The range’s roped off grass tee line was often struck by golfers up and down the tee line requiring us to go back out and reestablish the line’s tautness by stretching and securing it back into the ground at each end. Pain in the ass, plus by the time we got done our Cokes were warm.
Customers were reminded they could hurt their wrists so move back a little.
One day I hit the rope when no one was around. I was surprised the first time it happened. I wasn’t very close so the only thing I could come up with was moving a little forward during the strike caused the snag.
It grabbed my attention, so I jumped into the process more actively by seeing how close I could actually get with a good strike and not snag the rope. Wasn’t successful at first and straightening the line back was a pain so I made a range rope jig.
Took a 12 inch or so piece of clothesline tied on both ends to a basic tent spike with a curved end that I bent into an eye hook. Now I could practice inside the roped area, or anywhere for that matter. Made sure the line was firm with no slack and the spikes pushed all the way into the ground flush with the eye hook, and had at it, making sure I wore sunglasses for safety.
Finally got to a point I could get into the ball fully, do my business, and get the hell out of Dodge before it was too late. I had fun with my home-made practice device, learned a lot about staying dynamically centered.
Then I happened upon a video from Mac on an unrelated search where he wasn’t using the rope as a drill but was just showing a student something and was fascinated by it. Made me chuckle.
If you look at the video from the beginning, he hits 5 balls. The first three he is inching forward toward the rope, and all is well but, on the 4th, as he probably perceives internally, he’s as close as he can get for a hit without a snag, but he fats it a smidge.
So, he moves back on the 5th ball. I’m thinking on the 5th if he tried again from the same distance as the 4th, but over a little bit, he would have been able to get a shallower divot on a good strike. No need watching rest of video.
It was fun seeing how close one can get.
