How having specific shots and techniques makes the game more fun. I'm a 3/4 handicapper ( I think a horrible 3/4 handicapper) but that is mostly because I drive the ball pretty good and am decent with irons but I never had a good short game plan or a place to practice it. Last year was first year I really practiced it, mostly with Releases 1 & 2 and first time ever I did some putting drills and practice. This year with the help of Dan's Pitching instruction, A1 A2 A3 I started to tackle that. Before this I would only use my 58 and base everything off a half swing 50yd 58* shot. This month I've gone to an open field at a start park and have hit about 1,000 pitch shots, usually hit 100 and pickem up. I have a range membership but don't feel good about hitting 300 short shots on it lol and also enjoy being alone in the field. And final note here, I have NEVER done a release 2 type swing on any full swing as I do now with A1A2A3, I would only try to compress or attack the ball as I would in a full shot. So today's round probably had more specifically named shots in it than any other I've ever played. Hole 1 I bombed it and had 65yds to a front left pin. My 54* goes about 95 but with a nice "A3 Pitch" it landed softly on front leaving me a 6ftr that I unfortunately missed. Hole 2 580 par 5 third shot pulled into bunker left to back right pin. 30yd to pin so I pulled 54* and even in bunkers I'm relating A1A2A3 thoughts, here I went with A2 firm and kept chest turning. Went a lil farther than expected (near,pin) but checked and stopped 8ft past, made this one ;) #3 90yds in from first cut right. Normally pull my 95yd 54* but here I went A3 Pitch with 50*, landed softly leaving 12ft curler just missed #4 had 110 in to front pin, slight false front. Wind dead at the moment and my 50* goes 110 so I went full swing and it never left the flag and stopped dead 1ft in front of cup. #5 bad drive forced 125 lay up on par 5. Missed into second cut thick rough 40 ft from pin. Chose release #1 with PW 40% air 60% roll, hit to 5ft made it. #6 par 3 crazy crazy green I missed right, pin high but below green short sided :( Hit a beautiful release #2 to 1 foot. I'm now adjusting up n down the grip like A1A2A3 pitch instructions. This one was a "Just trust the technique Joe" A2 R2 par saver. #7 tough par 4 125 in to a front pin, full PW, 2 putt from 25ft #8 oh what waste!! lol 205 down hill par 3 I chunk 5i and have 40yds to back right pin. I hit a true Dan shot here. A2 with 54* reading the left to right perfectly and it just kept getting better but stopped 4ft left of pin. Had to dribble it cuz it would run away after cup and it snapped right that I didn't see :( #9 bad drive, thick rough 155 and missed green right in worst possible spot. Short sided and have to carry hump. Rather than trying to be perfect ( land in rough and trickle down) I just went release 2 guaranteeing green, did pretty good but was 12ft past and missed it. #10 bad drive right. Had to punch an 8i under branched but hit it 45yds to front pin. I went with A2 pitch with my 50* and came up 1yd short. Hit 7i R1 3ft air over fringe, rolled 12ft to 1 inch. #11 125 in full PW to 15ft 2 putt #12 185 par 3 front pin wind into. Severe tier. I went with 200yd hybrid hoping to hit into tier but wind died and I ended up top of green, terrible spot. 45ft to tier and then 30ft to pin, hit lucky and putt it to 4ft to save par. #13 horrible drive right. 145 out of light rough and caught a flier mixed with a pull and 9i that ended up traveling 170yds? thankfully this was a double green and I ended up closer to hole 15 pin than my own pin. I was 100ft away, 75ft then 25 down slightly, my putt stopped right at that 75ft mark and took two more to get it down. #14 Oh the shame. Pushed 3W off tee. Thick rough, under tree, 160 out and should have just have just punched into fairway for like a 100-120 shot but this crazy thought of trying a shot I never had before, low slicer punch with hybrid (shame). Ball deservingly went straight across fairway and blocked out 90% of green. I'm hearing Dan's voice, just get it on the green and two putt. I only had 10% of right side of green to punch at and that's where I went but it went into thick cut and I had to hit 8i R1 up to the slope 10ft air 50ft roll but came up 10ft short and made double. Greedy thinking. #15 nice 3W middle, 110 in, hit full 50* but pulled it and it rolled off left side. 9i R1 matched the slope and hit it to 3ft from 30ft for par. #16 par 5, third shot out of bunker. Front of bunker to front pin was 20yds, went with full A3 swing with my 58* caught it clean and flew 20ft past, two putt par. #17 par 3 175 hit to 8ft missed birdie. #18 long par 5 3rd shot 70yds wind into, chose A3 with my 50* and gently hit it to 12ft for two putt. I never had these shots! Very excited to get to the point where I can actually remember my yardages with different clubs and different A pitching positions. Thank you Dan & DG community. Hope I didn't bore anyone with such a long post but I just wanted to share what it can be like when we add these shots to our game, soo much better than guessing our way around. Can't wait to practice tomorrow ;)

Posted by Deleted (87a87cf6) at 2024-04-28 03:08:50 UTC