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Once we begin getting into pleasant weather and start getting that desire to get back into the game, just where must our concentration be? Perhaps a question you should ask prior to that is: what is really the most important part of hitting a golf ball? If you look for guidance on what you need to concentrate on, you will read "practice" and "take lessons". That obviously doesn't need to be said. If you aspire to play better golf, you have to practice and you should get some qualified guidance. But for me the most essential part of striking a ball is "ball contact". The crispness of the way you hit a golf ball is going to not only influence your distance, but your accuracy. Whenever you whack the ball that has a glancing blow is going to take distance from your ball flight, and when it is hit with some sidespin, the golf ball will form either right or left. That is not necessarily bad, as long it's controlled and you can understand what you are doing. Having the ability to constantly put great contact with the ball will optimize the results of your shot more than anything. So what could you do to best work on to consistently strike a shot? I do that with the pitching wedge. The reasons: 1. Being an iron, they have a similarity with other irons as part of your bag, so when you move down in loft your ball-strike is essentially the same. 2. It really is a versatile club if you learn the various methods to use it, so you can work popping the ball high or take the spin of the golf ball and let it run; all determined by the way you hit the ball. 3. You are able to train in a relatively small space, and it doesn't even cost you the purchase price of a container of driving range golf balls. With eight or ten balls and some space on the practice green you can hit a lot of balls in a short period of time. What goes into the golf swing is important, however that split second that you strike a golf ball will be the payoff for all which goes into the swing. You may have the most ideal backswing or a picture-perfect follow through, but when you hit an inch behind the ball it isn't going very far. As a result my bit of guidance, particularly as you are just getting back into the swing of things and you're building callouses on your hands once more is to easily hit short shots with an abbreviated swing. Once it starts to feel natural once more, start building yourself to your full golf swing. When you are getting your game back in shape, you should start with your short game, which means your wedges. The idea is to keep it basic and simple, and then build your swing from there. Jim O'Connell is an avid golfer and writer living in Chicago.
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