A (frozen) fistful of progress...

Yesterday. Cold, wet, dejected yet strangely feeling rather positive. Fast forward to the present and I am actually feeling even better about how yesterday went. The hybrid was confined to the bag for the entire round after a rather disastrous snap hook on the first tee. The 3 wood never made it out. But that's a good thing in a way as I was striking all my irons really sweetly. I hit 4 iron off most tees and though I struggled a little with a bit of a pull I more often than not found myself in the first cut of rough on the left hand side of the fairway. That was positive number one. Iron striking with warm(ish) hands was consistent and solid.

The second area of improvement was my grip. My new method of applying the grip meant that the club felt like an extension of my body, it was natural and apart from a wind assisted slice on the 4th my ball flight and control was strong, albeit slightly left of target on occasion. This will make my pro happy who doesn't mind if I am consistently missing slightly left of target. Something about phase two of my development and flatter swing plane. Here's hoping that will also cure my ills with the longer clubs!

Point three: temperament. Now this I have really struggled with in the past and often I have allowed a poor shot to completely derail my round. Despite the awful conditions I had got off to a flying start, 22 points from the first 10 holes. Cold hands and a weak tee shot found water on 11 and I never recovered, blob. Having hit two solid shots on 12 the curse of the cold hands struck again and an almost air shot, just nibbled the top of the ball, and a nasty thin contirbuted to putting me behind a gorse bush for 5. Managed to lob it over and just missed making a single putt. 1 point. Battled the elements for 4 points from next two holes, blobbed and then got five points from last three holes. Would have been six if it hadn't been for the lake on 17th green. Normally my round would have disintegrated.

33 putts shows that I am starting to get better with the flatstick though there is still clearly room for improvement, which in itself is a positive. I holed quite a few in that 6-10 foot range yesterday and walked off with five single putts. As my chipping gets better I should give myself more opportunities to one putt.

Which leaves me to finish on my final high which was pitching. Now in the past my game has been hampered by fats, thins, tops, and weak slices when I've been 80-100 yards from the green. My distance knowledge is getting much better and more often than not I am choosing the right club, partial swing AND executing the shot. Now I am not knocking them stiff yet but as my swing improves and directional control gets better I hope to be closer to the hole as I am nearly always pin high or thereabouts.

So despite the soaking and disappointing back nine I am extremely cheery about the direction my game is going. The significant amount of time I have spent on course is definitely helping. Much more than time spent on the range. A brilliant example of this came on our 12th hole. Off the whites you hit your tee shot from behind a bank of gorse and cannot see the fairway. I am notoriously bad at not knowing where my tee shot has gone, unless I've sclaffed it three feet!!! My apologetic playing partner said he'd lost it. It's ok I chirped back I know exactly where it is. In fact I knew where each and every one of my tee shots went yesterday and here is why. When I first started playing a few practice holes on my own I was constantly lifting my head up to search for the ball. Invariably I'd lift it early, ruin my through swing and see my ball arcing into trouble or out of bounds.  So I decided on a different tactic. Concentrate on where you want to put the ball, trust that your swing will put it there and execute your swing trying to keep your eyes transfixed on where the ball is/was for as long as possible. Naturally your follow through will bring your head up back to the point you were aiming at and more often than not your ball will be heading in that direction. I have always tried to visualise, but most importantly now I trust my swing to put the ball there. This is something I would never have done on the range. Practicing on the course is simply a far superior way to improve your technique!