I can't believe it's been 16 days since my last post! A lot has been going on so let's get right to it!
First off I have my next round scheduled for tomorrow with fellow Breakfast Baller Randy at The Chase Golf Club in Coyote Springs, NV. This place is supposed to be amazing. I've spoken with a few people who have played it in the past few weeks and both of them said the course is in great shape and the greens are the most challenging they have ever putted on. Nice!! I think!
Here is a link to the Course:
http://www.coyotesprings.com/golf/golf_courses.html
My last post back on January 16th I was talking about my progress with my new swing. Well I pleased to announce that in the last two weeks things have only gotten better. I had another range session on the 26th of January that started off not so good, but I was able to get it turned around. What started it all was a new show I watched on the golf Channel called "School Of Golf". After watching the show I decided to put some of new things I watched from the lesson to the test and failed miserably. Not that the lesson was terrible, I just didn't execute it properly.
The shows instructor (I'll get his name remembered sooner or later) talked about spine angle and the 15°/20° change from address, to the top of the back swing and back to impact. It caught my attention because in watching my videos of late I've been standing very straight up & down and not moving my spine at all throughout the swing. He talked about how that is a recipe for disaster, so I went out back and started playing with the idea. I like what I was seeing and decided to give it a go at the range the next day.
I started screwing up right from the first swing. Looking back at it now I know what I was doing wrong. I'm angrier with myself for taking too long to figure it out. Randy had to take off and I had about 20 balls left to hit. We were hitting off the mats because the grass area is just crap this time of year, which we found out the hard way the week before. So, Randy leaves and I have the remaining balls to hit. I still hadn't figured out what I was doing wrong and continued to make the same errors over and over. Frustrated with what just happened I gathered up my stuff and started to head out. I got to the upper level and started to get really upset with myself. Three solid weeks of progress and I just blew it tonight. I told myself it can't end like that tonight! I went and got another bucket and found a mat upstairs to hit off.
I had a different approach this time. I thought back to the four main principles in Hogan's book; Grip, Stance and Posture, Backswing & Downswing. I'm very confident with my new grip, not the issue. The Stance hasn't changed just my posture slightly, implementing the new spice angle at address was a change but not a game changer (at least I thought). When I started to think about my backswing the realization of my error hit me like a ton of bricks!
I was executing a completely different backswing based on my new position at address. Without even hitting a ball from the new bucket I was convinced I knew what I had been doing wrong, and I was right! I relaxed calmed myself down and began my session over. This time the results were way better! I started with my 7i and was hitting some of the cleanest 7i's I've ever hit, same thing with my 8i and my 9i. The true test would come later. I hit some more with my 8i and SW and decided it was time. Over in my bag looking at me, mocking me was my 5i. I put the SW away and there was that EVIL number 5 looking right back at me almost taunting me. "Betcha can't hit me bitch!" You could easily state I had already lost the mental game at that point but considering how poor I've been with my 5i it's not like I was being beaten down further, I was at and have been at the bottom for a while now.
With the first swing of the 5i my outlook immediately changed. Shot after shot after shot I was hitting my 5i like it was supposed to be hit. I was just a tad bit giddy! In reference to my earlier statement it was a definite game changer! After I got done beating up my 5i for the first time ever in my life I brought out the driver. I was pleased with how it went, not the best I've ever stuck it, but it was decent. It's a different swing with the driver and I'm adapting to it. Ended the night on a high, I couldn't be happier that I had the passion and the drive to not be satisfied with a poor outing and did what I needed to do to leave on that high! Proud of myself for that!
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Over the weekend of the 29th I really got my garage cleaned up and I moved my homemade range into there. It's been freakishly cold this winter and hitting outside in the back yard has not been enjoyable. With a now clean garage and some rearranging I was able to get my stuff setup in there where I now can hit my foam balls and get in more practice. I've told myself 100 swings a day NO EXCUSES. Yeah, then reality set in quick, almost immediately that had to be scaled down. It's very tiring to swing the club 100 times, on the range is no problem, but at home it's a different story, after about 40 swings I'm beat, so I changed that number to 40 and will work up from there. Sunday I did 40, Monday I did 40, and Tuesday I did about 25 due to time restrictions. Wednesday night I watched the 2nd episode of "School Of Golf" this lesson was about the grip. I was real hesitant to watch it because I'm very happy with my grip right now and I didn't want to see something that would put a thought in my head and change what's working, I know, weak minded but it happens so easily. Then I thought about last week's lesson and how that turned out to be a positive and said what the hell, and I'm glad I did.
Everything he talked about in the grip I liked. I felt like he only reaffirmed what I had been doing. In all honesty I wish they would have had this show and instructor on last year! HA
Later on in the show the instructor put on a demonstration on how to help you hit the ball from the inside. Using a large inflatable ball and a hockey stick he showed how in order to hit the ball to the right you would have to strike the ball on the inside of the ball. For example if you're looking down at the ball you imagine a clock, now run a line that dissects the ball right down the middle from your target through the ball. That line would run from 12 o'clock (the front of the ball) to 6 o'clock (the back of the ball). What you want to do is attempt to strike the ball at 7 o'clock. I was immediately intrigued and headed right out to the garage to give it a go.
What I found to be so interesting is that with that swing thought in my head I could feel my hips turning sooner and faster, and I could tell that my swing plane was going from inside to out. I swung about 40 swings and afterwards I was really excited about getting to the range last night.
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Last night was AWESOME!Everything was working for me. I started out with my 7i and attempted to swing at the inside of the ball like I was talking about earlier, the problem was I was hitting it straight right, a hard push. No slice, thank God, but straight right. I played around with a bit and decided that it's something that's going to need some work and went on to do some more work on my 5i. I don't know if those few swings that I made with my 7i implanted something deep in my skull, but for the rest if the night I was hitting everything with either a nice draw or a hook. Never before have I ever uttered those words in regards to my golf swing except for maybe talking about what I would like to see myself doing one day. It was something I had never experienced and it was neat. It took some time for me to adjust. One of the first things I did was to start opening up the club face just a touch. That seemed to help get me more straight towards my target. The driver was fun. I've never drawn a shot with my driver let alone hooked one. It again was an adjustment but once I got it down I was enjoying it very much!
I have another story about my club lie angle and my toe and heel of the clubs but that's for another day when I have more information or should I say more knowledge to talk about it without sounding like a moron!! I'll tease this, just because it's interesting. I picked up some of the stick on indicators that when you put on the club face it will leave a mark and let you know where you are impacting the ball at. Well the first four balls I hit with those on, ALL of them were on the heel side of the club, same thing with the driver. I don't know if the adjustment I made is the correct one, more research to come on that, but I just addressed the ball more on the toe side of the club and from then on I was dead center on all of the balls I hit. I'm sure that had a lot to do with my success last night too. I bug's the crap out of me to think I've been hitting on the heel side of the club all this time. We'll see how it goes, who knows maybe that's a game changer too!
I'm really looking forward to tomorrow, this will be my first Nicklaus designed course that I've played and I can't wait. It's gotten some great reviews and from what I've been told we're in for a real treat.
Wish me luck!!
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