March 2008 Archives

I got a round in at Mill Creek Sunday and shot a personal best 95.  The weather was in the low 40's, no sun, and some variable wind (15 MPH one minute, nothing the next).

I had a eureka moment the night before and figured out why I was pushing balls straight to the right, topping and just generally not hitting well.  I've been having the knife edge of my left hand facing the target instead of the back of my hand.  I'm not sure if you're aware of this or not, but you can't hit a ball like that.  It took me about 30 minutes in the back yard at 9:00 with some whiffle balls to figure this out.

For the first time since I've been golfing, I got every tee shot up and gone.  My minimum drive was probably about 200 and I topped out around 270.  I'm fighting a bad fade on my driver.  I think I need to get my hands turned sooner or move the ball forward a little bit.  I had a couple of long straight shots, but most headed right.

My irons were on fire.  I even hit my 4 iron really well.  I hit anywhere from straight to about a 10 yard draw.  I'm kind of hoping I can come to rely on my draw.  Distance was really good and spot on with the work I've been doing at the range.

Chipping was disastrous.  It's what killed my score for certain.  There were holes I would get 30 yards away and have to chip 2 and 3 times just to get on.  I hit some fat, hit some too soft and bladed a couple.  So, my next lesson is for my short game.

Putting was pretty good.  I took 31 putts including 2 birdie attempts (ended with pars).  I'd like to get my putts below 30 but I don't see me having too much trouble with that if my chipping comes around.

All in all, I am super happy with my game.  Things are progressing nicely.

I had a lesson 2 weeks ago and got my swing reworked.  We mostly worked on posture and grip, then we moved on to the swing itself.  I need to focus on these things:

1) A more athletic posture (knees bent and bend at the waist with a straighter back).

2) My swing should follow a 7 o'clock to 1 o'clock path.  This allows my hands to release better and results in shots that are mostly straight with a slight draw thrown in from time to time.  A 6 o'clock to 12 o'clock swing path results in wicked slices and other unsavory results.

3) I need to almost crowd the ball.  This allows my arms to hang straight down and allows me to relax my shoulders.  I've found that if my shoulders are hunched or otherwise tensed, I tend to top/blade the ball.  Total shoulder relaxation produces much more consistent results.

The grip has become natural at this point.  I don't even have to think about it, which is good.  Fewer swing thoughts allow a more natural and fluid swing.  My instructor has moved me from a 10 finger to an interlock.  She said it was my choice between interlock and overlap.  Interlock helps me feel I have better control of the club and allows me to really relax my right hand grip.  Up until this week, I have worn two gloves mostly to combat blisters and callouses.  I've found that I don't need the right hand glove now.  I also appear to have corrected the issue of wearing a hole in the palm of my left glove.  Time will tell on that one.

I played a round with Carl and Paul yesterday at Raymond.  I did not keep score since I was using it as a practice round to work on my swing mechanics.  Item 3 on the list above was my biggest problem.  It took me 12 frustration-packed holes to figure this out.  After that, I hit pretty well.  I even had a GIR on a par 3.

I have another lesson this Wednesday.  I'm confident I have made some good progress and we can move on past some of the flaws from last time.

It took me about 1 hour to completely spend every dime I got for my birthday today.

I went to Golf Galaxy and picked up some new toys.  I got a Taylormade Burner 3W, a Ping Tour-W 60 degree wedge, a 4-GW set of Cobra FP irons, and stuffed all of them in a brand new Nike Sasquatch Tour stand bag.  Freakin' sweet.  Erin also got me a sweet Adidas golf shirt and a 4-pack of lessons to Golf Galaxy.

Now if we can just do something about this weather...