Was out stuffing around the other night, hitting all sorts of crazy shots with my lob wedge:
- Buried shots in the bunker
- Parachute lobs
- Pitches from the deep rough
Anything to keep my interest. I then decided to hit some pitch shots from the Chipmaster Pro. I love this device because when you hit a good shot from it, you get awesome feedback – the sound and feel of the strike is nice. It just feels right.
I kept going harder and harder. Please note, this training aid was created to learn chip shots and small pitches. It hasn’t been tested for longer shots (if you hit the ledge you’ll get a nasty jolt) – but I wasn’t deterred, even trying some with my eyes shut. The ball was coming off the club perfectly, flying straight and whizzing through the air.
But I pushed things a little too far. I went for a full shot, trying to launch the ball high into the air from the “Pro” position. I caught the ledge and the Chipmaster was no longer. It shattered and caught me by surprise.
The lesson here? Sometimes you need to push your boundaries a little. It’s too easy to sit back and do what you’ve always done because this feels comfortable, but anything meaningful and worthwhile is probably sitting towards the edge of your comfort zone. This images below sum up my thoughts perfectly.
Standard comfort zone. Most of us play in this zone…
Pushing to the edge of your comfort zone is fun
And there’s every chance you’ll make a mistake (maybe break something) but this is what may be needed to break the shackles and get you moving/learning again. I’m not advocating that you break clubs and go around destroying the place, but just to push your boundaries and move towards where you feel a little uncomfortable.
Really important point: Start to embrace the feeling of discomfort because this is a sign that you’re on the right track.
By the way. Here’s a picture of the CMP. It’s ruined but lucky I had one to replace it with 🙂 It really is a fantastic tool (if you don’t hit full shots from it) and it comes highly recommended by me. Golfgooroo is now the official supplier of the Chipmaster Pro and if you’d like to learn to hit crisp, clean and spinning chip shots then please check it out. It comes with 3 different levels (which will push and prod you) and it gives great feedback when you hit a good and bad shot – so learning time is definitely accelerated.
Broken and brand new Chipmaster Pro