Home on the Range

After that awful round when I shot 110, I decided I needed some serious range practice before I attempted to play again.

Last Tuesday was a sunny, warm day in the mid-40s. Around noon, I headed to the range and set up in an extra-wide stall usually reserved for teaching. Before “the injury” I used to go through a large bucket of 150 balls in 2 hours. For the past year or so, I have limited myself to a small bucket of 40. But last week on the range, I felt confident enough to handle a medium bucket of 85.

I decided to make it a textbook session, starting with wedge and working to driver. I took some practice swings to warm up, then checked my list, and focused on keeping my grip relaxed.

To my amazement, I hit my wedge about 80 yards. This is 30 yards farther than normal. As I worked my way through the irons, I found that they had all gotten longer. Even my 7 and 6 irons were traveling 5 to 10 yards farther than usual. But as soon as I transitioned to the woods, the dazzling improvements came to an end. On driver, one shot went about 160 in the air and rolled to about 164, but that was the best I could do.

I just couldn’t figure out what I was doing wrong. If Mike had been there, he would have just rolled out the video. Now I am hardly a Luddite, but I am somewhat of a late-adopter when it comes to technology. I held out on getting a cellphone till about 2003, and I still don’t use text messaging. I have never owned a video camera, but thanks to waves of technological advancement that have washed up around me while I sat on the beach, I don’t have to. Other devices that my hubby and I have acquired can also take video, including my cellphone, my digital camera, his iPhone, and our iPads. 

Now all I have to do is learn how to operate the video on one of them...