Fresh starts and my first pitch swings

It was good to get out to Pumpkin Ridge today to see Christopher (golf coach), it had been far too long since we had a chance to really meet up and go over my progress.  And, we finally had a “swing” and “grip” lesson for the pitching wedge, as well as for all of the clubs to come.  He wants me to have a ten-finger grip, which feels pretty natural just like gripping a baseball bat. I always thought golfers had a different grip, but I trust he knows what’s best.

The day started off well, got in my workouts and cognitive training exercises and then picked up Brendan (a new videographer who is working on the filming of The Plan) and headed out to Pumpkin.  I wanted to get there around one, but we ended up arriving just before the 2pm lesson and unfortunately missed a potential meeting with a man, Dan O’Brien, who is writing a story about The Plan.  The people at Pumpkin told me a reporter had been looking for me and I had a feeling it was Dan, but our paths just didn’t cross this time.  It’s too bad too, because it was a great lesson!  But, there will be more time for the story (roughly 3.6 more years..) so I’m not too bummed, just feel bad the he drove all the way out there for nothing.

At the beginning of the lesson Christopher and I played a nine-hole putting game like usual.  But, this time we bet five bucks on it (something that I knew was a bad idea, but I was up for the challenge anyway and it’s good to have a bit of pressure on the putts).  I started off in the gutter, three-putting the first two holes where he two-putted, so two strokes back.  I never had much of a chance from there, but at least putted better ending the game just two back.  Perhaps next time I’ll be a little less frazzled from the get-go and make it more of a competition, it would be good to finally win a couple bucks too instead of buying everyone else coffees and lunches!

After that we went over to the driving range and concentrated on the new swing grip.  It is an intricate process he has me doing as far as gripping the club goes.  I’ll hopefully put a video of it up soon so as to better describe it, but basically I grip with my right hand, have a few “checks” I look for, then grab the club just under the ferrel (not sure if that’s the correct spelling, but it’s the area just under the neck of the club) with my left hand and then drag that hand down to join my right.  I’m supposed to do this every time I hit a ball in order to burn the correct grip into my mind.  A lot of swing problems arise from an improper grip, Christopher informed me.  Makes sense to me.

I then hit about 30 or 40 balls into a sand trap (that was actually my target, not just a lot of miss hits!) and they flew pretty well, if I must say so myself.  I was going to go back out to Heron and give it a whirl, but by the time I finished some dinner it was getting a bit dark and I figured it would make more sense to approach it with a fresh mind tomorrow morning.

Here’s to actually using a pitching wedge properly tomorrow!  I’m very ready.