not push backwards away from the ball like I was doing. When I checked other pro’s on video they were all the same. Although the right hip seems like it is moving back away from the ball, in fact it is not. When I copied that move with my hips, bingo! Right knee flex was maintained.

Today I tested it on the range and it does make a difference, I could use the right leg as a spring board to get over into my left side for the first time. I have no idea why it has taken me so long to figure this out but it just makes the whole down swing work more freely.

I worked mainly on wedges and on the drills I have been shown, I’m pleased to say I was killing it with my short clubs today. Solid long hits (even on half swings), It’s no exaggeration to say that today I hit my pitching wedge as far as I normally hit an 8 iron. I’m going to continue to work on getting that solid strike and leverage, moving onto my mid irons and eventually all clubs.

Exciting times for me.