P.S.- I FINALLY got back to the range this evening. It has been almost two weeks (I was going 3-4 times a week for awhile there) and most of it because I was too sore, but finally feeling back to normal.

Took awhile to shake off the rust, but overall not bad.
Hopefully it was just the right amount of practice before playing with Don in the morning.

That too I'll letcha know tomorrow afternoon!

Did a follow up practice session and worked on just the short game, chips, pitchs, flop shots, and putting. I decided to try chipping with my 9 iron for a change, as I've been having a little trouble getting the ball to pop up into the air and carry over the fringe around the green, Worked great after I got used to it, will use my 9 iron tomorrow on the course. Tried out the Skils Putting Gate. NOt sure I like it. One reason is IF you HIT one of the wooden blocks, IT REALLY MESSES WITH YOUR HEAD, and you lose all confidence in your putting stroke. I'll give the Putting Gate a longer test, but I don't recommend using it for the first time just before you play a round.

Went to the practice range Friday and again yesterday. I was testing out the FairwayPro mat as part of my session. I was really starting to hit some nice iron and fairway wood shots at the end of my session Friday, so I wanted to see if I could do it again yesterday. After warming up off a tee, I switched over to the FairwayPro mat with my Gap wedge. I was rather impressed with some of my shots, and with the mat itself. You get very good feedback with the mat. Hit the ball a little fat, and you come up short. hit it real fat, and you really come up way short. Yesterday I was hitting at a green with the flag at 127 yards out. At one point, I hit 3 balls inside of a foot right at the flag. First ball went just over the flag, second ball HIT THE YELLOW FLAG, third ball landed less than a foot right of the stick. If only I could do that every time out. Don't know for sure, but I think that was the first time I ever hit the flag itself. Hit the flag stick a few time, but never the flag.
One thing I'm seeing a lot right now, is I'm hitting a DRAW with the Cobra irons. Not every time, but a lot. Even the PW is drawing a good bit right to left. Same for the GW, which is an Innovex wedge. With the 9 iron, I had as much as a 20 yard draw working. Need to see what that's all about, and if I can learn to do it on command, and every time.

Got out to the range yesterday, had not been out in almost 2 weeks. Wanted to try out my new Callaway fusion 5w. I was hitting my irons well getting a nice draw outta them, hit my driver the best I had in a long time. The woods though are another story, I just can not hit them off the deck. I think I might drop them for some hybrids. Any thoughts?

Question? Where do you play the ball off the deck with your woods. The reason I ask is that I hit my woods just inside my left heel OFF A TEE. but in the center of my stance OFF THE DECK. I noticed the guy next to me at the driving range 2 weeks ago having a real hard time hitting his woods off the deck, no consistancy at all. So I asked him if he had ever tried hitting the ball from the center of his stance, and he said NO. But he tried it, and next thing you know, he was hitting about 80 % of his wood shots pretty well. More like one in 10 before. Bottom line is it works for ME, and it sure helped him as welll. Don't know if this could be a factor for you, but it might be worth a look.

Agree with Don, ball position for the fairway wood off the deck works better a tad further back in the stance than if you are hitting off the tee, you might want to move it back in 1/2" increments and see if it works better if you feel like you were hitting it thin.

Had a real nice practice session at a new golf course Saturday. They have a nice chipping/pitching green to work with. Can hit from short fairway length grass from about 60 yards in, which is something I've not been able to practice at my regular practice area. Also hit some pretty nice drives on the range. Had a personnal high swing speed twice. Got up to 127 once and then hit 131. Don't know if my radar unit had a hiccup or not, but I don't think so. On the 127 swing, I actually FELT and SAW the club head FLYING thru the hitting area. It felt and looked much faster than normal. I was also trying out something I know has worked in the past to gain speed on the 127 swing, and did it again on the 131 swing. So that makes some sense at least. Will have to try it again next time out and see if I can repeat it and get up to 120's or so. Would sure love to be able to do it on command. Time will tell I guess.

The weather has been pretty good this week in West Virginia. A little cooler than I would typical like but not too bad. Due to the end of Daylight Savings Time, I will not be able to play a lot of golf during the week. However, there is a driving range not too far from work that I like to go to. I got twice this week and I felt like I had two really good practice sessions. The driving range is downhill, down wind. Not a good combination for practice but you have to make the best out of tough situation. I just started working with shot shaping and making sure I made good contact. Over the last year I have added a lot more to my strength training routine and have been struggling with a hard draw. I like to play a slight fade. I like the control I get with the fade. My last few practice sessions of the year I am going to focus on making sure my timing is better. With the extra power I have added to my game I sometimes get ahead of myself.

Got to hit a hugh bucket of balls at the range Wednesday. Worked on making nice smooth slow swings with the driver near the end of my session. Trying to get the sequence of my swing correct. Working on starting the downswing with a hip turn back to the ball, and have the hip turn PULL the upper body around. Had a rather strong Tail wind so the ball was really flying off the tee. I had the guy next to me watch the ball when I was hitting my 9 Wood. He said the ball was rolling up to the front of the farthest target green. The flag is at 254 yards, so I'm guessing the front of the green is aroung 240 yards. Not bad for a 9 wood. Had the same thing hitting to the 127 yard flag on the close green. I was hitting over the green with my GW, so I had to drop down to my SW. Getting a good 20 yards extra carry with the wedges.
I also got to try out the long sleeve extra compression EQUMEN shirt. Reall like this shirt, as it just makes me feel stronger when I wear it.

Went to the range yesterday to practice. Took the new 9.5* driver to test it out. I hit it a lot better than I figured I would with that factory installed R flex shaft. Launch angle was high enough so the 9.5* loft isn't a problem.
Tried a new shot near the end of my session. I was hitting some low knock down approach shots with my 6 iron. Playing the ball by my back foot and just hitting the ball real low to a green at 127 yards. That was working fine. Then had an idea to try hitting the same shot, but with a CUT. I opened the fact of my 6 iron, aimed a little left of the green and gave it a try. Ball went out low, under 10 feet high. started at the left edge of the green, but after it landed it CUT back all the way to the right edge of the green. Could come in handy if I ever had to hit a low shot like this, and the front of the green is protected my a bunker and I have to go around it to get to the green. I was rather impressed with the way the shot worked out first time I tried it. Hit a doxzen balls, and it worked 9 of 10 tries, so that's not too bad for the first time.

Low cuts and hooks are fun...when I'm in the trees I've used that kind of shot to go under overhanging branches and get around corners. Usually if I'm in the woods it's a dogleg situation since it happens when I'm trying to go just a little too close to the tree line and don't quite execute...
Actually there was one time I think in my round last weekend when I was in the tree line right, green sort of front left of me, with a bunker directly in my line, but an opening to the green left of the bunker. I punched/cut out so I landed left of the bunker just in front of the green.
I usually find the low hook easier to hit than the cut.

That's interesting, as I had much more success playing the low cut than I did a low hook. Might have to try a more lofted club for the hook, as closing the face of my 6 iron gave me pretty low ball flight and not much carry at all. Will try it again next time wiht my 7 or 8 iron and see if that help a little.

Could be a function of the differences in our swings, too.
I'm not generally using these kinds of shots to get too much distance, it's usually a recovery kind of shot where I'm trying to get myself in front of the green for a wedge in.

Could be. I was getting about 125-130 yards total out of my punch 6 iron shots. Maybe 50 yards of that was roll up to the green.

Ughhh. I went to the range yesterday and man was it ugly. Both the conditions and my game. YIKES! Oh well. I hit a few good shots but hit a lot of things fat which was easier given the ground was so wet. Hit some decent drives but irons weren't hitting on much. Just a lot with a slight fade instead of draw. But wedges did ok.

Anyway, it was nice to get the rust off but I'm glad I have no plans to play anytime soon...courses here just way to soggy. We still have snow in some places even after being 50's and 60's some over the last week.