A Visit From Brandt, with apologies to EAP
Once upon a round most dreary, while I trudged most weak and weary,
Over many a thinking of YouTube golfers' lore,
While I hacked it, sadly lacked it, suddenly there came a tappet,
As of some gentle rapper, rapped upon my mental door.
`'Tis some figment,' I muttered, `of a putting nightmare -
Only this, and nothing more.'
Presently my will grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
`Golfer Sprite,' said I, 'truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was chipping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my mental door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you' - here I opened wide the door; -
Darkness there, and nothing more.
Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams every golfer feared to dream before;
But the silence was unbroken, and the darkness gave no token,
And the only phrase there spoken were the whispered words, `One Putt More!'
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the words, `One Putt More!'
Merely this and nothing more.
Open here I flung my hopeful mind, when, with brightly a flash to blind,
In there stepped the apparition of golfer Brandt the Snedeker.
Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
But, with mien of lord or God, perched above my mental door -
Perched upon a bust of Nicklaus just above my doubtful door -
Perched, and sat, and nothing more.
Then this visage beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance he wore,
`Though thy face be shorn and shaven, thou,' I said, `art sure no craven.
Ghastly grim and ancient player wandering from the far most shore -
Tell me what thy lordly game is on the Night's Plutonian shore!'
Quoth the Snedeker, `One Putt More.'
But Old Brandt, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only,
That these words, as if his soul in that phrase he did outpour.
Nothing further would he utter - not an ancient breeze did him flutter -
Till I could scarce more than mutter `Other friends have shown before -
On the morrow he will leave me, as my dreams have flown before.'
Then did the Brandtster say, `One Putt More.'
Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,
`Doubtless,' said I, `what he utters is its only stock and store,
Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful disaster
Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore -
Till the dirges of his hope that melancholy burden bore
Of "Never-never three putt more."
But the Brandt still beguiling all my sad soul into smiling,
Straight I wheeled a mental arm chair, sat in front of him with open mental door;
Then, upon the thinking sinking, I betook myself to linking
Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous Brandt of yore -
What this grinning, gainly, ghostly, and spritely player of yore
Meant in stating `One Putt More.'
'Tell me, old wise one,' I cried, 'let your secret be my guide!'
'I'd love to one putt more, but lack the very means to score!'
Brandt sat on that bust, and smiled a bit. Please, I thought, pass on that trust!
Then he spoke with words so fine, 'First you must find the line.'
'Without that you'll never score and thus of course, three putt more.'
'Wait, wait, there must be more, to make my one putts evermore?'
'With line in hand,' he said to me, 'Never be yee melancholy,
for happiness and calm of mind, is much required the hole to find.'
'What? just find the line and then prepare a happy mind?'
'There lacks but one more element, or your putt will not be heaven sent,
'with your hands the putter atop, give the ball a fearsome pop.'
'Make the ball a hurried hare, and over break do not despair.'
He nodded then his message tendered, now just mine to be remembered.
He lifted head just one more time, before he vanished from my mind.
Quoth the Snedeker, 'One putt more.'
Sunday, June 10, 2018
Friday, June 8, 2018
New Swing Key Thoughts
In the long time effort to make the long clubs perform like the short ones, I'm trying to use the following swing thoughts.
1) To stand at a better distance from the ball while driving, I'm lowering my hands. This is my normal short iron position. I hope the length of the driver and longer clubs will move me to the proper distance.
2) To avoid moving the club behind me and getting stuck, I'm taking the club back more vertically and making sure that I take it away with a shoulder turn.
I was using these keys today. I hit a number of very good drives. I was also longer with the irons. We might call this a semi-miracle cure. However there is always a downside. I seem to be causing my right elbow and shoulder some stress. I was going to pop some anti-inflammatoryies at it, but it's concert in the park night and that usually means a couple of beers. I don't like mixing this stuff.
But I'm happy with this. I like the distance and my direction control is intact.
I've been trying to putt like Snedeker with his popping stroke and using the Dan Whittaker pitching method. I think these are valid methods, but I need more practice with them. I had distance control issues with both.
1) To stand at a better distance from the ball while driving, I'm lowering my hands. This is my normal short iron position. I hope the length of the driver and longer clubs will move me to the proper distance.
2) To avoid moving the club behind me and getting stuck, I'm taking the club back more vertically and making sure that I take it away with a shoulder turn.
I was using these keys today. I hit a number of very good drives. I was also longer with the irons. We might call this a semi-miracle cure. However there is always a downside. I seem to be causing my right elbow and shoulder some stress. I was going to pop some anti-inflammatoryies at it, but it's concert in the park night and that usually means a couple of beers. I don't like mixing this stuff.
But I'm happy with this. I like the distance and my direction control is intact.
I've been trying to putt like Snedeker with his popping stroke and using the Dan Whittaker pitching method. I think these are valid methods, but I need more practice with them. I had distance control issues with both.
Putting Stats Thoughts
It was a nice day to play. The temperature was down 18 degrees from the weekend. The only sour point was that I left all of my hats at home and bought one for the ears and eyes.
I'm now the owner of a Greg Norman Shark straw hat. It is the only wide brimmed hat in the pro shop. It worked ok. Kept the sun out of my eyes and off my ears and didn't give me a headache. It was fairly cool too with many vents in the crown.
I played pretty well today (this was Monday the 4th of June) with the exception of a few drives. Not sure what the score was, but if I can't remember, it probably was pretty good.
I was thinking of putting stats and how one would measure putting performance.
Number of putts is dependent on number of greens hit and if the green is missed, then more a metric of chipping and sand play than putting.
I was considering the length of putts holed. The cases are long putts that drop versus two or three putts. If one is putting well and hitting greens, the length of holed putts (LoHP), might be pretty small.
Putts per GIR is a thought. But more likely to measure proximity to the hole with approach shots and then the ability to putt well.
Thus, I am at a bit of a loss as to how to look at this. Maybe it doesn't matter much. Might just be a means to talk myself into a new putter!
---
It's now Friday and I've kicked this topic around. I don't think there is a good way to describe putting with a single number.
I'm leaning towards classifying putts as either basically makeable or not. For the ordinary and prudent recreational golfer, I think that 4 feet might be outside length of a putt that you should expect to make. Beyond that your goal probably ought to be to two putt. Then we can summarize a round of putting as a percentage of what we should have made and did make versus total opportunities.
--
There was a article in the Atlantic magazine a number of years ago. It was written by a coach on the college level who had coached both men and women's teams. The differences were startling. The gals didn't like the idea of a meritocracy as to who would play where. They also tended to blame themselves for failures.
The guys blamed failure on their equipment.
I'm now the owner of a Greg Norman Shark straw hat. It is the only wide brimmed hat in the pro shop. It worked ok. Kept the sun out of my eyes and off my ears and didn't give me a headache. It was fairly cool too with many vents in the crown.
I played pretty well today (this was Monday the 4th of June) with the exception of a few drives. Not sure what the score was, but if I can't remember, it probably was pretty good.
I was thinking of putting stats and how one would measure putting performance.
Number of putts is dependent on number of greens hit and if the green is missed, then more a metric of chipping and sand play than putting.
I was considering the length of putts holed. The cases are long putts that drop versus two or three putts. If one is putting well and hitting greens, the length of holed putts (LoHP), might be pretty small.
Putts per GIR is a thought. But more likely to measure proximity to the hole with approach shots and then the ability to putt well.
Thus, I am at a bit of a loss as to how to look at this. Maybe it doesn't matter much. Might just be a means to talk myself into a new putter!
---
It's now Friday and I've kicked this topic around. I don't think there is a good way to describe putting with a single number.
I'm leaning towards classifying putts as either basically makeable or not. For the ordinary and prudent recreational golfer, I think that 4 feet might be outside length of a putt that you should expect to make. Beyond that your goal probably ought to be to two putt. Then we can summarize a round of putting as a percentage of what we should have made and did make versus total opportunities.
--
There was a article in the Atlantic magazine a number of years ago. It was written by a coach on the college level who had coached both men and women's teams. The differences were startling. The gals didn't like the idea of a meritocracy as to who would play where. They also tended to blame themselves for failures.
The guys blamed failure on their equipment.
Wednesday, June 6, 2018
A Couple of New Techniques
There are a couple of things I'm doing differently today. These have come from various YouTube videos that described the techniques and explained why they are better / good techniques.
Putting: Brandt Snedeker is a proponent of keeping the putting face square to the target. He has a popping action to add to this philosophy. The popping action provides for an aggressive acceleration into the golf ball. Longer putts incorporate more wrist action.
This is an older type of stroke. The modern stroke is to hold the hands, wrists, and arms frozen and rock the shoulders. This produces a stroke that must arc through the hitting area. That makes it critical to have the ball in a consistent position. Also the arc needs to be consistent.
The popping stroke requires none of this. It was required in the old days when the greens were furrier and putts needed to be hit harder.
I tried this today. I was very happy with my lines. I was able to hit the ball in the direction desired. This does not always happen! Distance control was pretty good. I made a bunch of longish putts, some coming back and I had 3 birdies. The club to ball contact was very good. There was a nice click produced at contact. Bottom line is that I will pursue this.
Pitching: There was a Dan Whittiker video where he proposed a pitching method to one of his students. The student had a tendency to hit all his pitches to the right. The new method requires preponderance of weight on the forward leg by bumping the lead hip out. The weight/hip is left there. Then the swinging of the club is done with the body / torso. The arms race the torso back to the ball, but it's a race that the arms are not expected to win.
I've tried this in practice a bit, but only today did I try it on the course. I don't have a good feeling for which clubs to use with this and the distances that will be generated. I hit two shots with this today. One from about 70 yards. I would normally have used my 56 and hit it with about a 3/4 full swing. But I tried my 50 to allow a less powerful swing. I hit it a little fat. The ball was propped up in the first cut of rough and I didn't choke up enough on the club. The line was perfect, but a touch short.
The other pitch was to a pin with not a lot of green in play. The line was again exceptional, this one was a bit strong, but a the strength required to hit this was minor.
I like both of these new techniques. They are making the various shots easier to perform and they are fun! A bit more practice should make them effective weapons on the war on par.
Putting: Brandt Snedeker is a proponent of keeping the putting face square to the target. He has a popping action to add to this philosophy. The popping action provides for an aggressive acceleration into the golf ball. Longer putts incorporate more wrist action.
This is an older type of stroke. The modern stroke is to hold the hands, wrists, and arms frozen and rock the shoulders. This produces a stroke that must arc through the hitting area. That makes it critical to have the ball in a consistent position. Also the arc needs to be consistent.
The popping stroke requires none of this. It was required in the old days when the greens were furrier and putts needed to be hit harder.
I tried this today. I was very happy with my lines. I was able to hit the ball in the direction desired. This does not always happen! Distance control was pretty good. I made a bunch of longish putts, some coming back and I had 3 birdies. The club to ball contact was very good. There was a nice click produced at contact. Bottom line is that I will pursue this.
Pitching: There was a Dan Whittiker video where he proposed a pitching method to one of his students. The student had a tendency to hit all his pitches to the right. The new method requires preponderance of weight on the forward leg by bumping the lead hip out. The weight/hip is left there. Then the swinging of the club is done with the body / torso. The arms race the torso back to the ball, but it's a race that the arms are not expected to win.
I've tried this in practice a bit, but only today did I try it on the course. I don't have a good feeling for which clubs to use with this and the distances that will be generated. I hit two shots with this today. One from about 70 yards. I would normally have used my 56 and hit it with about a 3/4 full swing. But I tried my 50 to allow a less powerful swing. I hit it a little fat. The ball was propped up in the first cut of rough and I didn't choke up enough on the club. The line was perfect, but a touch short.
The other pitch was to a pin with not a lot of green in play. The line was again exceptional, this one was a bit strong, but a the strength required to hit this was minor.
I like both of these new techniques. They are making the various shots easier to perform and they are fun! A bit more practice should make them effective weapons on the war on par.
Thursday, May 31, 2018
Some More Putting Thoughts
I was watching the Memorial tournament today and one of the announcers was talking about watching the ball after it's missed the hole and keeps rolling out. This is only important when the ball is breaking.
We have a ball that is at its highest speed (usually) at the hole and is decelerating as it stops. The point was that on the return putt the speed profiles are reversed. The highest speed will be at the point furthest from the hole.
This switch of speeds will affect how the ball breaks as it returns to the hole area. There is one more point that I would add to this and that is that the ball has traveled down hill from the pin. The amount of break is now less coming back.
It seems that one should spend a bit of time determining what part of the green caused the ball to break. Was it the area near the hole or in the area where it stopped and was moving the slowest.
Issac Newton, an avid golfer, had something to say about this too. He always said that all putts were going to run straight unless something caused them not to. I'm unsure of the Latin on that one, but I think one can find it under Newton's second law of putting. It's a rare volume, but worth the effort to find it.
We have three cases: 1) The slope of the green is constant from the center of the hole to the ball's location. 2) There is more slope near the hole and 3) the slope is closer to the ball.
How do we want to use that data?
In case 1, think we want to play less break than we had coming down. Trying to hit the ball firmly to remove break seems to appropriate. The breaking of the ball should increase as it approaches the hole due to its losing speed.
In case 2, we would expect more break near the hole, but with a straight roll until it gets close. Again a firm putt looks best as it will break less if the ball is moving faster near the hole.
In case 3, since the ball will be moving fastest where the majority of the break is, it would seem that the ball should have less total on the way back. So play less break and, why not, hit it firmly!
Assuming that we will not be risking a four putt or more by being aggressive coming back, it looks to be winning strategy to always hit the comeback putts firmly. We would expect to have the occasional three putt, but expect to make more two putts. Also a firmly struck putt playing less break should hole more putts generally.
--
It was a day off from playing and I've wanted to put a thicker grip on my putter, but I didn't want to pay $35 to do it. I wandered over to Golf Galaxy to recheck their stock. Rich II mentioned the grip he had on his putter was only $8 or so. I liked it; I would seek it out. Ha!
The grip he had was now priced at $25.
The repair guy, who was mono-syllabic when I was in about a possible warranty repair, was crazy in need to provide help. He came out and we looked through the stock. Bottom line is that he wasn't much help, but he tried this time.
I did find a Lambkin grip for $7.95. It also had a green sticker on it. When it was rung up, the total bill came to $6.05. That magic green dot was very powerful!
I take the grip and return home and retire to the work bench. I cut off the old Ping grip and find that the tape on the shaft looked pretty good and I decide that I can probably use it like it is. There is not a lot of effort in a putt and I wasn't worried about spinning the grip out of position even with the old tape.
I put some solvent in the grip, cover the little hole in the end of the grip, shake it around and pour it over the tape. This is common practice.
Now the new grip should slide all the way down and be slippery enough for some minor adjustment.
But I start the grip and it goes on about 2 inches and seems to get stuck. Yipes! I pull it off. Well, I tried to pull it off, but it was not moving. Hmm... I manage to slide a tool under the grip to break the tape's tenacity and get it off. Note that I wouldn't be able to cut the grip off as it was the last one the store had with or without the magic green dot.
I bite the bullet, wipe the sweat from the brow and scrape the old tape off. I install some new, use the last of my grip solvent to rejuice the grip and the new tape. The new grip slides effortlessly all the way down. I align the grip using a level -- this is a first, but seemed to work well.
All done and I expect no more than 20 putts tomorrow.
We have a ball that is at its highest speed (usually) at the hole and is decelerating as it stops. The point was that on the return putt the speed profiles are reversed. The highest speed will be at the point furthest from the hole.
This switch of speeds will affect how the ball breaks as it returns to the hole area. There is one more point that I would add to this and that is that the ball has traveled down hill from the pin. The amount of break is now less coming back.
It seems that one should spend a bit of time determining what part of the green caused the ball to break. Was it the area near the hole or in the area where it stopped and was moving the slowest.
Issac Newton, an avid golfer, had something to say about this too. He always said that all putts were going to run straight unless something caused them not to. I'm unsure of the Latin on that one, but I think one can find it under Newton's second law of putting. It's a rare volume, but worth the effort to find it.
We have three cases: 1) The slope of the green is constant from the center of the hole to the ball's location. 2) There is more slope near the hole and 3) the slope is closer to the ball.
How do we want to use that data?
In case 1, think we want to play less break than we had coming down. Trying to hit the ball firmly to remove break seems to appropriate. The breaking of the ball should increase as it approaches the hole due to its losing speed.
In case 2, we would expect more break near the hole, but with a straight roll until it gets close. Again a firm putt looks best as it will break less if the ball is moving faster near the hole.
In case 3, since the ball will be moving fastest where the majority of the break is, it would seem that the ball should have less total on the way back. So play less break and, why not, hit it firmly!
Assuming that we will not be risking a four putt or more by being aggressive coming back, it looks to be winning strategy to always hit the comeback putts firmly. We would expect to have the occasional three putt, but expect to make more two putts. Also a firmly struck putt playing less break should hole more putts generally.
--
It was a day off from playing and I've wanted to put a thicker grip on my putter, but I didn't want to pay $35 to do it. I wandered over to Golf Galaxy to recheck their stock. Rich II mentioned the grip he had on his putter was only $8 or so. I liked it; I would seek it out. Ha!
The grip he had was now priced at $25.
The repair guy, who was mono-syllabic when I was in about a possible warranty repair, was crazy in need to provide help. He came out and we looked through the stock. Bottom line is that he wasn't much help, but he tried this time.
I did find a Lambkin grip for $7.95. It also had a green sticker on it. When it was rung up, the total bill came to $6.05. That magic green dot was very powerful!
I take the grip and return home and retire to the work bench. I cut off the old Ping grip and find that the tape on the shaft looked pretty good and I decide that I can probably use it like it is. There is not a lot of effort in a putt and I wasn't worried about spinning the grip out of position even with the old tape.
I put some solvent in the grip, cover the little hole in the end of the grip, shake it around and pour it over the tape. This is common practice.
Now the new grip should slide all the way down and be slippery enough for some minor adjustment.
But I start the grip and it goes on about 2 inches and seems to get stuck. Yipes! I pull it off. Well, I tried to pull it off, but it was not moving. Hmm... I manage to slide a tool under the grip to break the tape's tenacity and get it off. Note that I wouldn't be able to cut the grip off as it was the last one the store had with or without the magic green dot.
I bite the bullet, wipe the sweat from the brow and scrape the old tape off. I install some new, use the last of my grip solvent to rejuice the grip and the new tape. The new grip slides effortlessly all the way down. I align the grip using a level -- this is a first, but seemed to work well.
All done and I expect no more than 20 putts tomorrow.
Monday, May 28, 2018
Other Interests
Konichiwa!
One cannot live by golf alone and a new(ish) interest is in Sumo wrestling from Japan.
I watch the matches on YouTube. There is a channel from Robert Mensing who provides the matches in condensed format the day after they take place.
As I understand it, the actual ceremony and early match posturing takes considerable time, but the condensed matches are shown in about 20 minutes. There is a commentary in English with a smattering of enough Japanese words to keep my linguistic curiosity alive.
There is a match every two month. Each basho is in a different city. They last 15 days and it's a round robin format. The wrestler with the best score wins the Emperor's Cup. He doesn't get to take it home. They also pass out some trophies and the odd bow -- bow as in bow and arrow.
There are the occasional interview after something important happens. These are interesting. They seem very typically Japanese to me. For example they interview the Yakazuna (high & mighty wrestler who has attained both skill and a spiritual demeanor): "How do you feel that you won the Emperor's Cup for the third time in a row?" "I will train harder and do better." And on the other side of the scale: "How do you feel that you only won one match for the first time in your career?" "I will train harder and do better." I'm not joking much about this. :-)
The matches usually only take a few seconds. They line up across from each other in a crouch a bit like a football line. When both have touched both hands down to the clay surface, they launch into each other and frequently smack their heads together. Then there is pushing and slapping and someone is pushed out of the circle. Other matches are when the wrestlers lock up and there is actual wrestling. This can be stomach v. stomach and being bumped out. Or there are rear or frontal push outs. There are some throws too. Either by their belts (miwashi) or arms.
The circle they wrestle in is about 15 feet across and there is a small apron outside of the edge of the circle. The circle boundary is a raised rope or something. Then the apron, then there is a 4 foot drop off into the seats. The spectators are right there. It's not unusual for these guys to tumble in the crowd. There are no seats of course. They are all sitting on very flat areas. Shoes are off. There is the odd kimono in the crowd.
The wrestlers are not small. They are close to 200 kilos in weight. The heights are all over the place -- there are some tall guys too. They are built like the super heavy weight power lifters. Enormous stomachs are pretty common. Their legs are, shall we call them sturdy?
Also, the Japanese culture seems to be to me fairly exclusive. But Sumo wrestlers come from all over the world. There are the Japanese of course, but also Mongolians, one guy from Brazil, another from Georgia. I guess if you are big enough, you are welcome.
For each tournament you have 15 bouts. If you score 8 or more, you have made your kashi koshi, or more wins than losses. There is another term for being on the short end of it. If you keep making your kashi koshis you will move up the rankings. Don't make it and you will be demoted.
There are rankings. Yakazuna is the highest and there are about 6 levels below that. Making Yakazuna is not easy and as mentioned about, just winning is not enough. There is a committee that meets and approves the rankings.
I've watched enough that I've have a couple of wrestlers that I recognize and root for. Give it a try, it's different!
One cannot live by golf alone and a new(ish) interest is in Sumo wrestling from Japan.
I watch the matches on YouTube. There is a channel from Robert Mensing who provides the matches in condensed format the day after they take place.
As I understand it, the actual ceremony and early match posturing takes considerable time, but the condensed matches are shown in about 20 minutes. There is a commentary in English with a smattering of enough Japanese words to keep my linguistic curiosity alive.
There is a match every two month. Each basho is in a different city. They last 15 days and it's a round robin format. The wrestler with the best score wins the Emperor's Cup. He doesn't get to take it home. They also pass out some trophies and the odd bow -- bow as in bow and arrow.
There are the occasional interview after something important happens. These are interesting. They seem very typically Japanese to me. For example they interview the Yakazuna (high & mighty wrestler who has attained both skill and a spiritual demeanor): "How do you feel that you won the Emperor's Cup for the third time in a row?" "I will train harder and do better." And on the other side of the scale: "How do you feel that you only won one match for the first time in your career?" "I will train harder and do better." I'm not joking much about this. :-)
The matches usually only take a few seconds. They line up across from each other in a crouch a bit like a football line. When both have touched both hands down to the clay surface, they launch into each other and frequently smack their heads together. Then there is pushing and slapping and someone is pushed out of the circle. Other matches are when the wrestlers lock up and there is actual wrestling. This can be stomach v. stomach and being bumped out. Or there are rear or frontal push outs. There are some throws too. Either by their belts (miwashi) or arms.
The circle they wrestle in is about 15 feet across and there is a small apron outside of the edge of the circle. The circle boundary is a raised rope or something. Then the apron, then there is a 4 foot drop off into the seats. The spectators are right there. It's not unusual for these guys to tumble in the crowd. There are no seats of course. They are all sitting on very flat areas. Shoes are off. There is the odd kimono in the crowd.
The wrestlers are not small. They are close to 200 kilos in weight. The heights are all over the place -- there are some tall guys too. They are built like the super heavy weight power lifters. Enormous stomachs are pretty common. Their legs are, shall we call them sturdy?
Also, the Japanese culture seems to be to me fairly exclusive. But Sumo wrestlers come from all over the world. There are the Japanese of course, but also Mongolians, one guy from Brazil, another from Georgia. I guess if you are big enough, you are welcome.
For each tournament you have 15 bouts. If you score 8 or more, you have made your kashi koshi, or more wins than losses. There is another term for being on the short end of it. If you keep making your kashi koshis you will move up the rankings. Don't make it and you will be demoted.
There are rankings. Yakazuna is the highest and there are about 6 levels below that. Making Yakazuna is not easy and as mentioned about, just winning is not enough. There is a committee that meets and approves the rankings.
I've watched enough that I've have a couple of wrestlers that I recognize and root for. Give it a try, it's different!
Friday, May 25, 2018
Is That a Light I See in the Tunnel?
It was a wonderful day on the links. Ok they are not links and it was dark, overcast, a hint of rain, and more humidity than usual, but still a wonderful day.
I've been working on getting the butt end of the grip to be pointing towards the ball on the downswing. My old habit was to come down poinitng below the plane and hope my hands could save it. They could, but it was tough on my hands and the grips. Grips cost money and while the pension is beyond generous, it's not that big, and one shouldn't squander! Besides the athletic tape to keep my thumb from bleeding was getting expensive too.
So I've been trying to aim at the ball and this quiets my hands. Now, there is one other strange puzzle piece lingering is the gestalt of my modern swing and that is a strange, early, and seemingly without purpose raising of the right foot.
It's coming up too early. People are talking about it. And we are talking about an international conversation here.
I usually am not aware of it. I thought it might be an adjustment of my early hand path and it would just wander off to some other dimension when it was no longer needed.
Now, today, I'm flattening the swing. Then it seems that if I want to, I can add some speed/effort right at the bottom of the swing. This seems to work well, too. I'm losing some minor directional control, but the club ball contact is producing sounds that even Ben Hogan would find satisfying.
I hit one 5 iron and Sonny remarked on the sound and he was 50 yards away at the time.
As I was doing this, I notice that my hands are running ahead of the body. You could think of this as stopping the body and flinging the arms forward. One should not want to be known as a "flinger" and it didn't feel like a good long term swing facet on to which I wanted to hang.
So I think to myself, mayhaps I can move the body first and bring the arms along in due time? Since the hand path is better than it was, perhaps this is now possible, where I wasn't capable of it earlier due to the need to flip the back on path.
I'm willing to give it a try. It felt that the swing was in control and the body and arms were synced and working together. Yippie! This is the holy grail of the golf swing -- to be synced up. Much better than to be in a state of flingdom.
I stumble on this about hole 12. I then hit an iron over the green. This is better than it sounds as a club that is going too far is indicative of swing efficiency. On the long par 5 13th I hit a nice, long drive. The second is a fairway wood that goes where I aimed it and I find a bunker about 140 with lip that loomed. I hit an 8 iron that clears the lip and then I find I'm 4 feet from the pin. It's a fast sliding putt, but in it goes.
14 is a another great drive. An iron in and two putt for par. 14 is the last of the tough holes on the back nine and I'm close to licking the proverbial chops.
An interesting phenominum takes place when I'm playing well, I seem to disconnect and just play along. I don't think about much and am not real aware of the score. It may be the "being in the zone."
The 15th is a long par 3 with a back pin and wind. I hit one of the better hybrids into this and it's an automatic two putt. 16th is a longish with a tricky green. Well, it's tricky if you don't hit it to 5 feet after a wonderful drive.
17th was a 4 wood down the right side of the fairway. Short of the pond and looking directly up the length of the green. An mid iron in and another simple par.
The 18th is a dog leg to the left. It curls quite a bit and there is a forest of sycamore trees that do not allow you to cut the corner. Another drive, hit with confidence, down the right, which opens the corner of the dog leg.
I hybrid into the wind to setup an 8 iron to a deep pin.
I cream that and it floats over the green. I pitch back to 4 feet and hit a beautiful putt. It doesn't go in, but it rolled with a honesty seldom found in public life these days.
So the back comes in at 1 over 37. The feeling that I have almost complete control over the long shots is bit overwhelming. One fears that it will vanish! However it seems to me that the understanding of what I am doing is somewhat mastered. If I just stumbled upon it, I could see it wandering off. But with all this struggle to discover it, I think I'll be able to hang on to it. Besides, it's a lot simpler than what I was doing before.
Even the errant right foot is starting to stay out of the action.
What a day. The frozen yogurt tasted especially nice at lunch. The afternoon nap was one of comfort and satisfaction. I look forward to the next outing.
I've been working on getting the butt end of the grip to be pointing towards the ball on the downswing. My old habit was to come down poinitng below the plane and hope my hands could save it. They could, but it was tough on my hands and the grips. Grips cost money and while the pension is beyond generous, it's not that big, and one shouldn't squander! Besides the athletic tape to keep my thumb from bleeding was getting expensive too.
So I've been trying to aim at the ball and this quiets my hands. Now, there is one other strange puzzle piece lingering is the gestalt of my modern swing and that is a strange, early, and seemingly without purpose raising of the right foot.
It's coming up too early. People are talking about it. And we are talking about an international conversation here.
I usually am not aware of it. I thought it might be an adjustment of my early hand path and it would just wander off to some other dimension when it was no longer needed.
Now, today, I'm flattening the swing. Then it seems that if I want to, I can add some speed/effort right at the bottom of the swing. This seems to work well, too. I'm losing some minor directional control, but the club ball contact is producing sounds that even Ben Hogan would find satisfying.
I hit one 5 iron and Sonny remarked on the sound and he was 50 yards away at the time.
As I was doing this, I notice that my hands are running ahead of the body. You could think of this as stopping the body and flinging the arms forward. One should not want to be known as a "flinger" and it didn't feel like a good long term swing facet on to which I wanted to hang.
So I think to myself, mayhaps I can move the body first and bring the arms along in due time? Since the hand path is better than it was, perhaps this is now possible, where I wasn't capable of it earlier due to the need to flip the back on path.
I'm willing to give it a try. It felt that the swing was in control and the body and arms were synced and working together. Yippie! This is the holy grail of the golf swing -- to be synced up. Much better than to be in a state of flingdom.
I stumble on this about hole 12. I then hit an iron over the green. This is better than it sounds as a club that is going too far is indicative of swing efficiency. On the long par 5 13th I hit a nice, long drive. The second is a fairway wood that goes where I aimed it and I find a bunker about 140 with lip that loomed. I hit an 8 iron that clears the lip and then I find I'm 4 feet from the pin. It's a fast sliding putt, but in it goes.
14 is a another great drive. An iron in and two putt for par. 14 is the last of the tough holes on the back nine and I'm close to licking the proverbial chops.
An interesting phenominum takes place when I'm playing well, I seem to disconnect and just play along. I don't think about much and am not real aware of the score. It may be the "being in the zone."
The 15th is a long par 3 with a back pin and wind. I hit one of the better hybrids into this and it's an automatic two putt. 16th is a longish with a tricky green. Well, it's tricky if you don't hit it to 5 feet after a wonderful drive.
17th was a 4 wood down the right side of the fairway. Short of the pond and looking directly up the length of the green. An mid iron in and another simple par.
The 18th is a dog leg to the left. It curls quite a bit and there is a forest of sycamore trees that do not allow you to cut the corner. Another drive, hit with confidence, down the right, which opens the corner of the dog leg.
I hybrid into the wind to setup an 8 iron to a deep pin.
I cream that and it floats over the green. I pitch back to 4 feet and hit a beautiful putt. It doesn't go in, but it rolled with a honesty seldom found in public life these days.
So the back comes in at 1 over 37. The feeling that I have almost complete control over the long shots is bit overwhelming. One fears that it will vanish! However it seems to me that the understanding of what I am doing is somewhat mastered. If I just stumbled upon it, I could see it wandering off. But with all this struggle to discover it, I think I'll be able to hang on to it. Besides, it's a lot simpler than what I was doing before.
Even the errant right foot is starting to stay out of the action.
What a day. The frozen yogurt tasted especially nice at lunch. The afternoon nap was one of comfort and satisfaction. I look forward to the next outing.
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