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.