need_my_wedge
Has Now Found His Wedgie
I know it probably seems obvious, but had an epiphany last week and it has completely changed my game. It's funny how you sometimes forget the small details, I know you are supposed to rotate the wrists to bring the club head back square when you strike the ball. I always thought I was doing this but except the odd good shot, seemed to struggle with distance. As an example, our 2nd is a 145yd par 3 with a wide bunker across the front of the green at about 120yds. Most times I played the hole, I'd hit a 7 iron and come down in the bunker. I never changed the club because on a good hit, I knew I could clear it, so I just wanted to keep trying to clear it despite sticking it in the bunker 8 times out of 10, talk about pig headed.
Last week, during a round, a little voice inside my head head whispered out of the blue to rotate from the forearm, not the wrist. This goes back to a lesson I had over a year ago, where I was discussing this with my coach because I'm "double jointed" in my arms, I can rotate parts of the arm independently, without the rest of the arm following. According to the coach, because of that I wasn't releasing the club properly. I'd obviously completely forgotten about that point over time. During that round last week I started to consciously rotate the forearm instead of the wrists, and.....bloody hell, what a difference it made. I've played 4 nine hole rounds since Friday night, on a couple of different courses, focusing on making this rotation and the increases in distance is phenomenal to say the least. This is not a Timgolfy type shout, my good drives (there are still plenty of bad ones) are only about 250 +/- 10, but much better than the 190 - 200 they were. But most importantly is the iron yardage, I hit the green on that 2nd par three last night with a 9 iron, clearing the bunker by some way. During my two rounds yesterday, I started playing around with clubs, I went through a 133 yd par 3 with a pitching wedge where previously I'd struggle with the 7, I hit a 7 iron 10 yds out the back of a green from about 155 yds out where previously I'd hit a 4 hybrid and only make it on a good day. This has really messed my head up.
I'm sure that there's plenty of you out there that hit these sorts of yardages for fun, but for me this is new territory. Last night I was playing and I didn't draw a hybrid from my bag at all. I was able to use irons all the time where previously I'd had to hit a hybrid to get any kind of distance.
I hope that I can lock this point in, because it has opened my eyes to a whole different game.
Last week, during a round, a little voice inside my head head whispered out of the blue to rotate from the forearm, not the wrist. This goes back to a lesson I had over a year ago, where I was discussing this with my coach because I'm "double jointed" in my arms, I can rotate parts of the arm independently, without the rest of the arm following. According to the coach, because of that I wasn't releasing the club properly. I'd obviously completely forgotten about that point over time. During that round last week I started to consciously rotate the forearm instead of the wrists, and.....bloody hell, what a difference it made. I've played 4 nine hole rounds since Friday night, on a couple of different courses, focusing on making this rotation and the increases in distance is phenomenal to say the least. This is not a Timgolfy type shout, my good drives (there are still plenty of bad ones) are only about 250 +/- 10, but much better than the 190 - 200 they were. But most importantly is the iron yardage, I hit the green on that 2nd par three last night with a 9 iron, clearing the bunker by some way. During my two rounds yesterday, I started playing around with clubs, I went through a 133 yd par 3 with a pitching wedge where previously I'd struggle with the 7, I hit a 7 iron 10 yds out the back of a green from about 155 yds out where previously I'd hit a 4 hybrid and only make it on a good day. This has really messed my head up.
I'm sure that there's plenty of you out there that hit these sorts of yardages for fun, but for me this is new territory. Last night I was playing and I didn't draw a hybrid from my bag at all. I was able to use irons all the time where previously I'd had to hit a hybrid to get any kind of distance.
I hope that I can lock this point in, because it has opened my eyes to a whole different game.
