The storm from a few weeks ago was much more damaging than I realized. Even though the course is just a few miles from my house, apparently my end of town was spared almost all of the damage. My understanding is that something like 200 trees went down on the course, including one that compromised the corner of the roof of the clubhouse.
They were finally able to get the course partially open this past weekend, though I wasn’t able to play. As a result, until yesterday, I was only able to work on my new lefty swing, lead-arm setup in front of the mirror and while hitting balls into my net. However, yesterday I was able to quickly play three holes, hitting a lefty and righty ball on each hole.
Although it’s a very small sample size, I was very happy with how I hit the ball. All three lefty drives (and the three righty drives for that matter) were what I consider to be good. They all had good distance, and they all left me with clear approaches to the greens. Because of the lengths of the holes, I only ended up hitting one full lefty iron, and I was happy with how I hit that one as well.
Granted, this was a very, very small sample size – only four full swings. However, I am feeling very optimistic about the potential of this change. I’m also feeling good about the work that I’ve done hitting balls into my net at home. I go back and forth about how helpful I think it is. The mat itself can mask how good contact actually is, and it’s also difficult to get a good sense of how good your direction is. If nothing else, it is allowing me to ingrain the feeling of the new setup without consequences, which is probably a good thing.
I’m hopeful that this weekend I’ll be able to get out and play a full round. I’m excited not just about the new swing, but about the course itself. The course had way too many trees, which in some cases had made certain tee boxes unusable. I’ve heard that a few holes have really opened up.
This was certainly the case on one of the holes I played yesterday, where a tree that could really come into play if you sliced a righty drive is no longer there. The green is still guarded from the right side by another tree, but players in the right rough should have an easier time advancing their balls closer to the green. Hopefully the state golf association will come out soon to re-rate the course. In the meantime, people will be posting some artificially low scores. I just need one solid round to drop under a 15 handicap. Part of me feels like there should be an asterisk if it happens before the slope/rating get updated.
Alternate Golf 