Day 28: Chipping and the Sand Trap

I spent today practicing on chipping and taking shots from out of the sand trap. I only had about an hour to practice, so I split equal time on both.

I was great chipping. I was chipping my 14 balls to the short-side and then chip them to the long-side. I used my SW the entire time and was chipping the ball well. I left almost every ball within the 3-foot imaginary circle. So why can I not do this on the course? Tonight, my tempo was smooth and fluid and the balls were jumping off the club head, landing softly and rolling towards the hole. Perhaps I have overcome the yips?!? That would be something. It is 1 of 2 things in my game that is still incredibly shaky.

I could not say the same for my sand game. I was not terrible, but I was by no means good. I practiced putting down the two parallel lines like I did in my lesson. I focused on taking a 1/3 divot behind and a 2/3 divot in front of the ball. However, I was still inconsistent at where my club entered the sand. I will need a lot more time in the sand.

Tomorrow I go to Palm Springs and am excited to play with my pals. We will be playing 2 courses in 2 days. It will be hot, but it will be fun. One of the courses that we will be playing is the Nicklaus Tournament course at PGA West. That course has more bunkers than I have ever seen. Great.