I awoke early. I did some dynamic stretches and came close to emulating a few yoga poses that have helped with my back and hips. I was ready.
Once on the road, I would stop for a large coffee at a convenience store on the way. No donuts on the menu for today.
By the time I arrived at the golf course, I was ready.
My mindset was focused on the selection of clubs and the Callaway Chrome Super Soft golf balls that I had laid out in the trunk. My stretching had my body ready for taking the club back slowly and swinging through effectively for my desired results.
Everything seemed in place.
Early mornings aren’t my best time to play. I think the earliest I ever played was at 6 AM with a 5:45 AM check-in. Even for Southern California, that was too chilly to be swinging any type of club for recreation.
This Monday morning was not chilly like that, but it did have residue from the early morning overcast and fog. Dew covered the practice green and surrounding areas. The dew on the green was so thick that the golf balls would make tiny streaks that laced their own trails towards the target holes during the practice session.
I focused upon my wedges. Short game skills can always provide you with a safety net if you can’t pull the rest of the game together. And, as one who doesn’t always have it together, I tend to rely on my short game to serve as almost like an equalizer for my recovery from some bad choices on the fairway and at the tee box. That’s not perfect, but that’s definitely something I have to keep in mind every single time I tee it up these days.
In all honesty, the sand wedge and lob wedge delivered the best results. One contributing factor could be the fact that the greens were soaking wet. Additionally, I used the pitching wedge first and followed that up with the gap wedge. Therefore, by the time I got to the lob wedge and sand wedge, the surface might have lost some of its morning dew and was pretty slick with melted moisture.
I took note of the conditions causing different responses to various clubs and I tried out some trickery around the target hole on the putting surface. Technically, I’m more experienced with the lob wedge than the sand wedge. Yet, I have a greater sense of touch and feel with the sand wedge.
By the time I play a full 18 holes on a par 3 course, I think I might just go out with an 8 iron and a sand wedge. I think that would get the job done and get me ready for another test of my short game skills.
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