LowPost42 Journal

Copied from my GTO journal...

I just completed the first 9 holes of the season. The course opened today, so naturally I had to play.

I shot horribly. 67 with 7 penalty strokes and 20 putts (no 4 jacks, though, and the greens were quite shaggy).

However, the lessons learned today were profound.

Lesson 1: I tried to employ the idea of a 'think box' and a 'play box'. Standing behind the ball is the think box - where all the considering and thinking happens. Practice swings and feels happen here. Standing beside the ball (address) is the play box - no thinking allowed!

Lesson 2: Visualizing the shot is important. Very important. When I didn't have a clear idea in my mind what my shot should look like, I didn't hit the ball very well.

Lesson 3: A specific target is important, too. The same result from not visualising came from not having a specific target to aim at. The ball just went willy-nilly, and I had nowhere to aim.

Lesson 4: YOU CANNOT HIT A BALL WHILE THINKING MECHANICS!!!!!!!!!!!!! Every time I tried to hit a ball while trying to conciously widen my backswing or not roll my wrists or try to set my hands properly resulted in horrible contact. This goes hand in hand with...

Lesson 5: Being in balance produces better swings. On every poor result, I did not feel balanced at some point in the swing. When I did feel balanced, my shots were in play.

Final lesson: A good preshot routine goes a long way to solidifying the above.

---------------------- End first/begin second-------------------------------

Just finished 18.

49 on the front (with a 7 and 9) 54 on the back with nothing better than an ugly par save with another 9 and a pair of 7s.

Granted, this is my first full round of the season, but I played the front with bogies where the 7 and 9 weren't, and a even started with a par.

Key thoughts:

Chipping was the saviour. I got up and down 6 times on the front; compared to only twice on the back (but a couple were 6" tap in second putts). None the less, a stroke is a stroke.

The back 9 started going to hell in a handbasket when I started to swing outside of my ability. Gorilla golf is a surefire way for me to slice the ball. The laser came back on once I started making a nice slow backswing including a full turn with a smooth down and throughswing - a synchronized swing if you will. I ended up going par par triple (due to ugly chipping and a 3 putt); but the lesson was learned. Swing easy, let the club do the work. Swinging out of your shoes is a recipie for ugliness.

Also - deep arms and a full turn is only good for 3 or so holes. I get too tired after that. Keep seperating the arms and feeling 2 plane-ish for best results.

__________________
PCS Class 'A' Clubfitter - www.pcsgep.com
True Length Technology Fitter - www.truelengthtechnology.com
It's live! - www.ShipShapeClubs.com

A new highlight: Golfing the home course on Christmas Day.

I say it too often: If it's golf club shaped, you can play with it.

For the record, I'm a club doctor, not a swing doctor.

Just a quick note about losing the ball right:

Path is an issue if you hit with the hands, man. They cannot be allowed to outrace the body, otherwise you'll go left and more left. You'll stop your rotation and fling them. I know I said lose it right - but the wipe across the ball comes this way, too. (Hence left and more left). What happens when the ball goes right is getting the hands too far behind; as the hands lag behind. The path cuts in (or I'll miss the ball) and the wipe happens with a wide open face.

The shoulder turn is critical to producing more clubhead speed. Since I'm keeping my arms relatively passive, my shoulder turn will dictate how far they can come from. Trying to add speed with the armsjust results in sprayed shots (à la swinging out of my shoes). Time to start stretching to increase my turn!

__________________
PCS Class 'A' Clubfitter - www.pcsgep.com
True Length Technology Fitter - www.truelengthtechnology.com
It's live! - www.ShipShapeClubs.com

A new highlight: Golfing the home course on Christmas Day.

I say it too often: If it's golf club shaped, you can play with it.

For the record, I'm a club doctor, not a swing doctor.

LP,

When the hole is turning into s..t! think bogey is good. If you have a poor drive just try and get the next shot onto the fairway nearer the 150 mark.

Sounds like, it's only a few holes that are wrecking your card.

Good work and good hitting for the season.

Thanks VP. It wasn't about trying heroic shots (course management was still OK). It was about penalty strokes and a 'lost swing'. It kind of sucked the confindence out of my game. Once I calmed down and started swinging within myself, my game came around again.

Another round - and I'm starting to wonder if I need to practice more and play less.

It took me 16 holes to hit one decent ball. Perhaps I need to take some full swings in the cage as well as chip and putt before going out. Sadly, the cage won't tell me if I'm rolling my forearms or not.

I really have to stop rolling on the takeaway. It's killing me...

Head up Ben, tell yourself that it was just one of those days and that it will come good.

At least thats what I told myself yesterday.

I know this can be annoying to hear but let up a bit Ben. leave the distance, play your shots and have an easy time of it.

If you have a shot or two on a hole then play it that way, the par four is a five, some fives will be sixes or even sevens with your handicap, think of that as your par. Keep the swings real easy, whats wrong with a 200 or 180 yard tee shot if you can get the green with a seven iron or even two seven irons.

Stroke your way to a better score and good luck mate!

__________________
Best Regards
Brian

________________________________
Funny o'l game!

Thanks for the kind words, fellas. However, two rounds ago I was hitting the ball really well, and had the entire right side of the course taken out of play (a first for me). It's been a couple weeks since I was at the range (and not just beating 'almost golf balls' in the backyard). I think I need to get back to the range and work it out again - the really good round followed a very productive range session.

I'll concur my last post was a really poorly detailed 'note to self', but it ID'd the cause of the bulk of my problems.

__________________
PCS Class 'A' Clubfitter - www.pcsgep.com
True Length Technology Fitter - www.truelengthtechnology.com
It's live! - www.ShipShapeClubs.com

A new highlight: Golfing the home course on Christmas Day.

I say it too often: If it's golf club shaped, you can play with it.

For the record, I'm a club doctor, not a swing doctor.

Worst score of the season today - a blistering 116 with 9 penalties.

Lesson 1: There's no rest for the untrained. After hitting the ball mostly horribly all day, I came home and spent 40 minutes in the backyard until I could hit 30 or 40 balls in a row, properly. Practice is crucial at this point, as I fought for the first 10 minutes to stop flipping my wrists. Screw this. I just bought a Greg Norman 'secret'.

Lesson 2: Reaching for the ball will result in a poor strike, every time. SO STOP DOING IT.

Lesson 3: A little spine tilt when teeing off is a good thing. Try it - you liked it.

__________________
PCS Class 'A' Clubfitter - www.pcsgep.com
True Length Technology Fitter - www.truelengthtechnology.com
It's live! - www.ShipShapeClubs.com

A new highlight: Golfing the home course on Christmas Day.

I say it too often: If it's golf club shaped, you can play with it.

For the record, I'm a club doctor, not a swing doctor.

A day at the range yielded no tangible results - until I managed to fadangle a lesson from the local Pro. He hemmed and hawed until I mentioned short game lesson is what I was looking for. Suddenly, there was a spot in the schedule where he could fit me in before I had to go.

Yay for me!

It showed me two things - trying to hit the ball gets me outside the line (rather than simply swinging the club), and no matter what, I need to keep my head behind the ball. It's tough to do, as I shift my weight aggressively, but it will be the focus during my hour in the backyard today.

__________________
PCS Class 'A' Clubfitter - www.pcsgep.com
True Length Technology Fitter - www.truelengthtechnology.com
It's live! - www.ShipShapeClubs.com

A new highlight: Golfing the home course on Christmas Day.

I say it too often: If it's golf club shaped, you can play with it.

For the record, I'm a club doctor, not a swing doctor.

Tournament time! I'm playing in a 3 day tourney.

Keys to my swing:

Turn and turn. Full turn away, turn hips (no lunge!) See the shaft move back on plane - do not manipulate with hands (and play for a small pull).

Get the putter going. Get your feel back (or live with a day of 3 jacks).

Aggressive swings at conservative targets. Quitting on a shot is killer.

LP, good luck, bud.

I like your idea of an aggresive swing at conservative targets - very good for approach shots, but I would stay away from doing so on your drives; could be just me though.

Good luck!!

I can see that I have some more work to do. A 53/48 has me at 101. I need to shoot under 100 in the next two rounds to keep it under 300 for the weekend (my goal).

Got some feel back in the putter - had lots of 2 putts where the second one was 12" or less.

Turn and turn is still the order of the day.

Hi LP,

Reading your journal, to me it seems that you are f ighting with tempo and rhythm. I can well understand that as I have often been there. when this happens to me, I just fall back to swinging two clubs together. This gives me back the feeling of what the swing tempo should be. Woks wonders.

Robert

I think you're onto something there, Robert. I hit some really good shots with a smaller "compact" backswing, and decent tempo.

Between using that today, and playing every par 4 as a par 5 today (still working out the mental aspect of that) I'm all set to keep it under 100 today.