Breakthroughs (yes plural!)

Well I enjoyed just over three hours of golf today and have made (I hope) some real progress. First a bit of warm up practice and the ball just kept going straight, a couple with slight fade, but a dispersion of about 4 metres from PW - 6 iron. My pro was suitably impressed with my progress especially as the last two changes of grip and removing overhinge were still in place and working well.

Then came the inevitable tweak. My core and spine angle were moving around all over the place, mainly standing up too much on follow through. We looked at my set up and tried a few drills and with my trusty 8 iron in hand things improved. Then I got tired. Thing is I do a full pre shot routine before every shot which normally includes two practice swings. By the time I reach about 60 balls I've made at least 180 swings, if not more. The tiredness creeps in and the consistency disappears.

So I finished off with a few half shots and moved onto the putting green for half an hour while I waited for my friends to finish their first jaunt round the par three so I could join them second time round. Putting went pretty well , though I still have a tendency to hit one long and then the next two or three hideously short before I find my rhythm again.

Anyway I was feeling fairly relaxed, if a little jaded on the first tee. Now the par three we play is very short. Personally, I like it as its good preparation for the types of half shots or short approaches you'll play on a full course (if a little flat). What is also good is that the greens are tiny making it really tough to hit and stick on them. Recently, I've stopped using tees when playing this course playing everything off the deck with the exception of the 181 yard 7th hole. The last time I played with tees I hit a +10 37 with 3 GIR, hence the decision to switch to the deck and subsequent scores of 46, 41 and 47.

So here are the breakthroughs that I made:

1. I started off disastrously with a 5 (3 putt) and 6 (unplayable lie = dropped shot). Normally, I let a bad start get to me and bog me down for the rest of the round. Today I didn't and hit 4,3,4,4 for the following holes. Even after hitting a pretty decent 5 iron to the 7th (pin high but off to the left) and picking up a 5, I followed this with a 4,3.
   Breakthrough: Rotella is working, staying in the moment, letting the bad ones go


2. My chipping is awful, seriously really bad. No distance control and on most days straight off the other side of the green. As you will have seen from earlier posts I've been reading Dave Pelz. What a difference. Much better control during the round, though still a little long. Both pars today were the result of great chips, one to 4 foot and the other lipped out.
   Breakthrough: Chipping much improved


3. So at the end of the day I carded a 38. Not a brilliant score, but the first two holes I put down to range fatigue and tension and the 7th to poor chipping. This was my second best score ever, I didn't hit a GIR and given that the 37 came off using a tee on each hole and I now play without them, it was much more satisfying. I hit 'golf' shots on every hole, not those thinned daisy cutters that still end up near the green. I analysed every shot that went wrong today and it boiled down to three main errors. Sloppy alignment, too much club (I overhit three greens), chipping (normally too much power)
   Breakthrough: I played golf today rather than hacking my way round


4. After the round I ventured over to the putting green to figure out where my chipping was going wrong. It was here that I had my biggest eureka moment and wished I'd had time to go back onto the course and put it into practice. This was my pre shot routine:

• Gauge distance and get feel for stroke with practice swing(s)


• Move behind the ball, judge for green slope, pick landing spot, visualise shot


• Pick a spot six inches in front of the ball on target line


• Set up square to target line using the spot for alignment


• Spread feet evenly, ball in centre of stance, hands ahead of ball, left foot turned out 45 degrees


• Two waggles, look at pin, look at ball, deep breath in, out, swing

Today it struck me. My shots were missing long and pitching around about where the flag was. Now this might seem obvious to you, but it wasn't to me. My last action was to look at the pin, look at the ball and swing. On the putting green, I added and extra element. I looked at the pin, looked at where I wanted the ball to land, looked at the ball and swung. The difference was huge. The ball was landing in and around that area and in the space of 30 minutes I holed three chips and had loads close to the pin. There are still some I hit too long but this is 6-8 feet rather than 6-8 yards.
Breakthrough: I understand how to chip!!!!

So all in all, not an amazing score but I am starting to get this game. The next step will be to progress onto the longer 9 hole at Purdis and see if I can shoot in the low 30's at Fynn. As always comments welcomed!

Comments:

Rob2
Its great when the little light bulb switches on isn`t it? It gives us all hope. Love following your progress, best of luck with your game.

Tiger
Cheers Rob, glad you’re enjoying the ride. I’ll be counting on you (and the silent others) to keep me going when I have my inevitable darker days. It’s crazy how things just suddenly click and make sense. Next update will probably be the book review on Tuesday. This week: ‘Dream On’ by John Richardson.

Homer
I definitely haven’t been (and won’t be) a silent follower. I’m quite into your quest and the various bits and pieces (books, equipment, light bulb moments). It will be a struggle at times but you’ll get there in the end. I’ve given your blog a plug on the howdidido forum as well so hopefully you’ll get some more interest and potentially some more advice and help

Tiger
toddle off to check on him, he wants his mum, typical. I pop downstairs, get him some water, come back, climb into bed and… well it’s 5.11 am and I can’t sleep. Golf thoughts are swimming round my head. I can see you all nodding your heads knowledgeably. This is going to get worse isn’t it?

Bogey
Outstanding weekend Tiger – that’s quite a marker you’ve laid down and I’ll be going some to better that, I think my best 9hole score so far is about 41! Due to a hectic family life at the minute and being mad busy at work, next weekend is my first chance to really get out there and play. Game on!

Tiger
Thanks for the plug Homer really appreciate it. We know from traffic that more people are visiting than commenting so hoping to get more discussion going. At centre parcs this week so playing a new par 3 tomorrow. Bogey here’s hoping I can beat the 38 and really turn the pressure up! ;0)