I’m begining to settle into a practice routine.
I went to the course directly after work today, and immediately ran down to the water cooler to pick up some bottles, since the temperature in DC was in the 90s(!). Waters in hand, I found the shadiest practice green in the short game area and hit some 10-30 yard pitches with my 60-degree wedges. It was really buggy today (and my bug spray from Amazon hasn’t arrived yet), so this warmup was abbreviated.
After pitching, I went up to the driving range, where I managed to snag one of the three spots under the moveable awning. Score!
I hit 113 shots, from 60-degree wedge up to 7-iron, interspersing some drivers and 3-woods. I also hit some 40-60-yard pitches with my wedges to hone my distances at the end.
Once again, it was buggy, so I wasn’t as focused as I’d like to be, but I hit the ball fairly well. My 60-degree wedge through 9-iron were about as good as they were yesterday. My 8-iron was a little, better, as I was a bit more practiced. The results with my 7-iron, which I re-introduced back into my practice for six swings, were mixed, but I had much better contact with it than the last time I’d hit it, and managed to carry some well into the 140s (my goal is to carry it 155ish). The best 7-iron of the day, a nice draw on the fifth swing, carried 1495 yards on a clubhead speed of 78.3MPH, with a very efficient 1.39 smash factor and a 21.6 degree launch angle.
My driver carry distances were pretty decent, though accuracy suffered because a weight in the head of my Calloway Epic, which is usually set to neutral, was set all the way to fade. This weight moves sometimes (most likely on contact with the ground – it’ll move once a month), and I didn’t have my wrench with me to get it back into the right position. Peak ball speed for the day was 140.6 on a high fade I hit that carried 226.7 according to Mevo.
After getting tired of hitting balls, I went down to the putting green to putt for a half hour or so. Once again, focus was affected by bugginess, but hopefully the practice did me some good.
DC’s curfew has mercifully been extended back to 11PM (to hopefully cease soon), so I didn’t have the same time crunch to get home as yesterday.
Michael Golfs 