right to left inside to out or something

The drill I've been working on has been working well and my contact with the drill has improved a lot - I am not 100% sure I'm doing it my actual swing so will have to find out next I have a lesson.  I was supposed to today but I just ended up hitting balls.  I've not been paying great and practice has been poor too.  I've had a lot of extra stress in my life and it's not boding well for my golf game.  Today was also very very stressful and I showed up to the course in tears but somehow stayed focused enough to hit very well.  I also have been working a drill to get that inside to out motion going but I'm not sure it's working.   I can hit a draw if I stand with my right foot pulled all the way back but that's about it.  Will keep working that.

Felt I was having trouble with my backswing again but really I just need to rotate my shoulders all the way.

Reminders for what I need to be doing goes back to the beginning:
- Rotate shoulders all the way to make a full backswing
- Weight on the inside right foot to prevent moving around so I cannot make good contact

Worked these two things tonight on the range without thinking about much else except a clean takeaway and hit well.  Playing Coyote Hills tomorrow which can be tricky but looking to shoot a good score.  No expectations is tough so focusing on having fun.  Stress free is the motto.  Full finish and smile at every shot.  Okay?

mind. blown.

I'll spare even myself and anyone else any sort of harsh language about if I had started this game a long time ago or had a good coach to start with but neither happened... just taking a moment to acknowledge the pain and... we're moving on.

Onward and to lower scoring that is.  Nice strong streak continues on the course but really what I can attribute it to is when I'm on the course.... I'm playing and nothing else.  Pre-shot routine, set-up, aim, fire.  Move on with life.  It may not look like that always because I have my share of "oh Calhoun" moments and the occasional happy dance but it really has been good not having swing thoughts in my head on the course.  Ya' all do you and if no less than five swing thoughts must be in your head but really you have one but then you talk about five like my favorite golfer/boyfriend ever does that's cool, it's just not working for me. 

Lesson today was epic.  All my drill practice over the last two weeks paid off and it's been further broken apart this week.  Two things are happening here - one, we're working on swing path and the two, working on really closing that club face down through impact and rotating right over left.   First the latter.

Drill 1 - hold right hand OVER left hand and do small swings noticing that the right hand controls the roll but no the grip.  My hitting balls left per Kris is really because I'm gripping the club too tightly (TENSION) or I'm not rotating my shoulders all the way and therefore the top of my backswing doesn't put me in a good position for the swing path. That leads us to..

Drill 2 - right foot back to close the shoulders a lot (I think about my right shoulder before I hit my driver always and this is just a very exaggerated version of this) which forces the path to come from left to right.  I think I really thought about dropping and then coming around but that is NOT what is happening - you're actually just really swinging down from the top of the backswing with a full shoulder rotation and around - it makes it a lot easier to release the hands when you do this too.  She moved the club for me last we met but I already had too much in my brain - this week it clicked.  If your shoulders are not rotated all the way though... this doesn't work.  the top of the swing starts more parallel to the target line and you cannot come in to out... it's really hard and really why my swing isn't where it needs to be.  I just have to trust it... and practice.

I'm going to be doing a lot of that this week - focus will be on full rotation of the shoulders which I am forgetting and a LOOSE grip!  For the love of god Amanda shake the tension.

First tournament this week - no expectations except a fun round!!
x

hurt and back but with a new drill

I hurt my shoulder - more than likely doing yoga which was really probably a back injury coupled with a nice bout of tennis elbow.  Needless to say yet another summer where I am crippled from my favorite game.  No matter... a few weeks off plus going on vacation now I'm back at it.  New workouts and a new drill!   I've been playing well in spite of all of this - while injured I shot a 94 from the red tees at Strawberry Farms and last week shot a 97 from the white tees at Skylinks.  Not a bad showing, especially my game at Skylinks.  I did putt out of my mind so that's not a bad shout.

Back swing is looking pretty good after all my practice there and now the focus is really trying not to come outside in and instead inside out.  I really hate this bumping the hips idea... everyone always says it and I think it' a load of garbage, how are you supposed to think about bumping the hips and not f up your swing?  At any rate, it clearly must work (or not) for people so that's why you keep hearing it.  I on the other hand have the Lyda Ko drill.  If it's good enough for one of the easiest looking, most lovely swings on the LPGA then it's good enough for me.  I've been having easy success with it using my short irons but working my six iron with it has been a little tougher but I think will be well worth it.

With split hands taking the club back to a half swing still making sure to rotate the shoulders fully.  The takeaway remains unchanged - straight back with loose hands/no tension in the arms.  While the back swing remains arms free swinging, the down swing does too - first dropping the arms THEN rotating the body - the right arm is lower than the left arm while rotating though the ball.  The mental thought is to hit the ball with the "closed" toe of the club which promotes rotation though impact.  I tend to rotate my shoulders first causing an outside to in motion and keep the club face open after impact which almost always promotes ball flight to the right.  Wish me luck as I work on this for the next couple months!  The good news is today is the 15th and my handicap has come down to a 24 :)

takeaways - round 4/3

I played really badly again today.  I shot well over my handicap so I think I just need to take a break and practice.

Issues:  Right - everything was right - sliced almost all of my drives.  Short - almost everything was really short.

Felt my arms coming around not up
Felt tension in my hands a couple times.
Did have some really nice shots off the tee with my hybrid clubs so that was nice but I really need to work on some mechanics and cannot do that on the course.  I also think I'm not staying behind the ball - I'm lunging forward.  Frustrating out there today, glad I was with such a fun bunch of women. 

I can deal with going right off the tee box and losing my ball.  I really can.  I cannot handle getting 100 yards and not even come close to hitting the green.  Couple par 3's today that I should have made without issue but I didn't have on those or any approach shots ANY GIR's.  That, I would say was my frustration.  Such easy shots.  Back to work.

now for something completely different

I've been playing really really badly so when I showed up to my lesson today no surprise she was like, uh, what's going on here?

My backswing has started to come around my body again which has made worse by, I think, trying to turn, and by I think.... my old swing being close to my body but this is for sure something Mike worked on with me too.  I'm not sure how this happened but aehhhh it has.

Here is the badness.  I mean, where is the butt of that club pointing and why is it all so close to my body and why is that club face pointing straight down?  Ugh.  So apparently this is why I have been hitting fluffy shots to the right and also why I suck.  So... after about ten different ways of telling me and showing me and physically moving me we got this.

 

 

Still would be nice to have that club a little less pointed out like the first one.  So she just put my in the right spot. 

 



This is a little bit more vertical that I'm used to but it also feels good - it feels like my swing two weeks ago before I started messing it up.  Vertical is good for women, it helps them get more power and for me it will help close my club face because right now it's not.  Also need to work on that straight take away like I was working on with Mike and was working on before seeing my new pro.  I just had forgotten about it in all honestly.  So with that comes starting the hinge right away and lifting up while turning so that my wrist isn't collapsed.  After all that I hit the ball... my brain hurts.  This is going to take a lot of getting used to maybe.  I hope not because I guess I was doing it before but somehow stopped.  Go figure. 

I am playing a round tomorrow but not sure it will be very good with all these swing thoughts swishing around in my head.  Here is to another week of range work. 

An ass kicking

I got it handed to me at the Champion’s Club in Corona this last weekend.  It wasn’t so much that it totally destroyed me it was what it did to my head.  By the 10^th hole I felt totally helpless.  The golf courses we play around here… are… easy.  Okay, so not easy.  But you can’t really lose a ball too badly.  Something goes “into the woods” means rolled behind a palm tree or into a cluster of low trees.  NBD – whack it out with a 7 iron.  This place… ravines, rattle snakes in the rough and totally lost balls were totally normal.  Out of bounds was really…. Out of bounds.   However, instead of owning my 25 handicap and thinking, oh well, bad shot, onto the next.  I totally folded.  Hard.  Then something happened which I’m starting to recognize – enough times to recognize a trend.  The last hole is my best hole.  I walk up to the tee box and crush it.  7 iron to lay up?  Easy.  Chip to the green?  In my sleep.  2 putt?  Hell yeah.  Sometimes I just hit the green with my 7 iron, sometimes I’m up and down, sometimes I just straight hole it on that chip shot.  But the last hole?  Why the last hole?  Why?  Because I can see the club house.   Beer is in sight.  I’m almost off this damn course which totally ate me alive.  Forget the snakes!  Let’s talk about the long par 5 or the par 3 I lost three balls on!  Actually, don’t remind me.  And that’s what happens – it’s all out of my head.  The target – being done with this stupid round.   So what if instead I just thought about my target the whole round – like you are supposed to do.  I’d probably play better golf.  Just a thought – that doesn’t include any swing thoughts in it is probably what I need.  Sooooo I took it to the range to try it out.

50 yard sign.   Align.  Shoot.  Boom.  50 yard sign.  Align.  Shoot.  Boom.  Over and over and over.  Hmmm what’s that?  Why does Kev smoke so much vape?  Why is this woman yelling in Korean?  What time does this place close?  Shoot.  SHOOT! Focus.  

An interesting thing happened – I started making shots when I removed swing thoughts from my head and all the other thoughts… and started just focusing on what the hell I was aiming at.   I’ve read half of the book, Golf is Not a Game of Perfect now and I think that a lot of it just makes a lot of sense.  I’m always telling Kev to stop beating himself up verbally after every shot.   A strange thing starts to happen when he does it though – subconsciously I try to stay above it and then I start to shoot better.  I’ve also realized this on the putting green – I get up there at last and I think – yes! I’m putting!  It’s like a totally different game when I get to the putting green.  Suddenly it doesn’t matter if I shank crap or my ball didn’t hit the GIR now we are doing something else – we’re doing something I’M GOOD AT!  I really like putting and even though I don’t really like to practice putting I convince myself I do.  Half of it is my attitude.  I pull my putter and I think – now it’s on.  I love a five foot putt – easy I think to myself – I’m really good at these – three feet in?  Call it done.  10 feet?  20 feet?  Been making a lot of those lately.  Miss?  Oh, sometimes that happens.  I have without a doubt fallen into putting slumps and every time it’s the, “I cannot do this” thoughts that creep in my head – or I over read everything.  I smash balls, I wimp out.  Confidence ruined.  I feel like this is something I will really try to avoid very much in the future.  I love my YAY PUTTING attitude so I’m going to try to cling to it for as long as I can and when things get rough I will just have to think – this is the great equalizer out here.  You’ve got it. 

The Range

Been hitting the range a lot because that's what you do.   I went last night and worked the weight on that inside foot.  Things started out well and went south - what was surprising is I was able to reign it back in which doesn't  happen very often.  I started topping the ball and slicing and all kinds of crap but pulled it in to finish well.  Swing thoughts that helped:
- Weight on inside right foot
- Loose arms and hands
- Rotate full back to target - almost pushing off right inside foot to unwind the body on the downswing.

Started to feel that constricted backswing/akward feeling at the top I'd been having.  Re-focused in on that big turn and the weight and that feeling went away quickly.  I think it's 95% mental too.

Also focused on how far I'm hitting at the moment.  I know my 8 iron is pretty consistant at 120 - 7 iron was just over 130 - couple strong hits sent it a bit further but I'd say that's right on.  Six is in the 140's and that 5 hybrid is really 155.  Played from the fairway to the green at just over 150 with that this week and it rolled to the back of the green - nice GIR on a par 4.  Happy with that and four hybrid is playing considerably longer - 170+

No lesson this week - will play a big course and see what she has to say next week!  Screen shot from a slow motion video Kevin took of me.  That weight is so hard and that's what I've been thinking about!  AUGH!  The shot was good though so that's all that really matters :)