On my seventh consecutive day playing a round or hitting the range, my body finally asked for a break. Beginning on my first swing, I had some tightness in my lower back that I was never able to shake. With three rounds scheduled over the weekend, I didn’t want to push too hard, so I hit fewer balls than normal, and focused on good form and light swings. Unfortunately even with this reduced power strategy, my left-to-right ball action from the day prior returned which was a major reason for my lack of consistency in results.
PW (+2): by far my best club on the day, it seems my PW responded best to the days lighter swings, hitting 8 of 10 on target, pulling just one to the left (+1) and pushing one to the right (+1). I was very encouraged that my PW was well struck on the day, as with this weekends Texas Scramble format on days 1 and 2, I will have an opportunity to hit more short irons into the green than usual which should bode well for my score provided I can make good wedge shots.
7-iron (+10): I hit 11 of 20 shots on target with my 7-iron, pulling one to the left (+1), pushing seven to the right (+7), and blading one (+2). I once again had a very pronounced left-to-right ball flight, and only towards the end of the session was I able to adjust my alignment accordingly to hit the ball on target consistently. I’m not sure what has changed in my swing, but that marks three consecutive range sessions where my long iron flight path is significantly left to right.
6-iron (+10): I hit 11 of 20 shots on target with my 6-iron, pulling one to the left (+1), pushing five to the right (+5), and blading two (+4). As referenced above, my flight bath has become more left-to-right with my long irons, something that I’ll either need to work out on the range, or work into my shot selection on the course.
5-iron (+12): I hit 10 of 20 shots on target with my 5-iron, pulling two to the left (+2), pushing six to the right (+6), and blading two (+4). As with the clubs mentioned above, I had significant left-to-right ball movement that I had to incorporate into my alignment, tending to miss right far more often than left.
Overall, it wasn’t the confidence-inspiring session that I was hoping for heading into the weekend. That said, I am attributing my poor performance more to my sore back than anything else, so I will take tomorrow off to recover, and look to get back to my old habits on the course this weekend, not putting too much stock into the new ball flight that I’ve recently began to see.
Breaking Ninety 