You may remember (or not), I put clubs away after a horrendous practice session about 2 months ago. This past Saturday, it was 24* at 7:30AM, cloudy, damp with a bit of a breeze. What the heck, I'll give it a go...
Actually, I decided to go since I have that TaylorMade Fitting Experience next week at the PGA store and didn't really want to go in there absolutely cold (so to speak). Heated Stalls so I'm usually either in shirt sleeves or thermal shirt- it's 24*, I will make SOME concessions. And the balls are kept in the dispensing machines that are indoors, so they don't turn to rocks.
No expectations- only thought was on the right grip- I had become a bit to "palmy" instead of "fingery". Worked on that before the meltdown. Put a ball down, take grip, take the stance look at my target about 6 ft down the line and swing. Just Irons for the first bucket. Couple of 'Mat hooks' while getting warmed up. As usual, I would go through shot routine- behind the ball, look at far target, pick out a close target(same one all the time, it's a range), one breath, and swing. Things were looking up... (not me, I kept my head down like the tell you) But it wasn't really the irons giving me trouble in the first place.
Second bucket and moving on the the Driver eventually didn't start out too promising. Now- playing for as long as I have and being pretty decent driver of the ball in length and accuracy at my peak, I pushed out all the "new" stuff that I started thinking about and imagining my 30 year old self going to the range. Switch 'on". I had my own style, hands not too high or too low, but kind of higher than they would teach now, kind of like the Moe Norman/BdC style one plane thing (at least on the takeaway), a flatter style backswing that didn't go quite to parallel, then dropping into the slot on the downswing. A pure swing made for a bullet draw with roll. But my one thought I had back then was a small movement of my left knee toward the target JUST before reaching the apex of the backswing. I found that this created more of a coil without going all the way back, either with a full shoulder turn or cocking the club at the top. Left knee would then bring the hip, trunk, shoulders, etc.. around. More "potential" energy for the physics majors out there.
I found that the grip was different too, less fingery but not too palmy. It started to feel more familiar once I started to put it all together. A bit wider stance, ball off the front foot, etc... May have been familiar but wasn't there yet since I was going at a less than 70% just to groove things along. Eventually, consistency of strike was a WHOLE lot better once I began giving it normal effort. I also did a slight loft change and weight move for a bit more forgiveness on the strike. No bullet draws anymore anyway with the new club technology, more of a medium high draw these days. Since misses were closer to the middle than previous session, misses were less discouraging.
Went back again on Sunday (a balmy 35*!) for the normal working through all the clubs. Same deal- no thoughts, just routine and swing. by the time I got to the driver, as far as I'm concerned it was back(ish). Felt better, and results were getting better as time went on.
So next week, I'll book a station at the PGA Superstore for a practice session before the fitting, and hopefully be ready to go. And with any luck, there might be a new driver in the bag if I can get enough on a trade for the M1. And in a month, more courses should start opening up around here depending on the weather and I'll be ready to go.
Actually, I decided to go since I have that TaylorMade Fitting Experience next week at the PGA store and didn't really want to go in there absolutely cold (so to speak). Heated Stalls so I'm usually either in shirt sleeves or thermal shirt- it's 24*, I will make SOME concessions. And the balls are kept in the dispensing machines that are indoors, so they don't turn to rocks.
No expectations- only thought was on the right grip- I had become a bit to "palmy" instead of "fingery". Worked on that before the meltdown. Put a ball down, take grip, take the stance look at my target about 6 ft down the line and swing. Just Irons for the first bucket. Couple of 'Mat hooks' while getting warmed up. As usual, I would go through shot routine- behind the ball, look at far target, pick out a close target(same one all the time, it's a range), one breath, and swing. Things were looking up... (not me, I kept my head down like the tell you) But it wasn't really the irons giving me trouble in the first place.
Second bucket and moving on the the Driver eventually didn't start out too promising. Now- playing for as long as I have and being pretty decent driver of the ball in length and accuracy at my peak, I pushed out all the "new" stuff that I started thinking about and imagining my 30 year old self going to the range. Switch 'on". I had my own style, hands not too high or too low, but kind of higher than they would teach now, kind of like the Moe Norman/BdC style one plane thing (at least on the takeaway), a flatter style backswing that didn't go quite to parallel, then dropping into the slot on the downswing. A pure swing made for a bullet draw with roll. But my one thought I had back then was a small movement of my left knee toward the target JUST before reaching the apex of the backswing. I found that this created more of a coil without going all the way back, either with a full shoulder turn or cocking the club at the top. Left knee would then bring the hip, trunk, shoulders, etc.. around. More "potential" energy for the physics majors out there.
I found that the grip was different too, less fingery but not too palmy. It started to feel more familiar once I started to put it all together. A bit wider stance, ball off the front foot, etc... May have been familiar but wasn't there yet since I was going at a less than 70% just to groove things along. Eventually, consistency of strike was a WHOLE lot better once I began giving it normal effort. I also did a slight loft change and weight move for a bit more forgiveness on the strike. No bullet draws anymore anyway with the new club technology, more of a medium high draw these days. Since misses were closer to the middle than previous session, misses were less discouraging.
Went back again on Sunday (a balmy 35*!) for the normal working through all the clubs. Same deal- no thoughts, just routine and swing. by the time I got to the driver, as far as I'm concerned it was back(ish). Felt better, and results were getting better as time went on.
So next week, I'll book a station at the PGA Superstore for a practice session before the fitting, and hopefully be ready to go. And with any luck, there might be a new driver in the bag if I can get enough on a trade for the M1. And in a month, more courses should start opening up around here depending on the weather and I'll be ready to go.
