Lessons from Nationals

Placed T-3 in my flight at the GCAT Nationals. My goal was top 10, so I achieved that goal, although I truly believe I could have won it if I had been able to get comfortable with my swing. It wasn't until the last day that I started to feel comfortable and could hit the ball where I wanted. My putting wasn't too great the last two days either, so I definitely left some strokes there too.

Anyway I wanted to document what I learned from playing in the four day event, especially while it's fresh in my head.

1. Clear the mind. I think part of my problem the first 3 days was that I was having trouble clearing my mind of distractions and focusing on the moment. I'd be standing over the ball for many shots or putts and have what I consider a scrambled mind - I wouldn't be thinking about any one thing in particular, but I was thinking about 10 things at once. The last day when I scored very well I was able to focus on what I was doing at that moment and only that one thing.
2. Think through the situation of every shot. Know the lie, know the risk/reward, know the shot shape you need to hit, know what the green is really doing, know the weather. For the most part I executed very well through the week - I got in trouble typically because I didn't consider one aspect of the situation I was in. The best example is an 84 yard pitch shot I had with a downhill lie on the 15th hole of the last day. I focused on the swing I needed to make and forgot about the downhill lie I needed to compensate for - the result was a chunk on a relatively easy pitch. That led to an awkward 40 yd pitch to a small green, a bunker shot, and 2 putts for double bogey. That double bogey was the difference between sole 2nd and T-3.
3. Light putter grip. I caught myself with a tight putter grip numerous times throughout the week. That may be one of the reasons I struggled with my putting so much, including missing many short birdie putts.
4. Short game (chipping and pitching) can make or break your round. Everyone "knows" this, but I lived it. At TPC Sawgrass Stadium I spent most of my 2nd shots on par 4's and 5's punching out of trees (or worse) and back into the fairway, meaning I had to try to get close to the pin on the green and make my putt to save par. Most of the time I was able to save par, and that saved my round. Also if I didn't get on the green in regulation, most of the time I was able to get up and down.
5. Golf is not a game of perfect. That's actually a book title, but it's so true. As mentioned in #4, "most of the time" I was able to be successful in recovering from bad situations. You have to accept that bad situations are going to happen, and then you have to accept that you aren't always (100% of the time) going to execute the way you intend. But the idea has to be to put yourself into a position where you have a chance. In fact, all week that's how I would make decisions - "what is going to get me into a position to have a better chance for the next shot or to score?"
6. High probability choices. Since golf is not a game of perfect, you have to play a game of probability. You may have also heard this as "play your game" or "stay within yourself". Really what that means is you have to make decisions and pick shots that give you the best chance at being successful for the next shot (or score). And this may vary from day to day depending on how well you're swinging or putting. I know I had a slightly different swing each of the four days of the tournament, with some clubs working better for me than others, and I made decisions according to the state of my game at that moment. Targeting pins is not always the smart thing to do. Play your tendencies - if you're having a tendency to pull or hook the ball left that day, then don't aim right at a pin tucked on the left side of the green - go middle and if it hooks you're in better shape, while if it doesn't you're safe. If hitting a Driver meant that water or bunkers (or both) come into play while hitting a 5 wood meant I got another 30 yards of fairway to play with even though it put me back 40 yards, I went 5 wood. That extra 40 yards might be the difference between a GW approach and a 7-iron approach, but it also meant I took away the opportunity for the Big Number, which leads me to...
7. Stay away from the Big Number. I know a number of guys who took a big number on just one hole the entire tournament, but that one hole kept them out of contention. By Big Number I mean worse than double bogey - not that double bogey is all that great either, but in this particular tournament's situation with the windy conditions and course setups it wasn't a number that was going to destroy your chances at contending. However, taking a 10 on a par 4 or a par 3 certainly digs a deeper hole to climb out of.  Now generally speaking I try to limit my mistakes to no worse than bogey. I've reached a point where I hate bogeys, but I know they're going to happen. I really hate double bogeys, but for this particular tournament I knew that they would likely happen too just with the environment we were playing in. The trick was to keep things from getting out of control and to minimize the number of double bogeys that would happen. As I get better I'm sure that mentality will shift into minimizing bogeys, regardless of the environment conditions I'm playing in (it IS my mentality for weekend rounds).
8. Shot shaping is crucial (and fun). Fades, draws, high shots, lows, punches, traps, etc. All important to know how to do. The wind this week was brutal. 20-25 mph sustained winds, and a lot of people suffered because they didn't adjust. Hitting a cut into a right-left wind can help keep the ball straighter, just like hitting a draw into a left-right wind. Keeping it under the tree line is useful to minimize the affect of wind. Trapping the ball when you want to spin it back off a slope and have it suck down to the pin is a helpful skill to have (did this to 2 feet on Stadium #18). Plus, it's fun to execute these shots, and when you know you can't perfectly control the ball when you're trying to put some kind of spin or height to the shot it takes some of the pressure of executing a perfectly straight shot out of the equation. "I tried to cut the ball to that right pin location and it didn't cut? So I'm in the center of the green, no problem" or "I tried to cut the ball to that right pin location and it landed 2 feet from the flag. That was fun to watch." When I practice I mess around with shot shaping all the time - it's fun, and as I've found in tournaments, very useful. I did realize I need to learn how to hit a low Driver/3w. That's one area that did hurt me a bit.

Oops

I didn't mean to not update the journal for such a long time. I need to get back to regular updates. The events of the last few months are exactly the sort of thing I want to capture here.

I haven't played in any tournaments in that time and instead have been working on getting more consistent swing mechanics. It seems like I'm having success there because my ball striking has been stellar lately. I'm hitting the majority of greens in regulation, and if I miss a fairway I'm only off by a yard or two. I haven't hit it in a hazard in over a month.

The end result is that my scores are dropping quick, including a personal best 4-under (68) not too long ago. I feel like I didn't play well if I shoot a 74 or higher, which is amazing because just a few months ago I'd take a 74 any day. My handicap has dropped to a 0.1 from a 4.0 in the last 3-4 months. Crazy.

Previously in the journal I talked about how I was starting to use visualization as part of my preshot routine. It's become a habit now, and at times it's astonishing how I can visualize a shot or putt and then execute exactly what I saw without thinking about it. The mind is a powerful thing.

Visualization is definitely helping. It's one of those things I want to tell everyone I meet, and at times I try, but for most it's a topic or a concept that doesn't seem to get much traction. Most everyone is more interested in how they can swing better or simply hit the ball straight (and far).

I haven't figured out what's bringing the better golf game, but it's likely a combination of things that are finally coming together for me after a year of work. Visualization, concentration, improved course management, ball striking, chipping.. the whole deal.

Anyway, I need to stay updated with this. Lots of good things happening right now in my game, and I have a few big events coming up in the next few months. I'll be practicing nearly every day for the next 8-10 weeks in preparation for these events - lots of work to do.

Staying Connected

Friday evening I grabbed my video camera and setup shop in the living room to figure out why I've been feeling somewhat disconnected in my swing. It's hard to describe the feeling, but every once in a while I start feeling weak with my swing, particularly with the driver. I feel off-balance and like my arms are sort of flying all over the place.

This would be in contrast to a very powerful rotation and in balance follow through when I feel connected.

I'm able to take full swings in the living room when I do this, but I also do a lot of slow motion "live" with the camera hooked up to the TV so I can see the motion as I feel it. It's a setup that's worked out pretty well for diagnosing swing issues.

Anyway, I focused again on the takeaway as I was a few weeks ago. I have always had a habit of pulling the clubhead inside my hands during the takeaway, and it's what I caught myself doing on video. The result of doing this is a sort of loop around between my backswing and downswing, where I bring the clubhead too far inside during the backswing, get really steep with my arms near the top, and loop it back down to bring it on plane on the downswing. I've realized this causes all sorts of fun issues with my balance, maintaining angles, and ultimately consistency.

So the key now is to maintain arm, wrist, and hand angles until about the 8 o'clock position. I also let my hands get closer to my right thigh as they move in an arc from the shoulder turn while maintaining the clubhead outside of the arc my hands create. From this point it gets a little more complicated for me. Provided I've done that well, my right elbow should be in a position close to my side and ready to fold up. If I let my right elbow fly out a behind me at this stage I can almost guarantee a hook or big draw.

But if my right elbow is in a good position then I'll feel the connection and know that I'm in a good position and can "turn and burn" for a great shot.

One key though that I need to remember is to make sure I'm balanced in my setup. I'm finding myself too much on my toes at address, and when I'm like that I tend to fall closer to the ball during the downswing. I need to remember to get in a solid, neutral balance position prior to initiating the takeaway, and I need to remember to do that moreso with the driver where the longer club can more easily pull my entire upper body out of alignment.

Basically I spent all weekend working on these things. I worked on it at the range and on the practice course and mixed in different types of drills, shot shapes, and targets throughout the repetitions. It'll take some time to fully absorb the motion I want to have, but the mental-physical connections are starting to solidify already. With more quality practice over the next few weeks I shouldn't have to think about the takeaway too much.

I also spent a lot of time working on chipping this weekend. I specifically focused on hitting my targets around the green in terms of identifying and hitting landing spots for the chip. For lies, I focused on lies in thick rough and mostly short-sided to the pin since I've been having trouble with that lately and my aggressive play to pins has led to many instances of being short-sided.

At this time of year I'm trying to get in as much work as I can throughout the week. Originally the plan was to take it easy and start getting ready for Nationals in August, but after thinking about it I decided I ought to take advantage of the weather and the longer daylight hours of the summer. So, that's what I'm doing. It'll probably be like this for me until October.

TS Debbie

The Tropical Storm is sort of messing up any practice time right now. It's a good break though. Sometimes you need a break to rejuvenate. Looking forward to getting out on the course, possibly tomorrow. If anything the weather looks very good for Thursday and the rest of the weekend.

I kind of decided that unless there's a compelling reason to play, I won't play in any more tournaments until August. I'm kind of happy to spend time working on things, plus I get the nice Tahoe vacation in a few weeks. After that I can start getting back in tournament shape. Meanwhile I'll continue to focus on more mechanical improvements.

Mentally Tired

I suppose this weekend is a good example of how I play when I'm mentally worn out. I didn't play terrible this weekend, but it wasn't as good as I should be playing and mentally I could never get any kind of concentration going. Some stuff happened at work this past week that was a culmination of a years' worth of frustrations, and by the end of the week I was mentally worn out. It's carried over into my golf game.

Having said that, out of the 3 rounds I played I did have a great round on the aerated Champions course, shooting a 1-over 73 playing from the black tees. The other two rounds were on the Legends course at 77 and 79. My balance felt off most of the time, but I think it was more mental than anything. I say that because I was perfectly fine on the range.

Short game hurt a bit too. Recently I modified my grip when chipping to be more neutral instead of strong, and I'm having trouble trusting my chips out of the rough.

I spent some time practicing as well, working on full swing and short game. I've been waiting on the greens to recover from the recent aerification so I can practice putting. With all the rain we're getting this week I should be able to start doing that soon. My putting stroke did feel a bit off, but again I didn't have the mental energy to do the visualization I've been working on when putting either.

Overall I'd rate my practice and play this weekend average. The more neutral grip is starting to feel comfortable, and I'm learning how to shape the ball on the course. I won't worry too much about the negatives this weekend until I get through this mental spell. This week looks to be a wet week with the tropical storm, so I'll have to take advantage of any opportunities to practice.

Wednesday Round

Played 9 holes with the group last night. Had a bit of a rough start going +6 in the first 3 holes. I wasn't in a good mental state with some frustrations outside of golf, so it took me a bit to get into a better frame of mind.

I did that by the 4th hole though, a long par 5 that I birdied. I went even-par for the rest of the holes to finish the 9 at +5. That's below average for me, but given the start of the round I still took away some positives.

For one, I was able to take the ball flight control to the course. I made mistakes, but nothing unrecoverable. Also, despite the negative mental state I was in at the start, I was able to refocus and turn it around in time to salvage the round. That's not an easy thing to do. Third, the wind made club selection and targeting difficult - it was a 3-club wind so most of the time I was focused on playing the safe shots and staying out of trouble, especially since most of the time the wind played as a crosswind with a slight helping or hurting.

The weekend weather forecast looks grim. Lots of rain. And next week isn't looking much better. I'll have to take advantage of any good weather as it happens, even if that means going to practice early in the morning.

Unlocking a New Level

Today I felt like I unlocked a new level in my golf game. It's difficult to describe, but the work from the last few days is really starting to show.

Again I worked on mixing shot trajectories between fade, straight, and draw throughout my clubs. At some point while taking swings I realized that I could pull out a perfectly straight shot on demand. Or if desired I could hit a weak fade. Or perhaps I wanted to just slice the hell out of the ball - to maybe work around trees. Or maybe I wanted to hook it with my driver - not that I've ever seen a hole where I'd need to hook it with my driver - but I could do it.

I think it was around the time I hooked my driver - on purpose - for the third time that I realized I could turn around and fire away a perfectly straight bomb on the next shot with my driver. Then I could hook it again, followed up with another straight shot. And if I wanted to hit a low, piercing-through-the-wind drive, I could pull that out of my back pocket on demand.

In the past if I hooked it I would get a little worried. A second hook would make me nervous. A third hook would freak me out, and I'd spend the rest of the time trying to figure out why I was hooking. Today a hook didn't happen unless I wanted it to. That's different. It's liberating.

Granted, hitting targets exactly as planned is a whole different beast. I also have to better understand how distance is affected. How much distance from my normal straight shot do I lose with a fade? It seems to be about half a club to a club with an average fade (5-10 yards), but if I need to bend it around trees I might be losing 2 or more clubs of distance (20 or so yards).

This is exciting for me. It's always exciting when hard work starts paying off. I've taken a lot of swings in the last 4 days, and my body is feeling it. My upper back is on fire right now in the area of the Latissimus Dorsi. I've probably made 1,500 swings in 4 days, maybe more. My hands are swollen too. As much as I hate doing it when I'm feeling good about things (I like to take advantage of "good" feel in golf) I'll probably take tomorrow off to give my body some recovery time.

Between the recent putting improvements (that are holding) and the work I put in the last few days I'm hoping this is the beginning of the next phase of my game. If so, then perhaps the new goals I'm thinking about for the rest of the year aren't so outrageous after all (top 10 GCAT nationals, qualify for FSGA Mid-Am). We'll see. This is a fun journey.

Swing Practice

As it always does, the round at Sawgrass highlighted weak areas of my game, so I spent the weekend and will continue to spend time in the coming weeks working on those areas. I also played a couple rounds, but I didn't really keep score and focused more on doing the things I was working on in practice.

My practice consisted of a lot of swings, particularly in the area of shaping shots. The only way to play a course like Sawgrass effectively is to be able to shape shots left-right or right-left. Instead of practicing hitting the ball straight, I would work in sets of three shots - draw, straight, fade. And repeat the process. At the start, most of my swings were with the PW or 7-iron, but I worked through all the clubs. Toward the end of the session I started switching clubs every 3 swings, mostly between the longer and shorter clubs to simulate the switching we experience while playing a round. Occasionally I would mix in high or low shots with the draw/fade, but I'll look at shot height as the next step.

Overall the practice was okay. My backswing felt weird at times, although I may have just been overthinking it. I was able to execute the shots I wanted to execute most of the time, but I had streaks of frustration with thin or fat shots. It'll take time.

I also worked on hitting the "stinger" shot with my 4-iron (no lower iron) and a few times with my 5-wood. I read online that the way to hit it is to move the ball back in the stance, put more of your weight on your front side at address, take a low backswing, and keep your hands low in the follow through of the downswing. Since I've never seen one in person I have no idea what a stinger is supposed to look like, but I love the contact and ball flight I get with that setup and swing. It's almost too easy to hit well. Occasionally I'd push the ball right, but the fix there is to make sure I don't let my hips get too far ahead of my chest in the downswing. I'll have to try it out on the course and see what kind of distance I get out of it. It might become a great tee shot on tight fairways.

I also worked on some short game, and I realized I was letting my grip get too strong when chipping. By weakening my grip to be more neutral chipping has become much more controlled and simple. I like simple fixes like that.

It was a hard weekend of practice, and I'm pretty sore at this point from all the swings. I think between playing a couple rounds and the practice I was on the golf course for about 18 hours. The plan for this week is to get 3 or so days of practice and play in the Wednesday group.

Wet Week and a Test

It was a wet week in the afternoons around here, so I didn't get to practice at all this week since getting back from the tournament. I did play 6 holes on Wednesday evening until the lightning made me too nervous to play anymore. I stop enjoying golf or having a club in my hand when lightning is around.

With rain hitting again Thursday I got the mirror out and setup the webcam with the V1 software in my living room to get some looks at my swing. I spent about 30 minutes doing some dry swings and working various feels, checking those feels against the video to see how well I was on or off plane, what my body was doing, etc.

Turns out I've been moving my head too much during the downswing. I had the same sort of problem with hitting when I played baseball, although I learned to control it with pitching. Anyway, my head has basically been moving down to the ball and left, or down the line toward my target. The end result is that I don't get a proper hip bump, the club goes outside the line from my shoulders starting their turn too soon, and the clubface closes too early.

I had an opportunity to work on that today, actually, and I love how my swing feels and the ball flight I get when I keep my head from moving all around. I went up to TPC Sawgrass to play the Stadium course today. I played decent (+6), considering my forecaddie made a few mistakes on yardages that led to a few big numbers. I also played much more aggressive than I typically would (hitting Driver when I'd normally hit 3-wood, for instance), which led to me getting in trouble I would normally avoid and further inflated the score. Putting was awesome. Didn't miss a putt within 6' and made a few in the 8'-20' range for birdie. Again, the visualization stuff I've started to do is making a huge difference. Perhaps I need to start taking that to the full swing.

I also wish I could play the course longer, say where the Tour guys play. Playing from the blue tees was too short for me. Granted, it's my fault - I should have played the 3 or 5 wood more often. My distance is getting stupid long for an amateur that's only been playing a few years, and getting in unnecessary trouble with the driver is starting to be a recurring theme if I play tees less than 7000 yards. That's a recent thing for me, so I'll adjust.

Probably the best moment was the eagle on the par 5 11th. I had a monster drive, albeit on the right side of the fairway, which left about 235 to the flag in the front of the green. The wind was helping and left to right, so we decided to play to 220. Worst case if I came up short I'd have a decent bunker shot, but I wouldn't go long and be in more trouble. Well, I took my 4-iron out, focused on doing nothing but treating my head and spine as an axis around which I turn, and the ball took off with a high trajectory and a maybe 5 yard draw. The ball landed just on the green and trickled up to about 8 feet away from the pin. I made the putt to sink my 4th ever eagle.

I enjoy playing the Stadium course. It's such a great test. You get punished for every mistake, and while it's possible to recover, doing so requires a lot of focus and good decisions.

This weekend I'll play a bit and practice. I need to get some reps with the no-head-movement feel, and I'd like to put in some good time with bunkers. They kind of killed me today at Stadium (and last weekend at the tournament), and I haven't felt comfortable in a greenside bunker in weeks.

Addressing the Setup

I took the last two days off golf and spent the time instead relaxing, working out, stretching, and the occasional slow motion swing to keep the feel I've had lately.

The thing that really hurt me this past weekend was my shots off the tee. A pull/hook started to develop in my swing in the week or two prior to the tournament, and with the rain and all I never had a chance to try to work it out on the range. In retrospect, I should have spent time thinking about my setup and double checking everything there. Something didn't feel right about how I was swinging with my driver and occasionally my 3-wood or 5-wood, and in the end it cost me quite a few strokes in the tournament - at least 6 strokes from hazards or OB alone, which would have easily put me ahead of the pack.

So in the last two days I've re-read some material on the golf swing, doing some mirror work, and put some thought into my feels, leading me to ultimately consider how I've been setting up. I know that a big contributing factor to the pulls/hooks has been that I haven't been able to get my weight shifted to my left side prior to starting the downswing. This is leading to one of two things - I either completely spin out, come over the top, and get a straight pull - or I end up dragging my legs through during the downswing, letting my arms get behind my body, and end up basically slinging everything through the ball, leading to the hooks.

This is a persistent tendency of mine and a habit I've been trying to break for a while now. After doing my research and thinking about it, I'm pretty sure the problem starts at my setup before I even start my swing. I'll find out today when I go play, but from looking in the mirror I may not be getting enough axis tilt at address with my spine where the upper spine and lower spine are setup in a straight line, my left hip is setup slightly higher than my right, ultimately setup in what's called the reverse-K.

The reverse-K makes it extremely easy for me to turn and weight shift, both of which I struggled with this past weekend. Most of my swings during the tournament felt rigid and out of place - I never really felt good and easy swings out there. So today I'm going to make sure I have the proper setup before hitting my shots. I likely just got away from this the last few weeks as I started to think more about target practice than mechanical practice, which is fine, but now that the tournaments are ramping down for a bit I can focus a little more on my mechanics. Sooner or later it will just become habit, and I won't have to think about it as much.

We'll see how it goes today. I expect to feel a little off anyway just because I've had two days of nothingness, but if I see better results with the longer clubs then I'll know I'm on the right track.

Good Weekend - T2

I placed T2 at the event at PGA National this past weekend. I was in the running to win all the way through but came up a little short. It was a great learning experience to be in the position where a good round could win the tournament. It's interesting how your perspective changes in that position where you know every shot counts and determines whether you win or not.

At times I had to make 10' putts to save par, and knowing the situation I was in I knew I had to come through (and did). Other times it was a 3' putt, but I was just as aware of the situation and treated those 3-footers no different than the ten-footers.

Probably the biggest situation and one that I'm particularly proud of was a really bad tee shot that was headed out-of-bounds. Amazingly the ball hit a tree and ricocheted off some branches and bounced back out into the fairway, which left 200 yards to the pin on an elevated, small green.

While assessing the shot and making my decisions I recognized the importance of that moment. We were on the 3rd to last hole, and a bogey at this point would hurt any chance I might have to win or place top 3 in the tournament. While walking towards the ball to get into my setup I even said to myself, "This shot is going to determine where you finish, so you have to execute."

The lie was slightly downhill and slightly ball above my feet. The wind was blowing hard left-to-right and slightly hurting. I trusted my swing and let it rip.. the ball took off in a piercing ball flight, landed on the front of the green and bounced hard right and into the rough just off the green, stopping about a foot short of a bunker. I'll take it. I chipped up to 4'. At that point I knew I was going to make the putt. There was no other option.

It was a great experience to go through moments like that, and I had quite a few of them. I can't say I always came through, but as each moment of adversity came I continued to dig deep and do everything in my ability to win the moment.

To top it off, I've now achieved both of my golf goals for the year. The first goal was to win a single day tournament, and I did that in February. The second goal was to place top 3 in a "major", or a 2 day event, and I did that this past weekend. Time for some new goals!

Practice Days

Yesterday was a long day of practice and a practice round on the PGA National Palmer course. I ended up being out in the heat and humidity for about 7 hours total, which completely sapped my energy by the end of the day. I did shoot 3-over in the practice round, which is a nice score, but it's a practice round. As I played the Palmer course I realized how much better of a player I am now than I was just a year ago. I'll expand on that after the tournament. Today I got up early to get some practice in before my round on the Champion course. Good thing I did - I ended up only getting 4 holes in before the rain started and pretty much lasted the rest of the day. Tomorrow calls for more rain, but hopefully we can get our round in before the real nasty stuff starts. I'm not a fan of lightning. I didn't get to prep as much as I wanted, but it is what it is. I feel relaxed and ready though. It's going to be a fun test.

Rainy Days

We've had a lot of rain the last 2 days so it's been difficult to get much opportunity to practice for this weekend's tournament at PGA National. Yesterday I ended up taking the day off. Today I used my lunch hour to get about 45 minutes of swings on the range and mental work on the practice green before the thunderstorms swept in. Tonight I'm heading south and tomorrow I'll play a practice round on the Palmer course, which I'll be playing on Sunday. Friday's practice round is on the Champion course, home of the Bear Trap. Before and/or after the rounds I'll be getting in a lot of short game and putting work. The greens were very quick last year, so I expect I'll need to get used to the speed again. Love fast greens though. They make putting easier. Last year at this tournament I went 1-over through the Bear Trap with a bogey on the tricky par 3 15th. I find that hole more difficult than the par 3 17th that they make a fuss over on TV when the PGA Tour plays there. The 15th is shorter, but the green is so narrow that any kind of miss to the right and you're in the water. The challenge is that you know this off the tee.. which is why I bailed way left and into one of the bunkers last year. Even though I didn't get to practice much the last 2 days, I feel good about my game. I also like the courses I'm playing, which helps with the psychology of it all. Plus I've already qualified for nationals so some of the pressure is off - top 3 in this tournament qualify for nationals, but I took care of that last weekend. On the technical side, with the little bit of practice I got I worked on getting a little better shoulder turn in my backswing. The basic feel is to get my left shoulder in line or over my right foot. I have a tendency to get a little flat with my shoulders with my left shoulder maybe reaching to my right thigh in the turn, which causes all kinds of fun compensations. This move helps me feel more tension along my side in the form of a rubber and effect, so once I've gone as far as I can go back, the downswing is just a matter of unwinding the coil. It's not really that simple of course, but that's the feel I've been working. The end result is better impact and a little more speed and distance. Plus it makes the swing feel tension free, and that's always a good thing.

Weekend Rounds and Practice

One might think I'd be tired at this point. I played 72 holes of golf this past weekend, plus a little bit of practice, and then added some more practice after work this evening, but I'm not really all that tired at all.

Yesterday I wrapped up the weekend with 36 holes, playing both of my home courses at LPGA International. I shot a 75 in the morning round with the members group. Again, tee shots were hurting me as I struggled with my control. Also again, I took a few unnecessary risks and paid for them. There's a bit of a recurring theme there. By the end of the round I realized that throughout the round I heard a lot of comments from the others in the group along the lines of "great save" - meaning I made a putt to save par after being in some kind of trouble on my 3rd shot.

But that was one of the positives of the day - this putting visualization thing I've started doing is flat out amazing. It's like I went to Target and got a new mental game. It's not that I'm perfect every putt, but my confidence went from zero to hero in a matter of days, and it's showing on the greens.

In the afternoon I played the Legends course and shot a 76. The round was a little messy, the greens were still bumpy from the aerification, and as the round progressed I was definitely showing signs of fatigue. Either way I was relatively happy with my play. My drives started to straighten out as I realized my grip was getting too strong and I was letting my swing get a little too flat and around my body, ultimately leading me to spinning out a bit on the downswing instead of shifting my weight left... all of which ultimately led to a big inside-out angle with a closed clubface to produce a big draw and/or hook depending on timing.

This evening after work I hit some balls at the range to work the hooks out my system. I worked on three things for it:

1. Better posture - straightened the upper back a bit between the shoulder blades to promote a better and more stable shoulder turn, stood up a little more in my legs, and made sure I was bending at my hips instead of rounding my back. I didn't notice anything specific with regards to better ballstriking, but the swing felt much more efficient.
2. More down-the-line with the backswing - This is more of a feel I try to get, but basically in addition to the feeling of my shoulders and arms staying in their position for the first 18" of my backswing, I try to get the feeling that my hands are moving down a straight line and up into my shoulders in the backswing. I worked on this feeling some to get away from coming too inside on the backswing, which leads to me coming back over the top on the downswing or getting stuck with my hands behind my body.
3. Weight shift - I worked on getting my weight to my left side as I start my downswing. The feel here is that I'm not turning my body as I start to bring the club down. In reality I am, but I'm allowing my arms and hands to get down on-plane from my left weight shift for the turn really kicks in.

Afterwards I worked on chipping and bunker shots. I was a little off with chipping today, but I think it was because I was getting worn out mentally between the work day and the practice.

I finished with putting. I didn't have a single mechanical thought today while putting, which was great. I only spent 15 minutes on the putting green but felt like I got better in those 15 minutes than I did in an hour with the kind of practice I used to do (more mechanical). I did a lot of the same types of putting drills I typically do - work from all kinds of angles anywhere from 3' to 10' away - but instead of thinking about how I was putting, I practiced my visualization and ability to maintain that focus every putt. By this point I knew I was mentally worn out from the day and that it would be a challenge, but I saw that as good practice for maintaining concentration throughout the round. While I made mistakes, I was very pleased with my putting practice today.

Overall it was a good, short practice (about 1.5 hours). Tomorrow if I can get out of work on time I'm going to try to get 9 holes in since Wednesday I'll be limited in what I can do to prep for the weekend tournament since we're driving down to West Palm that evening.

3rd Tournament Win

Well, I won the tournament at the Ocean Hammock Conservatory course, shooting a 76 (+4). As my third win of the year that should qualify me for the GCAT National Championship, but I'll find out for sure. I didn't play my best, but it was good enough. The score definitely could have been better, but I took some unnecessary risks and paid for them.

Mentally I also got ahead of myself. After 9 holes I was even par and started thinking about how I was in contention. I noticed that I started to play more afraid. Not so much in course management because I was still playing aggressive targets, but I started to get tentative in my swing. Generally this happens when I'm trying to control every shot to make it perfect - unfortunately golf is not a game of perfect.

A lesson from today is that when I'm in contention I remember to stay aggressive. When those feelings of excitement and adrenaline kick in I need to use them to make even better shots. Swing hard, swing free and see what happens.

That tentativeness even got me on the greens on the last few holes. I had birdie putts I should have made and I had a few par putts get away from me.

On the positive side I was able to win and shoot well without having my best stuff. The pulls and hooks were back again today - right off the first tee in fact, but rather than fight them I started to just go with them and recognize that I was going to pull or hook the ball most of the time. It worked out well - if I didn't and the ball went straight than I was on the right side of the fairway or green. If it did the pull or hook, then I was close to my target.

Some quick stats on the round:

• Fairways - 4 of 14 (29%) - that's pretty low, but it's reflective of my struggles off the tee with the pulls/hooks. Plus it was windy and wind is not friendly to side spin.
• Greens in Regulation - 11/18 (61%) - not bad, but lower than I'd like. Even so, that means my short game and putting kept me in contention, which is a great sign given my recent struggles in that department.
• 3-putts - 3 - too many. That's 3 strokes I gave away. Looking back I also know that those 3 strokes were more mental than anything. I don't think I was in the right frame of mind when I made/missed those putts.
• Total putts - 34. Way too many. Ideally I'd like to get that to around 28, although my ball striking being off today didn't really help this stat.

Despite my critical nature of my 3rd win today, I'm happy about how I kept my head in the game and never let a bad hole blow up into a big score. I had nothing worse than a bogey and did everything I could to keep it that way. In fact, on the last hole (a par 5) I hit my drive in the water off the tee (bad idea to use driver), hit my third shot to the right of the green, chipped it up to about 15' from the hole for my 4th shot, and ended up making the 15' left-to-right 3' break, downhill putt to save par. I wasn't about to give in.

And even though my game wasn't great, most of my bogeys were because I took unnecessary risks. I got too aggressive on those holes and paid for it. But that's okay. I get better from those failures. For instance, you won't find me going for greens on par 5's with hard right-to-left wind and with water on the left of the green on days I'm hitting hard hooks again!

Tomorrow's another golf day - playing with the members in the morning and probably another round in the afternoon. Yeah, I'm playing a ton of golf right now.

Maybe later I'll update the post with a picture of the scorecard and my shot-by-shot recap.

Friday Round with Pulls and Hooks

Shot 76 on the Legends course this morning. I won't do a shot by shot recap on it, but there were some positive things happening:

• Chipping was much more solid than it has been. Most chips were getting within a foot or two of the hole. I've put a lot of effort there, so it's good to see it translate on the course.
• Worked on visualization on all shots, but especially putting - basically I focus on seeing a small point of the cup in my head as I initiate the putt. It's a mental thing, but it appears to be working very well for me because I don't think about what I'm doing mechanically, leading to much better putts and more makes.
• Despite not hitting the ball well - lots of pulls and hooks, I still managed to only be 4-over. Once I work out the swing kinks, and assuming I maintain the short game and putting that's starting to come around, scores should drop quick.

As mentioned, I had some serious pull and hook issues. That 76 scores includes 2 or 3 hazard penalties because I pulled the ball into the trees or some other stupid thing. Not sure what's going on with that. I have a week until the two day event at PGA National to work it out. I'll probably get it on video and see what I'm doing wrong.

After the round I went to work on my swing a bit to try to figure out the pull/hook problem. I figured a few things, but that might just be compensations. Ball striking in general is off. Granted, most people would kill for the dispersion I have right now, but I don't like the ball flight because any kind of side wind is going to put me in trees or water on a tight course. I have the tournament tomorrow, so I'll have to work on it Sunday most likely.

I also worked on some short game and putting. For both I worked on visualization, as  mentioned above. I feel like at this point I have the mechanics down and instead need to be stronger mentally in those situations.

Quick Two

It was a race against the afternoon thunderstorms today to try to get some kind of practice in before the lightning hit. After hitting about 15 balls at the range for a quick warm-up, I headed back to the the Legends course to redeem myself from yesterday for as many holes as I could get in. Granted, that ended up being only two.

On the first hole, the 374 yard par 4, I teed off with my 3-wood and split the fairway. Good start. I had 132 to the pin, which was located on the left middle part of the green. This distance is sort of in-between clubs. I didn't want to go too short for a long putt, and I didn't want to miss long because I would have gone into the rough behind the green for a tough chip back, so I choked up an inch on my pitching wedge and took an easy swing to put it about 8' below the hole. I missed the uphill, right breaking putt by an inch, but I'm always okay with a par on the first hole of Legends. It's a visually tricky hole off he tee with a skinny green that runs diagonal to the fairway. I see more people mess up that hole than most others on the course.

I teed off with my driver on the second hole, the 548 yard par 5. Prior to hitting the shot, I tried to visualize the ball going to the right side of the fairway, which would give me the ideal angle to the green if I wanted to try to go for it in 2. Also, to help eliminate the left side in the shot I opened up my clubface a little - if I hit it well then I'd get a slight fade, and if I pulled or had a strong draw swing as I've had lately then the open face might help reduce the right-to-left spin.

I got setup, cleared my head, and swung hard. The ball took off straight, reached its apex, and fell to the right with a slight fade to the right side of the fairway. It was pretty cool to visualize the shot prior to actually hitting it. Good feeling.

I got up to the ball and saw that I had 269 yards to the pin. According to the cart GPS the pin was on the right middle of the green and I had about 255 to clear the bunker in front. My lie was an uphill lie with the ball slightly above my feet. I decided to go for it with the 3-wood. I took my time with my alignment - see Notables from yesterday - and aimed for a tall tree on the right side or edge of the green, the goal again being to give myself room on the left so if the ball had draw spin it would likely work out or worst case be in a bunker (as opposed to in the trees). If I pushed it I'd have a chip up to the green for a possible birdie.

Again, got my alignment, setup, cleared my head, and swung hard. The ball took off straight at the target and started to draw left a little just left of the pin. I wasn't sure I caught enough of it, but the ball ended up landing in the middle of the green and rolled right up to about 20' from the pin. The putt for eagle ended up looking like a straight downhill putt.

As I setup to the putt I reminded myself that the greens are slower than I'm used to with the recent aerification and that I should putt for a little more distance than I might normally do. I picked a spot on the green, pictured it in my head, and started the putt. As the ball rolled down I thought for sure I missed because it looked like it wanted to go left. But, for the first time in over a year my eagle putt dropped in the center of the hole! That's only my 4th eagle ever. I was pretty excited about it. Unfortunately lightning and thunder started getting too close for comfort, so I had to take my 2-under score through 2 holes back to the clubhouse and head home when the thunderstorm hit.

I have an 8:15 tee time tomorrow morning on the same course. Even though I only played two holes, I did a good job executing the items I mentioned in yesterday's Notables section. I'll be focusing on the same things during tomorrow's round.

As a side note, I did get a workout in during lunch today. With the amount of golf I play I try to get at least 2-3 workouts in a week to help with injury prevention and core development. The only time I get sore from golf these days is when my mechanics are hosed - usually what's called an early extension where my right side gets too active in the downswing and I lose my spin angle. I usually early extend when I'm not well-balanced,  usually with too much weight toward my toes at address and in the backswing.

Wednesday Golf Group

Played 9 holes on LPGA Legends today with the work group. Didn't play very well or anywhere near my expectations (+6), especially considering the work I've been putting in. Putting was the main problem, although the greens were recently aerated and the bunkers were rock solid from all the rain lately so those were factors too. I'm trying not to put too much stock in the putting or bunker display I put on today since the ball was literally jumping off the green and diverting 90 degrees to the left or right at times before it reached the hole. My ball striking was so-so. Definitely not my best but it was all recoverable if I had a better short game.

The shot-by-shot recap:

1. Par 4, 374 yards dogleg left - 3 wood off the tee, slight draw settling into the left rough. Strong wind from the right seemed to push it more left as it came down. 127 yards to the pin, located toward the back left of the green on a hump. Hit 52* gap wedge to about 15'. Faced a double breaking uphill putt, left it short - greens were slower with the aerification. Made the 3' putt uphill for a par 4. (E)
2. Par 5, 548 yards double dogleg - Driver off the tee, again strong wind from the right pushing it more left into the left rough beyond the cart path that cuts across the fairway. About 270 to the pin with trees in the green line of sight. Laid up with a 4-iron to 98 yards. Pin on the right back of the green. With the wind blowing hard from behind and right-to-left, tried to hit a cut low wedge but caught it thin to go over the pin and behind the green. Tough lie and not much room to work with - pitched up to 15', leaving an uphill and left breaking putt. Putted it short, leaving 2' to the hole. Cleaned up for a bogey 6. (+1)
3. Par 3, 140 yards - Pitching wedge (PW) off the tee, pin measured at 145 yards. Pin on the right front side of the green. Lightning was nearby and thunder rolled at the top of my backswing - didn't block out the distraction and pulled the shot left into the rough but pin high. Chipped up to 1', saving par with a 3. (+1)
4. Par 4, 340 yards dogleg right - 4-iron off the tee with 235 yards to the end of the fairway. Caught it a little fat, leaving 140 yards to the pin from the fairway. Pin tucked in the front left of the green. Hit PW to about 20', leaving a straight putt. Misread it as a slight right-to-left and downhill putt. Left it short at about 6'. Burned the right edge of the hole after the ball hit a bump and jumped right, missing the putt for a bogey 5 with 3 putts. (+2)
5. Par 4, 366 yards - Driver off the tee, slight pull draw. In left rough with a downhill lie and 90 yards to the pin, which is tucked in the middle front of the green over a greenside bunker protecting the left and front of the green. Ball is sitting up in the rough. Opened up the clubface to about 2:00, aimed to the left side of the green and gave a full swing with the Lob Wedge to land near the pin and roll to the back of the green, leaving about 25' to the hole. Uphill left-to-right putt, misread as a straight putt and left short with 6' remaining. Missed the uphill right-to-left putt with the ball hitting another bump inches before the hole and darting off to the right of the hole. Tap-in for bogey 5 with 3 putts. (+3)
6. Par 4, 393 yards hard dogleg left over water - Driver off the tee, mishit on the lower half of the clubface - knew it immediately - ball landed in the water about 3 yards from the other side. Went to drop zone with 255 yards to the pin, tucked in the front right of the green next to a greenside bunker. Hit 3-wood to pin high but in the bunker, which had packed sand from the rain. With pin about 15 yards away, tried to chip out of the sand/mud and ball made it to the edge of the green. Uphill, right-to-left breaking putt from about 15' missed right and went long to about 2'. Tap-in for double bogey 6. (+5)
7. Par 3, 195 yards - 5-iron off tee, pin measured at 203 yards, went right of the green pin-high leaving a short-side chip up to the green. Chipped to 6' with an uphill left-to-right breaking putt. Missed to the right after hitting a bump, tap-in for bogey 4. (+6)
8. Par 5, 518 yards - Driver off the tee, fade to the right rough. 267 yards to the pin located on the left middle of the green near the water. Hit 3-wood out of the right rough to finish about 3 yards off the front edge of the green. Chipped to 4' for an uphill, right-to-left breaking putt. Missed putt to the right after the ball bounced off a bump (very frustrating). Tap in for a par 5. (+6)
9. Par 4, 374 yards - Driver off the tee, hit it too well and it fell into the right rough where the rough cut in. 80 yards to the green, hit Lob Wedge pin high on the fringe. Chipped to 2', tap in for a par 4. (+6)

Notables:

• Need to stop giving away the hole with putts within 6'. Even if there is an obvious break.
• Hit 1 of 7 fairways. Check alignment.
• Didn't hit many approach shots close to the pin - again check alignment.
• Chipping was good but could be better - remember to use shoulders.

Signed up for a GCAT tournament on Saturday to get a competitive round in before the two day event next weekend at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens. This Saturday will be at Hammock Beach - The Conservatory course.

Visualization

We've had a lot of rain the last few days as Tropical Storm Beryl passed through the area, so I wasn't sure if the practice facilities would be in decent shape or not. While still a little soggy, the course handled the rain well and was actually in great shape.

I only had about 1.5 to 2 hours to practice after work, so I decided to break it out into 30 minute chunks of short game and putting followed by time on the practice course.

At the chipping green I chipped around 100 balls of various lies, distances, and angles to the pin. For the first few balls I focused purely on mechanics to make sure I was using my shoulders properly and wasn't getting handsy with the chip. Lately I've started to put my hands a little lower at address - for several reasons I won't go into here - so I was also making sure I got that feel during my setup.

Once I found my mind wandering from repetition on mechanics, I switched to some up-and-down games. Basically I threw 9 balls down with random lies and locations, chipped 3 balls to each of the 3 pins on the green, and then had to make each of the 3 putts at the 3 pins. First time through I got 5 of 9. Second time through 7 of 9. Third time through 8 or 9.

While playing the up-and-down game I realized I could hit my spot on the green if I focused on the spot with my mind's eye while executing the chip. And when I say hit my spot I mean from about 20 feet I could hit a spot on the green in the air within a few inches of a spot the size of a quarter. I'm completely speculating, but I wonder if my years of playing baseball, particularly as a pitcher, has anything to do with my ability to consistently do the same sort of thing with a golf club. After thinking about it I decided it was worthwhile to practice this skill, much in the same way I would practice hitting spots as a pitcher in baseball.

For the rest of my time chipping I played a variety of shots with a focus on visualizing a spot on the green where I wanted the ball to land. I didn't think about anything during the chip except to have a picture of this spot in my head while my shoulders started to turn. I varied the landing spot depending on the lie, distance, and type of shot I was playing - lob versus rolling chip, for example. While execution wasn't perfect every time, it was both exciting and interesting to realize I had so much control over the golf club. I'll work on the same until my next competitive round with the hopes of carrying it there.

After chipping I moved to the putting green. My focus there was again on visualization of the ball going into the hole while executing the putting stroke. I tend to get too mechanical with my putting stroke, and that approach really hasn't been working for me lately, so the focus now is to free all thoughts once I get my read and address the ball. Overall, putting went pretty well.

For the last hour or so I went to the practice course where after hitting my tee and lay up shots on the par 5 I hit wedge shots into the green from 70-100 yards out. A setup change I made recently was to lower my hands slightly at the address position. I had recently discovered that during my backswing the clubhead was being sucked back inside the plane, and during my downswing I was re-routing the club at the top to bring it down on plane. After some experimentation I believe that move was at least partially due to my hands being too high at address, where it's easier to roll the wrists and forearms over. The net result is higher but straighter and more penetrating ball flight with less hook/draw and less deviation from the target due to wind. My miss is a big 20 yard push right. In fact, I feel like it's impossible to hook the ball right now - it's almost as if I have to do it on purpose.

Anyway, it was around the time I was hitting wedge shots that I realized I'm very confident in my swing now. I started working the 9 ball flights from that yardage - draw low/med/high, straight low/med/high, fade low/med/high. While not every shot was close to the pin, everything fell within 20-30 feet. I'll take it.

At this point time was running out so I moved on to the par 3 and par 4. I played the par 3 with two balls and shot par with both. The par 4 I played with one ball and also shot par. For both holes I had a tough chip that I executed well, again focusing on visualization of the ball landing on a spot on the green and rolling up to the pin. It was a great way to end the session.

One other thing to note is that I forgot to take my golf shoes so I was practicing in my Skechers that are sort of like sneakers. While not optimal, practicing in these shoes forced me to stay balanced through the shots. Out of all the swings I took I only slipped once - with my driver on the last par 4. Balance is something I've put a lot of focus into the last 6 months, and getting more balanced has drastically changed my swing, so I'm happy to see that I've passed the test of playing in wet grass while wearing sneakers.

First Post

Before I go another day it's time to start a journal to document my golf experiences. I probably should have started this 3 years ago, but who would have thought I'd have the experiences I've gone through in that time?

This whole golf thing the last few years only started because I decided I was tired of getting high golf scores and was going to do something about it. At the time I was only playing a handful of times per year, and most of that was with the Tuesday golf group we had. In fact, I don't remember playing many, if any,18 hole rounds back then.

One of those Tuesdays around April 2009 I shot a 58 through 9 holes on a relatively easy course (par is 36). For some reason - more than any other day I had shot 58 (or worse) - I was pretty upset about on the drive home. I don't know why exactly I was upset, other than I felt like I should be able to play this game with some sense of decency along with my general expectation to excel at damn near everything I do.

And so, on that drive home I made the decision that I was going to start playing better. I was going to practice, learn more about how to play the game, and see what happens. At the time I was just going to be happy if I broke 90. My how things change.

The seeing what happens part is the part I wish I had been documenting up to this point. It's been a part of my life I would love to be able to look back on, whether for posterity, motivation, or perhaps it would just be useful for someone else. A lot of what I've gone through is applicable to other areas of life as well. Little thoughts, anecdotes, analogies, and so on come along, and I wish I had been documenting them from the beginning.

But I didn't, and that's why we're here. Lesson learned - a recurring theme of the last 3 years.

So consider this the first post in my golf journal. In this journal I will be documenting my thoughts, experiences, rounds, practices, tournaments, and so on. I don't have aspirations to be on any of the professional tours, so you won't find any delusions of grandeur here, but I do have some recognizably lofty goals to pursue. Some may take years to achieve, and others I may never achieve. In the meantime I enjoy the process of trying to achieve them. That's why the journal is better late than never.

This journal is a personal thing for me, and by blogging it I've made my personal thing public. Those who know me recognize that I'm a private person, and usually things like this remain private. I decided to make this public because I want it to stick. I'm hoping that my friends and any others who stumble upon this journal and find it interesting will hold me accountable to sticking with it. Keeping this journal is a Good Thing™, and with the amazing journey I've gone through with golf I already regret not keeping one up to this point. Besides, there's plenty of deadbeat blogs on the internet, and I don't need to add to the clutter.