The List

Another day of practice has sent me off into a messy mental think-a-thon. I was able to hit up my local course, Terrace Creek in Mountlake Terrace, yesterday and the swath of grass near holes 5, 6, 7 and 8 was finally empty so I took full advantage.

I knew what I wanted to work on, but I didn't know how to stop myself from working on all of it at the same time.

Here's what was going through my mind before each practice drive:

Lead with the hips.
Elbow out.
Plant foot.
Heel pivot.
Tighten grip at last minute.
Head down.
Keep left arm close to body.
Follow through.

Boom!

I would look up at my disc in flight and reevaluate the "boom" part and think to myself, "That's more of a dink." Also, "I didn't want to throw it over there." Then I would replay the feel of the drive in my mind and wonder if I actually did anything on my list.

What a mess.

I ended the session with a few good drives, one of them measuring out to 346ft according to Google, so who knows how accurate that is, but most of the progress came with the determination to scale back my mental list while practicing. First things first. Lead with the hips.

For now on I'm going to just practice that to make sure I'm not strong arming my drives. Then I'll move on.

It's raining a bit today, but I just put my daughter down for a nap and my wife is home from work, so I may hit up a little nine-hole course called Silver Lake in Everett. It will be the perfect chance to play a full round and to get all swingy with my hips.

Plus, I just got some new Keens. :)