april 5 part two

later in the evening now. the storm is still approaching though the weather people can't be real sure where the snow line will fall. in a country a little smaller than oregon the weather seems to come from the north or west. almost hard to believe we could have snow though i do believe the forecast for 4 more days of some rain.

while gail was catching up on some university work due to the days we spent out of oxford this week, i wandered up to the driving range. might have known the weather would turn before they said it would as i was the only person there hitting. no problem there.

again working each ball very carefully with attention to set-up, etc i actually had a pretty good day. more importantly than where the balls were going, as the winds were more like castlerock - a two club wind for sure- than a calm day here, i paid real attention to what i was doing rather than just hit. learned a lesson there also. even when i thought i may have been doing that before, i was really attentive to it this time. i went through the routine with each ball and by doing that was able to see how i could get through the ball better and also to make a better one piece turn. with a better set-up and posture, a slightly wider stance, a better left hand grip and much lighter grip pressure, i was able to make get the club on plane easier with a better wrist cock also.

the balls that were well struck sort of went through the wind and stayed straight, though maybe a little shorter. a less well struck ball was of course, more easily pushed to either side depending. obvious- yes, but the trick for me was to concentrate on each one. same posture, set-up, grip pressure, grip itself, lower right shoulder and level turn. and balanced finish. will never take posture for granted again. and when i tested it and didn't go through the set-up routine i almost always hit the ball thin. still mostly straight, but not good.

so easy to pick up bad habits. i stuck this out for 125 balls and then the rain really started coming down. 20mph wind and slanted rain- a perfect golf day. so i went under the range roof and hit the rest of the balls just working on the same stuff and also some pitch shots. was easier to get the ball higher also i gather due to the better wrist cock and how that made it easier to hit down on the ball.

still work to do of course and one day does not make a golfer, but 2 days now in the right direction and a better idea of how i want to practice. of course there is no short game area here. so i went inside and talked the guy into letting me putt some on their little green carpet practice putter. nobody around anyway. then headed home.

promised gail i would be back in time to watch the national steeplechase horse race with her. fun to watch with a caveat. the race is about 10 minutes long. there are many pretty high jumps over hedges, etc. 40 horses started the race and i think they said 16-17 finished. several horses were pulled out of the race by their jockey and the rest went down trying to jump. they take this somewhat for granted or so it seemed, and after they talked to the winner, a seemingly nice guy who had written a book about his recovery from alcoholism, they also announce that one horse had died during the race. am sure that will provide futile ammunition for the animal right's people here. same stuff goes on with the greyhound racing. not to judge, just to observe- these days my opinions just get me in arguments.

erased the next paragraph. do that a lot so it seems. would be nice if my mouth had the delete key my laptop has.

anyway- the weather turned a little better as i walked home naturally. will see what the next few days actually bring. always easier to run in bad weather than golf in it. BBC will show the master's next week, but in keeping with my own little tradition i will once again do the tv boycott. dave baker would be proud. ha!


if the legs are anywhere near ok tomorrow after 20 miles the last two days i will do sprints and if not will just meander up and down the thames. could be worse.

btw- morning heart rate was 45 today- a sign my heart is still ahead of my legs. considering the lack of sleep and the amount of exercise that is pretty good-not the low of 37 from the hey days, but ok enough that i have to warn new doctor's about it and my surgeon has it on his charts.

nice article on golf in ireland today on the pga tour web site i believe it was. even had a picture of carne.

life is good people-enjoy it.