Crack The Egg On The 2018 Golf Season!

As luck would have it, we’ve hit a stretch of warm weather in the DMV and I broke out the sticks yesterday and opened my season.  I hate to use the word “breakthrough” on the first day because my intention was just banging rust off the various components, but I did make a welcome discovery and was so inspired, that I reserved a tee time for next Sunday.

The day started at the range with a small bucket and some crisp pitching wedge shots.  Tell me if you’ve ever done this:  you start working on your swing in January after about five swings.  This was followed by a roulette wheel of pulls, snap hooks, and push cuts with the longer clubs.  No worries; there were no expectations other than to stretch the golf muscles and not endure any pain in my left elbow.  I’m not sure what compelled me to start swing analysis, but there were only 25 balls left.  No harm – no foul.

The excitement started when I got to the short game area.  After chipping and pitching for 15 minutes, I brought out the flat stick.  Recall at the end of last season I was in a dilemma with trying to line a putt up straight.  Nothing was working.  Change of stance, ball position, a bunch of new putters – nothing.  After a suggestion from Catherine Baker, I made the simple change of lining up my putts using the straight line on the side of my Titleist golf ball.  Bingo!  The benefit of this change is that I have confidence in my aim, and it forces me to commit to a line and not change it while I’m over the ball.  If I seriously need to change lines, I’ll need to re-mark and start my pre-shot routine all over again – at the risk of putting slower than Jim Furyk.  Thank you Catherine!

So there you have it.  Simple change, crisis averted, confidence built, new outlook on life, on the tee next weekend.  Stay tuned and play well!