a whole new world
100 yards. 300 feet from the pin, 3600 inches, 2,142 times the diameter of a golf ball. That’s the distance that we’re hitting to today.
After my last lesson with Christopher Smith we decided that in order to keep things fresh and maintain a good challenge point it would be appropriate to start into full swings. I’m still using the same three clubs (putter, 56 degree wedge and pitching wedge) so 100-120 yards is about where I max out with them, but this allows for doubling the distance I was hitting to previously. I’m not, of course, just hitting from 100 yards, but it is a new element to my daily practice.
Along with adding the full-swing to the repertoire, CS and I decided that for the next few months of rainy spring it would be good to bump up the time I am actually on a course to about 50-70 percent of my practice. This is an ever changing number that needs to be malleable to stay engaged and challenged, so will probably be different when summer hits, but for now I’m excited about spending more time on courses themselves. One downer about that, though, is that courses cost money and the last time I checked that was not something The Dan Plan had lots of, so on the suggestion of Dr. Mark Guadagnoli I am going to put together a proposal letter to send around to every course within 500 miles to see if they will let me play and train for a couple days in exchange for talking about their course on the blog. Hopefully some people will bite with at least a discounted rate (especially in the off season), but we will see.
Heron Lakes has two great courses for the time being and I will be out there as much as possible.
As far as playing goes, I’m not just playing from 100 yards, but each time I got out I play 9 holes from 50 yards, 9 from 75 yards and 9 from 100 yards. On my first adventure I had a few good and bad shots, this one below was probably the best shot of my young career:
It’s a bit hard to see the flag, but from 100 yards out and over a body of water, I plunked it to three feet from the hole and one-putted for my first 100 yard birdie. This is why we keep coming back. 
My scores reflected the distances some, but for my first round I played best from 75 yards.
50 yards: 29 (par is 27 for all of these 9 hole games)
75 yards: 28
100 yards: 32
I hit a couple hazards on the 100 yard. My contact is getting very solid, but I could definitely work on distance control and aim and that is exactly what I’m doing on the driving range:
not the most exciting picture by any means, but it was an exciting time: the first time I practiced on a driving range. Before this, I was always at distances where I could use chipping or pitching areas, now I get to actually hit the ball.
My new goal: get my 100 yard holes to under par for the round and then I can pick up an 8 iron.