It's All About The Drive

In order to not bombard you, or confuse the pursuit of perfecting my golf game, I've been trying to accumulate more hours in between posts.  With this said, over the last two weeks I've spent about five to six hours pounding the range working mostly on my short game and attempting to figure out my new driver.

Regarding my short game, on the advice of a casual reader who urged me to focus on mastering from 100 yards and in, I've spent a good portion of the six hours honing in with my P-wedge and 9-iron.  Now although these two clubs have always been one of my easiest to swing, I took the advice to heart and instead worked blisteringly on delivering consistent accuracy.  

Like Phil Mickelson, rather than take a full rotating swing from 90 yards, I hit down on the ball (hoping it would generate some backspin upon landing) and came through only to the top of my upswing.  With my hands turned over and still within my peripheral view, I watched as my ball swiftly fell within 10 to 15 yards each time.  

Not great, but with a solid putting performance, manageable.  

After this three hour visit, though, I began to develop some soreness in my right pinky, which hasn't subsided since.  Can anyone attest to this pain and as to whether it will ever go away?  It's more in my second knuckle up from my nail.  It feels more bruised than anything, but with the golf season in full swing, I fear it could begin to hinder any progress.  

I'm not too overly concerned, but like the some-time paranoia that I am, I do worry about the long-term sustainability of my game.

Moving on to the driver ... a completely different story.

For those that do not appreciate the game of golf, learning to hit a club is very hard.  For the novice, it would seem logical that since I've hit a driver before, picking up a new one and repeating the same success would be simple.

Not so fast.  I feel like I'm moving from basic math to calculus all in one day.  

With the recent bad weather draped over the northeast, the driving range, which overlooks the Manhattan skyline, was very difficult to pick up any ball after impact. (Let alone one that wasn't heading straight.)

From the sound of my club making contact, I thought the ball flight was decent (not great) and somewhere toward the middle of the range.  After about 10 balls, and thoughts of wondering if it even made sense to work on my swing if I couldn't see where my shots were heading, I suddenly picked up my next shot.

It was squirting roughly 125 yards directly to the right.  What a pathetic feeling.  Even more pathetic, like I was planning to hit it there, I must have repeated this poor trajectory 20 to 30 times more.  I changed my footing, my ball placement, the plane I was taking my hands back on - nothing worked!

As much as I would like to report that I persevered through it and eventually found my drive, I can't.  I took a break and went back to my short game, but even that began struggling.  (Man, golf is so psychological.)  At this point, I felt as though the most important element of my game was my composure.  If my mechanics were out of sorts, then at least I should learn to handle the mental faculties that fade along with them.  I did, some what, and after about an hour went back to my driver.

Sadly, it didn't help and I continued to watch as my ball traveled faintly to the right and 125 yards out.  I sort of wished I had a slice; at least that way I can say I was close to getting my ball to travel straight and further than 125 yards.

Anyway, with all this in mind, and my first round of the season less than two days away, I have one last practice session to work out my driver's kinks.  I know they won't all magically disappear, but hopefully I begin to learn how to manage the poor ones.  

That's all I can ask for, right?

Hours of practice: 361

Comments

[Kevin G.]

I can attest to pain in your fingers / pinky.

First off I would ask if you are using overlap / interlock grip.
Soreness in the right pinky stemming from the knuckle down is most likely attributed to
the compression at impact using an interlocking grip. The majority of us amateurs grip the club too tight.

I personally use an overlap grip but have had several golf related hand injuries.

The most serious and common is actually a palm fracture that can happen from the but end of the club being too far over into the bottom center of the left palm. (should be in the fatty part of your hand)

The other injury which I have had that scared me was nerve pain in my left index finger. This is also a point of compression at impact and is very common as well. The nerve on the left side of the left index finger over time gets stretched and rolled out of the small bone canal it rests in. It is painful to swing a club but when speaking to an expert the remedy is simple. A small piece of orthopedic pad in your glove on that area. Once the nerve calms down no pad is needed.

As far as your driver kinks are concerned, have patience and don't expect too much after such a long layoff. Also if you ever want to hit the range with someone let me know.