Ball go far????

[mtngolfer]

Let me start by saying I am new here.I found this site about a month ago and have been lurking since. I have been playing for about 4 years(maybe once a month) without much improvement. I shot in the mid/high nineties and was happy.
Early this year my job situation changed and I started working normal hours so I decided to try to improve my game(silly me).I went to the range 3 or 4 days a week for 3/4 hours. I got better and actually shot an 82 early this month.
The guy who introduced me to golf (I thought he was my friend) kept trying to talk me into playing tournaments; but I kept saying I wasn't good enough. I finally relented and this weekend we played a 2 day scramble at 2 different courses.
Sat. morning was miserable. Temp. in the mid 40's, light rain, wind gusting 25/30 mph. On the first tee ( we were among the first to tee off) I was a little nervous with 30/40 people watching and hit a screaming hook into the trees. On the 4th hole after another bad tee shot I got really furious with myself; then I decided to just bear down and hit the shots that I knew I could. Our approach was 145 yards to an elevated green. No problem. I hit a beautiful, high 7 iron and much to my surprise when we got to the green my ball is nowhere to be found. We use my buddy's ball and made a birbie. As we were leaving for the next tee box I saw a ball 30 yards past the green. My ball. My buddy said there must have been a helping wind we couldn't feel where we were. Next hole is a 174 yd. par 3 with a tee for another hole 20yds. past the green. I hit my normal 175yd. shot(4i) and hit a guy on the other tee. This time the wind was straight across the hole(not helping or hurting).The guy wasn't hurt but he wasn't real happy either.
This went on for 2 days. It was wierd. When I got over the ball I was totally confident that I was going to hit a good shot; I just had no idea how far it was going to go. I only hit 2 bad irons(poor contact) after the 4th hole. Some were blown offline and most were way long.
My question is this. To what can I credit this newfound distance? I wasn't swinging any harder than usual and I dont think I was delofting the club since the ball was higher than my normal (already high) ball flight. Has anyone else had this happen? Can anyone explain it.
Sorry to ramble on so long but this has me scratching my head


Jeff

 

[Fourputt]

I think that sometimes it all just comes together for a brief moment. The swing is so much about tempo and timing, and as amateurs we just don't make it all happen at the same time very often. I had a similar incident a few years ago, although it only lasted for about 5 holes. During that short span I hit three 5W shots more than 280 yards over a 3 hole stretch. I actually reached the green in 2 on a 520 yard par 5 after playing 5W off the tee and 5W from the FW.

Maybe for you it will be the precursor of great things for your game. Frankly, a properly hit 4I SHOULD travel 200 yards, so it may be nothing more other than that you have just found your swing.

 

[ezra76]

Hello, glad to see you came out.

Striking the irons well probably has a lot to do with but wind effects the ball a lot as well. I was playing in it a few days ago. I hit an 8iron from around 170, allowing for it to carry an extra 15 or so yards. That shot flew the green entirely and ended up on the edge of the woods 20yds. back. From where I was it was looked to about a 10mph. cross wind. Once the ball got up there though it just sailed away. I try to keep it low regardless of whether it's with me or against me.

 

[Sandpiper3]

Thats not unusual at all there. Your bearing down and hitting the shots you nkow you can hit is a great thing to do, that is exactly why you started hitting farther. You stuck to wat you knew you could do, and confidence sprung, when you get that confidence you swing easier, and therefore much better contact, with that better contact you hit the ball higher/farther. Just stay relaxed and allow for a little more when you start playing better like this, but dont expect it all right away, itll unfortunately dissapear and you can get really frustrated trying to gain that distance back, and to gain that back, your instincts will be to swing harder, and thatll mess your swing up even more

Dont we just love this game?

Welcome to the forum btw mtngolfer. You'll learn alot from these guys, theyve sure helped me out.

 

[emc]

Exactly, it was confidence. It's the same reason you hear guys on TOUR playing well because they're confident in their game. This game is 90% mental and the other 10% is in your head

 

[Eracer]

I've found that game-improvement, and tend to have two different distances. The expected distance, when the club "forgives" a less than center face hit, and an extra 10-30 yards when you make center face contact.

Blade-style clubs have the opposite profile. Center-face hits go the expected distance, while off-center hits lose 10-30 yards.

 

[JEFF4i]

Confidence means you aren't worrying.

Not worrying means you aren't trying to fix your swing.

Not trying to fix your swing means you aren't doing anything wrong to your swing to make it worse.

 

[ironman]

ball go in

once i felt confidant that my distances are holding my game back more than anything esse I've swung or stroked for accuracy (in direction) and control (in amoung of carry, bounce, and roll).

quality of the shot is everything (until you're Scratch)