Raw power.

The golf course in our town is a short nine hole course, I go out there in the evening when it's quiet and for the most part I use it for practice as it really is not much of a challenge. That being said it's well kept and fun to play, the course was empty the other evening and on a night like that I will go out and play 4-5 balls per hole. I was joined by a couple of young guys on the first hole ( 278 yds. par 4 ) I hit a nice draw ball with my driver to within 10 yards of the hole, I overheard one kid say to the other " oh I'm just going to smoke a 4 iron ". Did he ever, a big draw OB green high, he teed it up again and hit the identical shot, he is now hitting 5 off the tee which he placed pin high right. He hit a 5 iron to 15 feet on the next hole ( 239 yards ) I was amazed to watch this kid play, pure raw power and he did have a good short game. The 9th. hole is the longest on the course ( 392 yards ) we played it into a slight breeze and I was pleased with my tee shot in the fairway leaving me just over 140 yards to the pin. The kid hit his driver, when the ball finally came down he had 70 yards left from the rough, I had a lot of fun watching this kid, he definately had the talent but for the nine holes my card was one over and his was six over and then again I am only forty years older. What I would give to have that kind of power only difference is that I would be working on controlling it, but great to watch anyway.

Interesting comment cmays, I'm at the stage in my passion for the "grand old game" where, for the most part, I'm content to accept what I have within. If I ( or any of my golfing partners ) were to give an honest opinion of my golfing abilities it would probably be as follows, on any given day on a full length golf course ( 6500-6800 yards ) I would be in the seventies. Now that being said when it comes to golf there is always room for improvement and your comment about the left shoulder has peaked my interest indeed so please explain. The reason I score better than my playing partners is simply good course management on my part, on the 6680 yard Robert Trent Jones links course we play you have to think your way around this excellent course and I do and it pays off at the end of the day.