Monday, June 9, 2008

get on dem heels!

Shanked everything this evening after work. Thought I'd take advantage of the beautiful weather we had and go to the range - awesome. Picked up a medium bucket and proceeded to shank every single shot. Not one or two or ten - nope, every single damn one.

I couldn't figure it out until I got home and did some research. It was already 9pm when I decided to get back out to the range (an hour before the lights go out) and picked up a large bucket this time.

Money well spent. Setup with most weight on my heels and downswing with a bit of a squat. Beautiful crisp iron shots and pounded the driver with some significant force than usual - still have to work on the driver though as the trajectory is still too high for my liking.

I am getting back in shape too - been doing resistance workouts on my gravity force trainer and doing cardio (soccer, volleyball, golf) almost everyday. Can't wait to play a round - Friday is the day I'm aiming for unless the lady has something to say about it!

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Coming along

My game is starting to come along - had so much fun playing with my dad and two friends on Friday - shot an 85, my dad shot an 82 - his best that I've ever seen.

I will admit that at the start of the day, at the range, I was applying Slicefixer's method - however I was thinning the ball all over the place - so I figured I would go back to IGS and I'm glad I did for that day. I did apply SF's method when driving the ball and missed about two fairways all day - really solid driving day.

My putting was on key as well - using the 'topspin' blade method (where you try to put topspin on the ball), this keeps the ball on line much longer than the regular way and I feel very controlled when doing this.

Had my first birdie of the year on a Par 5 that always seems to get me. 517-yard Par 5, drive down the middle, second shot 3-wood baby slice to the right rough. Branch hanging over my aim, only 120 yards away - easy pitching wedge to 5 feet; right to lefter - dunked it.

I also had a great birdie chance on the hardest Par 3 I have always played. It is a 175-yard par 3, that has water on the right in front of the green - with bunker on the left - basically my bailout is to the left. Yesterday I hit a pure 5-iron and the ball drew to the edge of the green (I thought water for a second) and the ball landed about 8 feet from the pin. I misread the putt though - but a par on that hole is like a birdie.

My misses were mainly blow up holes. Had one on #5 in which my drive went way left - behind a tree, tried a nice and easy punch hook-out with the 5-iron, shanked it off the toe and skipped into the woods. The next shot was an attempt for another punch hook-out with the 7-iron this time, but I pulled it at impact and the ball slammed dead into a tree and came back at me with force. 4th shot was from the woods - bout 125-yards out, high pitching wedge came up 10-feet short of the pin, edged the hole lipped-out, chalked up a 7.

So it's safe to say I need to work on punch outs.

I'm starting to feel very good about this IGS swing - might need to re-watch some of the videos, all i know is that it is full of great information and my handicap is going to plummet very soon.

By the way - my handicap is now an 11.3 - at the end of last year it was a 14. I'm hoping to play a couple different courses than just 4 or 5, hopefully money won't be a problem.

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Nothing new

I think I am driving the ball better - I've tapped into the IGS System by Craig Johnson - it's idea is a concept I used in the past before I had even heard of the system - and I had much success with it.

Took it to the course on Friday and shot an unofficial 87. Played with a buddy of mine who I have been 'grooming' lately. He has the baseball swing down - but definitely not the golf swing just yet. I think I made the game a bit more complicated than it should be - so I gave him a great birthday present - the Nail It Book - which just describes how to hit that damn ball :P

I've e-mailed John this week and hopefully we can get a lesson in this coming weekend, I seriously can't wait - everytime we miss a chance to meet up for lessons - is another week I try something else.

I have no idea why I can't stay committed to a swing. Hopefully the lessons go well so I can get committed and continue my scratch goal.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Swing to Swing again

Shot an 84 (par 70). Which is accurate for my handicap of last year which was a 14.

Drove the ball okay, there is something missing - and speaking of misses, it's a case of the rights lately.

Using a device called the SwingSpeed has really helped me on distances. Last year my 150 club was my 7 or sometimes 6 iron. This year, my 150 club is my 8 iron, really has made a big difference because I hit the ball dead straight with that club.

I have decided that I will not to commit to a swing style unless I get instruction on it. So I had to delete the foundation post about Slice's swing method, because it just didn't feel right - that's not saying it's the swing, it's me unable to see my own faults.

I am hoping to get lessons with John Enslow Jr. who is an instructor for Dan Shauger's method, sometime soon. I think I need a bit more power in my game if I want to take this to the next level.

I will be a scratch golfer in 2008.

Which reminds me - I need to get back to my putter.

Monday, February 4, 2008

Weather

Weather is starting to pick up - finally. It's about 60 degrees outside and I'm thinking about hitting the range for a bit of a session.

Much like the weather, I've started to change my selected golf swing. I dedicated all of Saturday's range session to the Morad teaching from dana dalquist website. The videos he has posted are really helpful and when I tried most of the swing - ball contact was pure, and irons were about 5 yards longer than before.

The idea was to have a good backswing, right elbow inside the body, weight on left side, head down, from there downswing begins with the lower body - something I can do considering I'm a soccer player first.

Still have to work on the driver though. Bought a troybar on Saturday night, 6lbs, should help out to increase my swing speed -which is currently at 85mph.

Started watching calories today as well - did it last year and lost 30 pounds - seeing my weight increase this year again though, so here we go. Trying to take it off and keep it off - gotta get back in shape.

Jump Rope - Cardio
GeForce Trainer - Muscle gain and fast twitch muscles, not to mention abs need work - too much belly.

This weekend's weather: Sat - 48, Sun - 50 - if there are courses open, I'm in.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Restart.

So it's been a while since I've posted - I forgot about the blog to be honest.

I have recently been going through some swing changes lately and mostly it's because I want more power and accuracy in my game. Towards the end of the season, I played a round with my dad in which I shot an 85 at St. Andrews Golf Course (par 70). I played that round with the idea of Shawn Clement, who is a Canadian instructor - mostly seen on youtube, and had reasonable success - especially driving the ball.

Now I do not drive the ball all that far, but straight - sometimes a draw - 230 yards carry; nothing too great, but consistent.

Which leads me to a change:

Dan Shauger's 21st Century Golf Swing.

I've never dedicated my entire golf experience to just one swing. But from here on out, I am. And I'm going to learn from John Enslow Jr. , who is an 21st Century instructor in the Wichita area. My goal is to become stretch by the end of the season. It hasn't started yet, so the minute we get great weather like this weekend again, we'll get a lesson set up.