The Day After Christmas

I played at Wente today, the local upscale course with wicked greens and long fairways, wine filled lunches and good company -- Thanks Phil!

I was working on blocking early extension, which I didn't seem able to do.  Now mind you this was at the driving range and it was 35 degrees, and I had about three jackets on and the back was stiff a bit.  But otherwise all systems were in top shape.  The balls were 35 degrees too...  All in all, it was like hitting ice clumps for the most part.

But I was able to allow the club to come through and do its work without my needing to help it.  The main feeling was that of waiting for the club to come through and find the ball. 

Hmm, I thought this was a sensation worth pursuing.  As the round progressed I was keeping my swing under control and moving the ball around pretty well.  Ah, it wasn't going far, but I was getting off the tees and the irons straight.  Did I mention the greens being somewhat evil?  It's true, I swear by the ancient ones!

Then it struck me and if you play golf well, you already know this, I can move the arms about as fast as I want and if I don't help the club with my hands all will be well at contact. 

Perhaps it's the old case of not knowing what you are really doing.  I've got grooves worn in my grips and I've long been curious as to why I generate them.  No pro has really come up with an answer or much insight. 

But I think it was from try to help the club instead of letting the physics of the situation do what it must.  You can fight the physics, but there is scant reward in it.

I'm off to play tomorrow at the home course, I'll see how it goes.  If this is correct, then I am probably losing a fair bit of speed with my attempts to help the club.  I remain optimistic!


I used the electronic handwarmers today.  They worked quite well and were hot enough.  I turned them off after 15 holes or so; I cannot yet speak for the longevity of the power supply.   One other point about them I would mention, they are pretty heavy.  My jacket, full of all the goodies for a round of golf, and then these warmers was quite a burden to drag around.  Basically, I'm quite happy with them.

Year End Round Up - Updated

Update section is at the bottom!

Dear Readers,

Have a happy holiday season.

Thanks to the God of modern commerce, that being Amazon, I'm expecting some newfangled hand warmers.  I used the chemical type for the last couple of years.

These are the ones where you open a Mylar package, shake, and then they are warm for about 4 to 6 hours.  They work pretty well and the cost is about $1 per pair of warmers.

They do have a shelf life however.  One pair I used this year lasted about 3 hours and then went cold.  It then becomes a problem to buy the right amount for a season.

But there are other technologies available.  The old lighter fuel fueled catalytic heaters have been around forever.  I can remember wanted them in my youth, but grandma wasn't going to spring for anything with fire, so I never had one.  I understand the catalyst needs to be replaced after a while and I am not sure how well they will work in a pocket, which is where I want them.

The latest items are rechargeable batter packs with some kind of heater built in.  You can either charge your phone or turn on the heater feature.

I noticed these last year, but the Amazon reviews didn't suggested they had some problems and I went the chemical route.

But while looking for chemical warmers, I ran across some of the new ones that had solid reviews.  There were not a lot of reviews, but no one was upset by performance.

There is a life span on these as the batteries are not replaceable unless you have a soldering iron :-).  But they are supposed to go 500 charge discharge cycles, which ought to last a number of years.  Three temperature settings, too!

They are $50 a pair, so a lot cheaper than the chemicals guys over the long range.  Funny thing, I order them on 12/23 and Amazon has one day free shipping!  How nice is that?  I don't expect their business model to hold up for the long run, but it sure is nice while it lasts.

It's turned pretty cold in this part of the world - not in absolute temps, it's kind of a relative world.  We have frost delays in the morning and interestingly the greens can either be a bit frozen and you hard bounces, but the putting speeds can be all over the map.  We've also have dry days where there was no moisture on the greens and grass and then others where there are rooster tails on the putts and it is a trip to soggy city.

Do I need to discuss water proof shoes?  I've met guys who will buy nothing else and it's kind of a dry climate.  Well, ok, they do water a lot and with that high quality "used" water, so keeping the stuff off your toes can't be a bad idea.

OK, happy holidays and I'll review the heaters when I try them.  Probably Tuesday.

Update:

I tried the hand warmers.  There are three levels of heat and the first level is probably hotter than the chemical warmers.  They heat for a bit, then the heater turns off, then that's repeated.  Quite warm.  I was surprised how big they were.  I had no real expectations, but maybe 4 inches by 1.5 inches by about an inch thick.  A nice size to hold in your hand. 

They are a metal shell with a control button, a charging port, which is micro USB, an output standard USB female connector, and some indicator leds. 

There are three levels of heating and per the manual, the ranges of temperatures overlap a bit and maybe are 3 degrees apart.  As I mentioned, level 1 is pretty warm. 

They come with a charging cable and a draw string bag for storage.

I'm happy with them. The last two items that matter are how long they stay warm and how many cycles I'll get out of them.

Comment Reply II

Doogie has asked another question about whether I keep track of stats for ups and downs and pitches inside 20 yards.  I'm still not able to reply to a comment so, I'll do it here. 

Thanks for the comment.  I don't keep track of a lot of stats.   I usually shoot in the 70s on a not too difficult course; there is not a lot to keep track of. 

I have days where I hit a lot of greens, and other rounds where I am chipping a lot. 

Percentage up and downs might be 70 or so, and I can get hot.  The course helps as the greens are pretty flat and the speed is not too fast and not too slow. 

Sand and flop shots are not too much of a problem.  Biggest problem there for me is distance control out of a bunker.  The course flooded badly last winter and some of the traps have very little sand in them; so bladed sand shots are the big mistake. 

I practice chipping before every round and whenever I go to the range.  I might get in 4 hours practice a week or so.  Mostly done with my 60 degree wedge.  Tell me about your game!

Drive Length

Doogie, in a comment it the last post, has asked about my driver length.  There are details in some of the blogs are about this. 

And I've got a few things to say in any case and blogger has made it impossible for me to reply to comments - I must be doing something wrong and doing it again and again.  What a pain.

Ok, driver length...

When I hit the ball well it might go 200 and then some roll out.  I've seen drives close to 240 total length. 

When I'm in my "hook it under a bush" mode it goes about 180.

Most of the guys I play with will hit it shorter than that on average.   There are exceptions and a couple are quite long, maybe 250 or so and not necessarily with a driver.  Most of them are more consistent off the tee.

It's my experience that most people will over estimate the length of a shot.  We have a par 3 that requires 150 carry.  I don't see a lot of folks managing to do that.  I've found I need a well struck 5 iron to carry that distance.

Doogie's question was about length; that's been answered above.

Let me also add that being in the fairway and the 40 or so yards closer changes the club I hit on my approach.  Cuts down on angular dispersion and allows more flexibility as to which shots can be hit to play a hole.

Let me expand on that a bit.  If I'm 300 out on a par 5 and want to get home in two from there, I would divide that up into 200 + 100 yards to get there and reach for a wood or utility club.  If I'm 250 out and in the fairway, a 5 or 6 iron is enough to get me to a good layup position.  I'm more likely to be in the fairway with the shorter club.  If I don't hit it great, I'm coming in with a 9 instead of a 6 or 7 iron.  The 9 iron is high confidence, the 6 is not as accurate and I may be more tempted to over swing with it.

If I'm coming in from 100 yards it's pitching wedge or gap wedge and I am quite straight with those and would not expect to miss the green.  I would also tend to hit at the pin and not just play to the middle of the green. 

Getting close makes for the odd birdie and a lot of tap in pars.  All in all a lot less effort to play the game.

Yes!

So the thought was that my take away was the problem with my driver performance on the course.

I'm happy to report that this seems to be the missing piece of the puzzle.

I made sure to get the club around my right shoulder as part of the backswing.  From there do nothing special.

I hit two bad drives, but the rest were just fine.  The bad ones were not that bad either. 

It was a most comfortable sunny day here, with a hot sun and cool shade, and the golf ball behaving as it should.

Maybe, Maybe

Played a round with Fred today, who is good company.

I keep working on the driver discrepancy between range and course.  I'm wondering if it't the take away.  At the range I'm over the right shoulder and on the course, maybe behind my back.

I was careful with that today on 18 and hit great shots in a row from driver, 3 wood to wedge to get home on the par 5.  All were solid and straight as a Roman's road.

I have hope for the future.

Putting Grip Pressure

In an email conversation with Jay, the question of putting grip pressure came up.  He has a video from Monte Scheinblum who advocates for a firm grip.

I was intrigued with this as putting is becoming more of an interest.

I looked at a few things last night on youtube.  There is not too much disagreement here.  Let's see what the experts say.

Crenshaw suggests 3/10, because it's all about feel.  This is maybe ok as he putts are very fast greens and the rest of us don't.  But I could see his point.  He also has a longish, slow swing.

The Odyssey putting people saw it differently.  If you have a short, quick, "hitting" type of stroke, they you will do better with a firmer grip.  Use a light grip if you have a lazy, swinging stroke.

Brad Faxon has a test.  Grip it firmly enough that it will not twist, but loosely enough so that you can extend your arms easily.  Thus he wanted biceps and triceps to be somewhat relaxed, but the lower arms and wrists to be firm.

At the Mr. Hume's school of putting, the first lesson is "get the ball to the hole every time."  The second lesson is "Match the line for the speed that's required to get the ball to the hole every time."  See how neatly that builds on itself?

Lesson three: on breaking putts, aim to drop the putt into the low side of the hole, thus having it break across as much of the hole as you have courage.  That protects you from a putt that doesn't break as much as you thought and it allows you to hit the ball harder - see lesson 1.

I've been applying some of this lately.  And have been happy with the results.  A firmer grip is keeping me from stubbing the putt, which saves a stroke or two a round.  Mostly an issue with long putts where one has to bang them a bit.

We'll gather some more data and revisit another time.

How firm is your grip when chipping, pitching and sand play?  

Ah, the questions never end...

A Thought....

The answer is probably on youtube, but consider this:

In the down swing the left hand leads the right hand.  At impact they are somewhat back in their original position, which means that the right hand has moved faster than the left at some point to "catch up."

After the ball is struck, the right hand continues its movement and superior speed to the left and crosses in front of the left.

So, is the left hand slowing down?  If that is so, does the right hand also slow, but not as much as the left?

The next case is that the left doesn't slow down (much) and the right hand accelerates past it. 

As a golfer do I try to accelerate the right hand?  Or do I let it free wheel, as Hogan suggests, and let the angular acceleration of the club move the hands past each other?

An Interesting Nine with More Detail than Warranted

There have been some requests for more stats and detail.  I played an interesting nine the other day and I can supply all the numbers you might want and then some.


This nine was played off the usual tees, id est, not the short ones -- though I do enjoy the short ones.

Now, how to go about this?  Start with the results and work backwards or let it unfold as it happened.  Ah, let's try the latter.

The first hole is 320 yard par 4, but there are ponds and traps and you have to lay up with your tee shot.  That, assuming you are dry, leaves you 160 or so to the green.  The green is trapped well, but they don't come into play for me most of the time.  My misses are short on this hole.

Tee shot was fine, dry and not in the bunker.  Second shot ends up about pin high, but left and I have hump in the green to play over.  I flop from wet, cold grass and do it well.  I have two feet left and roll that in.

Second hole is a modest par 5, maybe 480 - 500 yards.  I hook my drive, but it's not too bad and I hit a reasonable hybrid to 140 yards or so.  The third shot is struck nicely, up in the air and...  it's short to a front pin.  A simple two putt from there for a second par.  Up and downs are now 2 for 2.

Third hole requires a shot down the left avoiding the pond right.  I manage this and hit a good 6 iron to the middle of the green.  Two putts and we are still even par.  First green in regulation.

The third is a longish par 3.  It's not really long, but with huge traps all across the fronts, it requires a full carry of 150 or so to get to the green.  "How far do you hit a 7 iron?"   "About 150 yards!"  "Oh, yeah, show me!"  I learned from this hole what club I will truly carry 150 yards and it's not a 7 iron.  Maybe in my youth, but, I wonder about that.

The ball while well struck, but it's in one of the front traps.  Not to fear, I can hit out of the sand and I do to about 10 feet.  Not what I wanted, but I'm a recreational golfer and it's on the green so I ought to be happy.  I manage to cover the break and make the putt. 

Still even par and up and downs are now 3 for 3.

Fourth hole is 360, which makes it a bit long if the driver is up to its usual antics.  I push the drive and it ends up on the edge of a bunker where I have no stance.  I find a way to advance it and I'm about 40 yards from a middle pin. 

An ugly wedge and the putt is too far for me to make.  One over par, up and downs 3 for 4.

Six is a par 5 and I hit an ok drive.  Nice layup and then put an 8 iron about 10 feet above the hole.  This is a quick putt, but I manage to coax it down the hill and into the hole.  Back to even par.  Is this an up and down?  Hard to say, but maybe I'm 4 for 5 on the u/ds.

Seven is a short par 4, but 17 traps or something.  I hit a nice tee shot and manage a mid iron to the middle of the green for 3rd GIR and a simple two putt.

Eight is another 150 yard carry to a green with two levels.  I'm a bit strong here and end up over the green.  The carry is required as the entire fairway is a pond full of coots, ducks and egrets.

So I'm going to chip this and I have to hit it along the edge of the cliff built into the green.  The pin is in the front with the pond lurking for a bladed shot.  But not to fear, I hit a pretty chip that walks the edge and follows the contour of the green and curls back to 4 inches of the pin.  Still even par and u/d now 5 for 6. 

The 9th is in interesting hole.  360 or so yards and there are trees left that will block the access to the green.  There is a pond right and in front, so blasting a driver does bring water into play.  The slot between it all is about 40 yards wide.  I manage to smother hook one and lay up to 130 yards or so.  It's not unusual to lay up on this hole as the water does not allow you to hit for the front of the green unless you can carry the ball pretty well.  Even if you do that, the pin placement might put you in a position of wishing you were coming in from 100 yards.. 

The green has some slope and there are bunkers both left and right.  But the green is fairly wide and the bunkers are not too tough.  But, I've left 130 yards out.  This is an 8 or 7 depending on how well I've been hitting it.  I choose 8 and hit it to 3 feet below the pin.  In it goes and we are even par for the nine.  And 6 for 7 on the ups and downs.  There have been 6 one putt green for 12 putts total.


Sadly the back didn't go as well.  I was under 80 for the day, but the front was a nine I was quite happy with on many levels, like the chipping and putting.  The driver was no real help.  The iron play was my usual level, or actually a little worse.  I normally would hit more greens; just hit 4 on this nine. 

Reply to a comment

I got a comment!  Yeah.  Ok, then blogger will not allow me to reply to it!  Great!  Ok, I logged back in and was able to comment in situ.  But here is my response.

Let quote the comment here and then I'll reply below it

Comment:

Say a player's average drive is 250 yards vs. 230 yards. How much better will that player score? How many putts do you average in a round? How many times do you get up and in from around the green? How often from 100 yards out do you miss the green?

Reply:

Let address these in reverse order.  I expect to hit a green when I'm 120 or in.  From 100 yards it has to be close to 90% and maybe higher.

Ups and downs is 70% or so.  Some of that depends on the greens; lots of slope and grain make it more difficult to chip or pitch closely.

Putts per round vary based on how many GIRs I get.  The other day playing from short tees, I hit 16 greens.  But only made one birdie. But miss a lot of greens, then I one putt a bunch.  To some degree more putts means a better long game.

As for tee length, if I could get out 250 on on the fairway, I would expect to hit all the greens for holes less than about 380 yards.  And on my course that would mean that I would easily get to all of them.  As for general scoring it would come down to the player's iron game.

Thanks for the comment!

Putting, Initial Thoughts

My current thoughts, which should suggest areas of inquiry

I should start this out by stating that I don't believe there is any magic in putting.  Oh, Ben Crenshaw thought it all came down to feel.  He probably can't define that beyond "I'm going it hit it on this line with this speed."

So with no magic involved is it any different than hitting a nail with a hammer?  We have arms/hands that are offset from the ball, like the rest of the swing, and we have to choose a line and a speed.

Of course the speed and line are interconnected.  They are paired and you have to get them to match.  Unless, of course, the putt is straight, then your speed is not particularly critical -- assuming that you were going to get it to the hole to start with.

Thus we are only worried about breaking putts.  On my home course, there are not a lot of those!  When in doubt, play no break.

How about this?  Assume we have a left to right putt.  How about a line that will maximize the break of the ball across the hole.  So on left to right, the line to attempt is to putt the ball in at the right third of the cup.  That maximizes the amount of time that the ball "sees" the hole.  Also if the putt breaks less than you thought, you are more likely to hole it.  This breaks down if you have underestimated the break or your speed is such that the ball breaks more than it should.

Then we are down to picking a line and a speed and finally we have to deliver the ball on that line with the selected speed.

Assume we can do that, then we are at the mercy of things we don't know, e.g., the way the ball will roll over the ground, moisture, wind and minimal stuff like that.

Putter and ball interactions are interesting too.  Loft and grip size and trying to deliver the club to the ball consistently are of interest. 

Then we have how to be on line!  How to line up a putt -- is this harder to do than decide on the line?  Where are the errors?

So these are topics for discussion.  Does anyone out there have any thoughts?  (This will be more fun if we have a bit of interaction!)

Transportation Issues

The title is a bit of a joke.  I was talking to Stan, a wizened teaching pro at the local range, and he mentioned a client who suggested he had a transportation issue, which was taking his swing from the range to the course.


I was off to Wente today and was hoping I could hit it like I did on Friday (Monday was a bit ragged, though not bad.).  For a large number of holes, by God, I managed.  What a feeling that the fairway was available and distances beyond 180 yards.

Actually most of my game is getting pretty sharp.  Oh, there were a couple of 3 putts and I stubbed a chip, but for the most part I could move it around the course pretty well.

The problem at this point is to make the proper swing most of the time.  It's so easy to slide back to old habits.  But that is an age old problem and not worthy of discussion at this point.  Though, solve that mystery and the one in re transportation and my fortune is made one more time.


I fear this blog is running into a brag fest, which I don't want to write about and I'm sure my many readers are not excited about reading.  To that end, what's next?


I've never found putting to be of much interest.  Actually the driver was not high on my list until it started to warp my psyche.   But as other parts of the game are getting solid, I must turn to the weak areas.

So, putting will probably be on point coming up.  I've started to try and give the ball a nice aggressive wack, much like one does when tapping in from a foot or so.  For the most part I think this will work.  I used it at Wente and didn't putt badly.  As mentioned the greens are difficult and there are putts where being very defensive is good policy.   It should eliminate the "left short" putt, but probably will increase the massively long putts.  The whole idea being to have all one's misses 1 foot beyond the hole.

I thought of a training game that would encourage getting to the hole.  Have all the players toss a quarter into the pot for each short putt and then divide the pot evenly at the end of the round.  One must adjust the amount tossed into the pot to be easily divisible by the number of players.  The guys I play with don't gamble, which is fine with me, but it looked like a means of sharpening the putting for a modest cost.


I think I have one of the Dave Pelz books upstairs, but it's on the short game, which I'm not really worried about at this time.  I've been getting up and down a lot and don't feel there are massive areas that I have to fix.  But maybe when the putting is better...



So some putting detail to come. 

Speed Research 1a

I was at the range again today. It's good exercise.  It also looks like there may be some rain tomorrow and I might not get out tomorrow.

I have a club head meter and I tried a couple of of the speed enhancement techniques.  None of them seemed to work.

I went off to the range and worked on some of this.  I found I was a few yards longer today than yesterday.  The irons didn't seem any longer, but it was hard to tell.

I'm also a bit leery of screwing up my nice ball striking.  It might be prudent to make sure that soaks in and is there under pressure before I try to distort it.

But I'll keep thinking about it.  It's that old theoretical mind of mine, per father that looks for understanding and reason before adoption.

Speed Research I

It's black Friday and the mall was mobbed and thus I was off to a different range then I usually use.  Got part way there and decided a U-Turn was going to make me a happier golfer and not hate the bargain shoppers.  The ones at the outlet mall are some of the worst drivers I've ever seen in action.  Best to stay clear!


There are a number of ways to generate speed and I wanted to try out the method where the swing is initialized by the lower body, which then slows to pass energy to the chest and eventually the speed gets passed to the arms and finally the club.

What this meant was an attempt to slow the hips after I'd got them going.  The do the same with the shoulders.

This is kind of a different swing thought for me.  I was able to do it (and have we not heard that before!).  It allowed me to keep a better balance; a very good thing. 

However I cannot claim a lot more distance.

I got a much higher ball flight and it seemed to put me in a position to make a nice athletic movement when it came time to hit the ball.

The only issue I had with this was a tendency to pull the ball a little bit.  I think I was not staying behind the ball as much as I should and that forced the arms a bit over the top.  But this was not too common and it is a drastic improvement over a low duck hook.

So far I'm happy, but without some measurements I'm not sure I've gotten the faster club speed.

But the balance and ease of swinging like this are benefits. 

I looked at a couple of bull whip cracking videos.  I always thought that one needed to pull the whip handle backwards to create the crack, but it does not seem to be true.  As the whip hand goes out, as long as it stops, the crack will show up.  It was important in doing the coachman's crack (there are many "cracks") to make sure of a full back swing and the swing to produce the crack was not a fast or violent action.


The next thing to examine is "supple wrists," to allow more of a whip action.  What I've seen on this seems to be a bit in conflict with Malaska's arm action model.  There are a few things to investigate!

Speed Theory

As mentioned previously, I've decided that the next quest will be for more club head speed (chs).

A short survey of Youtube videos suggests there are a couple of ways to go about this.

I'm not really interested in long driving contests and those guys seem to a couple of very athletic things: squat, leap and get off their feet.  I'm not up to that and I'd hate to hurt myself.

Other methods suggest that in trying to hit a ball harder, you hit it shorter.  And to hit it longer, you need to decelerate the various parts of the body as energy is passed from body parts to the arms and finally to the club.

Well, slowing down is something I've gotten good at as the body slides into late adulthood.  Surely, I can get me some of that.

It also seems to me that the slowing of the lower body earlier in the swing should provide a more stable platform at impact.

This method is akin to cracking a whip, where a slowing/halting of the whip hand is needed to pass the energy to the whip.

I should get to the range tomorrow and I'll see about exploring this method.

When I was 30 years younger, I remember thinking I was pretty long and 250 yard drives were not uncommon.  Maybe I was more limber and stronger and maybe I did things differently and it might even be true that I was not all that long in the day.  But I remember that my iron distances being longer than now, so I think there's been some slippage.

The Story Continues

When we last left our protagonist, he, once again, felt that he had a handle on this crazy game and that wonders and joy would unfold.  Of course we have heard that before and it's never panned out.

But I am happy to report that, indeed, the journey is still on the right track and that current theory is holding up quite nicely to empirical evidence.

This was the best hitting round of my modest golfing career.  I topped a 3 wood off a tee, otherwise hit every tee shot. 

I was in three bunkers and made pars on all of those holes. 

I hit 16 green in regulation.  Only one birdie, but a ton of kick in pars. 

I only made a mess of one hole; the one with the topped shot and it was ugly for a while after that. 

Scoring wise, I shot 75.  There are two or three 3 putts in there.  And as mentioned , I had 16 birdie putts - it could have gone a lot lower.

My direction control was quite good.  Areas that could ave been better were the putter and there were some distance control issues with some short irons.

The only thing lacking now is more distance.  I'm still not long enough to play on a longer course.  However, I'm going to approach that topic cautiously as I do not want to regress in re ball striking.

It's kind of a strange game when you get to the ball and have a very good idea of where it is going to go.  Takes a lot of stress off.  It's about an hour after the round and I'm feeling no strain or tiredness from playing.  It was a gentle walk in the park.

No golf for a few days as the Thanksgiving feast is upon us.  I'm going to look at more speed and I'll report on how that develops.

Dreams and Drang

My golfing soul is at peace. It's been a long summer and lots of effort to see some progress.  And today it showed up.  Ah, I didn't shoot 68, it was actually a difficult day to score.  Lots of good stuff didn't hole out.  But my long game finally matched my short game.  I was healthy off of the tees and long shots from the fairways were object of extreme confidence.  My new 3 woods held its own and twas a grand day all around.

For example on 12 which is a short par 4 up the hill, a nice drive and a pitching wedge was enough to get pin high, but I pushed it and was on top of a mound close to the green.  A delicate flop shot hits nicely and rolls slowly to the hole, hits the pin dead square and pops out to 4 inches.  It was a thing of beauty, but no more than a couple of putts if I hadn't pushed the approach shot.

I hit a lot of putts that I really liked, but other than a long birdie at the seventh, a lot of them didn't drop.  The greens were running pretty quickly, which is nice and I think I only 3 putted once, but the holes were being elusive.

Then last night a couple of golf dreams -- or were they nightmares? 

In one I open my car trunk and the clubs are gone!

In the other, I'm at a driving range and I pet a puma, which promptly bites my hand.  It gets worse!   At this range you put in your money and get a receipt that has a number to enter into another machine to get the balls.  Another episode with the dumb puma, and now I can't find the receipt.  The guy running the range gives me some sort of dongle to get balls and I don't think I ended up with the number I paid for. What a sad dream life last night was.

I hope it has no more meaning than the fact that golf skills show up and are gone like the will-o-wisp. 

I've got a tee time tomorrow and will probably play today a bit later.  The weather is fine now and with the holidays coming up, I'll have a number of days off.

Testing, Testing, Testing - updated

I would direct your attention to the following video by Mike Malaska.  He has a different, hard fought view of what the swing is all about:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_DVuuStY3Q

If you don't watch it or you are interested in my take on all of this, allow me to summarize a bit.  I've also watched a lot of Mike's videos and my understanding is not just from the one mentioned above.

The concept that Mike calls a pivot point is where the club plane and swing plane either align or diverge.  Obviously the align on the back swing and then diverge on the down swing.

Mike suggests that the prudent golfer do a couple of things: one being to embrace and encourage the pivot points - certainly not fight them - and to bring the hands down to their starting point with the arms, not shoulders.  Moving the hands down to the start point brings them under the swing plane and allows the club to step out from the pivot point and align with the ball.  This pivot point on the down swing is about where the hands are waist high.  I believe that with the drive, it's even above that point.  (A note here, the location is important as you do not want to try and hold the angle or increase the lag or anything else; it has to happen fairly early in the swing.  Don't fight it!)

Also as a part of this, one cannot have one's body in the place where the hands are going to be.  It's not uncommon to move into this location.  When that occurs the mind figures out a way to hit the ball, but it's neither efficient nor directionally useful.   This is where the over the top move comes from as the on plane location is blocked, so the body goes around it and there you are, over and in trouble.

I think I've mentioned before that I have some alarming wear marks on my club grips.  This comes from fighting the club's position as I try to hit the ball.  Something was wrong, but I muscled on to make it work.

So I'm off to the range today to put Mike's swing thoughts into those I've been working on from my lesson with Glenn.

I was able to stay behind the ball or on sides as Bobby Lopez calls it, and to move my hands to their start position and allow the club to step out and hit the ball.

This worked quite well.  It seems that it's almost impossible to hit a hook this way -- yeah!  And out of 100 balls I think I pulled two or three, but hit the rest usually high, long, and straight.  Ah, what joy.

Ok, round tomorrow, we shall see what the golf gods will allow.

Golf Literature Blurb: I read The Haunted Major the other day.  This was suggested to me by David, my UK golf buddy.  It predates Wodehouse and had a lot of the themes I was going to incorporate in the modest literary effort I've got on the back burner.  It was a fun read, lots of Scottish accent from the caddie/pro and some of the folks in the town.  Bits of humor in the style of The Accidental Tourist.  It had some of the original illustrations in it.  Originally printed in the early 1900s.  Just a fun read.  I found it at abebooks.com, which specializes in used books.  I usually am getting the book for the cost of the shipping, usually around $4.

Update:

After I wrote this I watched a few more Mike movies.  One of the things he talked about was what the left arm does.  His view is that the let arm is a rotator and not a puller of the club.  Thus its function is to move the club in a fanning motion and not trying to pull it down and across or whatever.  Obviously the left arm will be moved at speed until the point where it starts to perform the rotation and the faster it is moving the earlier the rotation has to start.  I'm going to ponder this for awhile and not worry about it.  If I can do the stuff in the original post and hit it like the range that will be enough progress for a bit.  There is always one more thing!

A Good Day

This was a good day on many levels.

I was able to get the driver working more often than not.  And the changes I made to hit the driver I applied to the other clubs as well.  That worked well too.

"What changes are those?"  I hear you ask.

There are prior posts where I mention Bobby Lopez and his phrase of "staying on side."  This is basically what Glenn was trying to get me to do too.

If we consider the impact position, we have a straight line from the left should down the arm and then down the shaft of the club.  If one's body is in a position in re the ball, then a fast swing with no conflicts can occur.  But the shoulder has to be even or behind the ball to allow this.

If the body is too far ahead of the ball then drastic movements will take place to even hit the ball.  Those hero moves are not conducive of an effective strike. 

One of my hero moves was to raise the body out of a good hitting position and that allowed me to top the ball easily and often.  This is pretty common.

Also these hero moves will effectively slow down the swing, causing less swing speed than one can generate when all is properly placed.

I also saw an interesting video of Aaron Badderly where at the moment of impact with a driver, there was still considerable angle between the wrists and club.  In that the club was trailing the wrists.  I usually try to "help" square the club and eliminate this angle.  Oops.

Today I was not doing that.  No help to the club, it was on its own.

That worked quite well.  I hit a low ball usually, but when I stayed in position and did not help the wrists, the ball was up in the air, with normal distance and good accuracy.

The course was soggy as there was rain all day yesterday and hitting it high and on line was quite useful.

One last bit of news; in the Support the Junior Golfers bin at the pro shop I found a Calloway Steel Head Strong 3 wood.  It was $10.  Not cosmetically perfect.  Probably 10 or more years old.

I hit it 3 or 4 times on the course and was happy with all of it.  It has a nice feel and goes pretty well.  Add a cord grip, a bit tired, but it was a tenner well spent.

So a fun day.  Phil and Steve and Allen came out and we played to sunshine and the company of like minded men.  Finish this with a Polish at Costco and a nap post game -- a wonderful day.

I'm going to work on these positions and swing feelings.  I've made some real progress and find I've got more control over what's happening.

Was Heinlein Right?

Well, he had some science degrees, I believe.

We go back to the book Glory Road which is probably 50 years old at this time.  The protagonist has a wild old adventure, fights some bad guys, marries the empress of the 20 universes, gets bored and heads back out again.

While he is fighting the swamp ghouls he is hanging from a rope and decides that he needs to get the rope swinging as the ghouls are not real bright and if he can do that, he can land and win the skirmish.

The line from all of that is, "you have to work with a swing, not fight it."  I'm guessing at the wording as it has been a long time since I read it.

Anyone who has swung on a swing knows the truth to that too.  The old golf swing has to be like that too.  We have a nice take away and then we return the swing back to the ball.

We don't want to fight the club back to the ball, we must work with its position, the various levers in play and work on accelerating the turn to eventually move the club around.

More to think about down the road.  I wonder why it came to mind this last week?  Is it time for some epiphany?

The round on Wednesday was interesting.  I scored quite well.  Putted well enough to generate some envy.  I made a couple of slidey, down hill, birdies and got it up and down with some chips that were close enough to not need a putter.

The highlight was a very pure swat on the second hole, the first drive of the day and usually the start of my frustration.  I'm usually left about 180 off the tee, seeking the fairway for the next shot and deep in thought. 

But this time, the ball was hurt.  Wacked about 260 right up the middle, just short of the cart path.  I was about 210 out at that point and anything was going to get me home in regulation. 

Sadly the driver was still the under performer on the day, but I made the turn with a sloppy bogey on 9, I hit it over the green with one of the better 5 irons of my life.  It hits pin high and then jumps a bit over the green.  It was a back pin and I don't chip it well at all, at all.  Sad as I've managed to par every hole getting there.

But a turn at one over is pretty good for me.  I start the 10th with one of the birdies and then play like goof ball on the 12th and take another sloppy bogey. 

Work like hell to par the 13th a par 5 where my drive has placed me behind all the trees.  A "chip out" 5 irons seems to go forever and I managed to get pin high in three.  A careful down hill putt snuggles up to the hole.  This is the toughest green on the course and attention must be paid.

14 is a simple 2 putt, though I managed to get it to 4 feet from 190 yards, one of the shots of the day - sad as it should have been a medium iron if the driver had been pulling his weight.

Let's skip a head to 16, where I manage the other slidey 20 foot birdie putt, which leaves me even for the round.

17 is a non-adventure and I'm off to the 18th.  A birdies sees me home for the first 18 holes under par.  But I go topped drive, hooked second shot, that hits a tree.  I've still got a chance to get home from there, but another ugly shot and then finally, a wedge and it's not very close.  Finish with a bogey for a 73, which, is probably the 2nd best round of my life, but it seems a hollow victory.

Ah, well, off to Costco for a nice hot Polish sausage and a contemplation of the cosmic swing.  Thursday a down day - it's pouring rain, I was hoping to get to the range, but that will wait and I'll think about working with the swing another time. 

It was the Worst of Times and the Best of Times

Ok, I stole most of that from a more prolific writer than myself, however it sums up the last two days quite well.

On Sunday I had an excellent day at the range; I could do no wrong.  I was excited about playing on Monday with my usual group.

It was pretty much a mess in re the driver.  I managed an up and down two over on the front, which is a good score for me.  The back was a study in frustration.  Very few drives were reasonable.  It was not much fun.  I must confess that thoughts of taking some time off crossed my mind.

Tuesday was an invitation from Phil to play Wente, where the fairways are long and the greens are elevated.  A side note here, the course sports all of 5 greens that you can see from the fairway.  The others are all elevated with fronts that block your view.  Las Po, on the other hand, has a view of all 18 from the fairway.

I was determined to fix this driver issue.  I've made some progress in that I can feel the wrong stuff as I do it.  Blocking that from happening has to be possible -- I would think?

I read The Inner Game of Golf  a number of years ago.  By Gallwey, I think, too lazy to look it up, but he had a mechanism for making change.  The idea was that you concentrated on the object you wanted to change, then rank each swing and assign a score of 1 to 5 to what you did.  Gallwey contended that your brain is really good at solving these kinds of problems, if you trust it to do so.  Thus, assign a score, iterate and let the brain solve the problem.

I've not played with this for a long time - I'm talking decades here.  I've no recollection of how efficient it might have been or if I had seriously tried it.  But since I don't do this on the range, it might be a perfect test of the theory.

But back to my story.  Determined to be better with the big stick, I was trying hard to swing easy and not try to crush it.  For the most part this worked well.  I hit some nice balls and only one horrible one, which was a topped ball on the long 18th.  This was not a disaster as I usually cannot reach the green anyways.  So it was topped drive, 6 iron then 9 iron.  Almost made the putt too!

And I must say that the swing on 18 felt great and I was doing wonderful things except for the top.  Perhaps I had swayed back in my efforts to keep from launching my lower body, which is the big problem.

I also hit numerous wonderful irons - full distance and straight like a happy laser beam. 

I even putted pretty well.  A little more courage and I would have made about 4 from length.  Wente greens are tough to putt and one tends to be defensive when putting there.

I'm much happier tonight than I was Monday night.  I have hope for the future!  I'm back out with the boys tomorrow and I'll see if I can keep getting closer to what's available on the range.

Well, It Was a Thought

So I'm hitting balls today.  I got the "happy" bucket, 150 balls.  I thought that I'd figured it out.  When I'm hitting at the range, where I don't miss drives, I don't use much lower body drive.  It just feels like a shoulder turn back into the ball.

Of course to test this, I have to turn on a large body motion and see if I can replicate the bad strikes I see 80% of the time on the course.

Well, of course, I find I can hit the ball very nicely with a large lower body motion too.  Not only that, it seems that the speed is up.

As the smoke clears and red tailed hawk cries above the range, I'm right back where I started.  I can hit them like a minor deity on the range and like a beginner on the course.

Well, I still have the short irons!


I was also playing around with an early wrist cock in the back swing.  I'm not sure how cocked they get normally.  The sound of the strike was pretty good. 

Walt, an earlier teacher, advocated an early cock, then just a shoulder turn to complete the backswing.

If I ever write the golf book, one of the lines is: "everything a pro has told you is probably true."

I must wind this up with the promise of additional research down the line.  Or maybe I'll just start to hit it ok on the course and then I'll move on to getting more club head speed. 

I've bought a monthly pass for November on the 10th, so I've got to play a lot to get my money's worth out of it.  I'm sure I'll have a few things to report.

I had kind of a strange 9 holes on Friday.  The front was the normal for my current golf.  Then on the back, it's an up and down at 10, same at 11.  A simple 2 putt par on 12.  Then I hit it to within one foot on 13 from 175 yards for a tap in birdie.  Another GIR on 14, which is kind of a long hole for me, but I'm putting with excellent speed and keeping the two putts in the trivial range and manage another par.  I kill a hybrid into 15 and two putt.  An ok drive and short iron turns 16 into an easy par.  Along about this time I realize I'm under par for the 9 and rolling along.

17 is another ok drive, with a reasonable iron and two putt.

Then 18, which is a shortish par 5.  I semi-top the drive, but it's straight and long enough.  I semi top a three wood, which is also straight and reasonable distance, so it's wedge in and a two putt for a one under par 9 holes.  This hasn't happened for a bit, but it feels pretty good.  No bogies and a bird, which is nice consistent golf for recreational golfer.

Then off to Costco for a Polish sausage - hot and tasty!  What could improve on all of this but a nice afternoon nap!

A Quicky for Now, More Later!

I've got a few things to say, but I'm off to the range in a couple of minutes.  But in the mean time, here is an interesting link that is worth a visit. 

It contains some other links if you want to explore beyond the material within.

http://www.unz.com/isteve/golf-and-evolution-the-missing-link-discovered/ 

It's about early golf, design, some poetry, and why central control or design may not be all that important!

Working Through the Details

I continue to think and practice on the full swing, usually with the driver.

Glenn was trying to get me to "just spin" my shoulders.  Of course, I still need the lower body to have moved to a forward position before I can do that.

So some of the time is spent becoming conscious of what I need to do -- and do at the range, but not on the course.

I still feel the difference is to be in too much of a hurry on the course.  The movement of the lower body has to have enough time to get there.  The upper body has to wait its turn.

I was looking at a video of Justin Rose and his recent tournament wins.  There are videos where all the shots are kept and all the rest of the broadcast are removed.  A full 18 holes takes about 10 minutes.  It's interesting when watching these is that you can see patterns in how the guy swings and not just the details of a fully analyzed single swing.

What Rose does is to start down from the top of the back swing at a very slow speed then accelerates hard through the rest of the swing.  The position where the acceleration seems to be obvious is where the hands are about waist high.  Now, it might be that he's accelerated a bit earlier than that, but that's what it looks like.

There was an old adage in the golf lesson books about starting down at the same speed as you take the club back.  Easy to say, and easy to do, but when we all want to hit the ball further, it's hard to commit too.  Perhaps golf is yet another exercise in discipline?

I was doing this today at the range.  It was easy to do and I cannot complain about the shot quality.

It helps me take the arms on a circular path rather than trying to get directly to the ball.  Thus allowing me to spin the shoulders.


Will I have the courage and memory to do this on the course?  Well, I've got to do something!

I'll be playing Friday.  Tomorrow is supposed to rain, so I'll probably just go to the range if I can. 

Range Report

I'm working on figuring out what I do differently at the range than on the course.

I also saw a video on youtube that talked about the major difference between ams and pros.  Which was that pros use their hips differently than even very good ams.  Basically they are quieter and do not have much lateral movement particularly in the back swing.  The ams on the other hand, push the hips back along the target line, the forward, causing the head / chest to teeter-totter about twice what a pro does.  I' talking angle to the target line here.


I was going to go to the range then play today, but ended up just ranging it. 

I tried to keep my hips quiet and fairly stationary.  I let them turn and such, but made sure there was no lateral shift on the back swing.  I don't have problems with irons at the course, so there is a good chance I do the right thing a lot.  My irons are not very long these days, but they are very straight.  If I'm not swinging at them well, I can't be too far off either.

As I kept the hips centered, it kept me over the ball and I was able to hit everything well.  When I say I hit everything well, I'm talking about 2 misses out of 100 balls.  I think I topped one shot and sliced one, otherwise off they went.

I'd like to think I've got the key to the difference, but it ain't over until we test it a bit. 

This brings to mind a round down in Albuquerque where I was kind of bunting the drives along and hit them very solidly.  I couldn't understand it and I've not recaptured it since. 

I talked to Sonny again a bit today too as he was coming in to do some teaching.  We concurred on the thoughts above. 

I'm guessing that when I feel I need to hit it a long way, then comes the over-backswing and then I'm stuck and will early extend and flip the hands. 

Sonny also thought that a big difference between ams and pros was that for ams the swing is a Ferris wheel and for pros it's more a carousel.  I thought there wasn't much difference between the two, but I can see the carousel being more of a flatter shoulder swing and more powerful than trying to spin the arms in front of you.

I'll play with that next and see if it revives some distance.

OK, off to Southern California tomorrow and some golf on Saturday.

Some Progress

We played with Sonny today, who is another teaching pro.  Has about a 2 index and hits a nice ball.

I'm still struggling with what I do on the course versus what I do at the driving range.  Sonny has seen me hit at both places and remarked that he would not recognize what I do on the course from what I do on the range. 

It's that different.  Usually golf swings are like finger prints and you can recognize them from 500 yards. 

So sad.  I can feel some of the stuff I'm doing wrong on occasion, but getting the sequence right continues to be a challenge. 

The problems Glenn saw are the still the issues. 

Sonny likes my hip turn and the ones he likes I can't feel.

I also saw a video that described the main difference between the good amateurs and the pros and that was that pros have hips that are very stable, don't move along the target path at all.  This keeps them from tilting in the back swing and in the down swing.  Something that ams like to do a lot. 

I have an unstructured day tomorrow, but time to do some practicing and playing. 

I think that being aware of what I'm doing at the range and on the course is the key to this mess. 

One of the differences between conditions is what one is thinking about when swinging.  On course it's much more target oriented and thoughts of "don't hit it right" and "uh oh, water left."  It might be that difference is blocking the smooth, proper sequence of a good swing.

I've not made a habit of picking a target on the range.  Too much interest and need to stay technical.  But when I've played holes at the range and laid out a course and played, it's been flawless.  I'll have to ponder this.

I also want to make sure I'm keeping the lower body in its proper position and not letting my interesting is hitting one for distance getting in the way doing it all properly.

I'll report back when the smoke clears.

Then Thursday we are off to SoCal and I'll get a round in Jay.  Need to hit the ball well there!

Answers!

This is a report on my hour long lesson with Glenn today.

As my faithful reader is well aware, the driver has been an issue in an otherwise fine game of golf.

Glenn uses Trackman to gather data.  For those who don't live and breath this stuff, this is a Doppler Radar unit that tracks club movement, ball flight, spin and then calculates distance carried, some of the roll out (which is a bit of guess -- depends on turf conditions, etc.).  Of course once you have all the numbers, a whole bunch of calculations are possible.  It's also doing movie grabs and such for replay and illustration.

I was under the impression that I was too far inside and needed to swing out at the ball to hit it properly.  Was it a lack of shallowing the club shaft that was causing my problems?

Adding to this was that this problem would only show up on the course.  At the range I could hit 50 drives in a row without my usual set of duck hooks and thin topped shots.

Frustrating?  Ah, yes it was.  It might have discouraged a lesser golfer.


What Glenn saw was that I was getting stuck by keeping the arms and hands too close my body.  That caused them to be trapped and if I was going to get close to the ball I was going to have to do hero moves with body and hands.  To improve the club needed to get outside of my top of backswing position.


The solution seemed strange:

1. Take normal backswing (nice that something was good!)
2. Spin the shoulders - nothing fancy required for my lower body.
3. This spinning feels like I am throwing the club well outside of the swing path and will cause me to come over the top.
4. Make no attempt to manipulate the club with arms or hands.
5. Mr. Trackman says that I am still presenting the club to the ball with an inside to outside line.
6. If things get worse, then spin the shoulders harder.  A solution that doesn't require gentleness and caution!
7. When the shoulders are spun, there must be the feeling that the club grip is being pulled into the body, left and eventually upwards.

As I was able to do this the ball flight was good.  TM (Trackman) showed about 3 degrees up on the swing.  The club is set to 8.5 degrees, so an effective loft of about 11.5 degrees.  

My club path was always in to out, but I was getting close to straight.  

Club path was deliciously straight; some times with a bit of draw, maybe due to gear effect of a toe hit.

Club head speed rose from about 90 to 97.  TM was suggesting carry distances above 240 yards, with total yardage in the 260 range.

I'll try to take this to the course tomorrow.  Since I am supposed to do this with all shots, there will be plenty of practice shots.  I wonder if it applies to putting?

Answers?

The usual Tuesday game has been at Wente thanks to the generosity of Phil.  We coaxed Glenn out for a round today.

Glenn teaches at the local driving range and has played some in qualifying events and Web.com events.  I'm not real sure of his CV.  But he hits the ball well and Phil and thought that it might be instructive and inspirational to see the game as it should be played.

About two holes in, Glenn pulls me aside and suggests he can fix all my faults in very little time.  Well, that's what I wanted to hear.

As my dear reader will remember, the stupid driver has been my nemesis for a number of years.  I thought I was coming over the top, but Glenn has stated that I'm too far inside due to dropping my hands from the top of my very fine backswing.

I'm going to spend some time with him and see what some instruction will do to fix this issue.  It's been a royal pain to not get off the tee and it is past time to do something about it.

I may see him tomorrow.

I'll pass on some of the technical details after the lesson.

All Those Years of Practice...

Me: It was a pretty good day.

Interested Party (IP): Did you play ok?

M: Not too bad.  Started to get it up and down a lot on the back nine.  Hit a couple of drives, it was nice weather, so yea, it was ok.

IP: So why a pretty good day?  Did you make a lot of birdies?

M: Nah, missed a coupe of short ones.

IP: Break 80?

M: Maybe, didn't really keep track.  Want me to add up the score?

IP: Nah, scores don't matter.  Hit the irons well?

M: Pretty well.

IP:  So what was the big deal?

M: Second eagle of the year.

IP: OK, but you have had them before.

M: Yes, but this was the first time on a par three.

IP: Oooh, so hole in one?

M: Yep, first one.  Holed out on the 8th, 160 yards over the water and traps.

IP: Exciting?

M: Sadly, no, as the green is elevated and behind the reeds.  We just got up to the green and it was "Where's my ball?"  I wandered over to the cup and looked in.  Initially I could only see about 1/2 the cup and it was empty, but there, peeking out, was the guy.

IP:  Did you save the ball?

M:  Well, it was a water ball as I've been known to hit one in the water on the 8th.  It was a Hyper Ti ball, might be 10 years old.  But it still flew ok.  It's still in my bag.  I may pull it out, but it's just a ball.

IP:  Did you buy drinks?

M: Nah, no one wanted one.  I offered a frozen yogurt at lunch, but my golf buddy didn't feel the need to be treated to one.

IP:  Is that it?

M: Probably.  It was fun, how often do you get to write a "1" on the score card?  But since I don't keep score...

Things I'm Thinking About

I have this bad habit of not using a lot of my lower body.  And not moving it first in the sequence of the down swing.

To move the lower body is one thing, but then the next question is, how fast to do this?

To generate a lot of speed and who doesn't want to hit the ball further, it would "make sense" to spin the hips as fast as one could.  But it seemed to me worthwhile to try just turning them with no undo effort. 

Reasons for this might be to just start the unwind of the upper body and secondly, to get the left side braced to allow more effort from the upper body without disturbing the posture.  We want to be in the proper position to give the ball a whack.  If not, direction will be more "challenging."

So armed with this thought and several others -- why not keep the game as complex as possible?   I played 18 on the short course today.  The big course was full and slow, and I was not in the mood for slow golf.  The short course was empty and I went around twice and practiced a bit with chipping with a pitching wedge.  I usually use a 60 degree lob wedge, but thought it might be useful to have another weapon for longer shots that don't require elevation complexities.

I found using the hips gently, slowly as the initiation of the swing, worked pretty well.  I found I was pushing a bit, but my distance control was pretty good.  My back didn't complain, which is a good thing.

Post lunch I wandered to the driving range and after my stomach emptied a bit of Polish Sausage and soda pops, I tried some full shots.

I was trying to initiate the down swing with early hip movement, and to be in a neutral position at impact.  I think I get the upper body racing ahead, then try to catch up the with hands -- it's not good from there.

Well, as I mentioned, it all works at the range.

I played at Wente on Tuesday (thanks Phil!), which is a course that requires the driver on all par 4s.  I was pretty good off the tee.  Not real long, but they were all in play.

So all this is feeling pretty good to me.  I just have to make sure I can do it under pressure.  There is reason to suggest this is possible, because the motions involved are not fast and the sequence  makes sense.

Will I remember this all tomorrow?

Year End Equipment Review -- updated 10/10

I've bought a few things over the year and thought I'd jot down my reactions to them.

Under Armour Shorts and Slacks -- I've been using the shorts all year long.  They stretch in all directions, including the waistband, don't stain too badly.  The long pants are very comfortable too.  My only issue with these is the cost.  The shorts go for about $60 a pair and the pants are $65 or so.  Occasionally they are on sale via Golf Galaxy, not Under Armour!

Izod Golf Shorts -- These are the poor cousin to the UA Shorts.  But they cost about 1/3 of the UA's.  That's a bit of a stretch as I opened a Belk card to get an extra 20% off.  They don't fit me as well as the UA, but they are serviceable.  When I found them, I bought a lot, so I have a many years supply.

Ping S56 Irons with new 9 iron -- I've not updated my irons.  I don't expect there is much to be gained in new gear.  I did replace the 9 iron as I had pounded the grooves flat on that club.  I use it to warm up at the range and it gets a lot of action.  I've retired the longer irons to add in hybrids.  But as I swing better, I may rethink this.

Club distance markers -- this were plastic clip on the club with distances printed on them.  I like(d) them a lot.  However they don't always stay on and on some the numbers have warn completely away.  But they did their job and I don't really need them anymore!  $10.

Tectectec range finder -- I'm pretty happy with this.  On my course, where there is no slope issue, they work about as well as my old Bushnell.  The slope is interesting when it matters, but the yardages turn out to be pretty small.  Might be better if they incorporated altimeter correction.  $200.

New Balance 1701 golf shoes -- I've played three rounds and am quite happy with them.  My toes are not banging on the top of the toe box.  The ball on my right foot, while still sore, is doing ok with the padding in the shoe.  They are built on a cross trainer type shoe which provides a lot of structure and support.  $70.

Sun Mountain 3.5 III bag -- My earlier bag was dying and I went back to Sun Mountain (SM) because I couldn't find a new one of the type I had.  It was a Mizuno limited edition Japan only bag.  The SM bag added a little weight, but has the perfect number of pockets and a water bottle holder.  The strapping system works well and SM tells me that if I need to replace parts, they are available and the bag is designed to replace the wearing parts.  I thought the water bottle pocket could use a port to allow rain or condensation to go through.  I sent that suggestion to SM.  They sent me a thank you email.  If you look for one of these, look around, as closeouts can be found.  About $150 full pop, I think I got it for about $80.

Greg Norman wicking Golf shirts -- I wear a lot of the wicking shirts these days.  More than the cotton shirts I wore for the preceding 40 decades.  They are great in a breeze, but quite warm under a jacket.  However, every time I put on cotton, I'm reminded how nice the shirts are.  I got most of them from Belk's, where the prices are pretty good.

Tilley Hat -- While not a purchase this year, there is a not a round where I'm not wearing my Tilley!  The nice design features are a semi-stiff brim that can stand up to most winds without bending up and it's made of sail cloth and can shed a fair amount of water before it begins to get soaked.  The sweat band works pretty well, but it could use a port to the outer air to aid in cooling.  I sent that suggestion into Tilley, they said thanks.  They are washable, which is a good thing as the sweat will start to stink after a while.  Retains its shape post washing too.  I'm starting to see some of the inside material wear out, so I may be replacing it at some point.  There are a lot of models of the hat out there, if one is in the market, so look around.  I've not found anyone who discounts them. If you find such a place, please drop a comment with the location.

Water Bottle --  I bought an $8 dollar vacuum bottle from Walmart.  Shaped like a soda bottle, it holds probably 16 ounces.  The top comes off with a nice coarse thread that doesn't require a lot of effort to unscrew, good size mouth for easy gulping, o-ring seal for no leaks and it does a great job of keeping the water cold.  It's fully stainless steel construction and doesn't seem to support mildew much.  I use this 5 times a round and would not want to be without it.

That's about all that comes to mind.  I suppose I could talk about balls and tees, but that's not very universal.

An interesting two days

I've gotten back from the UK and it took a few rounds to get back to my "tap in pars" game.

Thursday and Friday we started early and by the turn I was hitting on most cylinders.  I shot one over on each of the back nines.  Since I started on the front Friday and the back Thursday, I can claim that I was able to handle most of what the course had to offer.

Well, there is one caveat there, we played the forward tees Friday, which makes the course about 3 strokes easier for me as a couple of possible bogey holes become short iron birdie opportunities.

But still, one must hit the greens and putt reasonably.

The greens have had some problems recently.  They got too wet, then the weather turned really hot and it looks like the greens caught a fungus or something.  Putting was difficult as greens had uneven speed and could be pretty patchy as to surface conditions.

They reseeded the chipping green completely.  Interesting that they decided they couldn't rescue it with extra care.


One other swing thought and ability came to me in the back round today.  There is a lot of talk about pulling the club down and not pulling it towards the ball.  Something that doesn't make a lot of sense as the arms should just walk the club handle around.

I also watched one of the "gear" videos where they talked about hand speed in various parts of the swing.  Interesting is that the maximum speed of the hands is at about hip high on the down swing.  Oh, you don't try to slow down, but the club is coming out of alignment with the swing path and energy is moving outward and slowing the hands. 

The pro golfer they had measured had a maximum hand speed of about 23 MPH and it slowed to about 12 MPH as the transfer took place.  The club maxed out at 123 MPH -- there was about a 5 to one mechanical advantage in speed from the hands to the club head.

What I found I could do was to actually pull down the club and not instigate any motion towards to the ball.  It felt weird as I think I like to torque my body towards the ball and ruin my setup and alignment.  This new method seemed quite neutral and balanced.

I think this is very useful as it keeps me behind the ball and that allows for a more solid ball contact and better balance when the smoke has cleared.

I only about 5 shots with this, but they were all keepers. 

So I'll continue to test this.  It solves a lot of my problems if it's the proper thing to do.

I thought I might do an end of year equipment review.  I haven't bought that much, but I've formed the odd opinion about a lot of what I'm using.

Golf in England

England is probably too broad.  I can talk a little bit about golf at the Gog Magog golf course in Cambridge, so let's plunge on...

The Gogs is the nicest course in the Cambridge area, per my host, David.  I can't argue with that much as I didn't see another course.

The terrain is rolling and has more altitude variation that I am used to.  A couple of tee shots are straight down hill. 

There are no water hazards on the courses.  Yes, they have two.  The Old Course from 1900, the new course was done in the mid 80s.

The styles of the two courses are very close.  So close that I wouldn't have noticed that there was large difference in design, which I think one would expect over 80 some years of golf club design history.

The fairways are quite wide.  There are no trees commonly in play.  You have to hit it quite a bit off line for them to come into play.  Likewise the bramble bushes and plum trees.  You can nibble your way along the course, season permitting. 

There is some rough, but it was wispy when I was there.  I'm told it's different in different seasons.

The holes are quite long.  The par 4s are almost all in the 400 yard range.  There was one short hole of 320 or so.  There were also a couple near 450.  The par 3s are 170-ish.

No one in the group I played in could get to any of the par 4s.  So we played a lot of pitch and putt.

The course is modestly trapped, but generally there was room to run a ball on from the front of the greens.  My home course has some forced carries over bunkers to get to some pins.

The sand in the bunkers is very coarse.  More rock like than I am used to.  David says that the rains will drain the sand portion into the soils and constant maintenance is required.  I was in one and got out ok.  One could explode from them without too much trouble.

The ground under the course is called Chalk Downs.  This is quite porous and water and apparently sand will drain well.

A lot of the greens have some slope to them.  They also seemed to have a bit of grain. If you've played on bent grass, it is a lot that that.  But it didn't seem to come into play as much as bent.

The greens are pretty furry and I had trouble with the slow speed.  I was using an Anser Ping putter than was lighter than I am used to.  No excuse, mind you, but I was leaving everything short.

There is a bunker, on the 18th on the old course, where if you hit a ball in it, you are asked to toss in a pound into the Captain's Charity jar. 

Bottom line, long course, not much run out and slow greens proved too tough for me. 

It's an old fashioned club, so no blue jeans!  And no trainers in the club house or spikes!  And no track suits either.  So I spent some money to get some Under Armour pants at the outlet mall.  (It's trousers in the UK!)  They turned out to be very comfortable and I'm expecting to get some use out of them.

I also traveled with more shoes that I normally do.  The suitcase was stuffed with pair after pair. 

The club house was nice in that understated British way.  It looked fairly new, but there were plaques of names of the Captains going back to 1900 on the wall.

They had a large bar, sadly no real beer (see the beer blog), but several beers and lagers on tap.  The chips were good.  Other than that, not too much to say.

There was a nice practice area, but I think I talked about that already, so I won't repeat myself.

I would have liked to get in another round or two, but we ran out of time.

Thanks to David for sharing his club.

Energy or Efficiency?

A former German professor suggest rhetorical questions were not the way start anything...

I keep pondering the ability of long hitting golfers of slight stature to move the ball long distances.

I'm guessing that there is required a blend of two things, that of efficient energy transfer to the club and some amount of power to move the body prior to this transfer. 

I would think that I have as much muscle mass as a 160 pound professional golfer.  I could be wrong about that, but I ought to get within some 20% or so.  Sadly that is not the current case.  I can't get the driver much above the low 90s, units being MPH.  The pros are at 120+, long distance specialists are 130 and up.

Back to the main point.  If I can't provide the raw horse power, then can I improve my efficiency? 

For a total transfer of energy the body and hands would stop as all energy is passed to the club.  Think of crack the whip on ice skates, the inner guys stop, then the middle guys and so on until the final body is at maximum speed.

With this in mind, I was thinking that I should be stopping somewhat as I come into the hitting area.  This helps me in a couple of ways.  One being that I'm not sliding forward as I'm stopping before I get to the hit and then if true, I'll provide more energy to the club.

This occurred to me on Friday morning lying in bed.  We'd come back from 8 times zones and sleep was not an easy thing.  On Friday I took it to the course without any range time to see if it was doable.

I was able to do this for the most part.  I didn't see any distance increases, but they didn't seem to be much shorter either.  What I did see was a much higher ball flight.  My effective loft of the clubs was going up and by a lot.  I was also hitting it very straight.

It was a very different swing than that which I normally produce.  As I was willing to just stop at impact, there seemed to be very little effort, the swing felt slow.

I was happy with the ball flight.  I was moving the ball pretty well.  The greens were newly punched and very rough, which made scoring tough.  I did manage to play the back 9 in one over with two birdies and a couple of other chances. 

I should get some time at the range this weekend and I want to continue to explore this method some more.  It required very little effort on my part, my back was not real happy with it, but I'm not sure I was getting hips out of the way as I was coming out of the hit. 

Part of a proper swing is to let the club pull the hands up and around to the follow through, another indication that the body ought to be doing close to nothing at the hit.


I also bit the bullet and ordered some New Balance golf shoes.  They have one built on their cross trainer shoe platform that while a bit heavy, provides support and I've always found them comfortable.  The ball of my right foot has been unhappy lately.  There is a tendon or something that runs across it and this tendon can get unhappy.

I looked around for shoes on sale and found some for $90, but they wanted $7 for shipping and I thought "let me check Amazon."  They had the same shoe for $70 with free shipping and tax of $7.  They will be here on Monday -- Tuesday tryouts!

I will miss Amazon when they are gone.  Gone?  I hear you ask.  The profit margin at Amazon continues to decrease.  Soon they will sell everything at a profit of 0.  A trend that cannot continue.  But for the moment, Yeah Amazon!

I want to write up the differences between play in Cambridge and playing at home.  There are not a lot of differences, but I think I can expound a bit. 

Some Thoughts

I've played ok for the last couple of rounds.  Played from the back tees two out of three times.

With my painfully inept driver, the back tees represent extraordinary challenges.  Getting to the greens after an 80 yard drive is not possible, so I've become somewhat of an "up and down Expert."

My short game and putting have been saving the day.

I've also noticed a number of divots heading left while the ball is going right of target.  It looks, from that evidence, that I'm above the proper swing plane on everything.  I've seen commentary that the over the top swing is what you want with a short iron.  Provides a crisper contact, more spin and keeps the ball down a bit.  If this is what I'm truly doing, my abilities with the short irons bears this out.

This is the opposite of the swing you want for a longer club.  The approved path is in to out?

What I have to do is figure out why I'm doing this.  Is it setup or transition or lower body action.

I must admit that I'm getting pretty tired of it.  One of the big problems is that I cannot replicate this at the range.  Should I put it all down to nervous tension?  Or that on the course one is more (or fully) target oriented and at the range, just swinging away?

Barb is busy for the most of the weekend and I'll see if I can be target oriented at the range and replicate some of this.  If not, then I'll take a careful look at my range setup and make sure I do that on the course.

A smart golfer would take some notes and then read them before each round!

Oh, well, I can still putt for the nonce.  (Putting details: I've found that relaxing the hands, arms and shoulders allows me to smoothly stroke the little beasty-ball.  Keeps it on line and the longer putts are less of a "hit and hope" swing.)


On Tuesday we are off to the UK.  There will be some golf there with David.   We will be playing his private course, the "Gogs."  It's outside of Cambridge.   David tells me the greens are slower than Las Po -- a transition that is hard to adjust to usually for me.  Also the greens are hard and you can't throw darts at the pins.  I'm expecting to have to change my style of play.  The course is long by my standards, but if the fairways are hard, there may be a lot of run out.  Also hard greens make it easier to get to, as you hit short and let them run up.  I'm looking forward to a different style of play and the odd pint in the club house afterwards! 

I was thinking of shutting down this blog as I don't have much more to say.  But I'll see if I'm inspired by the differences with the UK course and good old Los Positas.

I'll create a travel blog for the trip.  If you're interested, then clicking on RSH At Large profile will get you to the other blogs.  Here is the blog address: HumesUKTrip2017.blogspot.com

Playing Golf

A couple of posts ago, I mentioned a couple of guys who played with loose/happy rules and gave putts and moved the ball when the lie was bad; and generally had a comfortable enjoyable round of something.  Maybe we can't call it golf, but let's call it entertainment on a golf course.

Then I ran across some youtube vids that talked about playing without thinking about any technical stuff.  As in, don't hit a ball until you've decided how to do it, then think no more about what and just do it.

I've also thought about this before it all came up via these other sources.  What if I just played golf and let the ball go where the today's swing let it?

I've played a round today where I did mostly that.  It's tough to do when the driver does its usual thing (it is getting better!  A bit...).

I found that I can putt very well with the lack of thoughts in my head.  I'm not thinking about line much, nor setup nor the speed of my swing.

I found I was taking the putter back further and probably swinging through the ball a touch slower.  My distance control was very good.  There were no three putts.  I lagged nicely.  I had a bunch of up and downs - mostly due to the chipping, but hey those putts dropped, and two birdies.

Playing in this manner was very relaxing mentally.  I was not having to think about much, just line up and go. 

Now if only the driver would come around...  The 18th hole is a 500 yard par 5 and for some reason the drive on this hole is seldom a problem.  I take a long back swing and rip at it.  Yes, the fairway is wide, but there are trees and water and sand out there, but they rarely come into play.

Ah, the eternal mystery of the game.   Every shot is unique as is every situation.  Lovely, as I think it would become boring rather quickly.

We're having a hot spell this week.  I played Thursday and Friday,  Off the course by 11:30 or so, with temps in the 90s.  It reached 112 by 3 or so.  I was home with a cold Old Milwaukee to keep me hydrated.  Ok, ok, there were some Popsicles too.

Catching Up

It's been a week without a lot of high and lows.  I've been scoring pretty well, but still fighting the long stick.

It became clear on the 17th hole that my shoulder turn was lacking.  Why, o great gods of the golfing realm does it take so long in the round to become apparent?

That led to a spectacular up and down on the 17th and a simple par 5 with birdie possibilities on the 18th.

A drive down past the traps, a simple hybrid to 100 yards and a smooth wedge to 12 feet or so.  Left the putt a bit short - which was my miss on the day and wrapped up a 77 while only hitting two solid drives all day.

The weather has been cold for a couple of weeks, but today I saw the sun rise on the way to the course.  The high has returned and heat will soon follow. 

We've been playing early in the morning with tee times about 7:30.  Temperatures in the high 50s, with low 80s when completed.  The grass is wet and greens not mowed for the day, but a nice time to play.  The play goes pretty quickly then too, so a 4 hour round is not much of an issue.

My use of the tour tempo for the putting continues to do wonders for my putting.  My lines are a lot better and distance control is very good, even on the long ones.  For those who may have joined the blog later, I'm trying to swing into the ball twice as fast as I took the putter back.  I'm giving it a bit of a hit.  The short putts have become trivial.

Played with a couple of strangers on Thursday with Ted.  They were really loose about the rules and improved lies and conceded lots of 3 footers.  Tom said that who wants to watch someone grind over it to make it?   Just pick it up and keep going.  It led to a more relaxed and entertainment oriented session than trying to "be a golf pro."

Along those same lines, I played with a threesome who were in a tournament where all putts had to be putted out.  I swear that if they made a rule conceding all three putts, they would spreed up play by 20 minutes a round.  Watching bad putters grinding over their 4th putt is not worth the time.

That's about all of it.  I'll try to remember to take a huge back turn the next time I play.  I'm going to invent the driver that allows you to write notes on it with chalk - useful for slippery minded aged golfer.

Play well my friends.

And It Was Going So Well

And it was through 13 holes.

I took yesterday off as I have a couple of sore toes.  I seem to lift my foot with just my second toe.  It gets banged a lot and eventually bruises under the nail.  Then fluid collects, the nail comes off and grows back in again.  This happens with both feet - "foolish consistency" and all of that.  So shoes are critical to my foot happiness.

So I limp onto the course and hit some ropy hook on the first hole.  Sling a utility to get close then a delicate up and down for a par.

Second hole is even easier.  My drive is a pull, but not a hook!  This hole is a par 5.  Then a utility to about 130, an iron that comes up short of the green by about a foot.  I chip this in to get to one under par.

I par the next two with GIRs and two putts. 

The 5th is a tough hole for me as the drive is critical.  I top the drive and it goes a full 40 yards.  Utility to 120, 9 iron to the green, but I can't make the 5 footer.  So I'm back to even.

Par 6 and 7 with GIRs.  Then on the par 3 8th, 145 over a pond, I hit a sweet 6 iron which I spin back to about 4 feet.  This goes in and I'm one under.

The 9th is usually a bogey hole as it requires a good drive.  I forget to try to kill it and manage to get it down the middle.  This leaves me 150 to a back pin behind the bunker.  Good old 6 iron to the rescue and I hit it to 6 feet.  I leave the putt short on line!  I'm despondent, but then realize that it was a birdie putt and I've gotten through the front nine one under. 

The 10th is usually not too tough.  I hit a 3 wood, but it comes out low, hits the top of the rise and goes down towards the flat, which is 150 out.  I find myself with a down hill lie and 150 to go.  Out comes Mr. Six Iron and I'm 3 feet from the pin.  That putt goes down.  Two under for the round.

Then pars through 13, all GIR and two putts, and then it gets ugly!  Well, not too bad, I par all holes but 14, 16 and 18, but go triple, double, bogey on them.  Very sad. 

The putting was really good.  I got it up and down every time.  I'm still using the tempo stuff from the last post for that.  I'm finding the short popping hit keeps it on line much better than the old style, which probably caused a longer swing in both directions and that allowed me pull and push frequently.

Ok, maybe next time!  I'm looking into New Balance shoes, but I'd like to look at them before I buy.  I stopped at Dick's to see what they had, but they don't stock NBs!  The search goes on.

But it was fun to play well.  Controlling shots and hitting them where you want is gratifying and rewarding.  I hope no one ever steals the 6 iron. 

My shot length is shorter than I'd like it to be, but I can't argue with the direction control.  Now if I can ever get relaxed over the driver....

Tour Tempo Part 3

The jury is still out on the long game tour tempo. 

I topped a lot of shots and didn't hit a reasonable drive until the 18th.  Sadly, all things work at the range and it seems, not much on the course.  Towards the end I was letting my hands and arms be tension and effort free.  That seemed to allow my lower body to do what it was supposed to.  The last 2 and a half holes were pretty smooth. 


However, there was a bright spot.

Part of this tour tempo is in re putting.  The pros take the putter back at 1/2 the speed of the forward swing -- if you can call putting, swinging!

I found this to be quite useful.  My distance control was wonderful and I canned 4 birdies.  The other guys in the group were starting to make comments.  I was three over after the first two holes and ended the day at two over.

I knocked in some long ones and made almost all of the shorter ones.  It felt like a pop or hit to me, which is strange.  But, I cannot argue with its effectiveness!

There is a pro who does not use this 2 to 1 tempo and he is Jordan Spieth, who is a one to one guy and arguably the best putter on the tour these days.  So it may still be more of an art than a science...

About that Tour Tempo

I am not sure I was clear enough on Luczak's remarks in the previous post.  His line was that you want to swing fast and to do that, you need a fast backswing. 

I went off to the range today with my club head speedometer to see what I could see.

I found that trying to take a faster backswing increased my club head speed by about 5 mph.  I was consistently in the upper 90s instead of 92 +-.

"But, how was the hit?"  Yes, without solid contact we don't want to go faster.  I found that it was as good as my slower swings.

"How about lower versus upper body, Mr. Hume, you were working on that?"  Excellent question dear reader.  I found that in trying to hit the ball faster, I was using the lower body pretty well.  All the misses were off to the right, but they were all up in the air. 

Bobby Lopez predicted that if you just threw the club (or a ball) you'd do it all naturally and start with the lower body.  Since I was reacting to a fast backswing and trying to get back to the ball, there wasn't a lot of time to think about anything.  I just swung.

I'll give this a go on the course tomorrow.  What I'll lose in accuracy will be made up in the additional distance.