Is the Practice Paying Off?

Fishers Glen Driving Range
4717 Fishers Lane
Philadelphia, Pa
215/533-9466

Without the washout of my practice round in Bethlehem on Sunday, tonight's session at Fishers Glen took on added significance. My one and only swing thought tonight was my takeaway--to make sure that I started by moving the club with my arms instead of with my hands. This seemed to slow my swing down and caused me to pause slightly at the top of my swing. It also seemed to allow me to hit the ball the best I've hit it so far this year. I was striking the ball crisply and getting good distance. It is the best I've felt confidence wise so far.

Working on my swing at Fishers Glen

My bag was reloaded with a lot of my old TaylorMade clubs, which I think may have provided me a comfort factor going into my practice session. I bought a medium bucket tonight, which is around 70 balls, for $7. After some stretching, I started out warming with my 53-degree gap wedge, then proceeded to work my way up through the bag as follows:

10 - 53-degree wedges
10 - Pitching wedges
10 - 8-irons
10 - 6-irons
10 - 4-irons
6 - Hybrids
6 - 4-woods
12 - Drivers
__________________
74 - Total balls hit

While this was the best ball-striking I've had this year, the only thing that still has me a bit puzzled is that I'm hitting the ball with a slight fade. This is really confusing to me since I have traditionally hit with a draw. I think what I need to do is start playing for the fade and see if my draw returns. If it does, I'll just adjust my game accordingly.

Following through on another swing

Photos by The Muni Golfer