Range Practice - Ball Striking
Pretty rough practice, focusing on ball striking with my newly extended wedges.
With stores finally opening up as we enter phase 1 or phase 2 of post-COVID life I finally got to take my clubs to Golf Galaxy to get extended/re-gripped. I initially had enough allowance to have all my clubs re-gripped, but during COVID I found different things to spend that money on. I ended up getting my 8, 9, PW, GW, and LW re-gripped. Add that to the 7 that was already done and I have basically all my approach irons/wedges with my ideal grip.
I wanted to hit my LW (58 degree), GW (52 degree) and PW (44 degree?) to get adjusted to the length similarity. Before, my PW was about one inch longer than both other wedges which meant I often struggled hitting my gap or lob wedges. Having them all the same size, I should be able to take a full swing at any wedge, or choke down for more finesse around the green.
In theory it seems like a great strategy, but I need quite a bit of practice to get there. My ball striking has been poor the last few years and that definitely shows in my wedge game.
Luckily we were able to hit off the grass practice area so I could get actual feedback into my ball striking. I alternated every 10 golf balls between my LW, GW, and PW. I found that:
- LW - very inconsistent; typically thin, occassionally fat, rarely perfect
- GW - inconsistent; typically fat, occassionally perfect, rarely thin
- PW - consistent; typically perfect, occassionally fat, rarely thin
This confirmed a theory I have been working on - my ball striking isn’t consistent enough to hit extremely high lofted clubs. The lower loft makes up for my poorer strike by providing more surface area to absorb the ball. I’m better off utilizing partial swings with my gap wedge than a full swing with my lob wedge.
Not the most positive session, but I did have some good learnings that hopefully will transition into solid improvements in decision making in my next round.