I took a small step back today in terms of results on a work-interrupted range session. I work in sales, and when a customer calls telling you they’re ready to sign paperwork, you drop what you’re doing and send them said paperwork. Unfortunately, this caused me to rush through my shots, only hitting 5 of each club, skipping my chipping session, and giving half my balls to a fellow golfer.
SW (+6): I shot 6 of 10 SW balls on target, hitting one left, one right (+2), blading one, and shanking one (+4). I was happy with the flight path my shots were taking, and had a bit more consistency in terms of how far I was hitting the ball on my good shots. I’ve noticed recently the distance varying between 55 and 90 yards depending on how I hit it, something that will not translate to positive results on the course. I will pay special attention to how open I’m leaving the club face, as I believe it is the reason for the shorter, higher shots.
GW (+6): I produced similar results with my GW, hitting 5 of 10 shots on target, pulling two left, pushing two right (+5), and blading one (+2). Like my SW, I was making good contact with high trajectory, but found myself tending to pull the ball to the left. I will continue to monitor this, as its quite possible I am setting up to the left which I tend to do on my longer irons as they have a bit of a fade, while I tend to hit my wedges and short irons straight. The two that I hit right were more of a push than ball movement.
PW (+5): I shot 6 of 10 PWs on target, pulling two left, pushing one right (+2), and hitting one off the toe (+2). Like my GW, I was hitting the ball with good trajectory, but even on my ‘on-target’ shots, had a tendency to be a bit left. Unlike the shots going right where I can feel my hands pushing the ball, I often find shots going left of the target on a straight line. This tells me either I’m aimed left, or my hands are getting ahead of the ball and I’m pulling it to the left. I will continue to monitor as accuracy with my short irons will lead to better approach shots, and lower scores.
9-iron (+4): my best club on the day, I hit 7 of 10 on target, pulled one to the left, one to the right (+2), and bladed one (+2). I was very happy with the distance and ball flight on my 9-irons, consistently hitting the ball 130 to 140 yards on-target. Through the first few weeks of practice and rounds, my 9-iron and 7-iron have been two of my more consistent clubs, a strength that I will look to build upon in future sessions.
Despite the shortened session, my results were about on par with what I’ve experienced in previous efforts at the range where I seem to have hit a plateau at around 60% of shots being on target. While of course I look forward to improving this number to 80%+, I could live with 60% if my missed shots were to the left or right, as opposed to being bladed, chunked, or hit off the toe. The challenge is that those 40% of missed shots are highly likely to be poorly hit and result in penalty strokes (4 of 16 today). If I’m going to improve my scores, and my enjoyment of the game of golf, these are the shots that I first need to focus on eliminating.
Breaking Ninety 