Sport Today

First stop was the driving range, and yes the
balls were going 1 to 1.5 clubs farther than
normal. Drives were going way out there,  No
idea exactly how far, but down towards the
end of the range farther than I'm used to.
And everything was going either dead straight,
or with a modest little curve that I could
surely live with.

So I arrive at the first tee, and pull out
the big dog.  After all, they were going
pretty straight on the driving range.

First swing is a horrendous hook into the deep
stuff left.  No chance of finding that one!
So I mentally announce to myself "provisional",
tee up another, make a little adjustment and
slice it into the REALLY deep stuff right.
Oh, this round is starting off right!  At
that point I pull out my 5W and finally
find the fairway.

The carnage continues until the fifth hole
when I finally figure out what I'm doing
with my driver, and start to hit some fairways.
But I'm wondering why I didn't see this problem
on the driving range?

Later it finally occurs to me that the driving
range balls were all low spin distance balls,
and I was hitting high spin balls off the tee
on the course.

Duh!

Next time, I think I'll bring along some old
balata balls with me to the warm up range
just to see how good my swing REALLY is before
the round.

Maybe next time, you should play with a Pinnacle...when it's soft, I do
despite the ridicule.

I usually don't get to hit balls before I play, unless it is into nets,
so I usually don't hit a lot of balls with the driver.  Usually I just hit some
short irons into the net to get the feel of the swing, tee off on the
first tee with a fairway wood or long iron, and then ease into my driver
after a hole or so, after I get a feel for how my swing is working.

This time, though, I was at altitude and had a range available, so I
just had to see how long I could hit it.  I got into a groove of just
wailing away at the ball and they kept going pretty straight, or with
a mild curve.  I figured it was the altitude that kept the ball going
so straight, but I never considered the ball might be contributing
to it as well.

The next day when it finally dawned on me what might have happened,
I did switch to a distance ball, in fact, a Pinnacle.  Eureka!  Swing
as hard as I want, and the ball just goes straight, or with a mild
curve, just like on the range.  The ball does make a difference.

Not rocket science, I know, but I think it may be one more reason
why sometimes results on the practice range don't show up on
the course.  In this case, it also lulled me into making bad
swings with no consequences, which promptly bit me on the ass
on the first tee.

Eliyahu