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 :)

More... Turning...

I think when I first started playing golf I had a great turn – really killed it… but that’s the problem with bad golf lessons.  It was coached out of me so when I went to see my new pro she was like, uh, how do you hit golf balls?   So now I’m here practicing in my mirror to get that full turn back while keeping my weight on the inside of my right foot.  Seems easy but not as much as you would think… I think I naturally stand on the outside of my feet in everyday life so that doesn’t make it any better.  

Mirror work –

Loose grip loose arms – width of stance

60/40 feeling pressure on inside ball of right foot

Hinged take away

Full turn with weight transfer on right hip – not trying to keep my weight centered as I naturally tend to do.

Drill for this is to cross arms – right hand on left bicep and physically turn and pull upper body to the right.  Works quite well – can mimic that in the mirror so feeling better .

I will say however I’ve had some pretty horrible shots – some stuff like way the f right and some stuff way the f left – still also having issues blading chips and topping the ball.  I am however hitting my hybrids better than I was which is good news.   I think I just need more practice time.  I haven’t really played in a few days and the first thing I noticed right away was my putting.  Plus, with so many new things it’s difficult to remember everything when you go play and don’t have a chance to even hit ten balls before going out. 

On again off again

Bladed it, smashed it, rolled it past the hole 30 feet.... you know things like that.... add up quick to a bad round but what part really sucked?  Was it one bad shot that stuck in my head or was I actually really bad at getting down the fairway?  I like tracking my stats is what I've found.  Funny... I played like crap at Skylinks this week but looking at my score my putting kept me from blowing up and my driving tried really hard to sink me.  The opposite of last week.

Lesson today was good - focused on not rolling to the outside of that right foot.  Really trying hard to focus on that and it's making my back swing feel a lot more solid and less out of control.  Funny how that works.  I think I naturally stand on the outsides of my feet so this will be an interesting one to practice.  Played alright tonight though - some bad shots but got tired too.  Not a super relaxing weekend which was too bad.... on to Monday all to fast.

The Turn

Worst.  Round. Ever.
Sunday at Comedy was my worst showing.  We finished +2 which would be on the surface not such a bad go but I actually fell over.  On hole 8 I went to hit my drive and I missed the ball (for the most part) and did a 360 and fell over.  It was awful.  I was so embarrased I cried.  I brushed it off as laughter but I cried.  I was in a bad mood all day stemming from all kinds of things but that was sort of the nail in the coffin.

Lesson two was the day before and actually was good.  My pro was very excited about how much my turn had improved from the week before so I'm looking forward to continuing to work on that.  We were going to work more on the release but I struggled so am focusing on the turn mostly this week until I get more used to it. I played a lot last week and this week it's been a struggle to get out.  I went to Skylinks to hit balls today and the ball machine was broke.  I got a half bucket and was basically told to go away and be happy with it.  Fine.

Need to work on sweeping the ground and out - was given two drills to work on once my turn is feeling more natural and I'm doing it consistantly.
- Reverse split grip doing a full swing - focus on turning the wrists to the ground
- Baseball swing on a flat plane - really working the wrists.

Focused on the fact the release actually starts at the top of the swing.  My arms are extending out both at the takeaway, down swing and after impact to the the finish which is reducing my swing speed significantly.  Need to get that hinge in play...Time to probably say "bye" to my ladies hybrid cause I'm gonna be back to my old swing crushing it.  She was impressed by my distance and thinks it will easily increase once I get this all figured out - and stop topping the ball.  While Sunday was a shit show the couple balls I did get to hit today were alright.  A few spraying around but once I get that impact zone locked in again I'll be fine.

Few last notes - when the balls go left with my swing it means the rotation isn't happening.  Good way to hook the ball.  Loose and relaxed is the key to sweet shots with good hinge.
Will try to get back out tomorrow after work before I workout - I hope the dumb ball machine is working.  Will try to play Hartwell again Thrusday to beat my old score.  Fingers crossed it doesn't rain Friday and  that brings us back to Saturday again!

Years Later

New world like two years latter huh? 

There was John then someone else?   No, Mike.  Then back to Kev and back to Mike and hitting balls at Heartwell.  New job.  No time.  A whole summer wasted - 24 handicap slips back to 26.  Shit.

My lessons in golf started a long time ago and I don't really have much to show for it when you look on the surface.  A couple good rounds breaking 100, a few closest to the pins, I can make in down the fairway usually in three shots instead of seven... It's hard when you start at the max of 30 to even get to 25.  It doesn't even feel incremental.  I also don't have all my old score cards to show improvement - maybe if had kept them the story would look better but I live a life as free from clutter as possible.  I am hard on myself after all.

Dig a little bit deeper though and all these really beautiful stories emerge.  A wonderful loving boyfriend, smart and funny friends, a new job because I met someone even worse at golf than me out there swinging sticks and getting some sun.  Yes, we tend to look at the negative, why am I not a 20 handicap yet?  All this money on golf lessons... all this time just trying over and over and over to sink a putt from five feet.  All the frustration, lost balls, lost mind, lost heart.  We miss the point.  The game we play is the exact same game we watch on TV.... you can actually watch golf on TV 24 hours a day - a whole industry built around hitting a ball into a hole.  At the same time, it's not the same game at all.  We don't have sponsorships, and tour cards to keep, we putt from off the green, bump and run with a 7 iron, get really good at punch out shots to get back to the fairway and when we finally get the ball in the hole it's our friends that say, nice finish - and they mean it.  They want you to play well too.

I suppose though there is an easy road and a hard road.  The hard road is hacking away until you get better.  I'm choosing the easier road with all the practice and the lessons and the score tracking.  Trying to see if I can't get some statistics to emerge.  Actually kind of seems like the hard road huh?  I'm waiting to make goals until I have somthing measureable but I think beyond low scoring it will have a lot to do with figuring out hybrid clubs, hitting those greens in regulation, and after I stop swaying like a tree in the breeze every time I hit a golf shot adding those lost yards Mike took away from me.

New Pro: LPGA Class A - Note the L in LPGA. 

Lesson 1 - Ye 'ol Setup

This has been tweeked, modified, changed, scrapped, re-build, added on to, straighened out, added tilt, you name it by everyone who has seen me. Kris didn't have much to say - three things I'm working on.

Looser arms
Club butt pointing at left ear
60% of weight on inside of the right leg

I'm very bound up when I swing - Mike did this to me.  He too had a compact swing and he also had a fast swing without a lot of body rotation from what I remember.  I'm actually not turning at all.  I played this Sunday at comedy with a guy who has no body rotation at all.  Less than me!  I noticed some of the issues he was having were the same that I have been having - balls going every which way.  While the lesson did not focus so much on body rotation I did notice notice quite a change in my driving and overall distance when I played 9 at Skylinks this week...

Keeping the  weight in the right leg promotes "staying behind the ball" and not swaying forward twards the target.  A big turn "back facing the target" promotes good power.  I had 6/10 fairways at Skylinks yesterday (didn't play a whole round casue it got dark).  I noticed when I focused on that weight in the right leg I hit straight - and long.  My longest drive was 240 yesterday. 

My best round was this summer in MN and I was driving out of my mind - I've never played like that again.  Kevin asked me what my swing thought was I said staying behind the ball.  I think this is what I was doing - weight in the right leg but I didn't know I was doing it.  Excited to keep practicing this at setup - if I continue to hit balls like this I will hit 90 this summer.