Rainy Days

We've had a lot of rain the last 2 days so it's been difficult to get much opportunity to practice for this weekend's tournament at PGA National. Yesterday I ended up taking the day off. Today I used my lunch hour to get about 45 minutes of swings on the range and mental work on the practice green before the thunderstorms swept in. Tonight I'm heading south and tomorrow I'll play a practice round on the Palmer course, which I'll be playing on Sunday. Friday's practice round is on the Champion course, home of the Bear Trap. Before and/or after the rounds I'll be getting in a lot of short game and putting work. The greens were very quick last year, so I expect I'll need to get used to the speed again. Love fast greens though. They make putting easier. Last year at this tournament I went 1-over through the Bear Trap with a bogey on the tricky par 3 15th. I find that hole more difficult than the par 3 17th that they make a fuss over on TV when the PGA Tour plays there. The 15th is shorter, but the green is so narrow that any kind of miss to the right and you're in the water. The challenge is that you know this off the tee.. which is why I bailed way left and into one of the bunkers last year. Even though I didn't get to practice much the last 2 days, I feel good about my game. I also like the courses I'm playing, which helps with the psychology of it all. Plus I've already qualified for nationals so some of the pressure is off - top 3 in this tournament qualify for nationals, but I took care of that last weekend. On the technical side, with the little bit of practice I got I worked on getting a little better shoulder turn in my backswing. The basic feel is to get my left shoulder in line or over my right foot. I have a tendency to get a little flat with my shoulders with my left shoulder maybe reaching to my right thigh in the turn, which causes all kinds of fun compensations. This move helps me feel more tension along my side in the form of a rubber and effect, so once I've gone as far as I can go back, the downswing is just a matter of unwinding the coil. It's not really that simple of course, but that's the feel I've been working. The end result is better impact and a little more speed and distance. Plus it makes the swing feel tension free, and that's always a good thing.