More Thoughts 12/18/16

I hit it pretty well today too.  I still have hope for the next round.  Probably Tiger says that every time too.

I have a list of tendencies to fight:

• The slide.  (I think this is where I became handsy as I needed to do heroic things to hit the ball.)
• Using the hands instead of letting them do their things as the body rotation brings them to the hitting zone.  This tends to cause me to come over the top and not be in position when the strike occurs.  So, accuracy and distance suffer.
•  Keeping the shoulders working on a vertical plane and not allowing them to get parallel to the ground until the arms pull them up.
• A slow swing seems to be as powerful and better direction as a swing designed to hit the ball harder.   Who would have guessed?  Who would be brave enough to try it!?

I also tried some of the sand technique that Bobby Lopez illustrated in a video:  A quick wrist break,  place the ball in the middle of the stance and then make sure to turn through the shot.  Also one wants to swipe across the ball with an open club face.  The ball, of course, will fly based on the face angle, not the swing path.

The practice bunker is filled with very hard sand this time of year.  But I was taking very nice shallow divots, hitting the bounce nicely into the sand, and the ball height and carry were very good.

The changes for me with this are: I used to setup the ball forward in the stance, I didn't cock the wrists much and finally, I was not turning all the way through the shot.  I've been pretty good out of the sand, not withstanding, so I hope to be more accurate with this.  Distance control has been my soft spot.

That's it.  Hope the weather is warmer tomorrow -- come on global warming!

Memory Test Coming up

Or, one could title this post "Never Hit It Better."  Yes, it came together nicely today.

Shall I set the scene?

It was cold morning, under 40, with the roofs befrosted and the Peete's coffee hot. Some choirs post coffee and then back home.  I made some candied ginger as I'm trying to make a spicy gingerbread loaf that will burn all the way down.  That completed, I went to the range about noon.  The sun was doing its part and with no wind, it was more than bearable.

A bit of chipping to start and I fell into the movement of allowing the hands to start stuff, but once aligned with the body to come on down and hit the ball together or apace, one might call it.

Hmm, I thought to myself, is this what we want to feel when hitting a full shot?  I hit some balls across one chipping range to the other -- this is a flagrant violation of the posted rules.  They flew high and straight and it seemed that the swing was pretty efficient, id est, not much effort required to move the ball around.

I cut the chipping short and advanced to the grass to see what the full swing was going to be like.

So, nice back swing, keeping the club pointing at the ball as long as possible.

Full turn to put the back to the target.

A gentle movement to start the down swing with the arms, then as the body and arms synced up, a gentle shoulder turn to help the body along and off the ball went.  And went well it did. 

As I worked through the clubs I was able to do this with all of them.  My tendency to slide forward was still there, but I controlled it pretty well.

It was a very solid feeling at impact, which I've been told is a lack of bad vibration. 

The driver was on point and authoritative; as one would wish a Micheal Moore utterance would be.  (Have you noticed his verbal stutter?  "I mean"  Well, there are worse ones.)

I'm very happy - with the swing, not Micheal!  I wish to hold on to it.  Probably try it again tomorrow.  I'm encouraged that the method is quite smooth and unhurried.  That might make it more reliable and easier to trust.

It also ties in the things that Monte Scheinblum and Bobby Lopez have discussed.  Start the downswing with the hands/arms and turn the body when they are lined up.

Turning one's back to it

It's been gray today and we had cars to shuffle around and drop off and such. 

I managed to get to the old DR as we call the driving range at the casa Barbara.

The first 100 balls were ok, but not as solid as I was expecting and hoping for.  But I had the time, so I did some more chipping and realized I was not turning my back to the target like I had been doing. 

This turning thing is a bit new for me, as I usually like to slide away then rush back to the ball.  It's a technique you will not find written down anywhere for good reason.  Needless to say, I'd like to get away from it.

So I got another 50 balls and went back to work.

With as big a shoulder turn as I could, then use the arms to get off the chest and try to ring the bell or pull the arrow from the quiver or win the race back to the ball, I was able to smack some good ones.

So much stuff to remember.  Well, that's part of why I'm writing the old blog here.

I was also trying to make the shoulder turn cause the club to set and not to manipulate it with the hands and wrists.  It feels different but I think I can do it. 

I've been tearing up grips with deep grooves where my thumbs go.  They are clearly fighting each other and not lined up.  I theorize that my hands roll quickly at the end of the swing when I slide forward.  If they didn't do some wonderful stuff, I couldn't square the club to the ball.  I'm trying to weaken the right hand to get them to act together.  Also if I don't slide, I will not need the emergency arm roll at the end. 


So, much is happening.  I'll see what I can remember when I get to the course.


If I do it like I want to, the swing feels slower and easier.  Oh, Lord, please let it continue for a while.

I'm still finding the swing analysis of Bobby Lopez to be of interest and useful.  You can find his stuff on youtube and quickfixgolf.com.

Does Bobby Lopez Know His Stuff?

An old German professor suggested not to start an article with a rhetorical question.  Ah, well.

So I was attempting to stay well behind the ball, try to get the left shoulder at the ball for a wood at impact and maintain an angle "up" towards the path of the ball.  (Right arm is lower on the club, there is your tilt, and like a Republic, try to keep it!)

When I was able to do this, it worked quite well.  When I was not able to do it, my misses were tops and not duck hooks.

I managed to hit a couple of monster drives.  I hit a lot of high, long, straight irons. 

While I've been relying on my iron lay for a decade or two, these were better.  I like the added height and was able to carry some stuff that ordinarily was a problem, particularly if I needed to hold the green.

The 7th hole at Las Po, is a short par 4.  I start with a 5 iron and then approach the green with an 8 to a wedge depending on how the roll out is with the iron.

The green is faced with a large bunker and the green is pretty shallow.  I was able to hit an 8 over the trap and easily hold the green.  Actually made the putt too, so some added bonus.

So club head speed is up, ball flight is better. 

The problem is doing what I'm trying to do more frequently!  And isn't that always the case?

Range Notes 12/11/16

If you have read the prior post, I was off to the range to apply Bobby Lopez's lessons on staying on sides while whacking the ball.

I was able to do this without too much trouble.  It provided the following:

• Less body movement, less moving parts and thus better consistency.
• Much higher ball flight, better carry distances.

I was able to do this while chipping as well as the long game. 

If it's a good idea, let's see if it applies to putting too!  I found that it did.  I was trying to line the left shoulder point up with the ball for all the shots and putts and chips and pitches. 

I'm a pretty happy camper.  I'll be playing on Monday and we'll see how it goes.  I'll be at my home course, which is a comfortable place for me to play. 

It's Xmas party season, so Tuesday, normally at Wente, will be spent over eating instead.  Hmm, I probably have time for some holes at Las Po instead! 

Stay tuned.

Practice Balls and some new Videos

I found some practice golf balls at Play it Again sports.  They are a thick walled wiffle ball construction with reasonable weight.

I've been looking at golf vids today and I was getting antsy as there were things I want to try, but the weather has been nasty.  But I was able to dash out about 4:30 to the local school with a wedge and the practice balls. 

I like the balls a lot.  Sadly they are $4 each, but they are not fragile and hopefully will last a long time.  They provide a good contact feel and they fly pretty well.  They reward a good hit with a nice launch and distance is enough to differentiate between good hits and bad.

The grass at the school is quite long and quite wet, but even so, I was happy with what I was trying to do.  I may throw them in my golf bag for on course goofing off when things are slow.

Which leads me nicely onto the videos. 

I stumbled across a nice set of clips and lessons by Bobby Lopez on youtube.  He played on the European tour in the mid 70's.  His main thrust is that folks get "off sides."  What he means by this is that golfers will slide past the ball and then are doomed.

His approach is to tilt back at setup, then rotate shoulders leaving a lot of room between you and the ball, then use the shoulders, keeping them on plane (which is about 30 degrees tilted to the sky) and then swap the position of the shoulders.  The faster the swap, the more speed.

There is no lower body pulling stuff around, there is little to no lateral movement. 

He has clips of pros to prove his points.  If a pro does not move off the ball during the backswing, they will shift their head rearward as they do the downswing!  There is no forward motion until the club pulls you out of the hitting position.

If you've been following the blog, dear reader, you will know that I struggle with this very thing.  When at the school this afternoon I was able to do as Bobby suggests.  It seemed fast and with great balance.

Hopefully the range and the weather will accommodate more testing tomorrow.

New Tool

Well, Wente was a bit of a bust.  I had a reasonable front of 40, but the back was 7 strokes worse.

The only good drive I hit, and that was on 18, found the arroyo that bisects the fairway.  Penalty stroke, drop, fat shot to the pond, penalty stroke, drop, shot to green and two putt.  Sheesh.


I was at the local Play it Again Sports store and noticed a baseball weighted swing tool.  Not sure of the real name.  There is a golf equivalent called the Orange Whip.

It's long and weighted and you use it to lengthen your swing, smooth it out and find a rhythm that will not cause you to fall over. Then repeat and hope it will carry over to when the stick is exchanged for a club.

I went back today and bought the nicest one they had.  I also got some fancy plastic practice balls that I'll report on later.


We're having rain today and tomorrow, but I swung it in the backyard.  I didn't break any flower pots -- not as easy as it sounds, and found it to be a nice exercise tool.

I did scamper off to the driving range for some chipping and found my chipping stroke a mimic of the long swing as patterned with the weighted stick.  It felt good and long and slow and in control. 

I'm happy so far, for sure. 

The price at the Play it Again store was $15.  The Orange Whip ordered new runs over $100.  My Scottish soul remains at rest.

Things to Test...

I've been in the south of California this past week and while I talked a bit of golf, didn't manage to play any.

We drove back today and I went out to the range for a bit of time.  Alas it was cold and windy and all I did to chip and putt a bit.

I'm trying to incorporate all the stuff I used the other day to reach new levels of solidity with the irons.  I find that it all applies to the chipping as well as the rest of the game.

The method of keeping the angle of the hands and letting the club find its own way to the ball works quite well with the chipping too.  I realized that following through with short chips is a real good idea.  Seems if you stop, the hands do too much too early and result in fat shots.

Then I found that if I stroked all the way through the shot and still letting hands do their thing, seemed to work quite well too.  Something along the lines of the classical instruction to just stroke through the ball and not stop to hit it.

I have a lot of expectations for the morning.  I'm off to Wente, a course that requires a certain straightness and a bit of length.  It would be nice to be in control of the tee shot.

We shall see.


Monday night, 12/5

I wrote this about a week ago.  As I recall the drives were actually in control.  Nothing monstrously long but in play.  One out of bounds that led to the first snowman in a long time.

I also played today and lipped out a putt for 79.  There were a few three putts in there and the driver did get me in trouble a couple of times.  Irons were solid.  What can't I hit the driver like an iron?

That's the most perplexing problem.  I theorize that I take the wood around and the irons more up.  I hit one and not the other. 

I'm off to Wente tomorrow and they have a range, so I may test this before I play.  It would be nice to have the same level of trust.

Last Post

Well, probably not the last post, but it was a grand day for hitting the golf ball.

The stuff I mentioned in the last post worked wonders for the long and short game.

Irons were solid and straight.  Ah, there were a couple of pushes, but sweet city for sure.

Four birdies for the day, a personal best.  I hit it close a number of times.

I'll have to think about it, but nothing was amiss that I want to research it and test. 

Drives were under control and straight.  Even the bad ones were playable. 

I was able to hit some 3/4 drivers and one deliberately a low hook into the wind.

All told, just a lot of fun to move the ball as it should be.

Range Notes 11/20/16

My warmup starts and ends with some chips.  I use this as a means to remember what I was doing last time out. Memory being what it is these days, a short refresher is a useful tool.  Yes, I know that writing it down might be a good idea too.  But I find I usually don't remember to do that either.  And then I'd have to remember to read it!

My chipping is usually pretty good.  It's the short chips that are more of a bother than the long ones.  Hard to be delicate and all that.  I think a lot of that is that golfers worry about hitting the ball too far and end up hitting it with a weak tentative stroke, usually with some hand flip, a fat contact, and a ugly results.  Best to be manly and wack it hard, IMHO.  (A long slow swing is a fun and useful tool for this shot.)

I notice that I may be flipping a bit too.  I steadied my wrists and started getting a good divot on the pro side of the ball.  Is this an issue for my long irons and woods?  Sadly I can't say.  I chip before and after each round and found this in the after portion.  I would have like to have tested that theory.  Well, I'll be playing tomorrow and we shall see.

Otherwise the long game was fine.  I worked on twisting the hips on all the shots.  Contact was pretty good.  All of the drives were up in the air.  If I hit it on the screws, it was going quite high.  My driver is setup to 9 and a half degrees.  I may dial this down a bit if I can keep the contact good.

One of the other things I wanted to try was to spin into the shot without making any attempt to hit the ball.  Just let the club come through and do the job in its own sweet time.  This seemed to work and I will try to monitor this as I play.


Have you, dear readers, read the "Inner Game of Golf"?  The mechanism used in the book is too monitor a condition that you want to change.  The act of monitoring will change your mind's evil ways and produce the result you want. 

For example, let's say I want to make sure my divot is on the target side of the ball.  If I monitor that and assign a result number, one to 5 is what is used in the book, the mind will figure out how to do it.

Try it, it's free!

Friday's Round (11/18/16)

Hello All,

I managed to play every day this week.  I bought the monthly pass for November and my trip to Albuquerque interrupted some of my play time, so I needed to be diligent about playing.

We are heading down to Santa Monica next week; baring a round with Jay, Monday will be the last day for a bit

My driving was reasonable today.  I still like to be out of position when I allow the club through.  I managed to get it all correct and banged one over the hill on the short par 4 12th hole.  It's about 340 up the hill and into a gentle zephyr.  I was inside the cart path, a mere 80 yards to a front pin.  Alas I needed to get it over a eucalyptus tree.  I hit it a bit fat and came down on a bight of the cart path.  I dropped off the gravel and hit a smooth, spinny pitch inside 2 feet.  Fellow golfers didn't make me putt it.  Yes!  Short game comes through.

The rest of the game was pretty good.  I hit a lot of greens and my sand play was good; 2 out of 3 up and downs or so.  Tip - beware of early morning sand, which can be firmer than expected.  If so choose a wedge with less bounce until things are back to normal.


The last couple of days started pretty cool.  The temperature in the back yard was in the upper 30s at the start, but with a clear sky it warmed up nicely.  Jackets came off on the front nine and I'm still wearing shorts.


Scoring was good today.  I think I birdied a hole on each side and shot about 76.  That includes a double on one of the holes.


I had a snowman the other day.  Knocking the first drive into the pond can do that.


The changes I'm trying to make with my driving also seem to be applicable to my iron play.  This has not always been successful as in one case the iron went about 20 yards too far, flew a green and was never seen again.  But more and more shots are coming together and the sound of the contact and the shape and size, not to mention carry distances, of the divots has gotten better.  I'm pleased with the changes and look forward to getting the driver more consistent.

Notes for November 16 16

I was going to call this post "Shower Thoughts" as I had some inspiration this morning as I was cleansing the old bod and getting some hot water on the back before today's round.

I seem to have forgotten the exact thoughts I had, so in order to preserve my spotless accuracy scoring, I renamed the post.

But like a few other posts, the issue is the driver and why it's so different to hit than the "club of high confidence" which are all the clubs less in length than an 8 iron or so.

I think the shower thought was about how to keep my head behind the ball.  It was the one goal for the day.

I was actually able to do this.  My backswing was much more of a turn and had no lean or slide going back -- head stationary, weight shift as the shoulders turned.  Then I was able to get my lower body in front to brace (ah, that was the shower thought, keep the left leg firm and muscles tense!) the left leg and allow me to present the club as I came through.

I was pretty happy with this.  I hooked a couple, but nothing bad.  Better yet, I was able to do this swing with all the clubs. 

This seemed to cure my push of the irons.  I did pull a couple however, but nothing like a bit of variety!

I'm still not quite in the right position to really wack the ball on the occasional drive, but it went well and I was quite confident in my expectation of where the ball was going to go.

It was a coolish day with Justin, Ted and Jerry at Las Positas.  The greens were a bit uneven in pace, which thought might be due to the weather.  As mentioned above, I was not particularly interested in the short game and I missed a lot of short putts. 

We played the blue tees and there are holes I can't get too without a good drive.  That turned a lot of it into a pitch and putt contest.

Tomorrow Geno comes out of retirement and we'll see how the changes work for a second round.  Remembering how to do this stuff and even to do it, is the real struggle.  With the swing changes being used with all the clubs should help me make it stick in the old brain box.

Is it all in the Wrists?

I must confess that I have a worn spot on all my grips.  It can be severe.  I wore a spot on one grip on one club that went down to the metal of the shaft.

"I've never seen that before," said a pro.  Alas, he had no thoughts on what it was or how to fix it.

My friend has the softest grips I've ever seen.  Softer than a ...  well, let us just say, "very soft."  I was always wondered how he kept from destroying them.

So I'm thinking the other day that the club head goes through a number of manipulations as it goes up and then down.

Each of the manipulations needed to be addressed at impact time.  There is the wrist hinge and the movement of the club to match the swing plane of the arms.  This last usually affected by the arms rotating around each other.  Whether you should be thinking of these things as you swing is another question.  But clearly you don't want to interfere with this action.

When it is all unraveled at the end, the club must find its way back to the ball as the wrists unhinge and the hands move the club from the arm plane back to the arc that will cause the club head to return to square.  This arc is above the arm plane.  I imagine this stepping out above the plane.  Which suggests that the arm plane is below that of the club.


I realized that I'm grinding up grips by not allowing my right hand to close the club face or step out from the arm plane to return to the ball.  I was of course moving the left hand and when the two hands were in conflict the worn spot is the result.

As I realized this and hit some slow motion shots to feel the hands moving together and the right hand aggressively closing the club, I realized that there might be just a touch of speed in this all this.

It also seems to be the reason I tend to have the club face closed at address as not using the right hand makes it tough to square it.  Thus having a bit "in hand" to start seems a useful thing.

So I hit a lot of smooth, powerful hooks. 

I have a game tomorrow and I'll see if I can implement this new found freedom.


Report from the field: 

Sadly this will be a shortened report.  For the second time recently I came down with a migraine on the later stages of the front nine.  But I had 5 pars and a couple of bogeies.  I hit the ball pretty well and I was happy with most of it.  I have found that little pitches around the greens are much easier.

I hit a couple of crisp irons and found that I'm freer with my swing.  I'll have to see what happens as there will be golf every day this week -- head willing!

BTW there is a folk treatment for migrains and that is to induce an ice cream  headache.  I stopped at 7-11 for a Slurppy, but I couldn't get the ice cream part to happen.  I used the usual Imatrex and decongestant. 

Playing in LA

Greetings dear readers,

I am on the road again and have enjoyed a day of golf in Santa Monica with Jay.

We played near the Hollywood sign,  I am told.   I didn't see it,  but it could have been there.  Lots of hills and you could only slice a drive onto the freeway on one hole.

The greens were po ana,  which is what I am used to at home.   What I wasn't used to were the slopes of the greens.  They were a bit severe (hmm,  either they weren't or they were,  I'm thinking).

But the golf was good and the  company better.   There was a downside to the day.   They paired us with two older oriental gentlemen,  over whom we towered and out weighed by many pounds.   What was the problem here?   They played from the back tees,  Jay and I were up a set and these old guys kept hitting it past us.   Bummer!  

We played the Wilson golf course in Griffith Park.   Winds through the hills.   There were large deer on one hole.   A fair amount of elevation.   It also had some run out on shots.   My home course is pretty soggy and you get nothing.,

The greens held quite well.   I was seeing run out the greens at only a couple of yards.

I managed to be on the proper side of 80, which is my goal,  especially on the first round of a course.

We didn't tee off until 10 and finished about 2:30.  Just in time for a couple of tall boys to relax us before dinner with Jessica.

All said,  a good outing.

Next stop is Albuquerque.   If I'm doing golf stuff,  I'll contribute here with good bits,  otherwise might be a bit sporadic.   Ah,  who am I kidding?  I'll be hitting the ball and writing about it.

Tomorrow is another day, but will it match today?

Twas a dark, wet, and cold morning and I went out to struggle with the demon par.  This was after a needed day off on Tuesday, where aches were soothed and doped.

It was an uneven front nine, where I managed to struggle to a 40.  Lots of pars, but the dreaded others were there too. 

I hooked with a 3 some, which slowed me down and helped my tempo.  I managed to par out once I joined them. 

The back started ok, but ragged.  Two quick bogies. 

Then, while trying to figure out what the heck I do on the range and don't (or do) on the course, it occurred to me that I don't take a full shoulder turn on the course.  Hmm, I thought, perhaps I ought to make make sure I do that. 

Most of golf theory suggests a full shoulder turn will help with timing and a touch of power.  Who am I to argue with that?

So I'm on 14 by this time, three over par, and I go par, par, birdie, birdie, par to end it all.  Now there were close birdie putts on all the pars too.  I hit all the greens and all the fairways and got the driver out there.  Pretty much a different game when all that was happening.

So, I'm excited that I may have worked out my course/range issue.  I'll see what happens tomorrow.

Where Does it Go?

"Does any one know where the love of God goes
When the waves turn the minutes to hours?"

         -Gordon Lightfoot

One might rewrite this to be: "When the greens turns the minutes to hours?"

Yes, one might also quote Heidi Klum, the great philosopher who states weekly, "One day you're up and the next you are down."

So I play last Friday and the game is so easy, I begin to think about what the next hobby might be.  I fire up the lathe and make sawdust out of  perfectly good wood and putter about.

But yesterday, while it was soggy, but I was in the mood to play, and I was not trying to test too many theories, it is as rough a round as I've had in years.

The back nine, where it is usually 7 pars and 2 bogies, now it is 2 pars and 7 others!  Yipes.  I'm back to topping drives and all sorts of other things long thought dead.

All of that didn't do my back much good either.  So I'm taking today off and trying to gobble as much ibuprofen as possible and try to get my body to recover.

Did I mention that I was at the range on Sunday and hit it like I knew what I was doing?  As if I were the master of my fate; as if all greens and traps were opportunities and not hazards?  Yes, just like that.

Well, it's a process and not a goal. 

Back to find the difference between range and course (if I figure it out, my fortune may be made.)

Range Notes Saturday 10/29/16

Items to try:

• Very relaxed right hand grip
• Different kind of shoulder turn (see previous post)
• Hmm, maybe not much else

A right hand as soft as dawn, did not lead to the ball being drawn.

It mattered not to my elbow right, as I hoped would awaken in my sight.

Off went the brazen ball, into the colored leaves of fall.

No great progress I could see, but un-hurting arm was enough for me.


Now let's try the shoulder turn, in hopes it the ball would burn.

Sadly to my dismay, no changes did come my way.

Perhaps I already turned like this, but I needed to try and not to miss.


The only important thing I found, was to make sure my hips led the way down.

So this post must timely end, and off to readers I shall send.

(I'm listening to Marlowe's Hero and Leander.)

Friday's Report

"Ted, it rained all night and it's still raining.  Perhaps bowling should be the game of the day?" I inquired.

"What's your average, 250?"

"It's a lot like my golf, I don't usually keep score..."

--------

"This Thomas, how can I help you?"

"Thomas, my man, this is Mr. Hume with the 8:45 tee time.  My group has decided to forgo golf for the day."

"A wise decision, Mr. Hume.  We will see you another day."

-------

"Mike, if you want some training, today is a good day."

"How about 9 am?"

"I'll see you then," I said. 

--------

I cranked up the car with the anti-lock brakes and the traction control and headed down the the freeway to bill a few hours and work the minor miracles.  When I was done, the sun was shining and the course beckoned.  It would have been empty and a few holes would have been possible.  But I was tired and figured that I could sneak out to the range on the morrow.

For dinner we tried Tandoori chicken pizza.  Barb found it a bit spicy.  I was ok with it, but burning lips required some cold dessert to return them to normal.

More news tomorrow, I hope.

Thursday 10/27/16 a day of rest

It's been raining a bit here, but undaunted with a couple of youtube videos under my belt, I did wander off to the range to hit a bucket.

The technique that I was interested is was "How to hit penetrating wedge shots."  I was curious about this as the guy doing the video was hitting 80 yard 60 degree wedge shots with a 3/4 swing.

A full swing for me with that club used to go about 100, but it doesn't seem to anymore.  80 might be the current full swing maximum now. 

But undaunted, I thought I would give it a try.

The technique is to:

• Put the ball back in your stance
• 3/4 shot
• don't be shy about smacking down on it

What this gives you is less effective loft and the 3/4 swing ought to provide a bit more control.

I used the range finder and found a 70 yard target and gave it a go.  I was able to easily put the ball beyond the 70 yard marker.  80 and 90 did not seem out of reach.  The ball flight was lower which was part of the goal of the shot.

I don't know how much of this I'll use, but I can see that it might be handy.  I had a 70 yard shot yesterday that I hit about 40 yards and having a shorter swing with more of a hit might have made that shot easier to manage.


The other item was an analysis of Patrick Reed's swing.  The points that I wanted to try on this was:

• Very relaxed hands and wrists
• hands and arms being passive to the body spin

I was able to do this.  It's probably a good thing for me as I don't always start the swing from the bottom.  That's a habit I would like to break.


Finally, a video suggested that the shoulder turn is more like starting a lawn mover with the pull cord.  There is a use of muscles just below the rib cage.  This can be thought of as when one hand goes up, the other goes down.

Using that thought, it kept me from swaying and I stayed more centered in my initial setup position.

I look forward to see how this plays out tomorrow at 8:45 - weather permitting.

Wednesday, or How did I get so tired?

First a note to apology to my two readers, who having been in the Written Word business probably noticed a couple of typos that I didn't notice the first time around.

Yes, I do know that the past tense of the verb to shoot is not "shat."  It is impossible for me to have shat a 79.  I could say that about a 95 or so, but being on the good side of 80 is, in my humble world, a good thing.  There was other egregious issue that I don't recall, but if I think of it...

Ok, on to Today!

I was doing quite well until 13, when after a great good drive, I found myself with a slightly down hill lie.  I topped the sucker, pushed the next shot (an uphill lie) in the maintenance yard, lost the ball, which I really liked.  I had played 4 rounds with it.

I took a drop and took 3 more from 70 yards.  A smooth double bogey 7.

The next hole was not much better as a duck hook (no doubt due to extreme tiredness!) an 8 iron to get out, it didn't hook!  Then a simple 70 yard pitch went about 40 and a two putt was the end of that hole.

I almost had a hole in one on the next hole.  It was playing 170 and I ran the ball quite close to the pin.  It waved as it went by and ended up on the frog hair.  It was a back pin.  The birdie putt missed by a fraction of an inch and a ho-hum par was the result.

16 was not much better.  We start with a topped drive, ok 3 wood to get back in play and a wedge to a front pin.  Two putts.  Another bogey...  I managed to par in from there, but every shot was a struggle.


I was dragging as it was about 2:00 and I had not had breakfast and only a small peanut butter sandwich at 9 or so.  Dragging is the operative word here.  My concentration was also an issue.  Fred was a liberal and I was trying to convince him of the error of his thinking and it was distracting...

But I cannot blame Fred.  If I can save one soul, it will be worth it.

"How was the front nine?" I hear you ask.

Well, the blood sugar was pretty good and I was not feeling too tired.  I started with 5 pars, all quite easy.  I hit all the green with two putts each.  This is a rare start since I don't warm up.  The first two holes and the 4th and 5th demand good tee shots.  I usually think of the first nine as a "warm up" but the weather was warm and I chipped bunch, so it was painfully boring.

Then on 6 blew a wedge over a green and could not recover from an aggressive chip. 

But I hit it to 6 feet on the par 4 7th and made the birdie.

I followed that up with a 9 iron to 4 feet on the 8th, a par 3 over a pond.  I made that birdie too.

Nine was poor tee shot bogey, so the nine came in at an even par 36.  Probably the 3rd best score on that nine.

When the dust had settle and we golfers had dropped our implements of savagery, I ended up with a 36, 41 for a reasonable 77.  I would love to try the back again as I've never managed 18 holes under par.

I'm going to take the day off tomorrow and probably spend some range time.  I was quite happy with a lot of shots, but I want to explore some things that arose as I played.

Tuesday 10/25/16 A Journey to Wente

Wente makes wine (the wifi password for the guest account is cabernet!  But you didn't hear it from me.) they also have a couple of restaurants on the site and a golf course that winds its way through the local hills.

It has a slope of 123 for the tees we played today, 124 for our usual set.

Rain threatened again and aside from the tiniest two spots of pseudo-drizzle, the weather was grand; cool and overcast and not much wind.  The wind can blow there through the hills.

I decided that if you are playing well, golf can be quite the treat.  I would have gladly gone another 18, but lunch and some wine was the agendum.

I shot a smooth 40/39 to romp home with a 79.  I've played the course maybe 4 times and I think the best was an 88 or so.  No doubles, which are easy to get on this course.  Only once in the sand on a 390 yard hole, and I managed the up and down neatly.

I only missed one green badly, ran though a few others and 3 putted a bunch.  The greens are undulating and seeded with bent, which make for tough putting if you don't know the breaks.  There is usually a very fast direction and a slow one based on the grain of the grass.

My driver never let me down -- we'll ignore the "breakfast ball" on the first tee - hooked into the grapes.  I reteed and hit it 260 in the fairway.

Lots of 105 yard shots to the greens and this is a comfortable number for me, usually a gap or sand wedge depending on wind etc.

I didn't think much about taking the club back inside and rerouting;  that didn't seem to matter much.  I was staying looser a la Freddie Couples.

My distance seems to be improving.  I smacked one three wood just like Freddie, nice long backswing and a delicious hit complete with a whoosh noise and a direction that cut the grape vine corner to setup a short iron to an elevated green.  Just like it was planned.  Ah, the joy of a number of shots, well struck, and in sequence.

I widened my putting stance and that helped with my distance control and accuracy.  I'll test this some more tomorrow.

Monday 10/24/16

My how the month has gone by.  At this rate retirement will seem to be over before it's well begun.


So the swing thoughts for today were to take the club back inside and not worry about it.  Also I have a request for GIR numbers and 3 putts.  I found myself paying a lot of attention to those numbers as I was playing and have come to the conclusion that I play better if I don't think about that sort of thing while playing.


It also seemed that those numbers may not be particularly useful depending on what I am trying to learn as I'm going along.

I don't record scores, nor do I have an index.  It is more a journey in discovery and learning.

I was also trying to pop my putts a bit - the back swing being 1/3 of the follow through to get an accelerating action through the ball.

Some numbers:
GIRs   13  Maybe being pin high would be useful to track?
3 Putts - 2 - playing around with a new putting stroke was an issue, also the greens were a bit slow
Pars - 11
Birdies - 2
Bogeys - 5 or 6 (one was a penalty stroke as the water jumped in front of a wonderfully hit utility club on the tricky 3rd hole!)

Score looks like it was in the high 70's, though it didn't seem that good at the time (I'm taking some liberty with some gimmes).

I lost strokes due to bad drives once, which is a very good event.  It's been times where instead of two bad drives, it's been 2 good ones.  I'm still sliding a bit instead of getting the lower body going first. 

I found that I was hitting the ball further - irons were recalibrated to 10 yards longer.  My carry distances were very good.

My direction was excellent with maybe 2 balls off line far enough to hurt.  One topped shot.

Tomorrow on a longer course with more terror if the fairway is missed.  Updates then!

As I played along, I got to thinking about trying to accelerate through all the shots, rather than to hit the ball.  The times I tried to do this, it seemed to work.  I want to think about it some more and do some testing.

I might be a sledge hammer driving Man

Background is in the last two posts. 

What I wanted to try was an inside take away and then a slight over the top move to get back to the "slot."

I am curious about this because I am very comfortable to take the club back inside.  What I think I struggle with is a move to get back to the slot and also a willingness to slide forward in front of the ball.

Sliding makes it very tough to hit it straight or anything else that one might want. 

I found that inside and then a loop back was easy for me to do.  It also seemed to keep me behind the ball a bit.  When I don't slide then I don't have to "save" the shot with some aggressive hand action.

The hand action was causing some very impressive hooks and the occasional push.  A tough combination to play with.

My ball flight was quite high and very straight.  No misses to the left and the pushes seemed to be less of an issue.

I'm quite excited about this.  The swing is more natural to me and the ball reaction better.  All good things.

I'll play tomorrow and we'll see how well it does off the range.

Interestingly to me, it seemed to work for 30 yards pitches too.  Chips were good as the right hand and the body rotation were tightly bound and controlled.

Ok, all things good and I'm eager to try it out.

Stay tuned!

Video to look at

This is something that matches up a bit with the last blog.

Take a look at this movement of laying off or flattening the club path on the down swing.

I'm curious to try this.

Link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNqCva0HNOg

I'll post results maybe tomorrow if I can get to the range.

Next Set of Things to Try

I've been put on notice that I have at least two readers and they are hungry for content.  So I'll do my best to pass along more content in what is happening in my golf journey.


One bad habit I have is to look at the golf content on youtube when the sun has gone down and Barb has the TV displaying the latest in Zombie adventures. 


I ran across an interesting one by Jim McLean.  He has a lot of content there and he is a thoughtful guy and I enjoy his analysis.

The one I'll talk about today is about getting the club into the "groove" or "slot."  He discusses this in length.  There are three schools of thought.  One is to loop it like Jim Furyk.  Jim is a bit extreme, but to take the club outside and then reroute it back to the groove on the way down.

The second is to take the club back on the line you would like to come down on.  It seems in practice that this is a bit hard to do.  But seems simple, but, as explained in the next item, might be a mechanical issue, id est, it doesn't feel normal to us humans.

The third way is to take the club back inside and then reroute back to the slot.  A lot of very good golfers do this to some extent.  Jim McLean mentions that this is never taught.  Ok, all is well and good, but the next bit is what I found quite interesting.

Jim M. mentions that the inside then reroute path shows up in other activities.  One of which is the stroke that is used by guys who drove railroad spikes and those who use a sledge hammer for a living.  Jim reports that these guys deliver a lot of power and "never miss."

Young kids, if learning the game by themselves, gravitate to this motion.  It must provide some leverage to get a heavy object into a good position to hit with it.

My driver stroke has some of this in it.  I'm not sure of my loop to get it on to the proper plane.  I want to look at this on the next trip to the range.  Maybe tomorrow, so stay tuned!

Jim reports that they never teach that inside then back over move, but as mentioned some very good players use it.  Including some who never had to practice - Bruce Liztke was mentioned as was Bobby Jones.  I'm guessing the "don't teach this" is from tradition rather than any technical reasons. 

If we admit that the human system is capable of remarkable problem solving, then the fact that this method of swinging a club shows up in a number of areas, would suggest that it cannot be discarded out of hand.

I'll close with a summary of an article I ran across a number of years ago.  The article reported that a study suggested that the human brain would seek a new solution to repeated problems -- even those that were "solved."   I clipped this to pass on to a golf teacher, to suggest that he and I and all labored in vain to create a new motion/swing/activity as the mind would instantly and constantly look for another solution.  That makes it tough to learn and store and move on to the next item or to become the golfing machine.

Bill asked for more technical numbers including greens in regulation, putts and such.  I don't usually compile them.  I can recall them for the last few rounds.  I'll add them as they were asked for.  Is there anything else?  Feel free to add the first comment to the blog!

Friday 10/21/16

Played early at Las Po today.

Shot 77 with a 38/39 score card.

I am still working on driver skills.  The driver put me in trouble once, but otherwise was a weapon and not a tool of self-fright!  So that is a good thing.

The round included a number of double bogeys.  I was in traps a lot, but got it up and down 3 out of 5 times.  I recently purchased a pair of TaylorMade wedges.  The sand wedge has 15 degrees of bounce (56 degrees of loft) and it is very good at getting out of the sand in a nicely controllable manner.  They are not cheap.  I think I paid $139 each and I had to look for that.  The current price is $159 or so.  They seem to be wearing well.  The last wedges I had were Scor and before that Ping.  I hit a lot of shots and the grooves were blunting quickly.  I'm hoping for a longer life and thus a lower cost per year.  So far, I'm happy with them.

The things I'm trying to do with the driver is to stay behind it during the swing.  I have an old annoying habit of sliding or lurching my upper body in the direction of the target, which puts me out of position and then I use my hands to "save" it.  That led to a lot of hooks and slices.  Tough combination there.  I'm still out of position a fair amount, but not as far, so I'm ending up in the fairway.  My distance is improving too and I've been pretty straight. Yeah!

I've also getting more realistic in re my iron carry distances.  For example in the old days I would hit a 7 iron for a 150 yards shot.  Well, that guy probably flies 130 to 140 and the 140 is on a good day.  I'm getting careful about getting over bunkers etc.  This came about because we've had some rain and courses have been quite wet.  The balls are not bouncing up at all, just hitting and sticking.

Of course it is not that easy.  Some of the greens will still roll out, so extreme course knowledge is needed.  That's a bit tough on a new course.

Finally, the next goal is to make sure I provide a full shoulder turn when I'm hitting.  I think I'm not doing that and there is a major power leak.  If I change that, then all the carry distances will change and I'll have to start over a bit.  But more club head speed should lead to better accuracy as I'll be using shorter clubs for shots.

I may do some range stuff this weekend, but I'm feeling a bit beat up with sore legs.  I've played everyday for the last two weeks and walked all but two rounds.  I felt good until today, where I was a bit creaky to get started.

The game is getting more fun as I get more accurate and consistent.  Having a reliable driver has been missing for 7 years or so.

Thursday Round 10/20/16

It was a late tee time, 11:30 and the grass was dry and my feet stayed that way! 

I've been working on the driver and it was a good day from the tee.  I hooked a couple, but managed to get the ball out there a lot.  We played from the blue tees and it wasn't a problem with the extra distance.  I hit 7 greens on the front and I'm not sure on the back - which was a bit of a roller coaster. 

I've figured out my carry distances and I was quite effective in getting the ball the distance I wanted.  The greens on the Las Po course are quite receptive.  There is very little roll with any kind of a shot that comes in high.  So carry it where you want to be.

I didn't putt very well.  I was leaving a lot of them short.  Did manage one birdie, but hit 7 of the greens on the front and the birdie was on the back nine.

I was working on staying below the swing plane and letting the club come around when it wanted to.  That worked quite well and I hit a lot of shots I was quite happy with.  Ball flight continues to get higher and distances are very consistent. 

Score wise it was not a great day, but the items I was trying to work on came through nicely -- so a success and I'll sleep the sleep of the satisfied tonight.

Feeling the "Lag"

Dear reader(s), it is quite usual for me to pick up on some subtlety in re the golf swing during a round.  Of course I don't file it away for future exploration, but try to use it.  No one ever said I wasn't optimistic!


I felt some of the club lag or more properly hang and  unhinge as the swing was approaching the hitting zone.

When I felt this and allowed it to happen, I found my ball flight to be higher and more carry.  These are good things as I've come to the realization that my carry distances are 20 yards less than I thought.

The greens and course have been wet and soft and it was necessary to carry the ball all the way to the hole.  I managed to spin back a 5 iron from the rough from about 150 yards.

In trying to accentuate the late in swing unhinge action, I find that I can bring the club down without any hand input to the direction of the club handle - in other words, don't try to manipulate the shaft at all. 

That leads to a down swing that is more compact and feels more in control that an early uncock and casting movement.

Is all this really happening?  Ah, an interesting question.  I think I'll drop over to the range and do some testing.

Wente and the Driver 10/18/16

Since my mother reads this daily, I'm going to try and post more often.

So, off to Wente today, a guest of Phil.  Upscale course in Livermore, it's nestled in the hills of southern Livermore with a lot of ups and downs.  It used to be used for a Web.com event, but, and I am quoting here, "the pussies on the tour found the course too hard" so they moved it down the road.

I don't think the Web tourney is the area anymore, which is too bad, as I like to take in the occasional tournament.

My focus today was my tee shot, which has been the bane of my golf existence for about 6 years.  I was very happy with what I managed.  I miss hit a couple of them, but the other 12 were fairly long and very straight.  So a successful day.

Wente is a longish course for me, but with a reasonable drive, I was able to get to a lot of the greens.  I didn't score very well, as I find when I'm concentrating a lot on a single aspect that scoring is difficult.  So the putting was a side thought.  I chipped reasonably well, but the greens are bent and there is a lot of slope and grain, so without knowing them very well, it's tough in any case.

Then we had lunch at the grill.  Good food, we had the place to ourselves as we teed off at 9:30 and missed the lunch crowd by the time we finished.

I had the number 4 burger, medium.  This has lettuce and bacon and was supposed to have some jalapenos, but I couldn't taste them -- very sad.

A glass of red and some water to round it all out. 

An early round tomorrow at Los Positas - I'll try to continue my tee shot progress.

Notes 10/12/16

Usual game at Las Po today.  Finally got my stride about the 15th hole; ok a bit earlier than that.  We started on the back, which seems to be a Wednesday thing,

I worked (once I remembered) to get my hands at address beyond my toes.  That caused me to straighten my back, then my butt came out and there I was, with the ideal position.

I think I hit the ball pretty well from then on; even some tee shots!  My tee ball to the 9th hole was probably the longest I've hit there.  It was about 230 with a 3 wood.  I was under the trees a bit and hit a hooded 4 iron through the green to a back pin.  It ran down the hill and I had a delicate chip back up to a down hill pin.  Got it to out 2.5 feet and made putt for a satisfying par on my last hole.

Left a couple of putts short dead on line.  That cost a few birdies.  But all told, a good round for me.

The other issue was to make sure the hands follow a path below the swing plane and not get above it.  If I think about going up and back down in front of me, it seems to make the "slamming of the club face" work well.  Is it more room and a better position in which to do it are questions for tomorrow.

I've found that I tend to stand too close to the ball and my hands are well inside my toe line.  I don't seem to make a vertical swing from there, but more of an inside move which dooms me later.

10/13 - follow up notes

I tried to do a couple of things as mentioned above.

 - take arms back along a plane parallel to the shoulder to ball plane.
 - lock the upper body with the arms
 - bring it all down in one piece
 - not slide forward before starting the unwind.

I then worked on making sure I started the down swing with the legs.  This was just for the last couple of holes.  (I've found that if I work on keeping my head stationary as I start down, that requires that the lower body become active and leading the down swing.)

Everything worked quite well.  I also sought to keep my hands on a plane below the ball shoulder plane.  That allows room for the "swat" to take place.  I was able to do this without much effort, which suggests that everything was where it should be and nothing was blocked or required adjustments to hit the ball.

I scored pretty well.  I was spending so much mental energy on the long game that I was a bit hasty on the putting.  I had two three putts and a couple of short ones that I just didn't hit hard enough.

It was a smooth 38/38 with one birdie.

My mom is perhaps the only active reader, so I'll publish this to keep her entertained!

Tuesday 9/27/16

They micro punched the greens at my local course this week.  So on Monday I played the back 9 twice and today the front twice.

The front has been the harder for me over the years. A common score was 41 followed by 36 on the back.

And today was a bit like that.  Ted and I tied at 45 on the front.  I had my first snow man in a long time, but followed it up with a 36 on the replay.  I left a number of birdies short as the greens were slowish and bumpy.  That included a penalty stroke too.  Thus I'm feeling good about my scoring, but the tee shots are still an issue.

I think I am still sliding a bit on all of my shots.  I seem to be able to catch the irons, but frequently hit a bit of a push.  I was trying to swing with my 9 iron tempo.  That was ok, but didn't solve all of the issues.

So tomorrow - have I mentioned that retirement allows for a lot of golf? - I'm going to work on getting the lower body more active, particularly on the down swing.  I'm not sure if I am shortening the wind up, so will look into that.


I heard from my mom that she used some of Monte's wrist cock and managed to get a few balls in the air.  Yeah Monte!

Follow Up for Last Two Posts

A report on the progress of the new "spin" type down swing.

I've found the take away and getting the club position at the top correct, to be fairly easy to do.

Spinning down, aka, not sliding and then playing catch up the hands has worked pretty well.

I played today and hit two wild shots, but the rest were pretty solid and straight down the middle.


One of the interesting parts of a lot of golf practice is that my calluses and moving around.

They are getting close to where Hogan wants them and have shown up on the inside of my right thumb -- something new there!

Otherwise smaller two fingers on the left hand and second and third fingers of right hand.


So I conclude that what I am trying to do seems to work.  I just have to get better at repeating it.

Short game was a bit off on the front nine, I was concentrating on the long game.  It seems hard for a golfer of my modest caliber to concentrate on too much at once.  Did better on the back nine, shot 2 over or so.

As Pelz would say, "it only takes 20,000 repetitions to make it seem normal."   I was told that Anika's pop up head move took her a mere 5 years.  So I hold out hope that I can get the job done.

Excellent Ideas Part II

I was hopeful (always!) that the progress of the prior day would continue to today.

I generally go to the driving range on the weekends and try to play during the week.  Retirement is a wonderful thing...

To summarize yesterday's ideas, they were to get the hands into a better position by taking them back parallel to the shoulder plan and to not do (or have to do) anything with them on the way down.  The power stroke is merely a spin down with the club coming through as the physics demands.  No fighting it and no effort.


I was having capturing the magic of yesterday and realized that, as Monte says, there is a roll to the left arm that gets the club into the proper orientation to the left arm.  I seemed to be cheating on that and when corrected, good things happened.

I then realized that since all I wanted was a spin, staying centered over the shot seemed to make sense.  I've always seemed to be set up to try to "push" the ball along the fairway, rather than to spin and kick the ball out with the club as it and the club face interacted.  I thought about this after my range time, but it seems like a good thought when over the ball and what I should think the spin wind up should be doing.

I tend to setup open and part of that was this view of pushing the ball down the hole.  Now setting up square to provide a platform for the windup seems to be logical.


This post is more a memory aid for me than any real news.  As my bowling coach used to say, "you've got to do it all."


So, we spin back and put the hands/arms/shoulders in the proper plane and position and then spin back down.

I also found that trying to spin quickly from the top was not the most consistent.  Better to start the spin slowly and then keep accelerating until the bottom of the swing where the whip starts to bring the club around.  That improved the club contact with the driver, which is the big issue for me.  It also allows for a better lower body shift to provide the base for the spin, by providing time for the first shift to be done by the feet/knees/hips before the back and shoulders get involved.

I'll play tomorrow and we shall see if reality matches theory!

Two Most Excellent Ideas

Sorry for being away.  My mother likes to read these and I have a few things to say, so once more back to the keyboard!


And speaking of keyboards, I purchased a new Dell laptop when I started to get crashes on my old Toshiba.  It was a bunch of years old and quite heavy, but it provided good service.

The new Dell has a 5 times the memory but a worse keyboard (kb).  If you worked on kbs for most of your career, then one picks up habits and expectations.  The new one doesn't have as much key press as I would like and it also has an enormous touch pad near the space bar.  I keep hitting the touch pad in some combination with other keys and it moves the cursor back some and occasionally up a line or two.  I tend to type along and not notice this.  It's a mess to correct some of this.

The other thing that bothers me is the lack of home/end keys on the numeric keypad.  Oh, they have a num lock button, but it doesn't do anything!  So when I want End it's a bit of a stretch.


Back to golf...

I've been having some success, but still an issue with longer clubs.  The driver has been a mess for the most part and I've been scoring by not using it.

I've scored well on occasion; shot a 34 on the front 9 at Los Positas.  My under par 9 hole scores are quite rare in my golfing adventures.  Three birdies and one bogey.  Lots of kick in pars and I managed to hole 3 or 4 25 footers.  It's an easy game when the putts drop from the other side of the moon.

Last night I ran across a video that talked about just spinning and letting the club square and come around when it wants to.  That was useful, but the question is where one should spin from and here is where Monte Scheinblum came back into his own. 

Monte makes the point that the arms have to go back parallel with shoulder plane.  If it's too low then you get stuck and do horrible things from there (this is my issue).  If you take the club back above the plane then you are coming over the top and will typically come over the top from there.

I'll look up the videos and put in links to them below.

I went to the range today to try a few of these things out.  Specifically the items were:

• take the arms back correctly per Monte
• then spin in place and let the club do what it will, with no hand or arm or shoulder manipulation
• loosen the hands so they don't affect what the club does either in cocking or uncocking

I took the arms back with the shoulder turn, which was easy for me.  I let the  club do what it would as I turned the shoulders.

Coming back was a spin and it was easy to do that from my legs and then all the way up.  I was able to keep the head still and not slide (another thing I am very good at).

This all worked quite well -- ok, better than that, I hit a couple thin balls but all the shots were straight, high and solid.  Now, I can hit the ball pretty well at the range.  I'm greatly admired there and once one of the pros brought a student over to watch me hit.  But on the course was a different issue.

I'll be very optimistic in this current iteration as everything I was doing was quite easy for me.  Nothing was hurried or hard.  The wind up and spin out were easy.  My distance looked pretty good and my long irons were much higher. 

Not sliding forward maintained the full loft on the irons and sent the ball towards the heavens. 

Here is the spin video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mA10dnvJX4

Here is Monte on arm location: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Px50pNlcqPo&list=RDWrSSRIX_61s

I'll update this as I take it to the course.  I tried this arm and spin stuff with all shots from chips to bunker shots, through the irons and then 3w and driver.

Three New Things to Try and How they Did

I watched some more Monte Scheinblum videos yesterday.  There were three things I wanted to test at the range.

The items were a flippy pitch shot, leading the down swing with the right elbow, and keeping the left arm off the chest.

I tried the pitch shot a bit and was a lot less accurate in distance and direction from my usual methods.  The idea with this is to not accelerate fiercely into the ball, but gently and then feel as if you were hitting up on it.  I found this worked quite well for a 10 or 20 yard flop shot, but the little stuff around the greens didn't seem to work for me.  It was a means to drop a ball about a foot ahead of you, which would be useful when short sided -- of course that never happens to me.


The next item was to try leading the down swing with the right elbow.  Hogan talks about keeping the elbows close together and this is really part of that and part of connecting the body parts.  A gap between the right elbow and the body is a gap that has to be filled at some point.  Not allowing the gap seems to make it simpler.

I found that this worked quite well.  I was able to either start the down swing slowly or aggressively and still make great contact with the ball.  I used it through all the clubs and was very pleased.  It made the driver feel as simple as a wedge, which is what I've been looking for in my game.


The final item is getting the left arm off the chest fairly early in the swing.  This is something that Monte works on.  A stuck arm limits swing speed to the speed you can move your torso.  I'm old and fat and can't move it that quickly, so I thought I'd see if this applied to me.  It doesn't seem to.  I couldn't do much with this and with the success of the leading right elbow, I don't care to worry about it now.  Maybe later.

That's all for now, but there may be another theory tomorrow!

A Tip of the Hat to Monte

The big thing about the golf swing is to be in the right place when the club comes down.

Every movement in taking the club back and then back down, the shoulder turn, etc., all cause compensatory movements in the body.

If you pay attention to this, you can feel it.  Find a level spot and just move the club from the address position to half way back.  Notice weight shifts and foot pressure and maybe hip turn/shift too.  Some of this is small, but it's there.

When you fully wind up or are in the act of winding things are happening too.

The body needs to maintain balance and that is what is going on.  Sure you can lean for a bit, but you can't hold that position.

Ok, so when we start down, compensations must also occur.  The speed that you do this stuff is important.  I've found that fast, powerful movements seem to be "corrected" for by the body better than slower ones.

Which leads me to Monte Scheinblum.   You can find him on youtube and recommend that you do.

He has problems with some of the traditional golf swing teaching.  For example, the other the top move, casting are the ones I'm playing with now.

The traditional theory is that casting (this is opening the angle of the club to the left arm) is a large power loss and one should strive to avoid that and in fact there are proponents of trying hang on to the angle or shorten it to increase power.

Monte's view is if you try to cast, you can't do it.  Put your arms parallel to the ground in the take away path as if you were taking it back for a full swing.  Now try to cast from this position.  You can't do it, if you swing with any speed.  Sure, in slow motion you can, but normal speed or as fast as you can, you will not.  And at high speed, your hands will work just fine for striking the ball.

Why this works is that the action of the hands to cast, causes the arms to come down and get to the hitting position.  Damn handy all of that.  And you can swing as hard as you can and it all works out nicely.

Let's talk about hitting from the top.  This is defined as starting the upper body before the lower.  Causes monster slices and hooks and nothing good.  But if you take the club back and are in a reasonable place and you start down from there by swinging hard, the lower body will react and save you from falling.

The legs and hips will shift a head a bit and the left knee will do good things and all is well.  Try it!
Again, I've found it is easier to do if you swing hard.

Monte wants the shoulders and arms and club to remain connected.  He doesn't want the shoulders to get in front of the arms or the arms to lead the shoulders or the body to lead the upper body.  By doing some of the above, you are maintaining the connections.  So the swings are not long, but they are connected.

Monte says to take advantage of the body's ability to react and use it.  That's why this stuff works.

He has videos and more explanations on these items and drills to try.

I find this works quite well.  I'm very comfortable with the casting of the hands drill and I've taken that to the course.  Now, my irons are the strength of my game and this made them better.  Hit a low pitching wedge from under a tree?  Move the ball back and swing and cast and off it goes nicely to 4 feet from the pin.

My driver has been an issue for years and I've not quite got this fully resolved, but it seems to be working well.  More time on the course will tell.

In any case do take a look at Monte's videos...

You Have to Do it All

A few years back I took some bowling lessons.  Why?  One may ask.  It was an activity that I was never very good at and I wanted some basic competency.  Billiards is on the list too -- but a different post for sure.

The lessons were cheap, 3 hours for $100.  When you consider that lane time is about $25 per hours, you are getting lessons for $5 per hour. 

One of the things that Mike said was, "You have to do it all."  Bowling consists of a number of steps in a smooth sequence.  Strangely like golf, one might inject here for those not paying attention to the blog subject.

So you have 4 items that you have to do.  "Can I skip #2?"  "No, you have to do them all."

We did a lesson and I went away and then came back and did lesson 2.  Off I went.  When I came back Mike had sold the business and disappeared!  The new owners were cool and covered the lesson.

But what I took away from Mike was the "doing it all" bit.  So when you see some pro on TV who takes a long backswing by turning his shoulders and then launching from the lower body and staying behind the ball, you've got to do all of that too.  You can't skip the shoulder turn or the lower body uncoil.  Do it all!

And about that bowling...  I found it too easy.  I went from 135 average with a huge standard deviation to an average over 210 with a smaller deviation.  Never rolled the perfect game, but I commonly was above 250 and a high of 279.  Bowling is more expensive than golf on an hourly basis!  You have been warned.

A Miracle

Continuing my discussion on the fickleness of golf, I am pleased to announce that my "key" to ball striking survived its second day.  I managed two additional holes, both GIRs and reasonable birdie putts.  Shots straight and high and full yardage. 

This is quite rare in my experience for a solution to work for two days.


I played a hole and a half with one of the young pros from the staff.  He was playing from the tips, I from the lowly white tees.  I hit an 8 iron to about 12 feet from 150 yards or so, he hits a 9 iron to about 15 feet from 165 yards. 

When he hit the ball, it sounded differently.  A meaty smack and off it went.  He and I both left the course as the pace was a killer.  He went to the range and I watched him hit balls for while.  Even with range balls, there was that "unmistakable click of a ball well hit," as Ben Hogan has been quoted.  It was effortless.  He was using a wedge of  some kind and hitting them to various pins around the range.  Some were close, others out to about 100 years.  Smack, smack, smack.  Long or short or a full swing, it all didn't matter.

Envy was there for me. 

Another Day, Another Eye Opener

In the previous post I mentioned how fickle golf was.  I need only point to today's round for further confirmation of that theory.

I shoot 36, 37 for one over 73, the second best round of my life.  I'm not playing off the tees I did in my youth, but still a personal accomplishment.

I chipped in on one, which is a hole that has a lot of double bogeys to its name.  Then made a 20 foot down hill slider from the fringe to start birdie, birdie.

I managed to add a couple of bogeys on the next 7 holes along with 5 pars to come out with the 36.

I found myself being quite cautious as I played, which was probably not the best attitude to have.  I find it leads to tentative putts and other errors.  I didn't get up and down from a bunker on 3 and three putted on 7.  Otherwise it was pretty much tap in for pars.

The back nine was more boring as it was 8 pars and a bogey.  I missed a 3 footer on the bogey on an up and down attempt after a crappy drive.

But what I wanted to talk about with this post is not my small bit of personal glory, but as I came up 16 I found how to aggressively go after a shot and not get off plane.

 I read somewhere that no one can teach you as well as you can teach yourself.  I agree with this, but it's not quite that simple.  Firstly you need to understand what you are trying to do; where your hands and body should be.  Then you can try to find a means that you can use to accomplish that.

Some wag mentioned that being a golf teacher was saying the same thing 14 different ways until you get through to the student.  While I am tempted to do some teaching, the repetition would drive me insane in short order.

I'd also make the statement that everything all coaches and articles have mentioned are true, it's just that you have to assimilate that into your perceptive mass and then to your aperceptive mass.  Finally finding a "key" to allow yourself to perform and it's all over.

I would share my "key" with you, but I think everyone needs to find their own.  I believe that I can trust and rely on mine (Ha! we shall see what tomorrow brings!).   I rattled off 6 very good consecutive shots on the last three holes using it.  That was three GIRs and 3 good 12 foot birdie opportunities.

I concluded a couple of years ago that if I were to go back to school, I would like to research how a person makes changes to a physical activity.  I think if you can do that easily, you are by definition an athlete.  A life long struggle seems to be the definition of an average golfer.

You Should have seen me Saturday

The problem with golf is that it is fickle.

On Saturday I was ready to write the last post to this blog and then find a new hobby.

I had realized that the downswing is a mixture of just two things: 1) the creation of a stable platform to hit from, created by hip rotation and posting onto the left leg, without disturbing the alignment of the shoulders (spine angle).  2) Then just hit the ball from this stable position.  You can hit it as hard as you like as you are aligned with the swing plane.  You don't need to use your hands and as long as you keep the torso where you started, it's all good.

And it worked.

But the fickleness rose up.  I have this tendency to do two bad things.  I don't start the lower body to setup the hitting position and I tend to slide past the ball and that requires my hands to do some heroic things to hit the ball at all.

I've been playing enough recently to avoid a lot of this.  Staring at the spot on the ball you want to hit helps with this.  

I seem to be able to stay calm and behind the ball when hitting a short iron, but as the clubs get longer, I try to help the swing more.  That causes me to hit with my shoulders before the lower body and not stay behind the ball.  I then come over the top and usually hit a nasty hook usually under a bush or into a trap.

The last few times out I've been able to control a lot of this, which has led to the better scores.

However Monday was a disappointment.  I was great at the range on Saturday, not as good on Sunday and then Monday was a problem.

At my usual course, it's not unusual for me to shoot 41, 36 or so when I'm playng well.  There are water hazards on the front that some into play and not much of that on the back.  Then there is the first hole, which is a long iron, followed by another with water front, right, and left.  A double is not unusual as no one warms up before play and it's usually cold at 7 am.

So I shoot 42 or so and then move to the back and I can't get anything going there either.  It all added up to 83 or so and not much fun after the 77 on Friday.

Barb tells the story about Jay as a high school golfer, who when confronted with a bad round, would immediately go to Amazon.com for a solution!  It is tempting.

I have ordered a couple of wedges as I tend to wear them out and TaylorMade has some that they stress have faces that will last.  So a new sand wedge, 56 degree and 15 degrees of bounce and 60 degrees with a 8 degree of bounce will be here later in the week. 

On the club front, I have a 9 iron that has nothing in the way of grooves left.  I sent an email to Ping and they said I should talk to my local dealer.  Kind of a cop out it seems.  The last set was replaced when I needed a 6 and a 9 and Ping wanted $200 per club to replace them.  If this is a lot, the next set will be something else.  I tried the TaylorMade M2 irons and they have a nice soft feel to them.  I might go that route.

A Brief Return to the Bridge Table

We interrupt our normal golf discussion to venture into the bridge world.

The games have a lot in common actually.  They are both games of errors where gambling and taking a chance can quickly cause severe problems.

I've not played a lot of competitive bridge since the divorce.  She got the bridge game.  I got my Friday nights back.

I joined David in a local small club in Hayward.  It is in a small community park on top of a hill.

There were 4 and one half tables, which causes you to sit out for 24 minutes when you play the phantom pair.

The bridge was nothing spectacular and I doubt that we broke average.  We didn't play too badly, but the great god Golonzo, who normally protects overbidders, was not on the top of that hill.

There is one cute hand that I will relate then do my best to ignore the rest.

So, left hand opponent (LHO) opens 1NT, pass by partner, RHO bids 2c.  This is Stayman that asks partner if they have a 4 card major (hearts and or spades for those who don't play).  LHO now bids 2d, showing no major.  They end up in 3nt.

Partner leads and dummy hits with 4 spades and some other cards.  LHO wins the first trick and precedes to run off 5 spade tricks.  If you play enough, there are lots of clues as to suit distributions and eye brows were being raised as the play and spades continued to hit the table.

So they end up making 4 nt.  We ask about the auction and my LHO says that she bid 2d to deny a 4 card major.  She had 5 and 5 is not 4!  So it made sense to me as a programmer, and probably the Clintons as lawyers, but in the real world Stayman might also allow, or insist, that partner show a 4 or 5 bagger!

It was the highlight of the day.  Oh, how did the board turn out for us?  Dead last as the room was in 4 spades that makes the same 10 tricks.  It was an example of how things went.

The director and some of the player were trying to  coax me back to play again.  Thanks, but no thanks, I said with a polite smile.  They were nice folks, but I've gone down the dark path already and there is no interest in doing it again.

Day 2 and 3

We are still speaking of golf at this point, but I have promised David C. to play some bridge on Friday.  That will give me a couple of days off of golf and probably give me some bridge dreams -- or are they nightmares?  Sometimes it's tough to tell.

I remember one bridge dream from 40 years ago: I was playing 3nt and was leading a suit to drive out the ace but no one would play it.

But golf...  I mused to Steve, a fine golfer, that I would love to get to the point where the swing was solid and I could concentrate on really playing the game.  For example playing shots where I wanted them based on strategy rather than hitting and hoping.  Well, today it was really close to that.  I had two crappy drives and shanked an 8 iron, but otherwise, I had all the control and confidence that I mused about some months ago.  Bridge is a bit like that too, one would like to play without gross errors - harder than it seem to be.

So the last three rounds were 81, 79 and 77 today.  Two birdies and a smooth 40, 37 for the nines.  The front 9 has always been a problem, the back more of a pushover for me.  Shooting 41, 36 is a not uncommon score for me.

The front has some water hazards and a tough par 3 that can lead to big scores.  I had 2 doubles on the front, otherwise par for the remaining holes.  The first is tough too as it requires a good tee shot - it's a iron without warming up usually - then a long iron over a pond, with water left.  I've managed to par that sucker the last two or three times out.  Life is good!

I'm still unhappy with my driver.  But I am hitting irons like a minor deity - dead straight and getting most of my distance.

I believe the driver problem is a function of a poor back swing and lack of lower body to get the mess started.  That gets my plane over the top and I've wildly sliced or hooked a few off of that.  Every once in a while, it comes together and makes it all pretty easy.  I just want to be in position when the hands come through rather than lurching around.

I've had runs of tap in pars.  4 holes or so that takes a lot of pressure off of the score.  My putting has gotten quite good.  I've worked on hitting the putts past the hole and concentrating on the tiny spot where I want to hit the ball.  These tips seem to be keys.  My direction is very good and I'm making a lot.

My chipping has improved as I am picking a landing spot and usually hitting it.  Which spot to hit can be a challenge, but more success than not.

I'll play tomorrow.  The driver sequence to be paramount.

So a funny story.  When Jay and I played in LA at the Rancho something golf course, we got to 18 and Jay called me to the back tees.  When I got there, there was a plaque with a story of Arnold Palmer and the 1935 LA Open.  It seems Arnie hit a nice drive, then sliced two into the driving range and then hooked two onto the road bordering the course.  After a two putt, Arnie recorded a smooth 12.  I'm telling the story some of the old guys I played with on Monday.

It seem John O'Riley was there that day and saw Arnie score the 12.  Small world. 

So how did Jay and I do on this hole?  Ah, we both parred it.  Take that Arnie!

Intro

I've returned from my road trip and the next step is to get on with retirement without the travel.  And for the moment that means golf.

This blog is an attempt to track what I am trying to do and work on.  It's tough for me to remember things, so I want to write them down.  (I also find it is tough to remember shot to shot; an ability that I think would help with some of this.)

What are the problems I'm trying to deal with?

- My distance is worsening
- I've been fighting a big sloppy hook for a while usually only on the tee shots
- I'm not sure I am turning my back
- Then there is the start with the lower body thing.
- Long clubs length don't match what I can do with the short clubs, technique must be wrong...

I typically only do these things on the course; on the range I'm pretty perfect.

What retirement has allowed me is some time to play almost every day.  My theory is that I'm too excited due to lack of playing and that if I play more, I'll be more relaxed and can do what I should do.

Some of this is working.  I played every day this last week and went to the range on Saturday and Sunday.  I've close to averaging 80 and have been pretty consistent. 

The goals for the next round are to:
- keep the hands out of the swing
- keep the arms from getting ahead of the torso - i.e., let the torso bring stuff around and then let the hit happen at the end.  This has produced some very solid shots on the range, so I have high hopes.
- I think I've been struggling with long clubs by standing up too straight and not getting over the ball.  I have great confidence and success with the short irons, but the longer stuff seems to get worse as the club gets longer.  I suspect this is my attempt to push for more distance by hitting them harder.
- I also find that I don't look at the ball when I swing at it.  I'm amazed that I hit it at all.  I've worked on this with my putting and my accuracy has gotten much better.

OK, stay tuned for the results.