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.
Monday, February 4, 2008
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.
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.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Paralysis by Analysis.
I really can't take it anymore. I can't read my favorite forums such as GTO and Manzella, or active golf for that matter. I just can't participate in any of the discussions regarding lag angle, wrist angle, reverse pivoting, chunking, etc... to me this game is all about your menality. Just think about what you want to do and do it, don't force it - but do it.
I used to play soccer, professionally in Indonesia and Thailand for a couple of years - then I found this game, this beautiful game of golf. I found that this game became an obssesion and my thirst for it lead to oversimplification of the mechanics, rather than the feel. The soccer player/natural athlete in me didn't kick in until two days ago when I had my first lesson with Liz. I completely forgot I was a feel player, that isn't just a title - it's a feeling all by itself.
When I played soccer I never...ever cared about what my leg looked like when I struck that ball - not once, yet I knew had to play a slice, a draw a straight knuckle ball that had the goalkeeper grasping at nothing but air. I had the ability to kick the ball out of the air, over my head - through my legs...everything. What made golf different? Just because I've got a club in my head, I still got a ball right down there, sitting still at that, yet I thought about my reverse pivot - my angle and my constant swing thoughts of ...hit down on the ball...don't look up too soon, keep your spine angle...blah!
In soccer you learn the fundamentals first - that's what Liz addressed first with my golf game, gotta lower that pride no matter what your handicap is, it's the basics that are going to get me out of trouble quicker. And thankfully it was just a very easy problem at address.
1. Lift your hands higher.
Turns out my hands were too low at address - this is why I was pulling everything..phew. So basically I got stuck. Lifted my hands higher --- straight...driver...straight..iron...straight... :)
There are no "kick thoughts" so why should there be "swing thoughts"? Well, here I believe I can only have ONE swing thought - "pause at the top"....and that's it. I was very successful with this, and I truly believe if I have any other swing thought, I will fail...there's no question.
When a soccer ball is coming to you, you're already thinking about the next action you're going to do - you don't think about it while you have the ball in your possession, I think keeping one swing thought in my golf swing is equivalent to the thought of thinking ahead in soccer. I was very successful in soccer by not thinking too much - the same will be for golf.
No more letting forums get to me, no more - my posts will be short and will always go to the mental side of the game...not once will it be mechanical; I fear I could paralyze other players this way. I wish some of the bigger names on their forums would gladly keep all the mechanics and analysis of the golf swing away from those who need help in the game - that's all.
I used to play soccer, professionally in Indonesia and Thailand for a couple of years - then I found this game, this beautiful game of golf. I found that this game became an obssesion and my thirst for it lead to oversimplification of the mechanics, rather than the feel. The soccer player/natural athlete in me didn't kick in until two days ago when I had my first lesson with Liz. I completely forgot I was a feel player, that isn't just a title - it's a feeling all by itself.
When I played soccer I never...ever cared about what my leg looked like when I struck that ball - not once, yet I knew had to play a slice, a draw a straight knuckle ball that had the goalkeeper grasping at nothing but air. I had the ability to kick the ball out of the air, over my head - through my legs...everything. What made golf different? Just because I've got a club in my head, I still got a ball right down there, sitting still at that, yet I thought about my reverse pivot - my angle and my constant swing thoughts of ...hit down on the ball...don't look up too soon, keep your spine angle...blah!
In soccer you learn the fundamentals first - that's what Liz addressed first with my golf game, gotta lower that pride no matter what your handicap is, it's the basics that are going to get me out of trouble quicker. And thankfully it was just a very easy problem at address.
1. Lift your hands higher.
Turns out my hands were too low at address - this is why I was pulling everything..phew. So basically I got stuck. Lifted my hands higher --- straight...driver...straight..iron...straight... :)
There are no "kick thoughts" so why should there be "swing thoughts"? Well, here I believe I can only have ONE swing thought - "pause at the top"....and that's it. I was very successful with this, and I truly believe if I have any other swing thought, I will fail...there's no question.
When a soccer ball is coming to you, you're already thinking about the next action you're going to do - you don't think about it while you have the ball in your possession, I think keeping one swing thought in my golf swing is equivalent to the thought of thinking ahead in soccer. I was very successful in soccer by not thinking too much - the same will be for golf.
No more letting forums get to me, no more - my posts will be short and will always go to the mental side of the game...not once will it be mechanical; I fear I could paralyze other players this way. I wish some of the bigger names on their forums would gladly keep all the mechanics and analysis of the golf swing away from those who need help in the game - that's all.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Starting from Scratch - to get to scratch.
My season officially started today, this being my golfing season. I spent the best $50 I will ever spend in my life, Liz Smart is one of the best instructors ever.
I hope to play well on Thursday to get me prepared for the Club Championship in June. I really feel like my game is coming together and even though my handicap has risen from a 5 to a 10, I believe I can get it even lower with no problem. My short-game, with the exception of today, is my absolute strongest part of my game. My putting has been dead-on and today all my chips came within inches of the hole.
So combine that with my new found setup and one swing thought, I am rock solid. The plan is also to focus more on fitness, but I'll save that info for another blog - this was fun.
COURSE: Overland Park GC (South)
HOLES: 9
SCORE: 40 (+5)
I hope to play well on Thursday to get me prepared for the Club Championship in June. I really feel like my game is coming together and even though my handicap has risen from a 5 to a 10, I believe I can get it even lower with no problem. My short-game, with the exception of today, is my absolute strongest part of my game. My putting has been dead-on and today all my chips came within inches of the hole.
So combine that with my new found setup and one swing thought, I am rock solid. The plan is also to focus more on fitness, but I'll save that info for another blog - this was fun.
COURSE: Overland Park GC (South)
HOLES: 9
SCORE: 40 (+5)
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