Range Blues

An update on the "progress" with golf is due. Pitching wedges was one of my favourite clubs. I used to hit the wedge confidently and more accurately and got a decent distance from it. Recently, after trying to fix my swing, hitting the wedge has been increasingly challenging. My suspicion is that I used a lot of wrists with my wedges. Wedges are more forgiving, and with the loft angle, you can make the ball hang in the air longer, but I used to get crazy left or right spins which I couldn't control.

After fixing my backswing recently, I tried to hit the wedges similar to my irons, and I have been struggling. I take three clubs to the range: a pitching wedge, seven iron and three wood. I start with the wedge and can only get in the groove after hitting about ten or fifteen golf balls. The first batch of balls is for unlearning and relearning the new swing. It is a challenge. Once I start hitting my wedges pure, I move on to seven irons, then move to three wood.

Middle of the week and I was at the range, finished my wedges, and noticed I was slicing a lot. I moved on to seven iron and hoped I got lucky. I hit like two dozen balls with an equal amount of thins and slices. My mind and body were tired of understanding what was going wrong. I still have a good part of the bucket left, and my mind was unwilling to cooperate to keep practicing.

I took a long pause and checked my heart rate. It was border-lining into the cardio territory. That typically means I needed to be thinking more clearly. I slowed my pace and took a stroll on the range. I returned, focused on the backswing, and kept my head low. I had a minor breakthrough in trying not to lift my head. Was I hitting well? I would say it was relatively better than my first spell, but I was slicing like crazy, so I need to work on improving my hands and have more of my right hand in play. I didn't quit, which was a win and survived another brutal round at driving range.