reflections upon the end of a great week

There is no telling what a week is going to be like when you look forward on a Sunday.  Last Sunday it was really the end of a terrible week and I was just hoping that this one wouldn’t be anything like the previous, but had no reason to believe that it would differ.  But, now that it’s Friday and I’m officially “off” for the weekend, I can safely say that it was one of the best weeks of training yet!  Perhaps it was because I got to start practicing a new skill set in pitching, or perhaps it is just because my energy levels and diet were better, but whatever the reasons, i’m real glad to have gotten in a great week after the past couple.

I met with Christopher (CS) yesterday for a second “swing” lesson out at Pumpkin and it was good to see him and get some mid-week lessons in.  I now have five swing thoughts that I am working on with my pitching wedge.  First off, I need to follow the ball immediately with my eyes, which is different than putting where you want a steady head as you swing through.  Secondly, I need to make the appropriate angle with my swing, it’s kind of like a mary-go-round and not like a ferris wheel…  Third, I am supposed to work on making a pendulum style swing where I pull the club back about as far as my follow through goes, or as even as really possible.  The fourth swing thought is to pay attention to where my contact with the ball is and grade myself from one to ten, one being a miss hit and ten being a perfectly stroked golf ball.  And finally, I am supposed to work on a bit of target practice.  So, I have five swing thoughts, but in order to not get too mentally confused while swinging (you swing for about a second, so there is just not time to have five different thoughts running through your head) I am going to work on one at a time for about 15 minutes with a break in between to think about what I’ve just done.

I like this approach to leaning to swing.  When it boils down to details, I can focus on one aspect at a time, but each of those is aimed at making solid and consistent contact with the ball.

I also love this part of the learning curve, where something is brand new and every day out I can see dramatic improvements.  Perhaps this is why the week was so good because for the past few weeks I’ve felt like my putting was at a plateau and even though I realize I need the repetition and am building the solid skill set necessary to perform under pressure, at times it seems like I am spinning my wheels a bit.  Now, I get to see the improvement in my chipping on the accelerated scale while also spending a large portion of the day continuing my putting practice.  Speaking of that, I putt about 70 percent of the time now and round out the day with 30 percent on the chipping green.  It definitely makes the hours fly by, more so than I would have imagined a few weeks back.  Not sure what a day will be like when I’m rotating through all of the clubs, but I can imagine 6 hours will feel like a walk in the park.  Well, perhaps…  There will definitely be a lot of back tweaking at that point, so we’ll see for sure when the time comes.  For now, I will enjoy my little swings and get as good as possible in making solid and consistent contact with the pitching wedge.

Here’s to a three-day weekend for a lot of America and a one-day weekend for me!  I get to go back out Sunday and hopefully have another amazing week on the greens!