The weather was beautiful all day and warm and sunny when I dressed for golf at lunch time. Unfortunately, clouds rolled in and by the time I reached Royal Woodbine, there was a steady rain falling. We wiped down the seats of our carts, pulled out the rain gear and were determined to get our 9 holes in. Couldn’t be that bad, could it?
We also didn’t want to miss out on the Iron Lady Tip night with Coach Claire Hernandez who was waiting in the rain for everyone on 3. Tip night this week was focused on our 100 yard approach shot.
As we played one and two, some extremely hardcore golfers in our league as well as other regulars, were returning to the clubhouse looking miserable and defeated and telling us how bad it was out there. This was not a great sign but we were still determined to meet Claire on 3. We were the last foursome that made it out to her before the round was called. (Although I think one foursome might have actually persevered!)
Claire told us to take out our 100 yard club. I’m assuming we all had certain expressions on our faces because she then told us that if we didn’t know which club that was, we could grab our 7 iron. 🙂
The first tip was about lining up to the target – aim the face of the club to the target and stand to the left of the target as you address the ball. The next tip was about the follow through – we should be ending with our tummy/hip/front of body facing towards the target. Finally we had a reminder that we should be transferring our weight from an even balance to most of the weight on the leading foot, in all our cases the left foot. Claire watched us set up and gave us some additional individual attention and answered our questions.
One by one we each took a swing and, what do you know? We all made it 100 yards! Not all on the green mind you, I think I was off to the left close to the bunker, but we were amazed. We putted out and called it a night. Here is my attempt at a sad face selfie;
But really, who is kidding who? We still had lots of fun. Look at these faces;
The nice thing about ending the round early is that almost everyone finished at the same time and we all met up at Jack Astors for après.
I sat beside Coach Claire and had a really nice chat with her. Claire is an extremely down to earth and unassuming person and a ton of fun. I learned that Claire played for Western University of Michigan and is passionate about golf. It wasn’t until I looked her up online that I realized how accomplished a golfer she actually is! Check it out: Claire Hernandez bio and media at Western Michigan University. No wonder we all hit our 100 yard shot!
Thanks, Coach!
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