Working it out in the dirt

Just back from a late lunch time at my other office the PnP.

Earlier I had been thinking about swing plane and why I swing through flat left and why I sometimes over balance forward.

Swinging a club in practice with no ball I started by trying to keep better balance and making my arms naturally release more down the line than inside the line. I found that the way to make my arms naturally release more down the target line was making my left hip turn a  touch more aggressive and getting my weight to finish over my left heal on a straight left knee rather than on the ball of my left foot. It really counteracted my tendency to lean to much forward in the follow through and as a consequence felt like my arms were thrown out a little but the best thing was a feeling of much better balance.

I took this to the practice area and started off chipping, then pitching until I worked up to a full 7 iron.

Who knows if my timing was just good today of if I really have found a solution that will last? All I know is I don’t think I ever hit the ball better than today, my divots were much straighter, even had two that pointed a touch right. The ball was finding the middle of the club face and the ball flight was generally really straight, no shots with a lot of fade and no pulls even with my 54 degree wedge which always pulls normally. It was just a really fun ball striking session; I hope that I can replicate it next practice time.

I’m really starting to feel confident about how I’m going to play this coming year. One things for sure, getting off the range matts and onto the real grass is the best thing I could possibly have done for confidence in my play, you need to see the divot in the dirt!

No shanks thanks!

Today I spent a couple of hours at the pitch n putt course, which has become my practice ground, and where my emotions swung from despair to delight.

I went to practice my pitching distance control but in the event it turned into a technique session.

The first half of the story was all about the despair, because almost as soon as I started, I had a monster dose of the shanks, just like I had last year early in the season. I spent a considerable time trying different things to shake them but they got steadily worse and I was in the pit of depression and on the brink of giving up for the day when my mood turned to anger and then determination to figure out what I was doing wrong.

It felt like my back swing was getting quite armsy and then as I began the down swing I was lifting out of the shot a little, this meant that my right hip was in the way a bit and forced my arms out a touch in turn throwing the shank towards the ball.

So I tried one last thing; bending a little more at the waist and really rotating my shoulders back instead of my arms, then rotating through while staying bent at the waist. Basically really concentrating on keeping my spine angle.

I won't say that I found the ultimate answer, but it worked a treat today and I then spent an absolutely awesome hour hitting shot after solid shot with amazing distance control. I felt that taking the arms out of the swing and keeping my spine angle gave me perfect contact with the ball and made it just so simple to control the distance. 20 yard chip, 40 yard pitch, 80 yard pitch it made no difference, ball after ball the same distance and all really tightly dispersed. It was by far the best pitching I have ever managed and not a hint of neckiness in any of the shots.

I would have stayed till dark if I had not got a call to return home and sort out a PC problem for my wife. Not sure I have ever gone from such dejection to such satisfaction in one golf session.

I can't wait to get another chance to get out there and try and replicate the new pitching technique.