New Year, New Bad Habits
18/01/08 15:30 Filed in: My Rounds
I've been a golfer since my teen years, which was a
long, long time ago. In all those years, my problems
off the tee have usually involved trees or water
along the right side of the fairway. In other words,
I've always bee a slicer. My tee shots, even when
they started of straight, would usually go right. On
good days this might be a gradual drift to the right.
On bad days my ball would be ricocheting off rooftops
2 blocks to the right of the fairway.
Toward the end of last year, I finally decided to tackle this problem. A few tweaks to my grip, adjustments on my head alignment and changes in my backswing, and I was starting to feel pretty good about myself. There were actually 2 of 3 round in December when my "fairways hit" percentage skyrocketed (for me) well over 50 percent. I thought, "why did I wait so long to correct this problem?" I dreamed of the idealic future that awaited me on the golf course: long rolls down the fairway after my perfectly stroked power draw tee shots landed, no more second shots from the boondocks on par 4 lefthand doglegs, etc. I would surely achieve my goal of shooting in the 70's within a month or two of the new year! Just a little more tweaking . . .
I stepped up to the first tee at New Smyrna on New Year's day 2008 to hit my first drive of the year. I ran through my new preswing checklist: Grip a tough on the strong side, club head a teeny bit hooded, slow, low takeaway into a more horizontal backswing. I made solid contact and my ball shot tee, landing about 30 yards left of the fairway. "Wow!", I thought, "That was weird!" In my 30 plus years of golf, rarely have I had to glance left to see where my drive had landed.
As the round progressed, it became evident that this would be a pattern for the day: Drive-trouble left.
Not only did the problem carry into the next round of '08, it also continued to worsen! I was now consistently hitting my second shots from the left rough and ever closer to the tee. Uh-oh.
Time to backpedal. Weaken the grip! Open the stance! Open the clubface! : DRIVE-TROUBLE LEFT!
So as the new year begins, I now have a brand new bad habit to work my way out of. It'd be kind of nice to hit a nice fade once in a while!
Toward the end of last year, I finally decided to tackle this problem. A few tweaks to my grip, adjustments on my head alignment and changes in my backswing, and I was starting to feel pretty good about myself. There were actually 2 of 3 round in December when my "fairways hit" percentage skyrocketed (for me) well over 50 percent. I thought, "why did I wait so long to correct this problem?" I dreamed of the idealic future that awaited me on the golf course: long rolls down the fairway after my perfectly stroked power draw tee shots landed, no more second shots from the boondocks on par 4 lefthand doglegs, etc. I would surely achieve my goal of shooting in the 70's within a month or two of the new year! Just a little more tweaking . . .
I stepped up to the first tee at New Smyrna on New Year's day 2008 to hit my first drive of the year. I ran through my new preswing checklist: Grip a tough on the strong side, club head a teeny bit hooded, slow, low takeaway into a more horizontal backswing. I made solid contact and my ball shot tee, landing about 30 yards left of the fairway. "Wow!", I thought, "That was weird!" In my 30 plus years of golf, rarely have I had to glance left to see where my drive had landed.
As the round progressed, it became evident that this would be a pattern for the day: Drive-trouble left.
Not only did the problem carry into the next round of '08, it also continued to worsen! I was now consistently hitting my second shots from the left rough and ever closer to the tee. Uh-oh.
Time to backpedal. Weaken the grip! Open the stance! Open the clubface! : DRIVE-TROUBLE LEFT!
So as the new year begins, I now have a brand new bad habit to work my way out of. It'd be kind of nice to hit a nice fade once in a while!
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