Funny thing tends to happen after a session at the driving range: I proceed to hook the ball like crazy on the golf course. This has happened for years and it happened again last week, in my third round of the year.
I visited the driving range on Saturday, five days prior to my third round of the season. I hit half a bucket and didn’t touch a club again until the first tee shot on Wednesday. To provide context, my first round of the year was mostly garbage, but the second round was surprisingly solid. I entered my third round full of optimism, until my first three tee shots hooked into the left rough, sparking a bogey, par, bogey, par start to the round.
These hooks weren’t of the variety that sail out of bounds, mind you, but they were poor enough shots that I had to fight to save bogey at times.
The other important piece of information is that I was striping it at the range. I was even hitting the ball so solidly, I was surprising myself.
So, by the time I reached the eighth hole at Palmer Golf Course, I had accepted my swing is in hook mode. I couldn’t stop. I decided to take the opportunity to experiment with a weaker grip, and I mean a minuscule adjustment of the left hand. The result: no more hooks, not one. The problem: I started losing half my shots to the right of my target. All of this led to basic bogey golf and an 89, my worst score of the season. Of course, score doesn’t matter to me, but it provides a frame of reference for those who care.
Final analysis: changing my grip is not a good idea, and I know from past experience the hooks will go away the more holes I play. So, no more trips to the range, where I feel two bad things happen. First, it screws up my alignment and second, it changes my release point in the sense that it makes my hand action more lively.
On a side note, a P.S. of sorts: My persimmon three wood, which I have been hitting off the tee for all three rounds is starting to come unraveled again at the ferrel. I’m convinced Louisville golf doesn’t put together sturdy clubs, as all of the three I ordered broke last summer. I’ve had them repaired over the winter and was hoping they would hold up for this entire summer, but it doesn’t look good.
The unraveling three wood led me to try a few driver shots, using my playing companions drivers. They thought the drives looked great, but I did not. So, I’ll be going with a three wood and a hybrid for my fourth round of the year.
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