Ok lets hit the range

After a miserable weekend I had a serious think about what I wanted to do.

Have a break from golf for a while or just keep plugging away. Or just quit.

I've tried taking a break before, and it didn't work. I just came back playing worse and even more frustrated with my game. Felt like a step back.

Quitting didn't seem right. I'm starting to hit the ball well on the range now. So decided to have a session after work.

I decided I wasn't going to over complicate things and just work on the weight transfer.

Got myself 100 balls and started with the weight transfer drill again for 5-10 balls. The onto the full swing, taking my time, just trying to keep things simple. Smooth turn back, transfer my weight, and smooth turn through. After 5-10 balls it started to feel in sync, I wasn't releasing the club and holding it open a bit, but things weren't too wayward and I was getting a good strike on the ball.

Carried on just doing that for another 20 or so balls until it felt comfortably. I then focussed on the release a bit more, just swinging with my body and letting the arms just follow which got the club releasing nicely. Just trying to take my arms out of the swing.

Boy was I striking the ball sweetly. Smooth, good tempo, crisp contact, great ball flight, little right-left draw on it. Hit about 40-50 balls like that, couple of strays. But most were real quality hits.

Had plently of time before I had to pick the GF up from the station. So got another 100 balls. I was on a roll. So just wanted to keep hitting and hitting to try to make it take hold.

To finish I thought I'd just hit a few drivers, same thing. Transfer the weight, using my body to swing the club and nailed 5 right out the middle. Lovely

Ok lets hit a couple of 30 yard chip shots with my 56 degree. Ooops. Shank, Shank, Shank.

WTF, I don't think I've ever flat out shanked 3 in a row. My short game is usually one of the better parts of my game and has saved may a round.

Ok, hit a few more. I shanked 10 balls straight. All my second 100 gone. I can't leave the range with that in my head, so grabbed another 25 balls.

ok, took my time setup properly, weight on the front foot, shaft slightly forward to promote a descending blow. Shank, thin, shank, shank, thin, shank.

Out of 25 balls I think I actually got 2 air born. And I couldn't understand why. In the past I'd just step in and chip for fun. Not even think about what I was doing. But now I couldn't even chip on decent ball.

Get another 25, really concentrate. Another 25 shanks and thins. This is driving me nuts. What the hells happened.

Get another 25, hit some full shots with my 8i first just to get away from chipping, then went back to chipping. Same again. Shank, Shank, Thin, Shank Shank, Thin. Absolutely unreal.

I ran out of time and had to leave the range.

I'm sitting here now writing this and still in utter shock and still have no idea how I can basically shank 70 out of 75 balls.

I spent 2.5 hours on the range. Irons feel great, driver good. But I can't chip. Not a 'I can't chip, cuz I duff one every so often' I just can't chip full stop.

I'm going to have to sort that out tomorrow, because I can't play a round this weekend without being able to chip. So that's going to take time away from working on my irons and driver.

So from feeling really good, I'm now feeling pretty pissed off.

I'm off to bed in a bit and I'm sure I'm going to have a sleepless night over this.

What's the title of this blog.

Oh Yeah, 'God Hates Golfers' or it could just be me.