The Swing is the Thing

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

As part of my plan to prepare for my first scheduled round of the 2011 golf season, I ventured to the the driving range at Bensalem Township Country Club to hit the first balls of the year. Because of the ideal weather--warm with a gentle breeze--the range had its share of golfers tonight. I purchased a large bucket of approximately 80 balls for $7 and manged to stake out a spot in the center of the range.

After some stretching with my Speed Stik, I hit 10 lob wedges, beginning with some chips and slowly increasing to full swings. I then worked my way up through my bag, hitting 10 balls each with my gap wedge, 9-iron, 7-iron, 5-iron, hybrid and 4-wood. I hit them all off the ground since there was no tee. I managed to secure one from the hitting bay next to me and hit 12 drivers to finish off my hour-long practice.

Overall, I was pleased with how I hit the ball for the first time since last October. I mainly focused on getting my body acclimated to swinging a golf club once again and making solid contact, which I seemed to do about 70 percent of the time. I will be interested to see how my body feels tomorrow. 

Range Ready

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

Tonight I had my longest, and best, practice session at the driving range so far this season. I was anxious to work on my swing with the stronger grip, as I discovered on the golf course last Sunday. In tonight's practice, I wanted to continue hitting my draw, but I also wanted it to be meaning instead of just pounding ball after ball.
I bought a medium bucket of approximately 70 balls and set up at my usual spot on the end of of the lower level at Fishers Glen. To my surprise, there was actually one guy balls on the lower level this evening. As I was preparing to begin, he quit and approached to offer me the remainder of his bucket, which was about 30 golf balls. I accepted his generous offer.
After stretching and taking several swings with my Speed Stik to warm up, I began by hitting 10 balls with my 56-degree sand wedge. Also used my alignment sticks, which I bought last weekend at Lowe's, to help me set up with a closed stance to better hit a draw. I proceeded to work my way up through my bag, hitting 10 balls every other club through the 5-iron. I then hit my 4-iron, hybrid and the two drivers I brought with me (I skipped my 4-wood tonight).

I hit the following clubs:
10 - 56-degree sand wedges
10 - attack wedges
10 - 9-irons
10 - 7-irons
10 - 5-irons
10 - 4-irons
10 - 4-irons off a tee
10 - hybrids
10 - TaylorMade 360XD Drivers
10 - TaylorMade Burner 07 Drivers
_______________
100 Total balls hit

I made sure that I had a strong right hand grip each time I stepped up to hit a shot. This helped me produce a straight shot or draw on about 95 percent of the shots I hit tonight. I also took my time, stepping off the map, stretching or checking my takeaway between each shot. In total, I hit 100 balls in approximately an hour-and-a-half. My swing felt the best it has so far and the shape of my shots was one of which I am more familiar and more confident.
As you can see, I tested two TaylorMade Drivers tonight: a 44-inch R360XD and a 45-inch Burner 07. I didn't hit the R360XD that bad, but I hit the Burner longer and straighter. I think the Burner will remain in my bag for right now.

Photos by The Muni Golfer

Hitting the First Balls of the Year

Burholme Golf Center
401 Cottman Avenue
Philadelphia, Pa
215/742-2380

Wednesday night I headed to Burholme Golf Center and hit my first bucket of balls this season. Since this was my first time out, I decided a small bucket for $5 would be sufficient. This gave me about 35 balls to hit. I stretched and swung my SpeedStik to warm up, then hit a few wedges. After that, I hit my 7-Wood, 4-Wood and Driver. Towards the end of my session, the twilight sky made it darn near impossible to see where I was hitting the ball. The young kid in the stall next to me had a large bucket and offered me some of his balls for a few minor tips I gave him. I took about 10 and hit them with my hybrid. Overall, it just felt good to be hitting golf balls again!

Photos by The Muni Golfer

Moving Outside My Usual Range

Burholme Golf Center
401 Cottman Avenue
Philadelphia, Pa
215/742-2380

Once again this week I ventured to the driving range to hit a small bucket of golf balls. This time, I found myself at the Burholme Golf Center because Fishers Glen had run out of available golf balls. It seems their golf ball picker was broken and they couldn't pick up the balls off the range. Burholme is a nice facility, with numerous hitting bays -- including about a dozen under cover; a miniature golf course; batting cages and a pro shop. There is a real family atmosphere at Burholme and it is quite popular, particularly the driving range and batting cages. Because of this popularity, the range balls at Burholme tend to be a bit more worn, but they do keep the facilties in pretty good shape. A small bucket of balls is $5 and you often have to wait for a hitting bay to open up. Because of the overcast skies, it wasn't as crowded as I have come to expect and I had a choice of several locations.

After stretching and warming up with my Speed Stik, I hit five wedges, then proceeded to alternate five balls a piece between my Power Hitter and my TaylorMade Burner Drive. After two sets of each, I finished with seven 3 woods off the mat. I think I need to plan and organize my sessions at the range a little better, but at least I'm rounding my body and swing in shape as I start playing more rounds. This is already the third time I've been to the practice range this season, which is about two more times than I went all last season.

Home, Home Again on the Range

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

Hoping to get a nine-hole practice round in on Sunday morning, I ventured over to Juniata Golf Club, only to find the course booked with an outing. So tonight, I headed back to Fishers Glen Driving Range and hit another small bucket of golf balls. Armed with my golf bag full of clubs this trip, I took up my isolated spot on the lower level of the range. After stretching out and loosening up with my Speed Stik, I started out by hitting 10 balls with my lob wedge. From there, I worked my way up the bag, hitting 5 balls each with my pitching wedge, 8 iron, 6 iron, 4 hybrid, 3 wood and Momentus Power Hitter. I capped off my range session by hitting four balls with my TaylorMade Burner Driver. In between the 6 and 8 irons, and the 3 wood and Power Hitter, I took 10 swings with the Speed Stik. My last ball, hit with my driver, was crushed; I couldn't see it land at the far left end of the range. As I worked my way up the bag, I felt I was beginning to make more consistent contact and hitting the ball better. This weekend, I plan to play my first full 18 holes of the season.

Home, Home at the Range

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

Needing to shake some of the rust off my game, I headed over to Fisher Glen Driving Range in the Juniata section of Philadelphia. The range is at the end of Fishers Lane, a road that was closed off to through traffic when the driving range was constructed sometime in the late-1980s, early-1990s. Fishers Glen will not remind you of the pristine practice range at your local country club. It looks and feels more like the West Texas driving range operated by Roy McAvoy in the movie "Tin Cup." It cost $5 for a small bucket of 50 golf balls which where anything but range balls. The Muni Golfer found a wide assortment of used golf balls at his hitting disposal, including Titleists, Maxflis, Callaways, Nikes, Top-Flites and Wilson Ultras. The side nets that kept severely sliced or hooked balls from leaving the range were a bit tattered, but in the end, none of that mattered as Fishers Glen had golf balls, mats, plastic tees and a wide-open space where you could hit those golf balls.

I warmed up by stretching with my Speed Stik, then used it to take some looooong, sloooow swings. I then hit a 10 easy chips and pitches with my Momentus Short Game Wizard lob wedge. Feeling loosened up, I moved to my new Momentus Power Hitter and hit five tee shots. Because of the weight of this club, you are forced to take slower swings, which helps to build an even tempo. I was very impressed. The club didn't feel overly heavy and the ball went pretty straight. I then switched to my regular driver--a TaylorMade Burner--and trying to keep that same swing and tempo, hit five more tee shots. I was surprised how solidly I hit the ball. My tee shots were medium to high and either straight or with a slight fade. I kept switching from the Power Hitter to my TaylorMade driver after every five tee shots. By the third set of five with the Power Hitter, I was feeling just a bit in my lower back, a sure sign I haven't yet built up my golfing muscles in that area. And a couple of the tee shots had a slight fade on them. I finished with ten tee shots with my regular driver and hit five more wedge shots to cool down.

My initial impressions of the Power Hitter were positive. It definitely slows your swing down to a nice even tempo. I look forward to working with it on a more regular basis. And I also look forward to returning to Fishers Glen. It may not scream country club and luxury, but it definitely has that blue collar, muni golf atmosphere.

Time to Get in Golf Shape

The weather and my schedule hasn't been cooperating quite enough to get out and start hitting balls, but it is time to start getting in golf shape for the coming season. This weekend I dug out two of my golf training aids: the Speed Stik and the Momentus Swing Trainer.

While I've heard a lot of pros and cons about the Speed Stik, let me first say that I purchased mine with part of a $500 Golfsmith gift card I won from Golf Digest a couple of years ago, so it was more like a gift. And while I can't vouch for the speed gauge and whether I'm swinging faster of not, I will tell you that I find the Speed Stik to be excellent for warming up and stretching before a round of golf. It also make an excellent alignment aid when hitting golf balls at the practice range. Whenever you look at the pictures of the PGA tour pros' golf bags on the various golf sites, you always see a Speed Stik is several of the bags. Of course, it is endorsed and used by Tour Pro Vijay Singh, who uses the Speed Stik and a variety of other 'home-made' training devices during his hours of relentlessly hitting balls on the practice range.

I also like to use the Momentus Swinger Trainer to get my golfing muscles in shape before the season and to keep them stretched out during the summer. The Swing trainer is endorsed and used by PGA Tour Pro Fred Funk. I have replaced the training grip on mine with a traditional grip which I like better. I'll probably do about 3 sets of 10 swings every other day to get the feeling of swinging a golf club again, stretch out and condition my shoulders and arms, and hopefully groove a swing before the season starts. I am also looking at purchasing one of the new Momentus PowerHitter Drivers that I can take to the practice range. You can actually hit balls with this weighted driver in order to add distance as well as accuracy to your tee shots.

And now that daylight savings time has begun, I plan to start walking several evenings a week with my wife to get my legs in shape for the golf swing, as well as walking the golf course.