I have learned to be very grateful for each time I get out on the course and even more thankful for the times I get with my lady and the little guy. Yesterday afternoon we picked up our guy from school, and after homework, we all headed down to the local penny pinchers’ favorite: Furnace Bay Golf Course.
The course had just been cut and was in tremendous shape. The fairways were clean, the rough was grown out thick, and the greens were running fast. We played my standard twilight pattern to sneak in a few extra holes. I was starting on hole one, skipping to nine, and getting focused to tackle the back nine as a whole. There is no change in rate for twilight as far as nine holes or 18 holes goes, so I always make sure I stretch it as best as possible. Since we were starting just before 5 pm and it gets darker earlier now, I knew 18 was out of the conversation.
I went into this round with a very relaxed mindset; I even threw around the idea of not keeping score at all and just playing. My competitive side didn’t let that happen. My focus this round was to work on my early extension and contact with my short irons. Late my comfort club, my 8-iron, has been letting me down in big situations.
I have begun a few drills at home to help with these goals. The first was to grip my club, stand straight, holding the club in front of me, pointing toward the sky. From there, flop the club to the right with a very loose grip, holding that position, bend down into my golf posture. This drill puts the club in a closed position and simulates where the club should be in the downswing. From here, you clear your left hip and swing through. The second drill recreated the sensation of pulling the club handle down towards the target line at the start of my downswing. I spent a ton of time walking around the house making these motions or focusing on them while hitting practice balls in the yard.
While on the course, I was able to see the results of my efforts in parts of my game. My irons saw an immediate lift in performance, both in accuracy and in contact. My driver gained improvement in accuracy but no change in distance. I was still hitting the ball around 230 yards, while my 3wood was consistently at 210. Not the distance change I would expect with an 8-degree driver. The height of my drive remains an issue and stems directly from the earlier extension.
The numbers showcased the accuracy improvement, hitting five of eight fairways with my driver for an average distance of 209 yards. With Furnace Bay being a shorting golf course, this drive kept a short iron in my hand for almost every second shot. Three of my approach shots found the dance floor for greens in regulation, and the others landed close enough to chip. Looking back at the nine holes, I had a genuine opportunity for par on each hole; however, it’s not how things went.
I could only record a single “Up and Down,” which came on the last hole I played. I also recorded six two-putts and two three-putts. While most people are ok with two-putts making up the bulk of the on-green metrics, I must remind you that I was chipping from around the green on almost every hole that I didn’t hit in regulation. And sadly enough, one of my three-putts came on a par three where the ball found the green in regulation. You can see where my game fell apart.
I think this is where most golfers find themselves fixing one part of their game, only to have another need repairing. I left the course last night +6 over nine holes, with a ton of missed opportunities. The drills showed immediate results and didn’t require any extra time or travel from my day. I strongly recommend both of them to anyone struggling with their club position during contact or any early extension.
For me, I will be spending most of my time off the range and around the practice green. My chips need to be closer to the pin to push the idea of lowering my score. At this point, I have completely mastered the art of breaking 90; 80 still is evading me, but there is a little time left this season before it becomes a task for 2022.
