The Beginning of Summer

It has been a long time since my last entry, and the progress has been slow and even a bit to the rear. Suffering a new injury to the foot I have used food and adult beverage once again as a medicine so the weight came back.  I am thinking now that getting to scratch might turn out to be easier than losing 65 pounds.

I have some glimmers of hope in my last few rounds, a near par round at the Links and a low 70's round at Sunnybreeze were intermixed with some rounds in the 80's. They did share some common stats. My up-and-down ratio is way low. I think the cause is the putting, on one round I never made a putt over 5'!

I have hit 40% of my greens in regulation but only have 8 birdies to show for it, that is less than 1 birdie for every 10 GIR.

I did a little experimenting with a different putter and that showed me that it is the read of the green that is causing my problem. I am consistently missing on the high side. I am reading in too much break, or I have too much pace.

So I guess I have to practice putting, but like the rest of you I find an hour of putting practice is BOOOORRRRIIING.

I have been using GolfLogix on my smartphone for yardage and stats info, it has been pretty good but the info stored on the websight is a bit odd. Most importantly they do not have the Blackberry set up to track putting distances. Can't even enter them manually after the round.

Finally a good round.

For a few months now I have been working on getting my swing back. I suppose too many swing thoughts and concepts had crept in because of the hundreds of lessons I have given this past year. I have taught everything... 'Stack & Tilt', 'Natural Golf', 1 plane and 2 plane, long backswing, short backswing, young, older and even older. All the while I have tried to maintain the core concept that it is a rotational swing. But somewhere along the way my "turner" quit turning, my hinges rusted, and my towardser went askew. As my friend Chris is prone to say, "I lost my shiveagetter!"

Well for a brief time this past Sunday all felt right again. The turn was smooth and efficient, the patient had patience, and the ball knew where it was supposed to go. Maybe it was the new toy; I started using the GolfLogix range finder and stat tracking app in my phone, way cool stuff. Or maybe it was playing a new golf course; the Links at Cape Haze is a very nice 'executive' course with real grass on the fairways, greens with intelligent pin placements and aesthetics that have been missing at my home course.

I felt really good and have my shivagetter back and working better than ever, I think scratch is in reach.

Ups and downs

My Grandfather would always tell me, "Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly!" Of course he didn't mean that one should keep doing it poorly, or even get better at doing it poorly, but to understand that greatness is always preceded by failure. He would also say that one of the most powerful impediments to greatness, is to be "pretty good".  The time, effort and money it takes to get from "pretty good" to great, can be overwhelming.

Those truths are really hitting home on this quest to scratch. I am seeing glimmers of greatness but mostly is see myself getting better at doing it poorly. I can score better, but not actually play better. However I do believe now that it is possible for the casual golfer to become a 0 handicap, and I believe I can be there before the end of summer.

Still working it

Well the progress has been real slow. It is clear that I cannot get the distance that I once had. I am fully 75 yards shorter than just a few years ago.  I know its not strength or technique, I think it's flexibility, in the shoulders, wrists and back.  Jeff Davis is coming to the Longwood Clinic this Saturday, he is from the Titleist Performance Institute and will take a look at me and all of the participants. I'll let you know what he has to say.  Come out and join in.

I have been playing pretty well, except for the par 3's and my longer putts. Not hitting the greens and not sinking longer putts.

For the putting problem I am going to try what I call the Shuffleboard Stroke.  Stand a bit open aim the palm of the right hand at the line and stroke it while looking at the target, NOT THE BALL.  Tried this for a few days, worked in practice but does not stand up in competition.  Back to normal I go, well as normal as I can be.

Another day another way

Played a few rounds since the last post. Went out to Arcadia and played the public course, $15 for 18 holes, I guess public money must make up the difference.  Fairways and tee boxes were ok, greens not so much.

I struck the ball very well. Worked hard on getting my full backswing, getting my chest parallel to my back foot, then rotating aggressively through to impact.  Good straight long ball flight, but my short game let me down.  78 from the tips par 72.

In the skins/nasa games I am doing ok. Winning the match play but not making enough birdies or better for skins.  Gave myself chances but didn't convert the putts.  I think I need to make about 150 feet of putts in a round to score low. Last week the only holed out long putts were to save par.

I really stunk up the first two par three, doubling them both, so through 7 holes I had 5 pars and 2 doubles! 

Physically doing mostly OK. The weight isn't falling off like I wish it would but the waist is getting smaller. Dr. Matt is doing wonders with the back and left side.  I am suffering a re-occurrence of Plantar Faciatis, an inflamation in the bottom of the foot back by the heel. Feels like a very bruised heel.  It is caused from a lack of stretching, so I am stretching it more. I read in a golf magazine that too high of acid content in the system can keep the inflamation from subsiding at night, so they suggest 1 teaspoon of baking soda for every 100 pounds of body weight, it does seem to help. Tastes awful.

Working this week \on completing the forward turn.

Later

A little bit of success

Success is the "Progressive realization of worthwhile personal goals". Success is therefor a process, to be successful means that one is filled with worthwhile progress.  On Sunday I began to feel a bit of that success. My belt is a few notches tighter, so my waist is a few inches smaller, progress! Success!

And my golf score was a few strokes smaller also!  Success!  I played Sunday with Flip, I was just working on staying planted through impact. Like Moe Norman focusing on facing the ball at impact. Solid shots for the most part, a few birdies and a 76 with a ball O.B. not too bad.

The ball O.B. was caused by too much and too early of a hip slide towards the target. Staying centered put a lot of stress on my left knee so Dr. Matt had his work cut out for him on Tuesday. I left his office pain free once again.  He used needles in my right bicep and inside the elbow area to relive the pain in my left knee.  Dramatic results!

From now on I will wear a knee support when I practice and golf.

The following video shows the hip slide, while it is not waaaay out of whack it is enough to cause me to be too far in front of the swing.  Please, any comments would be appreciated

The quest continues

Did play this past Wednesday, saw some positive forward movement in my short game, putting let me down a bit.  Working very hard on getting my right hand moving freely around my left.  Fast hands swinging freely around my body, hard to do when you feel like a 100 years old!

I am getting to the point where I can hit more balls in practice.  Actually a few hundred during the course of a day. Not just short shots but full swings. I guess the little bit of work I am doing with the stretch bands is working. I am going to change my workout time from just before bed-time, to first thing in the morning. I think I have the discipline to get up a half hour earlier.

Till next time