Me and Old Man Par

I wouldn't normally write, blow for blow, about my exploits on the golf course on any given day...but today was something special. I shot even par over the 22 holes I played today, being 2-over after 18 and then birdieing 3 holes in a row to get to one-under. I had to play one more hole to make our game come out even, and of course I bogeyed it, but oh well. Even par!
So here we go: I started on 16 and three-putted from the front of the green for bogey. I made par on 17 after a nice chip shot to two feet. Then I birdied the 18th (for the first time) after making a nice uphill 12-footer to get it back to even. Ho hum 2-putt pars on 1 and 2 followed, with another nice chip leading to yet another par at 3. I hit the middle of the green on 4 and made an easy par, and then managed to get down from the front fringe on 5 for (you guessed it) another par. 6 yielded a bogey, and a lucky one at that as I chipped well past the hole and was lucky to make the comebacker for a 4. #7 was another two-putt par. Then on 8 I hit a terrible drive in the trees to the left, then hit a 3-wood to 100 yards out. A wedge to five feet and a nice right to left putt later and I had yet another par. On 9 I hit a hybrid to about 20 feet and rolled the putt in for birdie to bring me back to even after 12 holes. I made par again from the front fringe on 10, then hooked my tee shot up the hill and in the trees on 11, and was lucky to make bogey. I popped up my drive on 12, hit my second behind a tree and then punched a 9-iron to the back of the green. My first putt was lame and I missed the comebacker for 2 bogeys in a row (!). 13 I got the train back on track after bombing a drive over the trees, leaving me 80 yards for my second. I managed not to shank that wedge and just missed my downhill 20-footer for birdie. On 14 I hit the middle of the green and coaxed my first putt up to tap-in range. Then, on my final hole of the 18, I hit a nice drive on 15, followed by a smother-hooked four-iron into the trees to the left of the green. I pitched it nicely over the bunker and snuggled in a nice downhill 10-footer for par and a score of 74. And then it got interesting...I hit hybrid to 15 feet on 16 and drained the putt for birdie. Then I hit my second pin-high to the right of the 17th green, and of course chipped it in for birdie! On 18 I hooked my drive badly and was left with too much to get near the green in two. So I hit 3-wood to about 60 yards, then pitched it 10 feet above the hole and made another nice putt for birdie, my second one on 18 today. On the last hole (the first), I popped up my drive a bit and was left with a 5-iron into the green. I pulled it a bit left, then hit a timid chip to about 15 feet. And I missed that putt, leaving me with and even par score for 22 holes. Ta-da! If anyone besides me is still reading this I'll be shocked :).

The Game Is Played "Out There", Not Between Your Feet

This has been a tough post for me to write, but I feel its something that I need to come to grips with. When you're working on your swing (i.e. your game), I think its easy to become too focused on what's happening on the ground, between your feet, then where the ball is actually going and the target "out there" that you should really be focusing on. Like Peter Kostis likes to say about Tiger Woods sometimes when he's struggling, he looks like he's playing "golf swing", not golf. I think that is so true and it's something that I'm sure most of us (maybe all of us?) amateurs struggle with. The game is played out there, not between your feet.
George Knudson makes some really good assertions to this point as well in his book The Natural Golf Swing. He talks a lot of about the game not being one of hand/eye coordination, rather one of control, balance and fluidity. He's given me a helpful picture in my head of the clubface "collecting" the ball on its way through the ball's resting place as it (the clubface) travels to it's final destination, i.e. laying quietly behind my left shoulder. Taking practice swings in the rough sometimes helps me feel this impact position and I try my hardest to put that obsession with impact out of my head as I draw the club back for my next stroke. There's a lot to chew on here, and I'm not sure I've put this together in a succinct fashion, but it's something I had to bring up and I will continue to mull it over during the upcoming the winter months.

Paul Goydos Shoots 59!

...and I don't think anyone really noticed. It's too bad really, because it happened in the Quad Cities, and he doesn't look good on camera, and he probably won't win the tournament anyways, which nobody really cares about to begin with because the Open Championship is next week, etc. It's the PGA Tour's version of a tree falling in the woods, I think, and I'm pretty sure no one was there to hear it. Sure, the John Deere Classic gets a solid number of dedicated fans to show up every year, but it's really flying under the radar by modern media standards. Hell, lots of people still dismiss golf news because they don't believe its a sport. It's silly and sad, all at the same time. I guess I hope he does it again today--then maybe we'll get Sportcenter's attention.

Things Are Heating Up

Not only is the weather getting warmer, but so is my game. And it's all coming together in the Garage Golf Swing Laboratory, just like I planned. The set-up is simple, forearms together and left thumb-pad "high". The right leg anchors the take-away and the shoulders start the swing. The left shoulder "tilts" as the spine stays upright and the acceleration through the ball is "pushed" by the right forefinger. The last three fingers of the left hand turn down through the ball as the weight lands high and hard on the left leg. But even more important, I think I've come up with a warm-up routine that will take this from the GGSL to the course. I take 10 practice swings with a weighted 8-iron, then hit 10 chip shots with a 5-iron, feeling the shot on the aforementioned right forefinger. And then lastly, I hit 10 balls full-on with the 5-iron. I can't wait to try it out!

Putting, Putting, And Yet Even More Putting

As is often the case, the more time you spend concentrating on your ball-striking the more your short game (and especially your putting) is going to suffer. As both of you, my readers, know by now I've been spending an awful lot of time working on my ball-striking. And I'd like to say that I'm finally starting to reap the rewards of that work, but it might be a bit premature for that declaration. Regardless, my putting has definitely been suffering as a result. I even went an entire round putting left-hand low last weekend, something I haven't done in over two years. And what is ultimately a confidence thing has started to creep into my actual stroke. I'm having a hard time taking the putter back with any sort of conviction and its really starting to show. So.....I've been working on a few things the last few days. 1) I'm trying to clear my mind over the ball by asking myself "Where am I?" and then answering "In the hole over there..." and visualizing the bottom of the cup. 2) I'm trying to keep my grip pressure as light as possible. I've found there's much less twisting and pulling/pushing of putts when my grip pressure is the lightest. And 3) I'm trying to take the putter back with my shoulders and just rock them forward as I make my stroke through the ball. Again, we'll see how this all plays out as the proof will be in my scores. Stay tuned...

Yet Another Revelation!

"The Fix" with Michael Breed on the Golf Channel Monday nights is oftentimes just an annoying rant, as far as I'm concerned. But he said something the other night about the position of the clubface at the top of the backswing that really stuck with me. He was talking about the position of the left wrist and how it needs to be flat for a golfer to make a really good pass at the golf ball. I figured out (somewhat on my own?) that to get to that position without manipulating the hands too late in the swing you need to turn the left wrist downward in the takeaway. I'm not sure if this technique would hold water with some of golf's greatest teachers but I'm finding its allowed me to return the clubface in a much square(r) position at impact. It's shank-proofing the swing, sure, but it can also produce a nasty duck-hook if you don't swing down and through the ball "out to right field", if that makes any sense? With a limited amount of research I have found this to also be a very effective technique out of the greenside bunkers as well. With a face open at address and a swing executed along the open stance-line that is universally recommended, too many bunker shots seem to squirt out weakly to the right. Closing the face during the takeaway gets the club back into the sand with that ultra-pleasing "thump" sound and seems likely to continue to softly splash the ball (and the sand) onto the putting surface.

More Learning About the Golf Swing

I've learned a few important things about the golf swing in the last few weeks that I'd like to share them in the blogosphere. The first came from, of all places, a recent episode of the Golf Channel's "Haney Project: Ray Romano". In this particular piece, Hank was explaining to Ray how his takeaway was too much to the inside, making it impossible for him to do anything other then come over the top in his downswing. Sound familiar? Yeah, so I decided to add what feels like a little loop in my backswing. Drag it straight back with quiet hands and arms and drop it inside, essentially. The second nugget came from another mainstream media source, none other then Golf Digest. There was a short blurb with Butch Harmon where he talked about how shots that are left out to the right generally are the result of the golfer's hips spinning out too fast in the downswing. Guess what? Since I left my winter home in the Garage Golf Swing Laboratory, I've noticed that a lot of my shots are being left out to the right. Bingo--quit spinning the hips out so fast, Einstein. And lastly, I've gone back to a stiff shaft in my driver, and it's an old driver at that. I can't stand the look and feel of swinging a 460cc head anymore (never could, actually) so I'm using my old Titleist 905S and loving it! I can even hit a tight draw with it, that bounces and rolls, if you believe it? Maybe there's hope for me yet.