Practicing My Wedges

I don’t have a lot to do this week. Big Break Sandals is finally over, pro golf is over (it ends with the PGA, in my book), and I jammed my thumb (you don’t want to hear the details) so I can’t swing a golf club. Or any kind of club. Which makes me think, why is it that they say on TV, “That was an excellent golf shot.” As opposed to a hockey shot? What other kinds of shots are they expecting to see at a golf tournament?

When I don’t have a lot to do, my mind wanders. So it wandered yesterday to my wedge game. Precision. Tap-ins. That’s what I want in my wedge game. And you know how to get that? Practice. There’s no way around it.

I took my ball bag, that has about 100 balls in it, out to the back yard, and began hitting twenty-yard pitches. I have that much room. Boy, did I learn a lot about myself. I don’t think I hit the ball the same way twice in a row. Different trajectories, different distances. Without knowing, you would have thought I was pretty versatile with a wedge. But I was trying to hit the same shot every time.

Again, this morning, I went out with my bag of balls. More wedges. I have a real good target to hit to, or rather hit through. There’s a huge apple tree in the center of the back yard, this thing must be 60 years old, and it’s about twelve feet around at the base. There are big limbs that start branching off about four feet above the ground, and they make a nice little opening for me to hit golf balls through. A little opening. There’s only one way to get the ball through. Hit it straight, and hit it the right distance with the right trajectory. IOW, hit the same shot every time. After all, you can’t be versatile until you’ve become consistent.

I did much better today, but there’s still work to do. It will be time well spent, though. You know how the pros get so good? They hit ball after ball for hours, not just five or six at the range as an afterthought. They have shots like this programmed. And the only way to do that is to practice a lot. Now I have something to do this week.

Visit www.therecreationalgolfer.com

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.