Well, I went trick or treating on the course, and pulled a trick and it worked out a treat!

I belong to a little 9 hole club. The weather was gorgeous for the end of October (60°F and sunny) and so I headed out for what is very likely the last 18 of the year.

I made a few setup changes after reading about RS2.0, but it didn’t really ‘take’ until I stuck my ‘counterbalance’ out more (allowing the weight to set – and stay – ankle side) and suddenly shots were effortless. The only downside to this was trying to ‘squeeze a little more’ out, I’d slide my hips as opposed to pivot an cold-top the ball, but it could be argued that this would be the result with or without the setup change.

As the mercury rose, more people came to the same conclusion that I had – that it was a great day to be golfing. So after playing 9 I decided to play 9 more ‘Tin Cup Style’ – bringing only my 7 iron along. Interestingly enough, my score didn’t really change one 9 to the next, which leads me to really believe that the ‘answer’ to scoring is short game (putting with a 7 iron is kind of sketchy!)

For a guy who spent the majority of his golfing life mechanics-bound, it was very revealing and exciting to play 9 holes where touch, feel, and playing ‘by eye’ became the order of the day (grounds had pulled the tee chocks, yardage sticks and flagsticks earlier this week). Obviously I tried to leave myself a full 7 iron into greens, but more often than not it didn’t quite work out. How exhilirating to move the ball back a bit to add some yards and to move it up and sweep it to hit it higher and shorter. Sure, some of you are thinking ‘huh?’ but please keep in mind that while my clubs are well fit, my game is, um, lets say ‘developing’ as I just broke the 20 handicap barrier this year. I think it was mostly exciting doing it ‘on purpose’ as opposed to having it happen ‘by accident’ – including a sweet punch kept under low branches that hit the green and rolled just off, or opening up the face of the 7 iron to hit a small cut lob from a shortsided position near the green. Shots that I’ve never practiced but seemed to be able to relatively pull off, once again showing the power of visualisation combined with an ounce or two of athletic ability (and paying attention to where the divots show up in the practice swings) go a long way on the course.

Needless to say I think a couple video lessons over the winter are in order – to make sure I’m drilling the right things into my swing. I’d hate to drill the wrong move in, then have to spend all next summer compensating for it!