Enjoying golf practice at sunset

I like practicing at my club close to sunset. There is almost nobody there, or if there are, they stay at one hole and practice with a dozen balls. I picked hole 2. It’s a short par 4, but I wanted to just practice my swing, so selected a spot about 100m away from the pin and hit 10 balls with my wedge.

I am almost there with my swing. I slowed down my body movement, cut my backswing, and hit the ball with a nice whip. I have to concentrate when I do it, tho. I keep reverting to just hitting the ball and of course the consequences are really annoying.

I have to remember the whip, the weight shift and the direction. I think with about 30 hours of practice I will get that swing burned into my mind and can execute it almost subconsciously. That is my goal for the next few sessions.

It is an amazing feeling to hit the ball at the sweet spot and watch it fly high onto the green. I hit more and more of these shots and like it more than ever before. Still shoot badly, tho, but I can almost always tell why and can correct the bad shot with a bit more concentration.

I told myself that I will join the Saturday games if I manage to hit 9 out of 10 shots on the green with my wedge from 100m. That would be for me an indication that I am reasonably competitive. I have not achieved that. I hit 5 and 6 out of 10 on the green a few times. I even shot 8 out of 10 and the other 2 only just short of the green.

8 out of 10 on the green from 100m

It was actually a very nice afternoon. I missed the most beautiful sunset. Next time I shoot at that time I make sure I capture the sunset as it really was.

Still evidence of pretty good session right on the green. Very happy with it. I just need to practice the mantra every time I hit the ball. The green is the target, easy swing with a whip, smaller back swing, less body movement, shoulders down…

It’s hard to overcome the previous misconceptions about the golf swing, but I feel like the tide has shifted and I’m getting a lot better. I taped myself again shooting at the golf range. Thinking of uploading the progress of my swing to YouTube. Just to see the progression.

I’m still not happy with the swing, but it’s so much better than a few months ago when I first captured myself hitting a ball. That was very very bad.. 🙂 I’m determined and also a little hopeful that I found a sport I can play later in life.