Day 50: Practice at Tierra

After work, I went to Tierra Rejada to practice. I am playing there on Sunday, so I thought it would be good to go roll some putts and chips on those greens. They are much faster than Encino, Balboa or Penmar and I was having some trouble putting downhill last time we played there.

There was only a few people at the course when I got there around 6pm. It was quiet and fantastic. I was the only guy on the two-tiered putting green.

I took putts from all lengths - both uphill and downhill. On the downhill putts, I need to remember that all you really need to do is get the ball started on the correct line and watch it go to the hole. If I miss, I only want that ball rolling 2 feet past the cup - maximum. On the uphill putts, you still need to put a good stroke on the ball because it stops fast.

I putted for about a half hour before going to the chipping green. The rough off the fringe was deep and thick. It was nice to pop the ball up and out of that and have it land softly on the green. If you do not get enough height on the ball, it comes out low and rolls for a long time. I found out that if I leaned forward with my lower body but kept my upper body behind the ball, I would be able to attack the ball from a good angle and hit the ball squarely in the middle of the club face (By the way, I was using my 57-degree SW).

After chipping for awhile, I headed down to the range. I tried putting my butt and back in to my irons as per Day 49, but found that I would hit far behind the ball. I tried to focus on hitting closer to the ball and was able to rip off a few good 8-iron, 5-iron and hybrid shots. I probably hit 50% of them well. The other 50% was all over the place - some I pushed, some I hit fat and some I pulled. However, this is exactly what I need to work on. I need  raise the percentage of good shots to 80-90%. I think this will come in the next 30 days if I keep at it.

I hit driver fairly well. I hit 75% of my drives with a fade and I hit the other 25% straight. I need to get this percentage up, too.

I think I know what I need to do - I need to get over the fear of coming across the ball. I need to have that club come from the inside, make contact from the inside and have my release carry the clubface around. I will practice that next time I hit balls.

After hitting balls, I went into one of the two deep practice bunkers. I used my 60-degree wedge and actually hit balls out of the bunker pretty well. I know that the old adage states to keep your lower body quiet, but i found that if I rotated my hips just a bit, I was able to get the ball up and out and roll to the hole. Using the same stance as I took above with the chips, I was able to hit the sand on the upswing and plop the ball out pretty nicely. I still need to work a lot on my distance control, but know that will come after I can successfully get the ball out of the bunker 100% of the time. Tonight, I got probably 75% out of the bunker, but still did not feel 100% comfortable. I know it will come with time.

I really enjoyed practicing at Tierra. It was quiet with only but a few other blokes and me working on our game.

I took the 23 to the 118 to the 405-S on the way home and I was door-to-door in 40 minutes, so it was not too much longer if I would have taken the 23 to the 101 to the 405-S. There is not a great deal of traffic on the 118 at 7:30~8:00pm.

I have 30 days left to break 80. I feel like I have come a long way, but still have a ways to go. I am learning something about my swing every time I pick up a club, so I enjoy that. I just need to keep honing in my game.