It's been a while since the last post. In truth there is not a lot of new news to pass along. I've decided that I know enough about the golf swing that I am trying to make, that I've forsaken the YouTube golf videos for the nonce. '
There are things I'm still not doing as consistently as I would like. I will concentrate on that. I'm hitting the ball well, making some interesting shots, and basically happy with all that is happening. Even the thrice cursed driver is behaving more than not. But I don't feel the need for more insight. I've got the GUP as father used to say. That stands for Great Unifying Principle; it can be plural too.
Pickleball continues to be a lot of fun, a good workout, and an interesting tactical exercise. I'm very happy that I took it up and the fellows that are playing with me are having a good time too. Sweat soaked and happy is our condition post game. Other than the physical injuries it can be quite humorous as we play along. There is much laughter. They also fixed the drinking fountain in the park, so it's a plan that has come together rather nicely.
There was a disc golf tournament in Livermore the other day and I dropped in to look at that. I'd like to find a coach and learn how to throw the discs further. I've watched a bit of the pros playing in tournaments around the world and the courses are quite interesting. Some are in the trees and some are open, but all of them are quite demanding. If you want to be a disc golf pro you need to throw the discs about 500 feet. I think I'm sub-150 at this point. Sadly the throw and golf swing are fairly close in technique; it's sad since I don't hit a golf ball that far, the disc distance might be impossible too. It just might not be in the genes.
So there is not much new going on, just refinement and practice and effort towards more consistency.
Which leads to the next question, which is what to write about if I'm not going to prattle on about golf? I'd still like to dabble in fiction. The spy genre and mystery areas are intriguing, but they seem like a lot of work to get something passable. But I know about a lot of curious little worlds, so I might be able to paint some interesting pictures.
I read a P. G. Wodehouse the other day. It was the usual: country house, people named Wooster, stolen scarabs, elopements, and newly found and newly extinguished engagements. Probably could have been a shorter story. But it's littered with commentary about the social classes and worthless sons and such. The man can turn a humorous phrase. If I think about that, he brings knowledge of the human animal and the British society together with some wacky individuals.
I think a new venture along those lines will require much thought. I won't tell you haw long it took me to come up with a wallet design... But pondering things is entertaining. I think we'll just have to see what comes up.
Friday, August 23, 2019
Sunday, August 18, 2019
New Evidence
In a continuation of nature versus nurture in the golf swing in re distance, I ran across two new points that I would like to add to the discussion.
In a video from Athletic Motion Golf they mentioned that while measuring swing speeds for amateurs and professionals, they found that when the club shaft was parallel to the ground that the amateurs had a faster club head speed than the pros. However at the ball contact, the professional's club was moving 12 mph faster than the amateur. This was for a seven iron. The position of "club parallel" is one which requires some understanding. If you never cocked your wrists then this position would be reached with the shaft at the height of your shoulders. If you kept your wrist cock at 90 degrees then the shaft is parallel at the height of mid thighs. Obviously this positions would occur at different times. The downswing is a small part of a second in duration.
Note that the mid thigh height and the shoulder height are not possible because there is usually/always some wrist cock for the amateurs and due to the physics of the swing, it is generally not possible nor beneficial to have a 90 degree wrist cock when your hands are between the thighs.
Now, who is who? It is the pros who have delayed the opening of the wrist cock until a later position in the swing. The amateurs lose the angle in an effort to hit the ball further.
But the point I think is important is that the speeds attained are probably closer than one would suspect and that it is a swing flaw that costs the loss of distance in the amateur player. The understanding that being slower earlier in the swing is a path to more speed later is not, like a lot of golf ideas, obviously intuitive.
The second bit of evidence is one that comes to us from the golf disc world. There was a golf disc tournament this weekend in Livermore and I wandered over early Saturday to take a look. Lots of young people with tattoos, half of them from San Jose, made up the crowd. They claimed about 30 but I think I saw 20 tops. I've tried disc golf and dropped it because the Livermore course was a goo place to break your leg and I've never been good at throwing a disc for any kind of distance. I think I was good at tearing bits of finger as I searched for more distance. I was curious to re-look at the disc throwing technique. I turned to YouTube for some guidance and ran across a video by a professional disc golfer whose video described the basics of giving a disc an efficient toss.
The secret he said is that the motion is not intuitive and obvious. The motion is that of starting a lawn mover with old pull cord. The model is that the throwing arm is pulled back, just like golf, we have a body turn, we are 90 degree to the target but as we generate some speed the right elbow needs to bend. As the bent arm gets past the body, then we allow the elbow to straighten and we have a bit of a snapping action as the disc goes flying. He had a towel drill to demonstrate the proper motion. Basically we drive the elbow forward and let the forearm straighten in a late snapping action. I suspect that a physicist would tell you to not try to help this action; aka it would be the same as the golf swing.
If you don't bend the elbow, then you are just spinning the disc around your body and will not generate the speed nor the directional control possible.
If we assume that this guy is more correct than not, then we can see some similarities with the golf swing. We maintain a bent lever, either elbow or wrist, then release it late in the action.
As I think about what I've written, I'm not sure that the disc throwing information adds additional evidence to the idea that amateurs just don't know what they are doing, but I'll leave it in there since I may try to coax the boys up to Walnut Creek where there is supposed to be a nice disc course and I'm curious to give it another try.
In a video from Athletic Motion Golf they mentioned that while measuring swing speeds for amateurs and professionals, they found that when the club shaft was parallel to the ground that the amateurs had a faster club head speed than the pros. However at the ball contact, the professional's club was moving 12 mph faster than the amateur. This was for a seven iron. The position of "club parallel" is one which requires some understanding. If you never cocked your wrists then this position would be reached with the shaft at the height of your shoulders. If you kept your wrist cock at 90 degrees then the shaft is parallel at the height of mid thighs. Obviously this positions would occur at different times. The downswing is a small part of a second in duration.
Note that the mid thigh height and the shoulder height are not possible because there is usually/always some wrist cock for the amateurs and due to the physics of the swing, it is generally not possible nor beneficial to have a 90 degree wrist cock when your hands are between the thighs.
Now, who is who? It is the pros who have delayed the opening of the wrist cock until a later position in the swing. The amateurs lose the angle in an effort to hit the ball further.
But the point I think is important is that the speeds attained are probably closer than one would suspect and that it is a swing flaw that costs the loss of distance in the amateur player. The understanding that being slower earlier in the swing is a path to more speed later is not, like a lot of golf ideas, obviously intuitive.
The second bit of evidence is one that comes to us from the golf disc world. There was a golf disc tournament this weekend in Livermore and I wandered over early Saturday to take a look. Lots of young people with tattoos, half of them from San Jose, made up the crowd. They claimed about 30 but I think I saw 20 tops. I've tried disc golf and dropped it because the Livermore course was a goo place to break your leg and I've never been good at throwing a disc for any kind of distance. I think I was good at tearing bits of finger as I searched for more distance. I was curious to re-look at the disc throwing technique. I turned to YouTube for some guidance and ran across a video by a professional disc golfer whose video described the basics of giving a disc an efficient toss.
The secret he said is that the motion is not intuitive and obvious. The motion is that of starting a lawn mover with old pull cord. The model is that the throwing arm is pulled back, just like golf, we have a body turn, we are 90 degree to the target but as we generate some speed the right elbow needs to bend. As the bent arm gets past the body, then we allow the elbow to straighten and we have a bit of a snapping action as the disc goes flying. He had a towel drill to demonstrate the proper motion. Basically we drive the elbow forward and let the forearm straighten in a late snapping action. I suspect that a physicist would tell you to not try to help this action; aka it would be the same as the golf swing.
If you don't bend the elbow, then you are just spinning the disc around your body and will not generate the speed nor the directional control possible.
If we assume that this guy is more correct than not, then we can see some similarities with the golf swing. We maintain a bent lever, either elbow or wrist, then release it late in the action.
As I think about what I've written, I'm not sure that the disc throwing information adds additional evidence to the idea that amateurs just don't know what they are doing, but I'll leave it in there since I may try to coax the boys up to Walnut Creek where there is supposed to be a nice disc course and I'm curious to give it another try.
Wednesday, August 14, 2019
Monday and Wednesday Rounds
We are getting some of our normal heat this week. It's been absent all year. There is talk of 104 or so today. I played Monday and it was 94 or so and I felt like I had been beaten with a stick. There were good reasons for that as Rich 2 and I played the short course at 9, then hung out for an hour, then played the long course.
We followed a couple of tournament groups on the long course. The groups had a number of foursomes and when that happens, the course plays slowly. And there was little wind. Heat comes from high pressure systems and they tend to just sit over the area, windlessly, and cook us. The high tech shirts are great at moving sweat around, but require some wind for cooling. Without the wind they are hot.
It was a long day with a lot of time in the sun and no wind. I drank water like a camel at the end of his trip and munched granola bars to keep my strength up. It pretty much worked, but I was done in by our 3 pm finish.
How's the golf? I hear you ask. If you think back to our previous post(s), I'm working on moving my right hip out of the way on the backswing and get my hands back to the address position. To sum it up, it's going quite well, thank you. It seems to be changing a lot of things too. I'm in positions that require different motions and yet they seem to be easy and the natural thing to do. I'm feeling the hands and arms work differently and I'm getting the club to come around and strike the ball solidly and differently. It feels like I'm young and learning the game for the first time, but from a much better base or setup.
It's a bit hard to explain, but new dimensions are opening and abilities are being realigned. It's affected my pitching, which is good, but I need to be more trusting and swing harder on some of the shots.
The last 4 rounds have been deep into the 70s. One was even par and several others were just a couple of strokes north of that. I'm happy with that. I've changed my putting to make sure the face of the putter stays on line after the strike. It feels and looks like the putter is launching into the air. I think I was pulling it left before. With this new stroke I'm making a lot of putts. It feels weird to miss one. Long and short, they are dropping frequently.
And today, I even got the driver going. I worked on making sure my hands got down to the thigh area ahead of my body opening up. That synced the timing and bang, bang, bang the ball went flying. Of course I didn't remember that bit until late in the round.
So the Monday round takes two and a half hours for the front nine and four and one half for the full 18. Today we teed off at 6:50 ahead of the seniors, and got around in three hours and 10 minutes. We even had to wait on a couple of holes, but the early time and lack of heat and fast pace made for a very enjoyable day. I wasn't crazy about getting up before 6, but I was done by 10 and in my easy chair by 10:30.
We followed a couple of tournament groups on the long course. The groups had a number of foursomes and when that happens, the course plays slowly. And there was little wind. Heat comes from high pressure systems and they tend to just sit over the area, windlessly, and cook us. The high tech shirts are great at moving sweat around, but require some wind for cooling. Without the wind they are hot.
It was a long day with a lot of time in the sun and no wind. I drank water like a camel at the end of his trip and munched granola bars to keep my strength up. It pretty much worked, but I was done in by our 3 pm finish.
How's the golf? I hear you ask. If you think back to our previous post(s), I'm working on moving my right hip out of the way on the backswing and get my hands back to the address position. To sum it up, it's going quite well, thank you. It seems to be changing a lot of things too. I'm in positions that require different motions and yet they seem to be easy and the natural thing to do. I'm feeling the hands and arms work differently and I'm getting the club to come around and strike the ball solidly and differently. It feels like I'm young and learning the game for the first time, but from a much better base or setup.
It's a bit hard to explain, but new dimensions are opening and abilities are being realigned. It's affected my pitching, which is good, but I need to be more trusting and swing harder on some of the shots.
The last 4 rounds have been deep into the 70s. One was even par and several others were just a couple of strokes north of that. I'm happy with that. I've changed my putting to make sure the face of the putter stays on line after the strike. It feels and looks like the putter is launching into the air. I think I was pulling it left before. With this new stroke I'm making a lot of putts. It feels weird to miss one. Long and short, they are dropping frequently.
And today, I even got the driver going. I worked on making sure my hands got down to the thigh area ahead of my body opening up. That synced the timing and bang, bang, bang the ball went flying. Of course I didn't remember that bit until late in the round.
So the Monday round takes two and a half hours for the front nine and four and one half for the full 18. Today we teed off at 6:50 ahead of the seniors, and got around in three hours and 10 minutes. We even had to wait on a couple of holes, but the early time and lack of heat and fast pace made for a very enjoyable day. I wasn't crazy about getting up before 6, but I was done by 10 and in my easy chair by 10:30.
Sunday, August 11, 2019
Directional Changes
Sonny says on Friday, "Get your hands back where they started! Come on!" And "Watch my right hip, see it stay in place until the hands go through? That's what you need or you've got no room for the hands."
I dive back into Athletic Motion Golf and look up hips motions. Here we go, Pros versus Ams, hip movement...
One of the interesting things that pros do is move their right hip during the backswing and leave their left hip almost motionless and in the setup position. Amateurs on the other hip, don't move their right hip, but rotate their left hip. To state this differently, pros rotate around their spine and amateurs rotate around the right hip. Pros move things out of the downswing path and Ams move stuff in the way.
When the club comes back down you need room for arms and hands to return to the setup position. If the left hip is in the way, you will have to do something - and it frequently is not pretty - to hit the ball at all. The pros have left the arm path open, the Ams have to move the left hip out of the way. But there is another problem, there is not enough time to rotate the left hip out of the way. So we Ams will stand up or early extend or come over the top. Frequently, we have to slow something to do that, so we also get slower swing speeds. If the path is clear, there is no slowing down and you can swing harder/faster with no conflicts and no swing path conflicts.
I spent most of Saturday thinking about this, but for a couple of reasons I didn't go to the range. Today allowed time to get there and I spent most of my time making sure that I was doing some of this. I found the ability to easily come from inside to outside for all the clubs. There was more room for things and it was fairly easy to do.
This Monday is an interesting golf day. Normally we play just after the Seniors and go about about 9:30 or so. But tomorrow it's at 11 since there is another group after the seniors. I talked it over with Rich 2, I suggested some pickleball in the morning and then mosey over to the course. Nope, R2 likes his P-Ball on Tuesday and Thursdays, apparently only! We then agreed to get there about 9 and play the short course then play the long course. So 27 tomorrow and a good test if I can make this change.
I dive back into Athletic Motion Golf and look up hips motions. Here we go, Pros versus Ams, hip movement...
One of the interesting things that pros do is move their right hip during the backswing and leave their left hip almost motionless and in the setup position. Amateurs on the other hip, don't move their right hip, but rotate their left hip. To state this differently, pros rotate around their spine and amateurs rotate around the right hip. Pros move things out of the downswing path and Ams move stuff in the way.
When the club comes back down you need room for arms and hands to return to the setup position. If the left hip is in the way, you will have to do something - and it frequently is not pretty - to hit the ball at all. The pros have left the arm path open, the Ams have to move the left hip out of the way. But there is another problem, there is not enough time to rotate the left hip out of the way. So we Ams will stand up or early extend or come over the top. Frequently, we have to slow something to do that, so we also get slower swing speeds. If the path is clear, there is no slowing down and you can swing harder/faster with no conflicts and no swing path conflicts.
I spent most of Saturday thinking about this, but for a couple of reasons I didn't go to the range. Today allowed time to get there and I spent most of my time making sure that I was doing some of this. I found the ability to easily come from inside to outside for all the clubs. There was more room for things and it was fairly easy to do.
This Monday is an interesting golf day. Normally we play just after the Seniors and go about about 9:30 or so. But tomorrow it's at 11 since there is another group after the seniors. I talked it over with Rich 2, I suggested some pickleball in the morning and then mosey over to the course. Nope, R2 likes his P-Ball on Tuesday and Thursdays, apparently only! We then agreed to get there about 9 and play the short course then play the long course. So 27 tomorrow and a good test if I can make this change.
Wednesday, August 7, 2019
Perhaps...
There is an ongoing debate about good golfers and other golfers, is it strength/savant or technique?
Rich II suggests that the pros are different people and his evidence is Fred Funk, who has beaten the best, but can't hit the ball very far -- yes, we are talking distance primarily.
Taking the other side of the argument, I would suggest that there are a lot of very slight, non-muscular golfers who can hit the ball a long way. Also there are the Korean gals on the LPGA, who also modest in size, can move the ball as far as Rich II or myself would dream of.
I admit that Rich II's argument is hard to refute. Certainly Funk has had access to all the instruction and feedback he could ever want, yet is left with his modest distance. He has the motivation to do it too, as length increases would have made his career easier.
Now, let us journey to today's round. As the careful reader with excellent memory would remember, I've been trying to get my hands into the "Sonny preferred" positions. There has been some modest success, with the driver still being a bit of a hold out. But today, towards the end of the round, (of course - all revelations are required to manifest at the end of a round), I felt my wrists snapping through the ball. Clearly it felt as if the energy was being released at a different time than usual.
Perhaps an example is required. On 17 I cracked a four wood off the deck. It goes 230... And straight up the fairway. This is about 10% better than expectations. This leaves 120 to a back pin. The green is bit elevated from the fairway and the prudent golfer might take a bit more club to compensate for the elevation. But I, perhaps not prudent enough, hit the 120 yard club. The wrists do their new thing, the ball attains heights rarely seen and it sails over the green and the ball is about 25 yards past the pin -- another 15% increase.
On the 18th, I pull out the driver for about the 4th time in the round. Looking back, I would have preferred that it was for the 3rd time, but "you can't dwell on the past" as grandma used to say. I manage to perform this new wrist thing and there is a crack when club meets ball that I've never hear before; higher pitched, stunningly loud, birds veer off, the deer wiggle their ears. There is a crash as the ball is a bit high and right and catches some of the minor tree branches. After all of that, the ball ends up in the right rough and pretty long. I hit two more good shots to get to the green and then drain a 20 footer for my first birdie of the day.
So have I finally stumbled across some of the "secret" technique? Or is this what all golfers feel and I've finally stopped being my own way to get there?
I'm tempted to keep playing, but the course is busy and there will be time post pickleball tomorrow to test these things.
Rich II suggests that the pros are different people and his evidence is Fred Funk, who has beaten the best, but can't hit the ball very far -- yes, we are talking distance primarily.
Taking the other side of the argument, I would suggest that there are a lot of very slight, non-muscular golfers who can hit the ball a long way. Also there are the Korean gals on the LPGA, who also modest in size, can move the ball as far as Rich II or myself would dream of.
I admit that Rich II's argument is hard to refute. Certainly Funk has had access to all the instruction and feedback he could ever want, yet is left with his modest distance. He has the motivation to do it too, as length increases would have made his career easier.
Now, let us journey to today's round. As the careful reader with excellent memory would remember, I've been trying to get my hands into the "Sonny preferred" positions. There has been some modest success, with the driver still being a bit of a hold out. But today, towards the end of the round, (of course - all revelations are required to manifest at the end of a round), I felt my wrists snapping through the ball. Clearly it felt as if the energy was being released at a different time than usual.
Perhaps an example is required. On 17 I cracked a four wood off the deck. It goes 230... And straight up the fairway. This is about 10% better than expectations. This leaves 120 to a back pin. The green is bit elevated from the fairway and the prudent golfer might take a bit more club to compensate for the elevation. But I, perhaps not prudent enough, hit the 120 yard club. The wrists do their new thing, the ball attains heights rarely seen and it sails over the green and the ball is about 25 yards past the pin -- another 15% increase.
On the 18th, I pull out the driver for about the 4th time in the round. Looking back, I would have preferred that it was for the 3rd time, but "you can't dwell on the past" as grandma used to say. I manage to perform this new wrist thing and there is a crack when club meets ball that I've never hear before; higher pitched, stunningly loud, birds veer off, the deer wiggle their ears. There is a crash as the ball is a bit high and right and catches some of the minor tree branches. After all of that, the ball ends up in the right rough and pretty long. I hit two more good shots to get to the green and then drain a 20 footer for my first birdie of the day.
So have I finally stumbled across some of the "secret" technique? Or is this what all golfers feel and I've finally stopped being my own way to get there?
I'm tempted to keep playing, but the course is busy and there will be time post pickleball tomorrow to test these things.
Monday, August 5, 2019
Monday Morning Round
I've been trying to use the suggestions that Sonny has sprinkled my way. To summarize those would be to suggest more of an arm swing, less of a body pull through, and try to get the wrists to still be hinged at the left leg.
Some of the above is a means to change the swing than the actual positions and actions that are desired. For example you can't get your hands to your left leg and still have a full wrist cock. The motion of the club will have started to unhinge the wrists when the hands get to the right leg. But as aids to getting better, this valid instructional methods.
Today I'm playing with my usual group. Except Rich II decides to play at the upscale course down the street. Putting on airs if you ask me! Rumor has it that if you slice or hook the Bridges is not your golf course. I'll have to see how R2 did; he likes to move it left to right on all shots. I seem to have digressed...
It's a strange weather day. It's muggy and there is no wind. The fairways are dry, which is a bit unusual. I think the sprinklers are off for the nonce. We've had a cool summer and there is not much need to dampen the course with reclaimed water. I've got one of the golf shirts on, which is fine in hot weather as long as there is a breeze. They wick a lot, but you're going to feel hot without the wind.
I had a nice day at the range yesterday, so I'm confident that I can do what I want to and put the new moves into operation.
I'll have to skip a head a bit as to wade through all the holes would require more typing that I want to do today - more on that later, and if you are not a keen student of the game it would be fairly boring.
But I'm hitting greens and moving the ball quite well. I'm not knocking down flag sticks, which can happen, but I'm clubbing well and hitting them fairly straight.
I top a shot from the rough on the long second and then miss a four footer for par to take the first bogey. But I stuff it closely on the long par 3 fourth and make the 4 footer this time for the birdie. Holes six through eight are boring pars with two putts. Then nine is a longish par 4 where if I had the confidence, I'd hit a driver. But I go with the trusty 4 wood and then have about 160 in and it's slightly up hill. I try a five iron, a bit much, it comes out low, clears the water and heads for the apron of the green. I lose sight of it. It might have dug in short of the green or popped on. As I get to the green I see the ball has gone all the way through and is sitting on the back fringe.
The ninth is a green with a lot of slope and I'm tempted to chip the ball. There are some tufts of grass behind the ball, another reason to chip. But it looks like a putt to me. Note that I'm not hesitant to chip or pitch the ball. I practice those shots almost every day -- you want a soft lob over a bunker, you come to me. The putt is awkward, but I do ok and wander the ball down to the hole. The pace is perfect, but I've misread the breaks a bit -- there were three of them. But it's two feet and those kind of putts are meaningless today. I finish the front with even par 36, one birdie, one bogey, eight greens in regulation.
The back starts the same. I'm perfect vis-a-vis GIR and two putts until the long 13th. I pull out the driver for the first time. The hole is 530 yards long. I follow my instructions during the swing. When the smoke has cleared I'm in the fairway, a solid 115 yards off the tee. What a shot! I could have done better with my pitching wedge. But, we have not given up on par yet... A 4 wood gets me to the 200 yard mark and I hit the 4 wood again and I'm almost pin high. But this is the toughest green we have. I put up a soft lob and then watch the ball not break and run out. Hmm, 3 feet to go, I hit it well, but I didn't get the break right and it's the second bogey of the day.
The 14th is also a driver hole. It's 380 or, I try the driver again and now I'm 170 out with a side hill lie in the rough. Well, I've got a club for that, my trusty hybrid 4 iron and I give it a lusty wack, with a small nod to the gods who protect golfers like me... It comes out low, but my line is great and I'm on the green with 12 feet to go. A routine two putt and we are off to other holes.
The 15th is a longish par three. I hit to the back of the green, and two putt. Then the driver comes out for the penultimate time and I hit it well. Solidly on the face, right down the middle, not too high and it's a lovely strike. My faith in physics is restored and hope fills my soul and it's a wonderful day and I'm no longer concerned about the vertigo that I'm feeling whenever I get over a putt. This is a new sensation and I am not a fan of it. I stumble around with my largish feet as it is, I don't more complexity. But the short putts are all dropping, so I can't complain too much.
Where were we? Yes, moving on the par 4 17th. This hole crosses the arroyo and we have longish bridge to cross. Interestingly on Friday last, I watch two young foxes walk across the bridge. Too lazy to jump the arroyo I guess.
I hit a very solid 4 wood and then a pitching wedge to get to 6 feet or so. I manage to roll it home as my head spins. Ah, back to even par.
Last hole, par 5, driver is a good idea. We have a double dogleg to negotiate. I catch it off the heel a bit, but I've got a clear shot forward from a fluffy lie. It goes fine and then a 9 iron to the green, This comes off low and doesn't carry well. It did stop well, just when not wanted, but there you are. I stub the putt leaving myself 6 feet for an even par round. I stubbed a number of putts today. Not sure what that was all about, but I managed to make all the putts I left short. And the 18th was no exception! It is goes in and I'm even par for the day. One of my life time better rounds. Certainly one the most consistent with exception of the driver. Looks like 8 GIRS on the back, with about 35 putts for the round.
So a thanks to Sonny for the tips. I see progress there and I can't complain about the ability to golf my ball.
Ok, we will retry on Wednesday with an early round. Tomorrow is back to the pickleball courts. I have new court shoes, so I'm expecting great things there too!
Some of the above is a means to change the swing than the actual positions and actions that are desired. For example you can't get your hands to your left leg and still have a full wrist cock. The motion of the club will have started to unhinge the wrists when the hands get to the right leg. But as aids to getting better, this valid instructional methods.
Today I'm playing with my usual group. Except Rich II decides to play at the upscale course down the street. Putting on airs if you ask me! Rumor has it that if you slice or hook the Bridges is not your golf course. I'll have to see how R2 did; he likes to move it left to right on all shots. I seem to have digressed...
It's a strange weather day. It's muggy and there is no wind. The fairways are dry, which is a bit unusual. I think the sprinklers are off for the nonce. We've had a cool summer and there is not much need to dampen the course with reclaimed water. I've got one of the golf shirts on, which is fine in hot weather as long as there is a breeze. They wick a lot, but you're going to feel hot without the wind.
I had a nice day at the range yesterday, so I'm confident that I can do what I want to and put the new moves into operation.
I'll have to skip a head a bit as to wade through all the holes would require more typing that I want to do today - more on that later, and if you are not a keen student of the game it would be fairly boring.
But I'm hitting greens and moving the ball quite well. I'm not knocking down flag sticks, which can happen, but I'm clubbing well and hitting them fairly straight.
I top a shot from the rough on the long second and then miss a four footer for par to take the first bogey. But I stuff it closely on the long par 3 fourth and make the 4 footer this time for the birdie. Holes six through eight are boring pars with two putts. Then nine is a longish par 4 where if I had the confidence, I'd hit a driver. But I go with the trusty 4 wood and then have about 160 in and it's slightly up hill. I try a five iron, a bit much, it comes out low, clears the water and heads for the apron of the green. I lose sight of it. It might have dug in short of the green or popped on. As I get to the green I see the ball has gone all the way through and is sitting on the back fringe.
The ninth is a green with a lot of slope and I'm tempted to chip the ball. There are some tufts of grass behind the ball, another reason to chip. But it looks like a putt to me. Note that I'm not hesitant to chip or pitch the ball. I practice those shots almost every day -- you want a soft lob over a bunker, you come to me. The putt is awkward, but I do ok and wander the ball down to the hole. The pace is perfect, but I've misread the breaks a bit -- there were three of them. But it's two feet and those kind of putts are meaningless today. I finish the front with even par 36, one birdie, one bogey, eight greens in regulation.
The back starts the same. I'm perfect vis-a-vis GIR and two putts until the long 13th. I pull out the driver for the first time. The hole is 530 yards long. I follow my instructions during the swing. When the smoke has cleared I'm in the fairway, a solid 115 yards off the tee. What a shot! I could have done better with my pitching wedge. But, we have not given up on par yet... A 4 wood gets me to the 200 yard mark and I hit the 4 wood again and I'm almost pin high. But this is the toughest green we have. I put up a soft lob and then watch the ball not break and run out. Hmm, 3 feet to go, I hit it well, but I didn't get the break right and it's the second bogey of the day.
The 14th is also a driver hole. It's 380 or, I try the driver again and now I'm 170 out with a side hill lie in the rough. Well, I've got a club for that, my trusty hybrid 4 iron and I give it a lusty wack, with a small nod to the gods who protect golfers like me... It comes out low, but my line is great and I'm on the green with 12 feet to go. A routine two putt and we are off to other holes.
The 15th is a longish par three. I hit to the back of the green, and two putt. Then the driver comes out for the penultimate time and I hit it well. Solidly on the face, right down the middle, not too high and it's a lovely strike. My faith in physics is restored and hope fills my soul and it's a wonderful day and I'm no longer concerned about the vertigo that I'm feeling whenever I get over a putt. This is a new sensation and I am not a fan of it. I stumble around with my largish feet as it is, I don't more complexity. But the short putts are all dropping, so I can't complain too much.
Where were we? Yes, moving on the par 4 17th. This hole crosses the arroyo and we have longish bridge to cross. Interestingly on Friday last, I watch two young foxes walk across the bridge. Too lazy to jump the arroyo I guess.
I hit a very solid 4 wood and then a pitching wedge to get to 6 feet or so. I manage to roll it home as my head spins. Ah, back to even par.
Last hole, par 5, driver is a good idea. We have a double dogleg to negotiate. I catch it off the heel a bit, but I've got a clear shot forward from a fluffy lie. It goes fine and then a 9 iron to the green, This comes off low and doesn't carry well. It did stop well, just when not wanted, but there you are. I stub the putt leaving myself 6 feet for an even par round. I stubbed a number of putts today. Not sure what that was all about, but I managed to make all the putts I left short. And the 18th was no exception! It is goes in and I'm even par for the day. One of my life time better rounds. Certainly one the most consistent with exception of the driver. Looks like 8 GIRS on the back, with about 35 putts for the round.
So a thanks to Sonny for the tips. I see progress there and I can't complain about the ability to golf my ball.
Ok, we will retry on Wednesday with an early round. Tomorrow is back to the pickleball courts. I have new court shoes, so I'm expecting great things there too!
Saturday, August 3, 2019
Revisiting the Classics
And by classics I'm referring to the Travis McGee series by John D. McDonald. McDonald died in the late 80s. But I've looking for literature that I'm eager to read and I bounce between some sci-fi and the old spy/action books.
I read the McGee book over vacation trip to North Carolina on my Kindle. I probably own the paperback too. I have a modest collection of these kind of books.
When this book was written they were about 150 pages. The authors didn't get the 300 to 500 pages you can find today. One of the nice parts about this is that the action is pretty much non-stop. McDonald likes to pass on his thoughts about developers, society, Florida, gun control, government, etc., as he goes along. Also you will find that there are a lot of passages of color and texture, e.g., "a tan and sandy silence."
But I was disgruntled with the book. One of the hallmarks of his books are that every character besides McGee, Meyer, his foil, and a couple of ancillary characters, are rotten to the core. And if McGee finds a love interest, she is doomed. The one is this book was crazy and then got shot through the throat at the end. It never ends well for the bad guys. McGee usually gets damaged a bit too and this book was no exception. He is clobbered and Meyer has to fix the boat, schlep him to safety for recovery, and dispose of the bodies.
The technical aspects are pretty good. This book was about rare stamps. It's always nice to learn some details about different little areas.
I'm not sure I'll read any more. I want my books to end happily. Sure punish the bad guys, but get the girl for a least a little while before the budding relationship ends.
If we were to contrast this book to a Lee Child Jack Reacher novel, you would note the enormous amount of internal and external dialog that slowly drags the plot along in the Reacher book. McDonald has no such luxury and has to keep the fire a flame. Reacher doesn't get the girl much, he has a bus to catch or a ride to hitch. With the extra pages, you get more detail, more complexity, more locations. But for this genre is that more due to publishers' pushing for longer more expensive books than the authors interest in writing like that?
In both books we have a superman to deal with the baddies. Reacher is huge, but McGee has been there before.
I'll also bring up the Matt Helm series by Donald Hamilton. Matt is also a superman, fights his way out of impossible situations, punishes the bad guys, and usually gets the gal too. I like the Helm series a lot. I've listened to a number of them in audio format and they stand up. The Reacher books are done well in audio too. I've been listening to them on long airplane rides and if I can stay awake, I enjoy the experience.
From my perspective, it looks like a case of "you can't go home again." Very sad. I may have to dump my McDonald paperback collection in Ebay...
I read the McGee book over vacation trip to North Carolina on my Kindle. I probably own the paperback too. I have a modest collection of these kind of books.
When this book was written they were about 150 pages. The authors didn't get the 300 to 500 pages you can find today. One of the nice parts about this is that the action is pretty much non-stop. McDonald likes to pass on his thoughts about developers, society, Florida, gun control, government, etc., as he goes along. Also you will find that there are a lot of passages of color and texture, e.g., "a tan and sandy silence."
But I was disgruntled with the book. One of the hallmarks of his books are that every character besides McGee, Meyer, his foil, and a couple of ancillary characters, are rotten to the core. And if McGee finds a love interest, she is doomed. The one is this book was crazy and then got shot through the throat at the end. It never ends well for the bad guys. McGee usually gets damaged a bit too and this book was no exception. He is clobbered and Meyer has to fix the boat, schlep him to safety for recovery, and dispose of the bodies.
The technical aspects are pretty good. This book was about rare stamps. It's always nice to learn some details about different little areas.
I'm not sure I'll read any more. I want my books to end happily. Sure punish the bad guys, but get the girl for a least a little while before the budding relationship ends.
If we were to contrast this book to a Lee Child Jack Reacher novel, you would note the enormous amount of internal and external dialog that slowly drags the plot along in the Reacher book. McDonald has no such luxury and has to keep the fire a flame. Reacher doesn't get the girl much, he has a bus to catch or a ride to hitch. With the extra pages, you get more detail, more complexity, more locations. But for this genre is that more due to publishers' pushing for longer more expensive books than the authors interest in writing like that?
In both books we have a superman to deal with the baddies. Reacher is huge, but McGee has been there before.
I'll also bring up the Matt Helm series by Donald Hamilton. Matt is also a superman, fights his way out of impossible situations, punishes the bad guys, and usually gets the gal too. I like the Helm series a lot. I've listened to a number of them in audio format and they stand up. The Reacher books are done well in audio too. I've been listening to them on long airplane rides and if I can stay awake, I enjoy the experience.
From my perspective, it looks like a case of "you can't go home again." Very sad. I may have to dump my McDonald paperback collection in Ebay...
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