A breakthrough each day

Seems that there is at least one major breakthrough a day during these early times.  Yesterday it was that if I kept my wrists solid (ie. don’t bend them during the swing) I have a stronger chance of making consecutive shots.  I also learned yesterday that (and this one is a duh, but everything is new and is a discovery in a way) if I hit the ball with the club face as straight as possible, the ball will in turn go straight.  Those two things helped push up my consistency in both the ten foot putting game and the three foot putting wheel game, which is pretty much everything I am doing at this point.

Today I was a bit surprised by what I learned.  I found that by shutting my eyes just before I hit the ball and keeping them closed for the entire swing, I am actually more accurate.  I thought it was a fluke, so measured ten shots with my eyes open and ten with my eyes closed and the results were as I thought, I was actually more accurate with my eyes closed.

My thoughts are that this is due to two things:

First, when my eyes are shut, I trust the line that my practice swing was on and am, by feel alone, recreating that swing.  When I am looking at the ball, I have a feeling that I make minor last second “corrections” just before hitting the ball, but when not looking, I can only go by feel.  Good news is, my gut is correct in taking aim.  bad news, it would be a bit strange to learn how to putt blindfolded.  I’ll have to talk to coach about this one tomorrow.

Second contributor to this is that I really concentrate on swinging perfectly when my eyes are closed.  When I am looking, I think that I focus more on the ball than on the swing.  I think this is a good sign too, just have to really get to trust my swing and stop thinking about every tiny movement that I see..

It was a good day.  spent about 6.5 hours out there and got a workout in between sessions.  Tomorrow we head back out to Pumpkin Ridge to have another lesson with coach.  Should be good.