Here’s to another successful night at Callaway.

The Vegas Skyline in the background @ The Callaway Golf Center

I went through 180 balls last night. Callaway is having a two for one bucket promo for the rest of the month. It stinks that the grass area is completely shit when it comes to a hitting area, but $12 for 180 balls makes it a little better to deal with.

I had some positive moments last night. I was hitting the ball really well most of the time, I did run into a few "bad" spots where I just wasn't taking my time and I was rushing it too much. It was a good struggle though, it made me step back, take a breather and work on what was causing the problem. I downloaded an app for my phone a few days ago that allows you to record your swing and then analyze the swing in slow motion or frame by frame and lets you draw lines so you can check yourself. It's paid off already. I had Randy record a couple of my swings when I was going though that rough spot and was able to get some instant feedback via the video. You could clearly see that I was off plane on my backswing and I wasn't using my hips to start the downswing. So I went back and took some swings and tried to correct the flaw.

It's infuriating when you can't correct something right away. I knew what the problem was and even with some guidance I still couldn't manage to correct it. I was getting pretty flustered when I just told myself to relax and let my body make the swing. That's the best advice I have ever given myself!

When I take my time, relax, get my shoulders turned the correct way and let my body create the swing it's a thing of beauty. I told myself to quit trying to kill the ball and just relax. That's when I remembered one of Pat's swing thoughts "No Power". That's what he tells himself before he swings. I changed it up a bit and just told myself to "relax", and it worked. You can feel what's going on so much better when you're relaxed. When I'm tight and tense you don't feel the poor grip, the poor posture or being out of balance. When I'm relaxed and calm though, I could sense all of that. I little correction here, and little correction there and everything felt great. Made a nice backswing, let the hips take over and sure enough I started hitting some really good shots.

All in all it was a good session. I ended the night on a great run with my 7i (been an issue of late) and walked away with some really positive thoughts about the night. I can not wait to get out on the course again and see if I can apply it to a round. It looks like February 5^th is going to be the next outing. That will give me at least two more range sessions to get more consistent with this new swing. Lot's of work still to go, but it's getting better every time out!

On a side note here is who I have on my Hackers Paradise Fantasy Team this week:
Ryan Moore, Alex Prugh, Bubba Watson, Matt Kuchar, Bill Haas, Kevin Na, Kevin Stadler, Charley Hoffman, Jamie Lovemark & Mark Wilson