Range of Improvement

Driving Range
Bensalem Township Country Club
200 Brown Ave.
Bensalem, Pa
215/639-5556

After Saturday's disappointing round at Old Landing Golf Course in Rehoboth Beach, Del., I went to the Driving Range at Bensalem Township Country Club for some much needed practice. Primarily, I wanted to work with the Driver, which was a real problem for this past weekend. I took both my TaylorMade R9 and Tour Burner '08 Drivers with me. Because I also wanted to spend some time on the putting green, I only purchased a small bucket of balls.

After some stretching and warming up with 10 lob wedges, I hit 10 balls with the R9. I had reconfigured it since Saturday, moving a 14-gram weight to the center port, with 1-gram weights in both the toe and heel. I also moved the shaft to the "neutral upright" position to get less of a hard draw. On Saturday I had been hitting tee shots that were driving left off the club face or pushing out to the right. Tonight, in the first round of shots, I made better contact, and while the ball sometimes went left, it wasn't a diving duck-hook.

I then proceeded to hit 10 balls with the Burner '08. These were high, straight shots or slight fades, but shots that would have been in the fairway. I then went back to my R9 to see if I could replicate the 10 I hit with the Burner and, surprisingly, I hit miostly straight shots or fades. I think I will have to adjust for this off the tee when I'm hitting driver on the course and tee up more to the center as opposed to the left side of the tee box for a draw.

I then went over to the putting green and spent about 20 minutes in the twilight hitting putts to the various pins on the green. I also worked with my three "Big Putt" training balls. These are oversized balls that feel and roll like ordinary golf balls, but are designed to make you feel more confident on the short 6- to 8-ft putts when you switch back to a regulation golf ball because the hole now looks so much bigger. Overall, it was a good practice and I can't wait to tee it up this weekend.

Photos by The Muni Golfer