Perhaps now I think I like this strange little game called golf. Not that I have game, yet.
See, for a while now I have made a weekly trip to the driving ranges to develop my swing. Disgustingly frustrating, as it turns out. I have had a decent iron shot, but no consistency there. I can drive a ball with the long stick harder into the ground than just about anyone else. Worst of all, switching between the two, I go from a decent iron shot to NO ability off the tee with a driver, to NO ability with the irons. I had all but sworn off ever hitting with a driver again.
So I started blaming the technology. Old wooden drivers. Sure there’s family sentimentality involved there, but my swing was putting plenty of wear and tear on those. So I dropped into a used golf supply store and got an oversized metal driver for cheap. I was feeling good, even, because they let me hit a few balls with it into a net to get a feel for the club. It made a good sound, so I thought I had found the solution.
What I found, apparently, was a way to hit balls even harder into the ground. No good at all. On the verge of swearing off golf altogether - can’t play the game if you can’t even hit the ball. Can’t have game without swing.
So now I think I am every golf pro’s worst nightmare. I went online and found some hints and tips and suggestions, and put them to use. End result - I go through a 2 minute checklist of things when setting up. Any time I try to eliminate the checklist ends in disaster, but when I slow down and concentrate, I can actually drive the ball. It even works on my irons! Most exciting of all, out of every 6 or 7 drives, one is dead straight. Otherwise I’ve got a nasty fade (we’re talking 50 or 60 yards right of center, here), but my straight shots are falling 200-225 yards with dead range balls. I even smacked a 250 yard drive towards the end of my day last week.
So am I bragging? Sure, I’m starting to develop a swing. Next step is consistency off the tee and with the irons. Then I have to develop a game - that is, hitting the ball where I want it, not just as far as it’ll go. That takes touch, which is really the key to all this. Good luck doing that.
