I took a few golf days off as Barb and I journeyed to Santa Monica. Oh, there was some pitching and putting practice on Saturday. Jay and I went out to one of the LA county courses. It's one we had played before.
On the 18th hole there is a plaque that records Arnold Palmer taking a 12 on the 18th hole during the 1953 LA Open. He sliced three onto the driving range and then hooked three over the boundary fence. Jay and I both parred the hole, I might mention.
I told the story to Jimmy at the local course. Jimmy is an Irishman who has lived all over the world. When he finally ended up the US he landed in the LA area.
Jimmy is 90 this year and has managed to shoot his age a number of times. He didn't start golf at an early age. He learned hurley as a child. This sport is a lot like shinty. And if you've not traveled enough to come across either of those sports, it's field hockey for men and found in Ireland and Scotland. Jimmy has a long swing and gets the club well above his head. He has not lost the ability to swing it around and hits a nice long ball considering his age.
As I was saying, I told the story about the plaque to Jimmy. And he was there! He saw Arnie play all those shots. He was in sales at the time and would take customers to the golf tournaments. He played a lot of golf in the LA area.
He and his pals would also journey out and play other courses in California. He recalls playing Torrey Pines in San Diego. It seems the weekend greens fees were $2.50 back in the day.
Jimmy is fun to play with. He has some interesting stories of bygone times. In his early adulthood he would leave home to some other country, find some work, do that for a time, then return home. Then repeat. He worked in accounting and sales and some manual labor too. He finally ended up California, got married, had 5 children. He raised them right and one of the daughters comes out and plays golf with him during the summer.
But, back to the topic of the post.
I was playing at Wente yesterday and I was eager to put some of the ball striking changes that have occurred to use. Wente is a tough course for me. It's probably 5 stokes harder than my usual course. It's longer and the greens are bent grass. Bent grass rolls nicely, but it gets in the way of gravity. To my eye, balls break up hill. Then there is the speed. In one direction the greens will be lightening fast. In others, deathly slow. I can't see it. But Phil, known as Mr. Two Putt, knows these like he planted the grass. It is very difficult for me to score there. I've broken 80 twice, but it was a lot of work.
Yesterday I tested the new swing thoughts. One the first hole I managed to hit a driver onto the fairway! Well, this is nice. Note that there is a canyon just to the right and a vineyard to the left. I hit an iron in from 150, which is about 30 yards closer than I usually am. I'm short, but decide that smooth bump and run to a close pin seems like a good shot selection. This comes off quite well and actually goes in the hole. Hmm, birdie to start. I can get used to this.
The second hole is a bit strange. It's short, but you need to hit a left to right shot to avoid a huge Sycamore tree near the tee and then bend it right to avoid the rough and another bushy tree out about 175 yards. There is a small shoot that avoids disaster here. If you are left there is chunky bark under the bushy tree and the tree hangs so low that there is no path to hit the ball up in the air.
It was a magic day and I hit the hybrid down the left with a nice fade that takes it out into the middle of the fairway. It feels good to be a golfer that seems to know what he is doing.
The green is trapped in front and there are more Sycamore trees that, octopus like, wave thick white arms to block the high approaches to the green. The pin is tucked way to the right and the trees are blocking any kind of direct path in.
But it's a day of "can do." It's still cold and I decide to fade a short iron in. This comes off as well. But it's a shallow green and hard to hold. I'm in the back, but I've found the corner of the green where the pin is. A par for this hole with two putts.
I won't bore you, dear readers, with a hole by hole recitation of the rest of the round. But I'll mention that ball striking with a couple of exceptions, goes like a wondrous dream. Need to move it right to left and hit it 190 yards? No problem. How about a 4 iron with a slight fade to get close to the pin on the long par 5? Ok! A smooth 7 iron on a par 3 goes right over the pin -- a deviation of a fraction of a degree.
Now, there was a black cloud to all of this. I was caught up a bit in three putt city. The approach shots I hit to 10 feet were all two putts and longer putts frequently turned to three putts as I couldn't get the speeds right.
But I came off the course feeling very good. The long game has jelled into trustworthy friend that is always willing to help.
When I was playing a lot of bridge, I longed for the day when I didn't make stupid errors and could concentrate on playing the game. Golf is kind of the same thing. If the mistakes are small, then you are playing a different game. Shot placement and strategy are the important parameters, not "I'll hit this and hope it works out."
I feel I'm on the edge of a new game. It's quite different from the old one. Challenges are similar, but different. I'm afraid that that it might be more a putting game. A portion of the game that held lessor interest than the other parts. Well, I must adapt and change my thinking, I think. I think there be rewards there.
O brave new world,
That has such challenges in't. -- apologies to old Willie!
Wednesday, November 28, 2018
Monday, November 19, 2018
Last Round for a Week
The last couple of rounds have been near to God. The ball is going where it is supposed to. I walk up to a shot and have no wonder just that quiet confidence of someone who has learned his trade.
Well, there was always the driver that decided that he just didn't like to be one of many in the bag.
But let me roll back just a bit.
There is always another YouTube video expounding different aspects of the swing. The video makers that I tend to believe is Athletic Motion Golf, AMG. What separates them from the crowd is that they are detailing what they have learned. They collect data from professionals and good amateurs and discuss and point out the differences between the two. And there are differences.
One of the aspects of the swing is the hip bump. What this is the first move in the down swing is to push the left hip forward and then to rotate. This is a common understanding.
AMG took a look at this. And found that it's not a good idea. It causes a lot of problems. It's not what the pros do.
What they do see and like, is for the entire body to make a first move towards the left side. They talk of it as a slide down hill to get it all started.
What this does is to load the left side and maintain the spine angle and finally provide a solid platform and location from which to rotate.
I've worked with Glenn, a local pro, who wanted me to just take a backswing and then rotate the shoulders. I had trouble with this. It seemed to work, but it just didn't feel right and I was still not hitting the driver well.
The other problem is trying to remember all the stuff I'm trying to do. I long for old days when the memory never slept and it sucked up everything.
So today I'm determined to try this torso glide followed by a rotation.
I shoot one over on the front using the driver just twice. One bogey was a thin shot into a bunker that I couldn't get up and down and the other was a three putt where I ran the ball well past the hole. There was a birdie in there with a nice 10 footer down hill.
Drive one was on the screws and hit the fairway and turned a semi long hole into a birdie chance. The next time was a par 5 where the drive really didn't matter much. I got to the green with a wedge even as the driver was short and hooking.
The back nine started with 3 regulation pars (on in regulation and two putts). Then came the par 5 at 550 yards. I hauled out the driver and hooked it into a bunker. I needed a nine iron to clear the lip and over hanging tree. That left me with 250 yards in and it was too far to get there in regulation.
I got on in 4 and two putted. But I realized what I was doing with the driver. I was not rotating the shoulders properly, but getting shoulders off plane to get the club back. When I came down I needed to make large adjustments to get back to the ball. I needed to take the club back, like an iron, more upright and under the plane.
Meanwhile I'm using the fall and rotate method for everything and I'll hitting the ball like a minor deity.
So on 14, armored with this realization, I hit the driver and it goes well with a touch of push and finds the fairway bunker. "Hit a fade 6 iron," Steve says. He was right, that was the shot. I catch it thin and hit the face of the bunker and it goes 30 yards.
But now I am in my wheelhouse -- 130 out. I don't need all of an 8 iron and hit a little fade in. It runs about 10 feet past as the pin is in a devilish position with a downhill slope. But I put a good stroke on it and in it goes. A par for the story books. Well, not really. Getting up and down with a short iron is not an unexpected event.
The 16th is another driver hole and now I hit it down the left side of the fairway. Good strike, not perfect, but it has a lot of perfect elements in it. We have a short iron in. I hit a thin shot, it goes over the green and I get cute and don't get it up and down.
17 can be a driver or 4 wood. I'm pumped. I've figured this out. I grab the big stick and hit it well. A fat 8 iron leaves me with a challenging two putt but I manage.
Then we are on 18, a par 5. The ball is crushed down the middle with a tiny draw setting up a routine second shot with a great angle to the dog leg.
I hit it too well. It goes through the fairway and into a culvert with really large rocks. They might have been stones. They might have been rejected for paving stones for being too large.
To make a long story short I take a drop and then hit a feeble wedge. On line, but short. It gets messy from there.
I'm shooting my usual 76 with a nasty back nine. But my doubts about the driver are erased. Bring on the next round!
There is irony in the world as we are traveling for the rest of the week. The clubs will stay home and think about prior rounds. I'll be clubless and thinking of future rounds.
Happy Thanksgiving all.
Well, there was always the driver that decided that he just didn't like to be one of many in the bag.
But let me roll back just a bit.
There is always another YouTube video expounding different aspects of the swing. The video makers that I tend to believe is Athletic Motion Golf, AMG. What separates them from the crowd is that they are detailing what they have learned. They collect data from professionals and good amateurs and discuss and point out the differences between the two. And there are differences.
One of the aspects of the swing is the hip bump. What this is the first move in the down swing is to push the left hip forward and then to rotate. This is a common understanding.
AMG took a look at this. And found that it's not a good idea. It causes a lot of problems. It's not what the pros do.
What they do see and like, is for the entire body to make a first move towards the left side. They talk of it as a slide down hill to get it all started.
What this does is to load the left side and maintain the spine angle and finally provide a solid platform and location from which to rotate.
I've worked with Glenn, a local pro, who wanted me to just take a backswing and then rotate the shoulders. I had trouble with this. It seemed to work, but it just didn't feel right and I was still not hitting the driver well.
The other problem is trying to remember all the stuff I'm trying to do. I long for old days when the memory never slept and it sucked up everything.
So today I'm determined to try this torso glide followed by a rotation.
I shoot one over on the front using the driver just twice. One bogey was a thin shot into a bunker that I couldn't get up and down and the other was a three putt where I ran the ball well past the hole. There was a birdie in there with a nice 10 footer down hill.
Drive one was on the screws and hit the fairway and turned a semi long hole into a birdie chance. The next time was a par 5 where the drive really didn't matter much. I got to the green with a wedge even as the driver was short and hooking.
The back nine started with 3 regulation pars (on in regulation and two putts). Then came the par 5 at 550 yards. I hauled out the driver and hooked it into a bunker. I needed a nine iron to clear the lip and over hanging tree. That left me with 250 yards in and it was too far to get there in regulation.
I got on in 4 and two putted. But I realized what I was doing with the driver. I was not rotating the shoulders properly, but getting shoulders off plane to get the club back. When I came down I needed to make large adjustments to get back to the ball. I needed to take the club back, like an iron, more upright and under the plane.
Meanwhile I'm using the fall and rotate method for everything and I'll hitting the ball like a minor deity.
So on 14, armored with this realization, I hit the driver and it goes well with a touch of push and finds the fairway bunker. "Hit a fade 6 iron," Steve says. He was right, that was the shot. I catch it thin and hit the face of the bunker and it goes 30 yards.
But now I am in my wheelhouse -- 130 out. I don't need all of an 8 iron and hit a little fade in. It runs about 10 feet past as the pin is in a devilish position with a downhill slope. But I put a good stroke on it and in it goes. A par for the story books. Well, not really. Getting up and down with a short iron is not an unexpected event.
The 16th is another driver hole and now I hit it down the left side of the fairway. Good strike, not perfect, but it has a lot of perfect elements in it. We have a short iron in. I hit a thin shot, it goes over the green and I get cute and don't get it up and down.
17 can be a driver or 4 wood. I'm pumped. I've figured this out. I grab the big stick and hit it well. A fat 8 iron leaves me with a challenging two putt but I manage.
Then we are on 18, a par 5. The ball is crushed down the middle with a tiny draw setting up a routine second shot with a great angle to the dog leg.
I hit it too well. It goes through the fairway and into a culvert with really large rocks. They might have been stones. They might have been rejected for paving stones for being too large.
To make a long story short I take a drop and then hit a feeble wedge. On line, but short. It gets messy from there.
I'm shooting my usual 76 with a nasty back nine. But my doubts about the driver are erased. Bring on the next round!
There is irony in the world as we are traveling for the rest of the week. The clubs will stay home and think about prior rounds. I'll be clubless and thinking of future rounds.
Happy Thanksgiving all.
Saturday, November 17, 2018
Putter Thoughts
The long game continues to improve. I've become quite fond of it and look forward to more improvement.
I mentioned that I might steer this towards putting a bit. It's a topic that hasn't interested me over the years, but now with more holes being fairway then green then putts, I need to spend some time on this topic to keep my game improving.
I've been lusting for an Evnroll putter for a while. I play golf with Sonny, who changes equipment like I change socks. He bought an Evnroll after I talked it up. Then he traded it for a different model or Evnroll.
Sonny was in love for a few rounds but then put it away and went back to a Scotty Cameron that he's had for a while.
I asked him why he switched back and he said that he wanted to see a deeper putter.
The model he has is called ER1 and has the classic look of a Ping Anser putter. It's not very deep and not too long. By deep I'm referring to the amount of material that extends backwards from the ball impact position.
Sonny is quite generous as lending out his equipment and sells his unwanted gear to his playing partners. I asked to borrow and I've had it for a week or so.
I played with the ER1 for three rounds. I've also come to the same conclusion that Sonny did and that I like to have more visual mass behind the ball.
If the putter is "deeper' then I tend to drag the head into the ball and don't twist it at all. With the Anser shape there is a tendency to shut the face at impact.
I'll be returning it to Sonny soon.
Of course Evnroll has mallet type putters too, so I'm not necessarily saving any money yet!
There is some technology in the putters by Evnroll. The face has asymetric grooves that provide more contact the further from the "sweet" spot you hit the ball. Thus the grooves are weakest at the sweet spot and there really isn't one happy spot. Guerin Rife, the designer, has found that amateurs and professionals don't hit putts in the sweet spot much.
Now for the grooves to really be a factor, you have to do a lot of things right. Your path and face angle and speed have to be reasonable. Putts hit off the sweet spot with a putter without the grooves will be sprayed to the sides and be shorter. The grooves tend to funnel the ball back on line and have them go the full distance.
I like the contact feeling with the putters. It does feel a bit thin, but the ball rolls well and seems happy.
I made some putts with the ER1. I think I made about 5 putts of long length on Friday. There were a couple of saves and 3 birdies. It wasn't too bad. But I think I would have done better with a mallet.
The main problems with making more putts was due to speed issues. On occasion the guy who selects the pin placements can put them in some devilish locations. Then if you get above the pin, you are in trouble. That happened a couple of times on Friday.
Otherwise, all is going well in golf and in life. Though I've still not found a pickleball player...
I mentioned that I might steer this towards putting a bit. It's a topic that hasn't interested me over the years, but now with more holes being fairway then green then putts, I need to spend some time on this topic to keep my game improving.
I've been lusting for an Evnroll putter for a while. I play golf with Sonny, who changes equipment like I change socks. He bought an Evnroll after I talked it up. Then he traded it for a different model or Evnroll.
Sonny was in love for a few rounds but then put it away and went back to a Scotty Cameron that he's had for a while.
I asked him why he switched back and he said that he wanted to see a deeper putter.
The model he has is called ER1 and has the classic look of a Ping Anser putter. It's not very deep and not too long. By deep I'm referring to the amount of material that extends backwards from the ball impact position.
Sonny is quite generous as lending out his equipment and sells his unwanted gear to his playing partners. I asked to borrow and I've had it for a week or so.
I played with the ER1 for three rounds. I've also come to the same conclusion that Sonny did and that I like to have more visual mass behind the ball.
If the putter is "deeper' then I tend to drag the head into the ball and don't twist it at all. With the Anser shape there is a tendency to shut the face at impact.
I'll be returning it to Sonny soon.
Of course Evnroll has mallet type putters too, so I'm not necessarily saving any money yet!
There is some technology in the putters by Evnroll. The face has asymetric grooves that provide more contact the further from the "sweet" spot you hit the ball. Thus the grooves are weakest at the sweet spot and there really isn't one happy spot. Guerin Rife, the designer, has found that amateurs and professionals don't hit putts in the sweet spot much.
Now for the grooves to really be a factor, you have to do a lot of things right. Your path and face angle and speed have to be reasonable. Putts hit off the sweet spot with a putter without the grooves will be sprayed to the sides and be shorter. The grooves tend to funnel the ball back on line and have them go the full distance.
I like the contact feeling with the putters. It does feel a bit thin, but the ball rolls well and seems happy.
I made some putts with the ER1. I think I made about 5 putts of long length on Friday. There were a couple of saves and 3 birdies. It wasn't too bad. But I think I would have done better with a mallet.
The main problems with making more putts was due to speed issues. On occasion the guy who selects the pin placements can put them in some devilish locations. Then if you get above the pin, you are in trouble. That happened a couple of times on Friday.
Otherwise, all is going well in golf and in life. Though I've still not found a pickleball player...
Sunday, November 11, 2018
Some Numbers
I'm sure that I will return to the long game at some point. Golly, nothing in golf seems to last more than round and half, so I'll be back.
But I was thinking about the levers and radii in golf and thought I'd provide some actual numbers.
I'm making some assumptions here. I could look all this up and I may, but let me jot down some actual numbers and calculations and then I'll expound about the whole thing.
My numbers: Middle neck to shoulder joint: 9 inches, Shoulder to start of fingers: 26 and length of a normal driver from middle of hand position to center of the club face: 42 inches.
The diameters can be calculated if we could spin these items into a fill circle. But since about 90 degrees is all I want to for my shoulders let's start there.
A 90 degree arc for my shoulder is about 14 inches.
The arms are going to have a longer arc since they are getting somewhere over the right shoulder and then extending down to the ball. I'll be generous and say that it's 170 degrees or 170/360 * the diameter. That number is about 77 inches.
The final number is that of the club. For the driver we have 3/4 of a diameter as we will get the club close to parallel above the shoulders. That number is about 198 inches.
Let's look at ratios of these numbers. The idea that I move shoulders back and coil the arms and club around the body and then we will spin back and unwind everything. If the time is the same, i.e., the shoulders are finished rotating at the same time the arms and shoulders are, we can calculate the speed attained by the club head as a multiplicand of the shoulders. We can talk about how valid this all is in a moment.
The distance the club head moves is about 14 times the shoulder movement. Note that the swing centroid is at the left shoulder.
If we can move the shoulders at 8 miles an hour we should get about 110 at the club head. Raise your hand if you'd like to have a club head swing of 110 MPH? I'd love to see 100...
Caveats and there are always caveats. 1) It might be hard to move the shoulders at 8 MPH, not sure. It seems certain people can. 2) If the "swing" times are not the same then the end speeds will not be correct. But if the energy is the same and we get some whip at the end, it may be that parts are slower initially and then faster later.
I'm inclined to think that this might be fairly accurate at least as a model for the swing. I believe that since at impact the hands and club are pretty much in line with the left shoulder. So the end positions and times are pretty much the same.
The shoulders have to start it all. But the arms stay against the chest for a time and don't have the full diameter on the downswing. Now this is probably a good thing in re building club head speed. The arms unfold after the shoulders have moved a bit. Then the club swings out in the same manner.
The natural release method tells us to let the angular acceleration do this for us. We don't want to "help" the arms or club come out and swing around. See Tutelman.com and his swing section for more information.
I've managed to play with this a couple of rounds. The swing has simplified to a small shoulder movement back and down and then forward. Everything else is on its own. I'm really happy with contact and direction.
I had another nice range session today and I'm still a happy camper. Big test will be Tuesday at the long course. I play tomorrow too, Monday.
Sorry for the disjointed post here, but I wanted to get something out.
But I was thinking about the levers and radii in golf and thought I'd provide some actual numbers.
I'm making some assumptions here. I could look all this up and I may, but let me jot down some actual numbers and calculations and then I'll expound about the whole thing.
My numbers: Middle neck to shoulder joint: 9 inches, Shoulder to start of fingers: 26 and length of a normal driver from middle of hand position to center of the club face: 42 inches.
The diameters can be calculated if we could spin these items into a fill circle. But since about 90 degrees is all I want to for my shoulders let's start there.
A 90 degree arc for my shoulder is about 14 inches.
The arms are going to have a longer arc since they are getting somewhere over the right shoulder and then extending down to the ball. I'll be generous and say that it's 170 degrees or 170/360 * the diameter. That number is about 77 inches.
The final number is that of the club. For the driver we have 3/4 of a diameter as we will get the club close to parallel above the shoulders. That number is about 198 inches.
Let's look at ratios of these numbers. The idea that I move shoulders back and coil the arms and club around the body and then we will spin back and unwind everything. If the time is the same, i.e., the shoulders are finished rotating at the same time the arms and shoulders are, we can calculate the speed attained by the club head as a multiplicand of the shoulders. We can talk about how valid this all is in a moment.
The distance the club head moves is about 14 times the shoulder movement. Note that the swing centroid is at the left shoulder.
If we can move the shoulders at 8 miles an hour we should get about 110 at the club head. Raise your hand if you'd like to have a club head swing of 110 MPH? I'd love to see 100...
Caveats and there are always caveats. 1) It might be hard to move the shoulders at 8 MPH, not sure. It seems certain people can. 2) If the "swing" times are not the same then the end speeds will not be correct. But if the energy is the same and we get some whip at the end, it may be that parts are slower initially and then faster later.
I'm inclined to think that this might be fairly accurate at least as a model for the swing. I believe that since at impact the hands and club are pretty much in line with the left shoulder. So the end positions and times are pretty much the same.
The shoulders have to start it all. But the arms stay against the chest for a time and don't have the full diameter on the downswing. Now this is probably a good thing in re building club head speed. The arms unfold after the shoulders have moved a bit. Then the club swings out in the same manner.
The natural release method tells us to let the angular acceleration do this for us. We don't want to "help" the arms or club come out and swing around. See Tutelman.com and his swing section for more information.
I've managed to play with this a couple of rounds. The swing has simplified to a small shoulder movement back and down and then forward. Everything else is on its own. I'm really happy with contact and direction.
I had another nice range session today and I'm still a happy camper. Big test will be Tuesday at the long course. I play tomorrow too, Monday.
Sorry for the disjointed post here, but I wanted to get something out.
Friday, November 9, 2018
It's a Wrap
Ok, I think I talked about the magic 7 iron that took place on Wednesday.
I went to the range to make sure I could repeat it.
I played today and was able to play with this new technique. I did realize that I have to turn away from the ball and not slide. The slide I was doing was not much, but it was enough. Also I was only doing it with the driver.
I realized that late in the round. However when the smoke cleared and that's saying something with the Camp fire filling the sky, I had two drives that got me in trouble and 10 or so that split the fairway.
On the front there are a couple of holes that are usually tough because they are just long enough that I struggle to get to the greens. Today they all dissolved into birdie opportunities as the driver was serving me well.
My iron game was spot on and the shots were more solid than usual.
If I can keep this up, then the long game need not be discussed again. I think we will have to alter the topics and probably move to putting.
I'd talk chipping, but I miss so few greens, who cares? And in all modesty, my chipping and pitching and sand play are pretty solid.
We might as well jump in to putting. I ran across an interesting putting video on Youtube the other day. The lead "expert" was talking about what they have seen with the putters (people) they have looked at.
His finding was that people are better at line than they think and not as good with distance control. Today I was working on distance and not paying much attention to line. It seems to be a reasonable way to putt. The only three putt I had was when I got the speed wrong.
Working on speed with just a modest interest in line seems to be for me a fairly low Angst way to putt. There is a lot of speed adjustment done subconsciously. I take a few free practice swings to "feel" the line and then step in and hit it. This is basically how I pitch and chip. The feeling is the club just swinging and catching the ball along the way. No interest in trying to hit the ball.
I will keep working on this and report back.
The front nine today was even par, with a birdie on the par 5 second and a three putt birdie on the 5th. All the other holes were straight forward and pretty simple. I did have a nice sand shot on the 8th hole green side bunker and my playing partners just kicked the ball back.
The back was not a lot of drama. Got in trouble with wayward tee shots on two holes, otherwise I hit all the rest and two putted.
It's been a good week. I think I've figured out how to swing properly and easily. I'm expecting this to continue as the big mistakes are gone. My swing thoughts are just move the arms with the shoulders, get the left should under the chin, then move it back to the setup position, which is all of 5 inches -- a simple swing! If I just do that without trying to swing hard, the ball goes straight, long, and up in the air. The very thing we are looking for!
I went to the range to make sure I could repeat it.
I played today and was able to play with this new technique. I did realize that I have to turn away from the ball and not slide. The slide I was doing was not much, but it was enough. Also I was only doing it with the driver.
I realized that late in the round. However when the smoke cleared and that's saying something with the Camp fire filling the sky, I had two drives that got me in trouble and 10 or so that split the fairway.
On the front there are a couple of holes that are usually tough because they are just long enough that I struggle to get to the greens. Today they all dissolved into birdie opportunities as the driver was serving me well.
My iron game was spot on and the shots were more solid than usual.
If I can keep this up, then the long game need not be discussed again. I think we will have to alter the topics and probably move to putting.
I'd talk chipping, but I miss so few greens, who cares? And in all modesty, my chipping and pitching and sand play are pretty solid.
We might as well jump in to putting. I ran across an interesting putting video on Youtube the other day. The lead "expert" was talking about what they have seen with the putters (people) they have looked at.
His finding was that people are better at line than they think and not as good with distance control. Today I was working on distance and not paying much attention to line. It seems to be a reasonable way to putt. The only three putt I had was when I got the speed wrong.
Working on speed with just a modest interest in line seems to be for me a fairly low Angst way to putt. There is a lot of speed adjustment done subconsciously. I take a few free practice swings to "feel" the line and then step in and hit it. This is basically how I pitch and chip. The feeling is the club just swinging and catching the ball along the way. No interest in trying to hit the ball.
I will keep working on this and report back.
The front nine today was even par, with a birdie on the par 5 second and a three putt birdie on the 5th. All the other holes were straight forward and pretty simple. I did have a nice sand shot on the 8th hole green side bunker and my playing partners just kicked the ball back.
The back was not a lot of drama. Got in trouble with wayward tee shots on two holes, otherwise I hit all the rest and two putted.
It's been a good week. I think I've figured out how to swing properly and easily. I'm expecting this to continue as the big mistakes are gone. My swing thoughts are just move the arms with the shoulders, get the left should under the chin, then move it back to the setup position, which is all of 5 inches -- a simple swing! If I just do that without trying to swing hard, the ball goes straight, long, and up in the air. The very thing we are looking for!
Thursday, November 8, 2018
A couple of holes
I hit a seven iron yesterday as sweet as I've ever hit any shot.
It was 140 from an uphill lie and I didn't need all of it. It felt like warm butter and a hot knife and the ball took off like a happy eagle. Flew straight as a Roman road and went right over the pin. Would have been fitting to have made the putt, but "ho hum" pars are the strength of my game.
Then on to the long 13th. I hook the drive into the bunker about 180 off the tee. The lip is in the way and I come out of it with an 8 iron. That rolls out pretty well, but it's still 220 in. A low, hot hybrid gets to the middle of the green and I can the breaking, fast, side hiller for the second birdie of round.
The Costco hot dog tasted good that day, my friends...
Saturday, November 3, 2018
Some Thoughts on Thoughts
There was recent family research program that got started over some portfolio allocations.
After the research my views on what I felt I knew were changed about 180 degrees.
I first ascribed this to a phenomenon of believing what you read in the popular press. The press was in this case and in many others, a bit alarmist. And in this case I took those words for gospel and it was affixed in my mind for a number of years.
That was a bit of a mistake and I wish now that I had maintained my usual skepticism of what I had read. I'm usually good at that, but on occasion when an article aligns with my core beliefs and possibly what I want to believe, it's awfully easy to accept it.
We all have that problem.
Then I ran I ran across an article from a researcher. He mentioned he ran into a person whom he knew in grad school. They were both working towards their PhD. The friend dropped out and went to law school. He stuck it out.
The friend told him that she quit because the research made her feel stupid.
The researcher considered this. He recognized that looking into things that are unknown should make us feel stupid. Well, maybe ignorant is a better word.
I've run into this too. I was doing some judging at science fairs. I was working at a national lab and doing technical stuff, so this shouldn't have been too much trouble.
There were a couple of problems with that. The kids were looking into stuff that was unknown to me. They tended to stare me in the eyes too; quite disconcerting! And then a number of exhibitors had access to labs and parents who probably helped a lot. A lot of it was beyond me.
An interesting part of this was as I tried to fill in the gaps of my own knowledge by asking questions of the kids, they had problems with my lack of understanding. General principals of a lot of things be they biological or physical are usually fairly simple. But the connections from what they are playing with and general principals can be obscure. I needed the connections, but the kids had trouble providing them as they were too close to it and never looked at their project from an outsider's point of view.
Now, back to golf... As I struggle through the mass of knowledge out there one has to realize that it's not all right. Even if we agree that there are a number of ways to hit golf balls, there are physical properties that we have to respect. Then it's also an issue and body of knowledge as to how and what we want our physical bodies to do.
As I stumble along I feel like that researcher who feels stupid. I feel lost on occasion -- ok, quite often. I envy the golfer who just gets up and hits it and doesn't have to reflect on it all.
But like the researcher, this feeling is valid and acceptable. I should accept the lost feelings and embrace them rather than feeling discouraged. It reveals new areas of inquiry and new possibilities and directions of investigation. All of which should be considered as a good thing.
I don't know if my family member will resolve the beliefs we used to share in common. I hope the question well provide some incite into firmly held beliefs and how they might be correct or correct for everyone.
I used to engage folks on Facebook about the issues of the day. When something came up which I didn't agree, I looked into it. For example I was told that the expected life span in Tennessee was 30 years less than the rest of the country (interestingly this was also from a family member). 30 years seemed a lot. I looked it up. She was right, they do have a lesser life span but it's 5 years not 30. There are also details that I found interesting as the Tennesseans had a tendency to die young. It wasn't health care or lack of social support, they just tended to get a little crazy early in life. Why did she accept the 30 year number uncritically? It should have seemed awfully big to anyone. Another post topic!
I got interested in science and the "news" in a big way when the issue of global warming came up. Al Gore was telling us that the world was doomed and the arctic would ice free by 2018, etc., etc. That led to a lot of reading and thinking and learning about peer reviewed papers and how science is done, etc. I don't have a lot of respect for much of what I run across now and no belief in what I read in the papers. Any headline that starts with "Scientist say..." is almost guaranteed to some newspaper editor's world view and not what was in the actual paper. The press releases are not much better and the papers tend to print without asking any questions. Also peer reviewed papers are no guarantee of truth either. A topic for another day...
So I feel in a lot of ways and in almost all fields that I am surrounded by a large sea (are there small seas? Maybe I don't need the "large" in there.), of ignorant, slanted, and poorly understood stuff in all fields. Think salt and fat are bad for you? Better check. Think the golf swing needs a huge lower body movement to swing fast? Might not be that clear...
I've reached the point where I don't trust anything. Thankfully it's quite easy to access the sum of all human knowledge these days allows you to look around and see what is probably true and that which is wrong and that which is unknown.
My advice is to embrace all of this and be very wary about "knowing" something. I'm going to work on my humility!
After the research my views on what I felt I knew were changed about 180 degrees.
I first ascribed this to a phenomenon of believing what you read in the popular press. The press was in this case and in many others, a bit alarmist. And in this case I took those words for gospel and it was affixed in my mind for a number of years.
That was a bit of a mistake and I wish now that I had maintained my usual skepticism of what I had read. I'm usually good at that, but on occasion when an article aligns with my core beliefs and possibly what I want to believe, it's awfully easy to accept it.
We all have that problem.
Then I ran I ran across an article from a researcher. He mentioned he ran into a person whom he knew in grad school. They were both working towards their PhD. The friend dropped out and went to law school. He stuck it out.
The friend told him that she quit because the research made her feel stupid.
The researcher considered this. He recognized that looking into things that are unknown should make us feel stupid. Well, maybe ignorant is a better word.
I've run into this too. I was doing some judging at science fairs. I was working at a national lab and doing technical stuff, so this shouldn't have been too much trouble.
There were a couple of problems with that. The kids were looking into stuff that was unknown to me. They tended to stare me in the eyes too; quite disconcerting! And then a number of exhibitors had access to labs and parents who probably helped a lot. A lot of it was beyond me.
An interesting part of this was as I tried to fill in the gaps of my own knowledge by asking questions of the kids, they had problems with my lack of understanding. General principals of a lot of things be they biological or physical are usually fairly simple. But the connections from what they are playing with and general principals can be obscure. I needed the connections, but the kids had trouble providing them as they were too close to it and never looked at their project from an outsider's point of view.
Now, back to golf... As I struggle through the mass of knowledge out there one has to realize that it's not all right. Even if we agree that there are a number of ways to hit golf balls, there are physical properties that we have to respect. Then it's also an issue and body of knowledge as to how and what we want our physical bodies to do.
As I stumble along I feel like that researcher who feels stupid. I feel lost on occasion -- ok, quite often. I envy the golfer who just gets up and hits it and doesn't have to reflect on it all.
But like the researcher, this feeling is valid and acceptable. I should accept the lost feelings and embrace them rather than feeling discouraged. It reveals new areas of inquiry and new possibilities and directions of investigation. All of which should be considered as a good thing.
I don't know if my family member will resolve the beliefs we used to share in common. I hope the question well provide some incite into firmly held beliefs and how they might be correct or correct for everyone.
I used to engage folks on Facebook about the issues of the day. When something came up which I didn't agree, I looked into it. For example I was told that the expected life span in Tennessee was 30 years less than the rest of the country (interestingly this was also from a family member). 30 years seemed a lot. I looked it up. She was right, they do have a lesser life span but it's 5 years not 30. There are also details that I found interesting as the Tennesseans had a tendency to die young. It wasn't health care or lack of social support, they just tended to get a little crazy early in life. Why did she accept the 30 year number uncritically? It should have seemed awfully big to anyone. Another post topic!
I got interested in science and the "news" in a big way when the issue of global warming came up. Al Gore was telling us that the world was doomed and the arctic would ice free by 2018, etc., etc. That led to a lot of reading and thinking and learning about peer reviewed papers and how science is done, etc. I don't have a lot of respect for much of what I run across now and no belief in what I read in the papers. Any headline that starts with "Scientist say..." is almost guaranteed to some newspaper editor's world view and not what was in the actual paper. The press releases are not much better and the papers tend to print without asking any questions. Also peer reviewed papers are no guarantee of truth either. A topic for another day...
So I feel in a lot of ways and in almost all fields that I am surrounded by a large sea (are there small seas? Maybe I don't need the "large" in there.), of ignorant, slanted, and poorly understood stuff in all fields. Think salt and fat are bad for you? Better check. Think the golf swing needs a huge lower body movement to swing fast? Might not be that clear...
I've reached the point where I don't trust anything. Thankfully it's quite easy to access the sum of all human knowledge these days allows you to look around and see what is probably true and that which is wrong and that which is unknown.
My advice is to embrace all of this and be very wary about "knowing" something. I'm going to work on my humility!
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