Tuesday, July 09, 2013

New Driver in the bag, now more practise...

This morning the latest driver for my bag arrived. Purely functional and a club that I am comfortable with. A Cleveland SL290, 460cc with 10.5 degree loft and 43g Regular flex shaft, previously using a 310 version (440cc) with a voodoo stiff flex shaft and moving that on as it was too stiff to be consistent with. Managed to get my labours all done and dusted in the main by noon and headed to the range to hit some balls. Using it in tandem with the Toskii 400cc driver for comparison. The first insinct on the range was to hit the ball too hard and I let this pass and at the same time was quite satisfied with the results. Sprayed the ball and the slices were not too bad although would have been disaster in a round to be that wayward. It was all about getting the feel of the new driver and how the ball behaved when hit either well or badly. Once loosened up I headed off to get some work done before returning to the club later and playing nine holes. Very satisfied with the 38 off the stick in the nine hole round with two double bogeys all from poor club choice when chipping and using the putter off the green. Something that would not be done in a competition round but good to experiment with low percentage shots in practise. Off the tee was excellent if a little too much height with several drives.Keeping that in mind I returned to the course a couple of hours later and gave the Cleveland another workout. Putting my observations to the test with changing my set up posture and adjusting the take away. That got the ball trajectory lower and added 10-15 metres to the driver shot off the tee. Nothing spectacular dear readers only reaching 220 metres with accuracy and ease, which is the minimum I want off the tee. More practise is going to be the key of course and that is not a problem. Having settled into the ;swing: with the new driver, knowing what is to be established for the best return. Now it is time to get the putting up a few points in accuracy. My game is travelling well at the minute and that is from steady and regular practise. I am still chasing the elusive single figure target and to do so have to shave off a few more strokes. Greens in regulation is the first goal that has been attacked for improvement and is improving still. Chipping is okay, putting still is marred by the occasional c@ck up. Then the fitness level is under attack to improve as well, more stamina means less errors caused from tired efforts. Thank you for your time and attention. hit the ball, find the ball, hit the ball. Geoff