24/1/12 Tuesday. Back on the driving range this morning with the p/w and the 5 iron from the AP2 set and the old 4 iron from the cavity back set I used last season. It had been something considered for a couple of weeks and after the round on Sunday I wanted to get out and put the idea that distance has been gained. The old 4 iron was something that had been eclipsed distance wise previously with the new AP2 5 iron. I am a believer that the your golf technique, is more effective than having the newest equipment, when it comes to playing good golf in general.
The tale that has been said before by me in my writing and many have heard various variations of it. Where a club pro has a golfer say he must get the latest driver touted to be able to fix all woes and send the ball 20 metres further to play better. The Pro gets an old persimmon wood out and cracks the ball straight and 250m down the fairway in response, then says to the golfer that no matter what new equipment you get that is still not going to have you hitting the ball like that.
Today the 5 iron was sending the ball longer that before and straight, after 20 balls I changed to the old 4 iron after another 20 balls the ball was going 5-10m further than the new 5 iron. After 7 holes this morning the weather cooled down a bit and after a quick repack of the bag I went out for 9 holes with the old irons. Scored five bogies and four pars in the trial once again the short irons were significantly longer. That was one of the reasons behind this experiment, it had been a noticeable with this set that hitting distances were very restricted with the 7-PW. Now with the corrected and much improved stance the short irons have gained in distance during a round after the driving range experience this morning.
Once again the Driver off the tee has been the standout even cracked a couple of 250m shots off the tee and a couple of 230m drives as well. Those results are confirmation that this club has also benefited significantly from the coaching. A lot of work to be put in yet though, the accuraccy is going to need a dedicated series of practise sessions to reach an acceptable standard. To have flirted and been teased by the distance possible with clubs for so long there is finally some credibility in my claim of being able to hit longer.
23/1/12 Monday. This year there has been a significant difference with the 7-PW irons gaining distance following the coaching changes and the usual exercise routines in the training program. Having long distance from these clubs is not a usual feature of my game. The 9 and PW are irons which I rarely use outside of 80m are now working at 120m. This was not a good thing for yesterday as I was belting the balls from inside 80m way past the greens and that was the cause of three wipes. Would not have been so bad except this threw my short game chipping and I ended up hitting these shots short all day. Nothing more than a confidence issue on the day and not of any import with the overall progress.
It is a common thread to read and hear when golfers get a new club or have a coaching session that they have gained significant distance with shots. With me as an average hitter of the ball when it comes to distance to make the observation is no small matter for my game. Each year since 2010 at this time I have been dedicated to my pre-Tournament training and the results never become apparent until the last couple of weeks. So scoring 29 points with 16 (2 wipes) on the front 9 and 13 (2 wipes) on the back nine was not a concern.
What did matter was the influence that the coaching and practise had upon the way I played. The overshooting of three greens was the crux of the poor score. The chipping fell apart as my confidence was non existent after the shock of seeing PW and 9 iron shots fly over the green. This was in tandem with adding a SW to my bag and practising with this as my go to club for chipping instead of a 60 degree Wedge all week. There is a very good reason why I am not concerned about the result considering the amount of practise and coaching of late. Checking back to my results at the same time while doing the Southern ports preparation in 2010 and 2011 the golf scores were on par with last Sunday.
Off the tee the driver was a delight to hit and use, even so there was a couple of poor shots played. The sweetness of the impact on the ball made all the recent practise worth every minute and the distance was consistent at the 220 metre mark minimum.
Thankyou for your time and attention. “Hit ‘em straight all.” Geoff
