Rookie on the Green

I made it out to the range again today with high hopes for a nicer day since it was at least sunny.  The wind was still howling, though.  I was dressed like the Unabomber on the driving range — hood up, shades on, keeping out the wind any way possible.  My eyes are still watering.  The ball kept blowing around on the mat — it was hard to keep it still to hit it!  But I did get in some good chipping practice.  The chipping greens at Hiawatha are kind of protected by hills, so the wind wasn’t quite as bad.  I was impressed by the turnout on the course despite the cold and nasty wind.  Minnesotans are known for their hardiness, after all.  I sure hope the wind has died down by tomorrow, or we’re in for a long 18 holes during the first day of league play.

I went to the driving range today and the wind was just howling.  To make matters worse it was coming directly into the range so every ball I hit had to battle straight into the wind.  Not good for the ol’ self esteem.  The ball even blew way off course on the putting green.  I did find one simple putting drill that seemed to redeem my visit.  The putting green has a little hole just bigger than the golf ball with a sign for the “little hole drill” just like this one.  Basically, you start at one foot away and don’t progress to two feet until you’ve made two putts in a row, and so on.  I got stuck at four feet for quite a while.  This drill really increased my focus and it felt like I honed in on where to aim in a way I hadn’t managed to do with the regular-sized holes.  The regular holes seemed like huge targets when I moved back to them.  This is such a simple drill, but I think it could have a big impact if done consistently.