Lack of updates

I have got away from writing for the blog.

Honestly speaking the shanks have hit me bad this past month and have to a large extent sucked the joy out of my golf.  I played in a winter qualifying comp on the 27^th March and the shanks cost me 6 shots, I had 5 of them with one going into a water hazard for a penalty. In all I scored 91 in that comp or 40 points as it was Stableford, but due to the winter CSS being 66 I got no cut L

I’m due to play the first monthly medal on Saturday, but I’m playing like a tool at the moment so I have low expectations. Apart from that I’m trying with the help of a camera to figure out how to stop shanking. Until that happens (if ever) I doubt there will be many updates from me.

Drills and hitting balls.

I decided on going to the range today and probably will be using it a lot more in the short term, despite my dislike of hitting from the mats. Right now I have to concentrate on drills to groove specific swing motions and repeat them time and again, not caring where the ball ends up to much, just how it flies. At the pitch n’ putt, I can only hit 5 maybe 10 balls, before I have to go find them and you end up trying to remember where the balls ended rather than what you’re supposed to be doing. Also, now I’m coming into the ball from the inside the impact on the range mat is less jarring on my elbow; anyway, at this time it feels like the right place to practice.

I have a list of drills to work though, well two lists actually, an inside list and an outside list. The first is doing positional stuff like grip and set up, takeaway that I can do at home. The second list has those drills that require space or a ball to be hit.

So on the range I think I made a break through by figuring something out to do with how my hips move. I have always had a straight right leg at the top of my backswing. Watching a down the line video last night of Zach Johnson I noticed that his hips move differently to mine. Whereas I move my right hip back from where it is at address, he moved his left hip in and his right hip stayed fairly static, certainly did not push backwards away from the ball like I was doing. When I checked other pro’s on video they were all the same. Although the right hip seems like it is moving back away from the ball, in fact it is not. When I copied that move with my hips, bingo! Right knee flex was maintained.

Today I tested it on the range and it does make a difference, I could use the right leg as a spring board to get over into my left side for the first time. I have no idea why it has taken me so long to figure this out but it just makes the whole down swing work more freely.

I worked mainly on wedges and on the drills I have been shown, I’m pleased to say I was killing it with my short clubs today. Solid long hits (even on half swings), It’s no exaggeration to say that today I hit my pitching wedge as far as I normally hit an 8 iron. I’m going to continue to work on getting that solid strike and leverage, moving onto my mid irons and eventually all clubs.

Exciting times for me.

Touch versus technique

To someone who does not know me it could seam that I put in a large amount of practice time without much disenable improvement? This is a thought that crossed my own mind the other night. However having spent some time thinking about it I would say that’s a slightly incorrect assessment. My scores may not be tumbling much at the moment, and despite all the practice my short game & putting touch can be way off. But I think the reason is down to the type of practice I have been doing over the past two months. It has all been very much technique focussed. I feel I have hugely improved my chipping and pitching technique, my swing is on the way to a big and lasting improvement. And my putting stroke is solid.

Soon I will have to decide when to switch the emphasis to target and touch practice rather than mechanical practice. I believe that there has to be a distinction between these types of practice. Once you get into scoring mode you need to just forget about the technique totally, trust whatever swing you have and focus only on the job of getting the ball in the hole as efficiently as possible.

Medal comps are fast approaching, do I continue to work on swing technique into comp season or do I switch focus now in time to develop some feel for the short game before the first Medal?

Where did the winter go? I was going to practice so hard and in the end wasted months doing other non-Golf stuff.

Well, having invested in my big lesson and swing change I’m committed now to work on it, for better or worse to my comp scores.

New swing test

I went out and played 11 holes, the first thing to say is that it's hard to score when your thinking about your swing, my putter was cold and my short game pitching was tentative. The iron game was almost all solid strikes (one huge fat duff on a down hill lie), but I did not have the same control over my ball or my distance as I did on the range. I alternated between straight shots and draws, Then the woods need a lot of work to sort out a big slinging hook. Still, I'm happy with the ball striking, and I know touch on the course will come with playing more. It must be progress when your not happy with only 3 pars out of 11 holes.

In the practice net afterwards I worked out another piece of the swing puzzle and started flushing it with my pitching wedge. I think I will need to hit balls in the nets and at the driving range for a while just to work on swing stuff without worrying about where the ball went.

11 holes
Score 51, 8 over par.
44% fairways hit.
3/11 GiR
21 putt's (1.91/hole - 2.33/GiR)
Penalties 0

Dan Whittaker lesson review.

So about my lesson the other day with Dan Whittaker. Well to start with I was initially a wee bit concerned that a 4 hour lesson would be over kill, perhaps not good value for money, I mean what if I did not get along with the guy?

In hindsight I need not have worried. It was worth every penny and I could have spent another few hours there with Dan quite happily. Although I was tired afterwards, that was as much mental tiredness as physical because there was a lot to take in.

The day started with me warming up and Dan filming a few swings from different angles and we talked about my game. I was hitting the ball OK so was quite interested to see what he would say. We then went up to the teaching studio and got to work. I was very happy to see that everything we did was recorded and that I was to be given a copy of the lesson to study afterwards. This is a critical thing because there is no way you could remember everything over the two hours we spent working to understand my swing,what needed to change, why and how.

The first thing was my grip. It was full of holes and not functioning as a unit, Dan correctly predicted the wear on gloves that I get, he also recommended thicker grips to suit my hands. Essentially I had to both strengthen my grip and make it one unit. As with everything Dan shows you real examples of what he wants to see via video or pictures of his students doing it. Not some pro who you can't really relate to, but real blokes who have taken lessons right there in the studio before you.

We then went onto my swing. The good news is that I do a lot of things already pretty good and not a whole lot had to change. Dan is quick to praise what's good not just pick apart the bad.

My set up and posture was hurting me badly, slightly twisting my spine angle. Because of that my right hip went high on the back swing with my straight right leg and I lost posture, pushing my upper body to much over the ball. Then in the down swing I don't transition, instead I spin out my hips, leaving weight on my right side and causing me get narrow and have to scoop the ball through impact. Seeing it clearly in slow mo was a bit of a ego killer!

Dan explained why I shank short shots, why I sometimes hit fat or thin's and why my shot shape was unpredictable.

And what do I do well? Apparently I set the club great on the back swing, on plane, layed off with width and in perfect synch with arms in front of my body at the top.

The changes I needed to make were in mainly in set-up, leg/hip work and then the big one was foot work and transitioning to my left side. When I made these changes something magical happened. I got a solid strike with visible extension through the ball and my scoop vanished.

Obviously this is a work in progress and a lot of practice is needed to make real changes, but wow just getting a bit to my left side gave me a wonderful solid, natural draw that penetrated instead of just launching airborne like before. the most amazing thing is that it feels like you actually controlled the shot rather than before when I never knew what result to expect off the club face. It's hard to explain but it feels great to think you have some real control over the ball flight.

Dan gave me a lot of drills to do to help ingrain the changes I need and the results I have already glimpsed just motivate me to do the drills and put in the work. I still have a good way to go with my swing, I'm still spinning out and leaving my arms behind, especially on short shots which can equal the dreaded shank. But I feel at last I have the knowledge and the road map to get to where I want my swing to be. And the best thing is it's not a million miles away!

A lot of stuff from Dan can be found on the Gotham Golf blog (click his name in the list of tags towards the bottom right of the blog) and on Golfwrx's instruction forum where he goes by the name  DFW1500.

I'm including a short clip from my lesson file here to give you a taste of what it is like.

Watershed lesson

Wow, what a day.

I'm really on cloud nine, because today I hit the golf ball in a totally different way, a solid compressing strike resulting in a driving penetrating, natural draw that both felt and looked class. Night and day when comparing it to my old scoopy high flying ball flight.

How did this miracle happen?

Well I had a 4 hour lesson with a great teaching pro

Not only did he explain what I was doing in my old swing, but he explained what I had to change and why along with how to change it and why! In fact the lesson was also night versus day compared to any of my other lessons from the past. I now have a 1 hour video file with my personal analysis, drills and examples on it to review at my leisure. For the first time I feel that I understand my own swing a little bit, understand why I shanked, why I had the high ball flight and what was causing me issues. Most importantly I have a clear path to work towards what is IMO a great way to hit the ball.

Damn, if I can hit it like today even half the time I will have a permanent grin on my face, not only was the strike so solid, but so in control and repeatable. I feel like I could go out and nail shot after shot almost exactly where I want it to go. Is this what single figure golfers feel like? I hope so :)

I'm still getting my head around all that has happened today, but as a taster, this is a slow mo of a 7iron after the instruction.

Swing and the short game

Best quote by a teaching pro I have ever read is this;

    'The best approach to improvement is to combine your swing practice with your short game work. 'The vast majority of swing work can be done with a sand wedge. You use the same swing motion with a wedge as all clubs, just with a different set up. If you cannot flight a sand wedge properly with consistent divots, trajectory and solidness then what makes you think you can hit a five iron better? Learn to work on things in your golf swing with a sand wedge. Become proficient at adjusting the set up to hit a knock down, then hit a floater, then a cut spinner, then a knock down draw, etc. If you can do it with a sand wedge you can do it with a driver.'



This philosophy is now what I'm basing my practice time on. Today was all about 40-60 yard pitch shots with a 54 degree wedge. For perhaps the first time ever I started coming into the ball from the inside and shallow. I just finally 'got it' and as a result I spent a happy 2 and a half hours just hitting magical spinning pitch shots. Controlling everything with my body turn and hips. Not even one came off the shank. and indeed I started to open my stance as the ball was pushing out slightly to the right instead of  the left :D

In another development I have contacted the new golf pro I mentioned in my last post and arranged to spend 4 hours with him on Friday. This will be a very expensive investment in my swing, but I'm content that it will be money better spent long term than getting new equipment. I'm very interested to work with him and intrigued to see what I bring away from such a long time under personal instruction.

Swing model

There has been no update to the blog in the last few days because I have been doing quite a bit of research, reading and watching video about different swing methodologies.

All this has been kicked off from my last lesson and the recurrence of shank city in my short game practice.

In hindsight I think I have made a mistake in using so many different pro’s for lessons, and using all of them without understanding where their teaching was coming from in terms of swing philosophies.

One of the reasons for this is my deep distrust of fad methods and pigeonholing myself with one kind of golf swing. Therefore I have always passed over discussions about stack and tilt, one plane swings, etc…

However as part of my last lesson the pro suggested that I read up on various methods and get more ownership about what I’m trying to achieve.

It seems I have been taught elements of different swing methodologies by different pro’s that don’t always go hand in hand. To be fair to the pro’s they often only saw me for half an hour, one time so they obviously tried to do the best with what they had.

Having looked at my swing it has natural elements that I think will fit most easily into a rotary swing model. Flattish backswing and especially a release low and left. I also now see that I have spent months fighting this by trying to restrict my right hip turn on the back swing and by sway loading back and bumping weight forward.

The other aspects leading me towards this swing philosophy is that one of its top instructors is based near Manchester not more than an hour and a half away. There is also an abundance of online video and literature dedicated to this swing, complete with common sense drills that can be practiced easily. The final clincher is that when trying it last night at the practice ground I was finding the centre of the club face instead of the heal!

I’m not taking this step lightly because it’s sure to need a lot of work that will stop me playing as much for fun this year, but I’m just still so inconstant in my swing that I think I need commit to one teaching method and understand what I’m working to achieve.

Basically the action I’m going to work on is a modern rotary swing like Hogan, Hunter Mahan, Matteo Manassero.

I’m still wading through tones of instruction info on this swing and how to learn it, so for the time being that’s almost all I’ll say about it. Apart from that my practice time while I begin to learn will continue to be based around short shots on the Pitch n Putt.

Working it out in the dirt

Just back from a late lunch time at my other office the PnP.

Earlier I had been thinking about swing plane and why I swing through flat left and why I sometimes over balance forward.

Swinging a club in practice with no ball I started by trying to keep better balance and making my arms naturally release more down the line than inside the line. I found that the way to make my arms naturally release more down the target line was making my left hip turn a  touch more aggressive and getting my weight to finish over my left heal on a straight left knee rather than on the ball of my left foot. It really counteracted my tendency to lean to much forward in the follow through and as a consequence felt like my arms were thrown out a little but the best thing was a feeling of much better balance.

I took this to the practice area and started off chipping, then pitching until I worked up to a full 7 iron.

Who knows if my timing was just good today of if I really have found a solution that will last? All I know is I don’t think I ever hit the ball better than today, my divots were much straighter, even had two that pointed a touch right. The ball was finding the middle of the club face and the ball flight was generally really straight, no shots with a lot of fade and no pulls even with my 54 degree wedge which always pulls normally. It was just a really fun ball striking session; I hope that I can replicate it next practice time.

I’m really starting to feel confident about how I’m going to play this coming year. One things for sure, getting off the range matts and onto the real grass is the best thing I could possibly have done for confidence in my play, you need to see the divot in the dirt!

New lesson, (swing video).

So I had my lesson yesterday, I was there an hour and a half early, not through design but because of my work schedule getting done early. So I had a lot of time to kill and hit balls to keep active.

By the time Mark got to me I was actually a bit fatigued, but I was still hitting the ball ok. We talked about my game and what I was working on, then I showed him my swing and with it the fade. I hit a 7 iron, then a 5 iron which I absolutely flushed; don’t you always find it the way, that you swing much better when a pro is watching you? Then finally I miss hit one a bit thin and pushy so he saw my bad shot too. I told him about my divots all pointing left.

Then he said something quite interesting, ‘normally I can tell after a swing or two which side a players going to miss, either they slice it or hook it. With you I can’t tell, you’re liable to miss both way’

We talked about my release and my getting my weight through to connect with ball first, he said that particularly on getting the ball first and not leaning back with weight on the right side, I had made progress and was half there but with a bit more work to be done.

Then he had me try and diagnose what I thought the problem was. It came down to path and release. He then was very honest and said, ‘look, what I’m going to have you change will probably mess up your game big time until you ingrain the change, it will feel very alien to you, is that ok?’ Then we went up to the video studio to see my swing.

My swing in the video net was a miss hit but he said it was fine and that it showed the issue clearly regardless, so we sat down and reviewed the video.

Basically I have a very flat swing, a bit like Matt Kuchar, on the down the line view you could clearly see the top of my right shoulder above my left arm, I swing around my body rather than back and through. The follow through is also way flat, mirroring the plane of my back swing. The problem with this is that while the club is already so inside at the top, I somehow manage to follow the flat plane around my body rather than releasing my hands and the club down the line like Kuchar does.

Mark pointed out that I would find no video of a pro swinging through that flat and said that it must lead to inconsistency and lack of balance, which it does. He said he was impressed that I hit the ball so well with that swing plane and that my hand eye co-ordination must be pretty good to compensate.

The fix he suggested was unexpected; he wants me to go on the explanar swing plane trainer. He showed me how to set it up for me and we took a few swings on it, it showed up one aspect perfectly, in my follow through I was holding the club off and therefore not following the plane of the explanar, Mark showed me that I was essentially hitting cover drives instead of releasing the club head. That is why this year I’m fading, where as last year I was pulling. I have stopped releasing the club head.

He invited me to use the machine as often as I wished and could, to ingrain the feeling of the correct swing plane. Unfortunately with the machine being 50 minutes’ drive away it’s going to be difficult to get to it often. Added to that is the fact that he and the machine are leaving at the end of the month.

Now I’m not sure whether to implement his changes or wait for the new pro to be installed so I can at least get constancy of message in the future.

Putting in the Spring sun.

What a glorious day for weather, I wish I had more time because I would have played a full round given the chance. Unfortunately I only had an hour for lunch, but I made the most of it by spending it on the putting green at the golf club. The practice green had been cut and rolled and was actually looking in fine shape in the spring sun. I spent the first 30ish Min’s just practicing my stroke on similar 3-4 foot flat putt’s, regaining the knack for holing short ones. To me this is as much about tempo, confidence and staying still as anything else.

Once warmed up I tried a new putting game/drill that will become my standard one for short putting in the future.

The practice green has nine holes spread over the area, starting from the first hole, I randomly spread three balls each a third around the hole and each between three and four foot away.  I then attempt to hole all three on my first attempt. If I miss one it’s gone, you only get one chance for real so there is no retaking it! The aim is to make as many of the 27 different putts as possible.  It means you are forced to set up fresh and focus for every put. Today I got 23 out of 27 which I thought was pretty good. The aim will be to get all 27 in the hole, if I manage that I will continue to see what I can achieve as a record number in a row. So far my number in a row is only 9 so I have some work to do!

Once I can hole all 27, I will also try 4 footers and so on.

At the end I did some lag putting which went less well. But until the greens are in competition trim I’m concentrating on holing out short putts.

Feb Month end.

February feels like the start of the year for me, my focus on Golf has been reignited and with the extra light starting to count in the evenings I'm all systems go. Only 1 full round this month and as it was my best score so the stats are a little skewed, but it all goes into the last 20 round average.

Stats for the month

Fairways hit 71.4% (My average 49.3%)
Missed left 19.0% (28.0%)
Missed Right 9.5% (22.7%)

Greens in regulation 38.9% (31.7%)

Scrambling 36.4%* (10.1%)
Sand saves N/A (6.3%)

Putting Average 1.72 (1.94)
Putting per GIR 2.00 (2.12)

Scores by Par
Par 3's - 3.8 (4.0)
Par 4's - 4.4 (5.1)
Par 5's - 5.0 (5.8)

Scoring
Eagles - 0% (0%)
Birdies 0% (2%)
Pars 61% (31%)
Bogey 33% (41%)
Doubles or worse 6% (26%)

Score total +8 (+18)


* (only records up and down for a par not a bogey)


February Practice log

• Pitching practice, 2 hours, 27th Feb.
• Short & Mid Iron practice, 2 hour's, 26th Feb.
• Mid Iron practice, 1 hour, 25th Feb.
• Short Iron practice, 1 hour, 25th Feb.
• Swing practice, 1 hour, 24th Feb.
• 18 holes, general play, 21st Feb.
• Range 50 balls, 1 hour, 17th Feb
• Range 50 balls, 1 hour, 15th Feb
• Range 50 balls, 1 hour, 13th Feb
• Range 50 balls, 45 Min's, 1st Feb

Working up a sweat

After recovering from my Op last autumn, I started hitting the gym regularly again around the beginning of December, It’s taken me that long to get back to where I was post Hernia (although I’m still staying away from heavy Squats). I’m making much more of an effort this time round to warm up sufficiently and to lift with good form, so far (touch wood) I have only had a couple of insignificant strains that just needed a day or two’s rest.

The gym work is not specifically for golf, but it does impact flexibility and stamina and so I'm hoping to reap benefits in my golf game as well as in my general health. Tomorrow I'm going to add to my schedule with specific cardio workouts for the first time since I started lifting. I feel fit enough to manage both now and I know that the cardio will benefit my fitness over 18 holes.

I'm lucky enough to work close to a gym and to have a treadmill at home so my workouts are over lunch or in the morning and therefore don’t cut into golf time. One added bonus is that I am fitting into clothes again that got a bit too snug over last year.

One new exercise I did today was to take a light empty barbell and with it sitting across the back of my shoulders take a golf stance and slowly rotate my torso back as far as possible and slowly through again. After a few reps I started getting a good stretch and managed with the added weight of the barbell to reach a good 90 degree rotation. I’m going to add this exercise into my routine each time in the hope that it gives me a better shoulder turn. I really want to work hard in the future on rotation while keeping my spine angle.

No shanks thanks!

Today I spent a couple of hours at the pitch n putt course, which has become my practice ground, and where my emotions swung from despair to delight.

I went to practice my pitching distance control but in the event it turned into a technique session.

The first half of the story was all about the despair, because almost as soon as I started, I had a monster dose of the shanks, just like I had last year early in the season. I spent a considerable time trying different things to shake them but they got steadily worse and I was in the pit of depression and on the brink of giving up for the day when my mood turned to anger and then determination to figure out what I was doing wrong.

It felt like my back swing was getting quite armsy and then as I began the down swing I was lifting out of the shot a little, this meant that my right hip was in the way a bit and forced my arms out a touch in turn throwing the shank towards the ball.

So I tried one last thing; bending a little more at the waist and really rotating my shoulders back instead of my arms, then rotating through while staying bent at the waist. Basically really concentrating on keeping my spine angle.

I won't say that I found the ultimate answer, but it worked a treat today and I then spent an absolutely awesome hour hitting shot after solid shot with amazing distance control. I felt that taking the arms out of the swing and keeping my spine angle gave me perfect contact with the ball and made it just so simple to control the distance. 20 yard chip, 40 yard pitch, 80 yard pitch it made no difference, ball after ball the same distance and all really tightly dispersed. It was by far the best pitching I have ever managed and not a hint of neckiness in any of the shots.

I would have stayed till dark if I had not got a call to return home and sort out a PC problem for my wife. Not sure I have ever gone from such dejection to such satisfaction in one golf session.

I can't wait to get another chance to get out there and try and replicate the new pitching technique.

New Shoes!

Spent the morning shopping for new shoes. The last pair served me well , in fact since I was a beginner, but a recent hole in the left shoe was the prod I needed to invest in a new pair.

First stop was American golf where I correctly assumed that the widest choice in my local area would be, the choice was wide, but they had nothing that I liked in my size!

So I stopped by the Pro shop at our club. there was only a few uninspiring pair on display and I was thinking about where to try next when the pro asks what size? Into the back room he goes and out comes a pair of Footjoy Sport in my size, the very style I had wanted to try in AG earlier.

Not only do they fit like a glove, but they were last years model and so priced at £70 instead of the £99 that AG wanted.

Suffice to say that I brought them on the spot. Our pro shop never fails to amaze me. We also got talking about custom fit, he has a fitting set by Taylor Made and has offered me a fitting to determine what shafts and loft/lie I should be using, all for free!

I'll find some time after my coming lesson to take him up on the offer. Talking about the lesson, I booked in next Thursday with Mark the head teaching pro at the golf academy. Can't wait to see what he recommends.

Now, I should be out practising, but it keeps bombing down with rain every 1/2 hour or so. I'm feeling a distinct lack of motivation because I just know it's going to be a mud bath, however time to drag my sorry rear out into the cold, so bye for now!

Took my 8 iron up to the PnP for another hour. Same story with left pointing divots but less fade, go figure!?

Divots

After doing an hour of emails this morning at work I escaped for an hour of practice at the local municipal pitch n put course. I also went last night after work and got in an hours play in the twilight (first time this year that it’s been light long enough). These are my first visits up there since last summer; it’s still shut officially as the season runs April to October. However the gate is wide open and dog walkers are making good use of the site so I had no hesitation in using the course.

There is also no question of me damaging the place, it is not looked after even at the best of times, there are holes dug in the greens, bald patches of sand on the greens where the sun killed the surface last summer, in fact it’s a right sad mess but it provides an almost ideal practice area. You are able to hit off grass into a target green and with so many tee and green options you can vary distance and targets at will, in fact play any short game shot you can imagine. Once the summer comes they let the rough grow to shin high, then practice becomes less useful as you spend more time searching for balls in the grass than hitting them, but at the moment it beats the driving range by a country mile!

I took a pitching wedge and 20 balls and set up for a hundred yard pitch shot into one of the greens. I was working on my swing as I have done over the winter, keeping the flex in my right leg, setting the club on plane at the top keeping the connection of my arms/body, then getting my weight through the ball and releasing the club so I take a divot after the ball.

I was doing it very well and had the satisfaction of seeing almost all my divots starting where the ball had been and extending forward. I only hit maybe two slightly fat.

Actually I was so intent on this, that I wasn't really paying attention to where the balls were going only briefly remarking that I was seeing a lot of fade for a pitching wedge and that they were going high and not that far. Eventually I got more interested in the ball flight and to my dismay found that they were all short high fades. I then finally had that eureka moment when I looked at my divots again.

Now this is the first time in months I have been able to hit off grass and take a divot. While they were all showing ball first contact, they were also all heading badly left. I tried hitting deliberately in to out, but nope, divots still pointing left! In fact no matter what I tried I could not move my swing path L.

I have to face the fact that somehow in changing my swing over the winter I have ingrained a very significant out to in move that I never noticed while hitting on mats. Without seeing any video it’s almost a dead cert that I'm coming over the top badly. By thinking back over my range sessions I'm seeing a fade with most of my clubs now, so I have to assume that my swing is OTT and out to in with all my irons.

Time for another lesson to sort out my swing path!

I think I’m going to go back to the expensive video pro based at the local academy, he coaches a European tour player so he must know his business. There is a wait to get to see him but he has done good things to my swing in the past and I need to see what I’m doing wrong on screen.

Until I have had my lesson I’m not going to worry about it and just keep doing what I have been doing. I mean it’s not all bad, I am hitting the ball more solid than ever, hopefully the last piece of my swing puzzle will be fixing the OTT move and getting my path back on line.

78 in the snow!

I think of myself as a fair weather golfer. So when I set off for a few holes in the cold grey drizzle this morning I had low expectations of playing anything half decent. In fact I only went up to the club due to lack of more appealing options, I was determination not to go anywhere near the local driving range for a start and it was too miserable to travel far just to hit balls off matt's, so by default I decided on a few practice holes.

Amazingly I was not alone on the course, the hardy retired golfers of Yorkshire were out in force, so after just a few swift swings in the practice net I started cold on the 12th tee instead of the 1st. It was not much of a surprise when my opening 3 wood headed left on a worm burning trajectory that left me 15 yards behind some small trees. With the green out of question I played it as a par 5 and surprisingly hit the ball pure and nearly rescued a par with my first put missing by inches.

Onto the 13th Tee in a mix of snow, sleet and drizzle now and I played a huge long hook with my driver that found the lateral water hazard about 140 yards from the green. Playing three from the soggy rough 2 club lengths from the hazard I nailed my iron over the defending bunker to 10 feet and rolled in the put for a career Par save.

That set the tone for the next few holes, swinging slowly in the snow and in control I played golf like it's easy despite the north wind, the cold and wet I was enjoying myself and stood on the 17th tee just one over par for 5 holes.

The golfing gods brought me back to earth on the 17th with a duffed delicate chip that went less than 2 feet. The follow up chip was over hit as a result and I just missed the 8 foot bogey put taking a double.

By now the weather was worse than I have ever played in, and I was getting cold and the swing was no longer pure but more of a battle to stay smooth. Never the less I finally for the first time in my golfing life scrambled and ground out the score instead of getting down on myself and hacking it.

Onto the 3rd our stroke index one (hardest hole), into the teeth of a northeast wind, with the snow showing up the wind strength and direction like some kind of computer game. There was no way I could reach. Good course management saw me play it as a three shot par 5 and narrowly missed the 12 foot par put for another drooped shot.

By now I was quite determined to see out a full 18 holes despite the snow. I was in a perverse way enjoying the challenge of the bad weather.

Par, Bogey, Par, Par, Bogey, Par.

Stood on the 10th tee, my 17th hole of the day and I know that breaking 80 is in my grasp. In fact I know that I will need to seriously screw up to not break 80. The 10th is a long hole all up hill, I'm short of the dance floor in two and my chip is a bit strong, but a safe two putt See's me heading to the last hole with a smile.

A final sketchy 4 iron that fades a bit to much to the right, a chip over the bunker and a regulation 2 putt then i'm fist pumping the air in the middle of a deserted sleet battered golf course for a Bogey 4 and a personal best 78.

Now I know that the course is on winter tee's so it's short, and I was under no pressure not playing with anyone. Still I'm well chuffed with the way I played and how I scored. It's been one of my goals for this season to break 80 in a general knock and to do it so early in the season in awful conditions and bobbly greens hopefully bodes well for the coming years golf.

Particularly pleased with my putting today, short game work finally paying off? I hope so...

18 holes
Score 78, 8 over par.
71% fairways hit.
7/18 GiR
31 putt's (1.72/hole - 2.00/GiR)
Penalties 1

Done with the driving range

Yesterday I hit the range, literally! Today I have a mild case of tennis elbow in my right arm as a consequence. What a counterproductive waste of time it was. Not only did my new move not work this time (pushing everything), but I also sprayed the ball all over the place and miss hit loads, never felt warmed up and hit the matts far too hard too often. Seeing as our local range mats are 10 year old thin rubber directly onto concrete trying to take a divot out of them is not a very bright thing to do!

Hence forth I swear to only go to that range for practicing wood shots off a tee.

One other thing that made me laugh, I only had 3 quid with me so I got the cheap one piece balls and they really are rocks, now our range yardage is miss labelled badly, the 150 yard marker is at 130 yards, the 250 yard marker at about 190 although uphill. With the rocks I could not even get a 7 iron to the 150 yard marker. At the end of the session I put down a real ball from my bag and hit the same 7 iron and it went a very considerable distance further than the range rocks with completely different feedback from the club face.

I’m beginning to question again the value of this kind of range work. This is the time that I really; really wish the club had good practice facilities. I would not mind collecting my own golf balls if only we had a large enough space to hit them into!

I have to find a space to practice in that’s on grass, the local council run pitch n’ Putt is not open until April, however I may sneak up there and check out the conditions. I don’t need flags in the greens to practice and if it’s deserted then I can hit shots of up to 200 yards across the field, I just need a teeing off place that is not jungle rough.

It may be my only option.

Putting in the practice time.

How many times in a row can you roll a golf ball over a 5 pence piece from 6 feet away with your putter?

Well, We have a short pile carpet at work with sort of patten lines on it so that alignment is a piece of cake, Basically it shows up how reliable your putting stroke is.

From 3 & 4 feet it’s actually very easy to just keep rolling balls over the coin, in fact only boredom gets in the way and I seldom miss unless I let my attention wander. But from 6 to 10 feet it becomes a little trickier. Still I can do it time after time when I get into a grove. With my normal miss being a coins width to the right that would have easily dropped into a real cup.

What’s the benefit of this? Well I have been doing this most every Friday (a quiet day at work) since xmas and I’m now very confident in my putting stroke. Basically if I miss one on the putting green it because I miss aligned, or miss judged the break/grain/speed. Having confidence in your putting stroke is a huge boost, it doesn’t mean I’m going to turn into a great putter but it does give me added incentive to practice my real putting once the greens come to life a bit later in the spring.

Actually I am going to turn into a great putter! :)

New moves

Work and chores have really taken my time away these past few weeks, but I have had chance to hit the range a few times. To be honest I’m spraying the ball all over the shop whenever I get to hit a few. Working on technique changes is not easy at the best of times, but when you’re not that good in the first place it can be especially demoralising. On the odd time that I got to the range I have been working on a variety of things probably too many things to be honest, but there are occasional signs that some of it is starting to stick.

Yesterday I managed an hour and 50 balls which while it does not sound much was quite a feat because I was hitting into an arctic cold feeling rain shower and head wind that blew straight into the driving range bay from the east and left my hands stinging the way they would if I had just hit a thin with a blade.

I persevered because I was trying a new move and while I did not hit too many balls that great, when I did get it right I was encouraged enough to try again next time.
I have always had an over the top move from the top of my back swing. In an attempt to fix this I spent some time the other day with a mirror and swinging in slow motion. This was after reading somewhere about feeling like your back stays pointing towards the target for as long as possible in the transition/downswing. This has the effect of your weight shifting a touch before your shoulders turn and routes the club on an inside path without you having to lean back. In essence I think I ‘may’ have found the true way of approaching from the inside whilst still getting my weight through the ball.

When I nailed one I had the satisfying result of seeing a baby draw or a baby push fade depending on how I was aligned. The one caveat of all this for me is that it only works when my transition and tempo is silky smooth. I suspect that there will need to be a lot of practice before I can take this with any success to the course.

Whilst I have not been able to get as much practice time as I may have wished lately, hanging around in airports and hotels does give you plenty of thinking time, I have been using some of this to work on the mental side of the game. I think it’s true to say that most everyone plays there best golf in a relaxed yet focused state, evidence the good scores whilst playing a few holes after work on a pleasant summers evening. For me I will be trying hard to replicate that feeling of being chilled positive and not rushing. This means a new warm up routine, new pre shot routine and a lot of work in letting go of bad shots and bad holes. Time will tell if this staying chilled out is achievable!

Poor range work out

I took an early lunch and went to the range for a quick 50 balls today. I have to say that just like last week I was rubbish; I could not hit anything longer than an 8 iron. Swinging wild with fat shots and out of the toe shots. I ended up just swinging slow with a pitching wedge trying to find the middle of the club with some mixed success.

I think I have to stop these range sessions of a lunch time, I’m in a hurry, not warmed up and not relaxed and that ends up in poor ball striking leading to a negative mind-set. The problem is that the range isn’t flood lit and so it’s shut by the time I could get there after work. Even so I think it’s counterproductive to hit bad shots for the sake of it. Instead I’ll take my Tuesday lunch break at the club and spend 30 min’s putting, that should be more effective use of the time.

So until the light stays till 6pm of an evening I’ll restrict the range sessions to weekends or days off.

February & 2011 goals.

So February is here and I’m thinking about my goals for the year. I want to break 80 this year in a general knock from the yellows. I also want to break 90 in a comp. Handicap goal for year end is 18. These should all be achievable goals.

Biggest goal of the year is to get comfortable playing in medals. We all play our best golf when we are relaxed and focused, I know it’s just a matter of use before I feel comfortable in the medal comps, so I plan to enter as many as possible and to hell with the score. I’m just going to play to enjoy a round of golf.

Work looks much busier this year and I will have chunks of time when I will not be able to get out as much as last season, but I will have enough time generally especially if I use it efficiently.

From now until April I’m working mainly on the swing at the range and on pitching to distances. Then I will switch to mostly short game stuff and especially chipping & putting.

I’m half committed to not changing any of my clubs this year and I have enough golf balls to see me through the year. So at least my equipment will be consistent.

I think the next step is a video lesson mid Feb, I can’t do it before then due to work commitments but it will be nice to see what the swing looks like after my tinkering over the winter.

Jan Practice log...

January Practice log…

Putting stroke practice, 1 hour. 28th Jan.
5 holes general practice. 27th Jan.
Range 80 balls, 1 hour. 27th Jan.
Putting practice, 30 Mins. 27th Jan.
Chipping practice, 1 hour. 27th Jan.
Pitching practice, 1 hour. 27th Jan.
Range 50 balls, 1 hour. 25th Jan.
Putting practice, 30 Mins. 23rd Jan.
Pitching practice, 1 hour. 23rd Jan.
12 holes, general practice. 23rd Jan.
Range 50 balls, 1 hour. 22nd Jan.
6 holes general practice. 8th Jan.
Range 75 Balls, 1 hour. 8th Jan.

Practice time

Putting time 120 Min's
Driving range 255 balls (Estimate 240 Min's)
Pitching & Chipping time 180 Min’s
Practice holes played = 23

swing changes

Yesterday I got some quality practice time in at a local golf academy. I spent time chipping, Pitching and putting on a real green as well as the obligatory range balls.

I struck the ball really well during practice, but the caveat is that it was all off Matts. You can never really tell if you’re getting a true clean contact or if the matt is masking a slightly chunky contact.

One thing that I did make progress on was my back swing. Choosing a bay in front of a mirror I was able to check my wrist position and leg flex at the top of my backswing. This enabled me to really concentrate on retaining flex in my right (back) leg.

Towards half way through my range session I think I finally cracked it, I got the feeling of almost squatting into my back leg. When I do that it keeps the hips much more stable, I feel slightly coiled up and it’s easy to push off the back leg and get through the ball in the down swing. It feels a much more powerful yet controllable swing.

It was kind of like one of those eureka moments on the range and after that I nailed everything I swung at, driver in particular was noticeably much more powerful than normal.

After leaving the academy I found myself at the golf club around an hour later and I popped out for a swift 5 holes to see the new swing in action.

Firstly I was a bit tired and had stiffened up driving for an hour, but the first iron was crisp and long if a little off target. On the next I hit my driver and was very pleased with the result, long and with a fine flight if a bit off target again. The second driver shot was a similar strike but straight down the middle. Then some inconsistency started in my irons. I remember a thin, a fat and an immense three iron off the tee, a complete duff and a very long 8 iron that flew the green, a real mixed bag. I decided that it was counterproductive to play when I was tired and freezing cold so I called it a day at that point.

Over all I’m very happy, keeping the leg flex was one of the main things my last lesson was about and when I get it right it does make such a difference. I’m going to put a lot more practice into this over the next month. I could just do with finding some grassed area to practice on so I can tell where my divots start rather than clunking away on matts.

2011

So with the new year my interest in golf is being rekindled, I'm not sure what it is, but I seam to lose interest as the nights draw in during the autumn and it starts again as I notice the light staying longer in the January late afternoons.

I've been to the range a couple of times since the new year started and a few times before Xmas. Then today played 12 holes and spent an hour on the practice ground getting a feel again for pitching and putting.

So far I can say that my irons are coming back to form but my wood play is woeful. Still, it's early days and I'm looking forward to the season.

Over the winter I went back over the notes I have from lessons and after some range experimentation came to a decision. This year with my irons I'm going to play for a fade.

For the past few years I have put a lot of effort into developing a draw shot and with some success, however in playing so hard for a draw I have ingrained a fault into my swing. To get to the inside I make a kind of lean back with my torso, it produces a draw but, it also makes fat shots far more common.

My last lesson was partially about trying to fix that fault in order to reduce fat shots and get the golf ball first before hitting the turf. I can do this quite well however it does produce a fade rather than a draw. The more I have hit and seen the fade the more I'm beginning to get used to it. Wrongly or rightly I always used to equate a draw with good players and a cut with high handicappers. It's why I tried so hard to play a draw myself. As time goes by I'm beginning to realise that a fade is probably the more controllable shot.

Here's to a golf filled 2011, and Lot's of birdies!!!