The New Road

Some things I learned from golf recently

Here are a few things I learned from my time practicing and at the range recently.

First, I can't understate how imporant stretching is. I really screwed myself up yesterday by working the long irons before being completely warmed up and now the muscles in my lower torso are killing me. I need to warm up every time.

Second, balance is critical. I've had a physical lean to the left of about 15 degrees for my entire adult life. And I make almost all my movements from places well beyond my balance. I keep my feet to close together, and a compensate by flaying them out to the side.

This is going to be a tough habit to break, but it's critical since the essnse of golf is keeping yourself balanced as you throw a weight around your head. The idea is to use centripetal force instead of physical force to leverage the ball off the ground. In order to get that whip action and control it your head and the center of your body need to be still and be within the center of your balance.

And third, spin can definitely applied, at least by me, up to about 80 yards out with a nine iron. That means I can get the ball to stop around where it drops by adding reverse spin, or get the ball to bounce and roll forward using reverse spin. One of the guys here says that he can get the ball to back up, which could be a lot of fun.

Anyway, this is fun stuff. Or at least, I think so.