New grip in hand, time start on the wedges. McDowell Mountain Golf Club just down the street has a nice range with good balls and good meat chili. There's a couple close targets, one good for the lob and the other for the PW, so might as well start with those. Just half and 3/4 swings. Alignment stick to fix where I'm aiming first, rather than futzing with the swing to correct aim. New grip. Can't reach 'em yet, but doesn't matter. No hurry. Just get the body moving, and first find the feel of the ground and that elusive strike.
While waiting for the club mods to be completed, had a bit of time to refine the plan. If i can't properly get close to the green, no sense worrying about putting or chipping for now. Not gonna actually play a round on a course until I can reasonably get from tee to 20 yards near the green in regulation (learning brain marketing tricks, so just made my greens bigger for now, just like at the Doc's), so no worries about the driver just yet. On the course, one of the biggest parts of the game (sibling to driving and putting) is 125 yards and in, so getting good with the wedges seems like a good idea. I've four to learn, and since they're all the same length and swing weight, doesn't matter which one I practice with, for now. Have the new grip, so work toward a good strike, get a feel for the distance with each wedge, and harvest the insights about swing along the way. Lastly, get the body and hands physically in shape for the swing. The target greens here at the range are tiny, so first hit them with consistency, then re-evaluate what step to take next.
Film maker Michael is in town, so time to geek out a bit with slo-mo. Self-inflicted pressure training: skull the wedge and good bye sparkly GoPro 4 Black that came with the drone.
Sprayed balls all over the face as well as the range. But it was fun. GoPro got lucky. On this journey, media and golf (as well as the net) now seems inseparable.
Michael's filmed in Tokyo, so we found an old-school sushi spot in Scottsdale, Hero Sushi. It's pretty close to homestyle :-)
(via Jiro on iPhone)