Tonight I went to the driving range to get some swing repetitions, but it turned out better than I expected. Much better.
Earlier today I was browsing the forums on oobGolf and came across a short video on curing your slice with the driver. My driver shots lately have either been slices or pushes to the right, so I figured why not give it a try.
So I did, but it only sort of worked for me. After a few more slices I took a step back and thought about what the video was trying to say – basically to have a good grip. I thought I had a good grip, but since I’ve never had any instruction I’ve never really known if my grip was any good or not. Apparently not.
As I prepared for the next swing I put my left hand in a stronger grip position than usual by rotating my hand to the right. In this newer position I could clearly see my two knuckles – something I knew you should be able to do in the proper grip position (I always could, but not this clearly).
As I started my backswing I focused on maintaining my swing plane through the downswing. The only difference this time was my grip. And what a difference that made. The swing was easy, smooth, and the ball exploded off the club – 300 yards, dead on straight.
Thinking it was a fluke, I did it again. And again. And again. Same results. I changed my grip back to how it was before. Hard slice. Changed it back to a stronger grip: explosive 300+ yards straight. Unbelievable.
I hit another 40 balls with the driver. Out of those 40 balls, only twice did I get a different result – both times because I had the ball too far back in my stance (another realization I had at the range).
Talk about exciting. I got another bucket of balls and went through my 3-wood and irons, continuing to focus on the swing plane, ball position, the grip change. I found that if I did all three correctly then I could hit the ball wherever I wanted and land it within 10 yards of my target. What a difference from the last few rounds.
I also practiced my pitching and chipping, but I ran out of time for putting.
So the next step is translating this success on the range to success on the course, a translation that has everything to do with the mental game. After this range experience I’m looking forward to testing that mental game out tomorrow during 9-hole Tuesday golf.