I’ve continued to practice diligently, but with varied success…
…Tuesday went badly on the driving range at first, with lots of pulls left. After moving to the other practice area for some chipping in the zone (pictured above), I returned to hit another bucket of range balls a little better.
My Thursday practice though was dire. I actually gave in and left some range balls for the next person, because I just couldn’t hit them clean or in the right direction. I mostly pulled things left, but overcorrecting (grip, in particular, but who knows what I was doing in the end???) meant I started to scull them right as well. It was horrible. Upsetting. Embarassing. It was time to stop and do something more positive.
Thursday shocked me a bit, because I played ok on Wednesday in the competition. It took a lot of effort to scramble a score at times, but I managed! I didn’t wipe (ie not score points on) any hole. I have documented the whole round as personal notes for myself, with a brief analysis of each shot, good and… not so good. (I doubt I’ll share the notes here because that’s too much for anyone else to take, I think.)
Managing practice for positivity:
So… what did I do on Thursday? I could have just gone home and cried (seriously, I was a bit tired and pretty upset as I left those balls behind), but instead I went back to the zone to chip and pitch my way to something better.
As soon as I was there things improved. I could hit the ball again with a shorter backswing. My setup was rock solid. My interlock grip was working fine. I had the club in my fingers (not palms). I didn’t exaggerate the cover position of my right hand, but I made sure it was not under, but side-over at least.
I could hit balls to all three target pins in the chipping zone. I felt that I was still pulling the longer shots left though. There was now a side wind, pushing the ball there, but I could still feel the difference between shots I was hitting straight and the pulls. The practice session began to get… err… less than positive again.
Using the chipping zone differently for better focus and feedback
Although the chipping zone is designed to offer three targets at different distances, today my focus was on hitting the longer shots straight. I seemed to be finding it difficult to judge what was going on with my aim and the result of each shot, so I switched-up how I used the pins.
Instead of aiming at one, I used two pins as goal posts (the orange circle in the image above highlights two of the pins, although this photograph is from a different angle of attack than the one I was using).
This was really helpful. The aimpoint became a bit wider, but I was very clear on what I was trying to do. Practice got more fun. I was playing a game where I tried to hit as many goals as I could. These still aren’t full shots, but they are about 40m with my 56 degree wedge, so, erm, about 2/3rds of a full shot (ish). That’s enough for my hands and body to feel the new grip’s effect as I move from address, through back swing, impact and follow through.
I hit so many balls. Just small batches of around 10-12 max, with a walk to collect them in between. It was quiet (only about one or two other people around). I finally stopped when I hit 6 goals from 6 balls. That seemed positive enough to end the session.
Analysing what went wrong on the driving range:
As I drove home I also thought about why the driving range had been so difficult for me, because there were mitigating factors that it’s worth taking seriously:
- There was a strong head wind (gusty easterly), which was offputting and accentuated anything I did wrong (assisting the flight of balls off to the left for me in particular).
- The bays were positioned high and back today, so I was looking down onto the range from higher up than Tuesday, from a viewpoint that tends to promote the lefts in people with that tendency unless they look up to visualise their line higher. I wasn’t looking up! I was quickly demoralised, looking down the range and despairing as I just couldn’t hit anything well or at all straight.
- Someone I knew was there, plus two of the other coaches (ie not mine), so I quickly tightened up as I mishit so many balls (even when I just tried to chip/pitch without a full swing).
- The worse it got, I’m guessing, the more slumped I got. I also think I was so scared of hitting wayward balls that in the end I wasn’t really swinging freely at all. I was stopping the follow through in particular, just hoping not to have sent the ball somewhere… bad.
Look. There are things I could probably have done to improve matters. I did check my grip all the time. In the end I was probably exaggerating the cover position of my right hand too much. I tried to balance myself and stand up straighter, but it didn’t help and I wasn’t in the right headspace to persevere.
The driving range is usually ok when I’m having a lesson. My coach is there to see what I’m doing, reset the basics, keep me calm, get me to try things (sometimes silly things) that are helpful. On my own, well, it’s sometimes a different story.
Moving forward:
Before Friday competition play I am not going anywhere near the driving range! I will try to make time to hit a few chips/pitches though, because that will help dial in my setup and my grip. Then I’ll do some putting practice (and I’ve got a focus game for that too, which has really helped me feel like my time with the putter is well spent, more on that another time).
When I’m on course I’m going to keep it simple. Make sure the handle of each club is in my fingers, with my right hand comfortable as coverside as it can be, but not over exaggerated. I’m going to be positive about each shot - stand up, get my balance, go through my setup, hit the ball with intent - and then work with whatever the result.
Competition update (Friday 4 April)
My plan worked so well!
After a driving range disaster like Thursday it can be difficult to feel confident playing a competition round, but staying away from the range for my warmup and concentrating on getting my rhythm chipping, pitching and putting on Friday was an excellent idea.
Won the competition with 39 Stableford points (so played 3 shots better than my handicap). Best round of the year (in fact, best round of the last 6 months).
Stayed focused on shots, relaxed between shots, and made good course management decisions all round. The whole of my game was good, from tee to hole, in spite of the howling easterly. Used lower white tees for driving because of the wind, and that might be something I stick with for all my rounds for now. I was still hitting good, well-flighted shots, but without the big misses I’ve been getting with the higher blue tees in recent weeks (and a couple of times today when I tried them out).
