Home, Home on the Range

August is always the busiest month of the year for me (really, the whole summer season is, because it's convention season), but today I got up early, dropped Air Force Tom off at the light rail station so he could head up to PAX, and took advantage of a day off from work to hit the driving range. The Guru and I headed up to the deserted upper level of the range and secured two of the stalls with the newer mats in them, the ones that have the guidelines that show you where to set up. We each got a large bucket, and set to practicing.

Seconds before we were thrown off the range for pretending our clubs are lightsabers.

It'd been a while since I'd been on the driving range, and I've discovered something mildly disconcerting: I'm worse on the driving range than I am out on the course. I think it has to be psychological, because the driving range should offer perfect conditions. Yet I struggled to hit nearly as well as I do out on the course, and I wonder if a lot of it has to do with my mind rejecting theoretical play in favor of actual play. I also think there's a part of me that really struggles to let my club strike the mat (something our instructor told us that a good golf swing does), where out on the course I have no problem driving down through the ball because I know the grass can absorb the impact without harming my club.

I also got the Guru to record a few of my swings with the driver, which is still giving me problems. The above was one of my better shots, and I'm now trying to analyze all of my shots to see just what I was doing right, and what I was doing wrong on the bad swings.

I'm actually really starting to get concerned that I'm not going to be good enough to acquit myself well on the course at Disney World, and since I'm likely to get placed with other golfers (I doubt very seriously I'll be able to field a foursome with our wedding guests) I'm really worried about being That Guy. I guess in my head I just imagine that anyone who is playing golf at Disney World is going to be really, really good, and I want to at least be able to keep up. With it already into September, am I going to improve enough over the next eight months to be able to do that? Am I worrying over nothing? I feel like playing golf at Disney World is kind of like being allowed to taking batting practice at Turner Field alongside the other professional baseball players.

After the range, the Guru and I hit the putting green, because Oh My God We Need to Practice Putting. I think I just need more practice, because I wasn't too far off each time. The real highlight of our time on the putting green is when, from out of nowhere, I hear the Guru say, "Huh. Apparently, I have Lady Balls." As you can imagine, this left me somewhat confused, so I required him to clarify.

And thus a new nickname was born.