After a long, cold New York City winter, I recently got back out to the course for the first time this year. I’d spent the last few months hitting almost exclusively into a simulator screen, so watching the ball soar though the air was euphoric.
That is, when I actually caught the ball solid.
You see, after a winter of hitting off mats and synthetic turf in the simulator, figuring out how to hit off actual grass comes with a bit of a learning curve. Practicing on mats you don’t get the same feedback on your swing as you do when hitting off grass. In fact, if you practice enough on mats, you can fall into a trap that instructors call an “illusion of competence.”
Mats don’t allow you to take a divot, which means you typically won’t know where your swing is bottoming out. With natural grass, when the clubhead impacts the turf behind the ball, it produces chunky contact. But off a mat, the clubhead can simply “bounce” into the back of the ball and produce what feels like solid contact. If you’re not careful, this can give you a false sense of ball-striking proficiency.
So, how can you guard against this? It starts with monitoring your low point. On many launch monitors, you can check your low point after each swing. If that low point comes after the ball, you know you’re making ball-first contact.
If you aren’t using a launch monitor that can track low point, try placing a towel a few inches behind the ball when you swing. Avoid hitting the towel and you’ll know your swing is bottoming out ahead of the ball.
Coming back to golf after an offseason of range and sim work can be tricky, but staying vigilant about your low point will make the transition much easier.
3 things I’m thinking
1. Adam Scott is absolutely crushing his driver this year. At 45, the Aussie is averaging 184.12 mph of ball speed — up 3 mph from last season — good for 16th on Tour. Impressive stuff. Scott said the boost didn’t come from training. “I actually took a degree off my driver after the Sony Open,” he said at the Players this week. “So I dropped it from like 10 something to 9 something. And that definitely increased the ball speed.”
2. If you didn’t get a chance to watch Gary Woodland’s sit-down interview with Golf Channel ahead of the Players, I’d highly recommend it. Woodland has been battling PTSD, and he courageously opened up about his ongoing symptoms.
3. Speaking of the Players, my money’s on Scottie Scheffler this week. Picking the No. 1 player in the world may not be ground-breaking, but I don’t see anyone topping him at TPC Sawgrass. Based on reports out of Sawgrass, conditions could get spicy. When setups play fast and firm, the cream typically rises to the top, and there’s no one more poised to outlast the field than Scheffler.
