Played today and really interesting findings. Ball striking off the tee significantly improved, from the fairway getting better, around the green - lots more work required. I hit 5/13 fairways but missed two in bunkers due to wind and two in the light rough to the left. The bunkers came into play as I was hitting the 4 & 5 iron off the tee, and catching them sweetly, when I used to hit a 6I.
The biggest challenge for me is my approach shots and chipping. Got myself in some great positions today but the scoring shots let me down. Putting solid as always with just 34 putts today but scored 113. Seems strange that in some ways my ball striking is the best it's ever been, only two duffed shots. However, shot direction and wind caused havoc to my attempts to hit the green. Then my chipping deserted me and I just could not score. Positives are some wonderfully struck 4 & 5 Irons and the pitting. Just need to spend more practice time with the wedges and short irons. All in all pleased with my progress though it's not registering on the scorecard just yet.
Comments:
Homer
Might well be that your irons are flying high and being buffeted by the winds which is why a fairway wood will be a good investment. Once you are swinging properly you can learn how to hit a low 3/4 punch etc. For the time being follow Nicklaus’s advice and let the wind be your friend. If its left to right aim down the left and let it drift. If you hit it straight and the wind dies you’ll still be left side of the fairway/green. Don’t try and fight it
Tiger
I’m all with you on using the wind but a couple of times on par 3’s I would have had to aim at gorse or out of bounds in order to finish on the green. However that said I failed to get up and down which should have been straightforward for two pars instead I got bogey & double bogey. Watched the GM DVD last night and think I know where I’m going wrong with my chipping. Hopefully things will improve on that front and just two weeks till the fairway purchase. Only thing is I’ve then got to learn how to use the blinking thing
Tuesday, 13 April 2010
Monday, 12 April 2010
Magic Masters
I've never watched golf on TV before after this year's Masters I'll never miss a major golf event. Not only was I gripped but I learnt so much. First off hats off to Mickelson who won the tournament from bold shot selection his run from 13-15 on day three was stunning but his second from the woods on 13 on day four was nothing short of sheer brilliance. Though he missed the eagle putt I believed that with that shot from the trees he had just won the Masters. He could swing freely knowing he had his scoring pants on.
I felt for Westwood but over the championship he was solid but unspectacular. He took less risks but Mickelson had that bit of luck and magic that rewarded his bravery. However, I learnt
most from watching Tiger. He just didn't have his A Game but carded -11. For someone who has been out of action for five months and striking the ball as 'poorly' as he was to finish tied 4th was an unbelievable achievement. He didn't see it that way but it reinforced to me the importance of being able to score.
I didn't realise that pros missed fairways and greens in regulation as often as they did but in addition to that their club and shot selection to escape trouble was fascinating. Taking putters when I expected them to take wedges, laying up when I expected them to go for it, a lot of food for thought.
So well played big Phil, commiserations to Lee Westwood and congratulations to Matteo Massanero (I still can't believe he's only 16). I've never been itching to play so much...
I felt for Westwood but over the championship he was solid but unspectacular. He took less risks but Mickelson had that bit of luck and magic that rewarded his bravery. However, I learnt
most from watching Tiger. He just didn't have his A Game but carded -11. For someone who has been out of action for five months and striking the ball as 'poorly' as he was to finish tied 4th was an unbelievable achievement. He didn't see it that way but it reinforced to me the importance of being able to score.
I didn't realise that pros missed fairways and greens in regulation as often as they did but in addition to that their club and shot selection to escape trouble was fascinating. Taking putters when I expected them to take wedges, laying up when I expected them to go for it, a lot of food for thought.
So well played big Phil, commiserations to Lee Westwood and congratulations to Matteo Massanero (I still can't believe he's only 16). I've never been itching to play so much...
Friday, 9 April 2010
My game
As mentioned in a previous post I've broken down my game into five components:
To help me in my development are five individuals, two of which I doubt I'll ever meet. Theoretically, you will already know that I am a big fan of Dave Pelz and Bob Rotella. I am just coming to the end of Rotella's fifth golf book "Your 15th Club" and to be honest I think it's the book most people should read first. Unlike the other books it talks about the processes and techniques you need to use on a daily basis to improve your performance on the course. Now all I need to do is buy a journal and re read the other books!
Dave Pelz 3x4 wedge system is where I hope to end up but at the moment I am just concentrating on the three wedges I have and becoming consistent with my full and half swings. Once I've mastered that I will start to look at the quarter and three quarter swings. The Pelz book also has useful reference points for different types of wedge shots, which have proved invaluable in terms of small adjustments to make on different types of lies and what shot shape to expect, for example learning that an uphill lie will naturally generate a draw.
Supporting the theory are three very different individuals who will hopefully provide interesting and varied perspectives. First up is my coach Simon Dainty who is based at Fynn Valley Golf Club and with whom I have struck up a strong rapport. I'd highly recommend Simon to anyone in the Suffolk area who is thinking about developing their game. He is working with me on my swing mechanics and my technique on short approach shots and bunker play. Next up is Reg Clayden who is Club Captain at Waldringfield Golf Club and has a handicap of 7. Alongside occasional observations on my technique, he is helping me improve my course management and how I approach playing each hole. Every round with Reg is a real eye opener. Finally, there's young Ed Baker who has played off a handicap of 5 and is a young player full of promise. With his exuberance and instinctiveness of youth, I'm hoping I will be able te learn how to better read greens by playing with Ed. The fact that he has just started work as a greenkeeper will hopefully broaden his understanding of how greens slope, break and play.
So there you have it, 'Team Tiger'. Obviously, there will be many other people I will play against over the course of the year, all of whom will provide valuable insight to the great game. An example will be learning how to block out distractions and handle pressure when I play with my two brothers, one of whom will be brimming with banter.
Comments:
Homer
Sounds like you have a dream team going on then. I’m playing a lot with HTL off the GM forum and he’s officially 17 but is a much better golfer than that. He keeps my game honest as I’m really struggling to beat him whether I’m hitting well or not. If he can get his head straight over the summer he’ll be single figures.
I have a great relationship with my coach too and think its vital. I’m going to give it a few weeks and try and play myself out of this dip and then see where I go. I’ve got a nine hole playing lesson to take and was going to have that later in the year but might move it forward
Tiger
Yeah I hope so. Playing with low handicappers will hopefully help me learn a lot about how to play the game and most importantly how to score. Reg’s chipping is out of this world! Simon is really helping me work on my dispersion pattern. As I naturally hit it quite long if I can keep it in play and strike it consistently things could dramatically improve overnight. Lots of work ahead but I’m hoping a couple of major breakthroughs are just round the corner.
Homer
More optimism than me. Check out my blog for a sad state of affairs.
Mental
Management
Swing
Short Game
Putting
To help me in my development are five individuals, two of which I doubt I'll ever meet. Theoretically, you will already know that I am a big fan of Dave Pelz and Bob Rotella. I am just coming to the end of Rotella's fifth golf book "Your 15th Club" and to be honest I think it's the book most people should read first. Unlike the other books it talks about the processes and techniques you need to use on a daily basis to improve your performance on the course. Now all I need to do is buy a journal and re read the other books!
Dave Pelz 3x4 wedge system is where I hope to end up but at the moment I am just concentrating on the three wedges I have and becoming consistent with my full and half swings. Once I've mastered that I will start to look at the quarter and three quarter swings. The Pelz book also has useful reference points for different types of wedge shots, which have proved invaluable in terms of small adjustments to make on different types of lies and what shot shape to expect, for example learning that an uphill lie will naturally generate a draw.
Supporting the theory are three very different individuals who will hopefully provide interesting and varied perspectives. First up is my coach Simon Dainty who is based at Fynn Valley Golf Club and with whom I have struck up a strong rapport. I'd highly recommend Simon to anyone in the Suffolk area who is thinking about developing their game. He is working with me on my swing mechanics and my technique on short approach shots and bunker play. Next up is Reg Clayden who is Club Captain at Waldringfield Golf Club and has a handicap of 7. Alongside occasional observations on my technique, he is helping me improve my course management and how I approach playing each hole. Every round with Reg is a real eye opener. Finally, there's young Ed Baker who has played off a handicap of 5 and is a young player full of promise. With his exuberance and instinctiveness of youth, I'm hoping I will be able te learn how to better read greens by playing with Ed. The fact that he has just started work as a greenkeeper will hopefully broaden his understanding of how greens slope, break and play.
So there you have it, 'Team Tiger'. Obviously, there will be many other people I will play against over the course of the year, all of whom will provide valuable insight to the great game. An example will be learning how to block out distractions and handle pressure when I play with my two brothers, one of whom will be brimming with banter.
Comments:
Homer
Sounds like you have a dream team going on then. I’m playing a lot with HTL off the GM forum and he’s officially 17 but is a much better golfer than that. He keeps my game honest as I’m really struggling to beat him whether I’m hitting well or not. If he can get his head straight over the summer he’ll be single figures.
I have a great relationship with my coach too and think its vital. I’m going to give it a few weeks and try and play myself out of this dip and then see where I go. I’ve got a nine hole playing lesson to take and was going to have that later in the year but might move it forward
Tiger
Yeah I hope so. Playing with low handicappers will hopefully help me learn a lot about how to play the game and most importantly how to score. Reg’s chipping is out of this world! Simon is really helping me work on my dispersion pattern. As I naturally hit it quite long if I can keep it in play and strike it consistently things could dramatically improve overnight. Lots of work ahead but I’m hoping a couple of major breakthroughs are just round the corner.
Homer
More optimism than me. Check out my blog for a sad state of affairs.
Thursday, 8 April 2010
Reinforcing the routine
So I had a lesson today and spent the best part of two and a half hours working on my long game with fairway and long irons. A few tweaks in the set up were critical but most importantly it was using my pre shot routine to build my muscle memory of the positions I need to be in.
I've certainly improved my position at the top of my back swing but having issues on the downswing that I still need to work on. The most important development however was how well I struck the 3 iron by adopting the same pre shot routine as I was doing on the fairway wood. It's by no means perfect but it is back in the bag.
What is funny is that I actually need to spend more time engraining my pre shot routine than I do hitting balls. When I get it right I can hit any club in my bag beautifully. I hope that spending more time on each shot and getting relaxed will translate to better ball striking and fewer wasted shots. Watching the pro's at Augusta is certainly helping to reinforce the message. Looks like Monday's round is going to be interesting.
Comments:
Homer
When I have a lesson I spend hours just making practice swings. My pro has taught some good golfers and he gets me to make a swing and try and do it as slowly as I can so that I can reaaly feel the club move back, my weigh begin to move and my body turning properly. He then gets me to continue the transition and downswing and feel the club drop down into the correct position and plane and through impact.
Its actually a really hard drill to do properly as the temptation is to speed up on the downswing. We then hit shots and try and swing as slowly as we can and aim to hit a 6 iron for example with a full swing but no further than 100 yards. Again really hard but it reinforces the correct turn.
With all the rehersals etc it can take me an hour to hit 20 or so balls but I can really feel it. I tend to leave it after that. When I come back I start off with slow motion swings and then build it up to a full paced swing, working on feeling the movements and making sure the club stays in the correct position.
I guess the secret is to keep working on the drills and trusting what you’ve been shown. You’ll still hit bad ones but resist the temptation to change anything and work through it. It will come.
Tiger
Sounds like a good routine and one I should try to emulate. At the moment I’m in too much of a hurry to hit the next ball and definitely need to be more circumspect and meticulous in my preparation and practice. Having had a chance to reflect my speed on the course is a direct consequence of my speed when I practice. By slowing everything down I’ll hopefully play much better. I tend to start off with good intentions but let them slip, perhaps that’s why my game falls apart over the last 7 holes. Next time I’m practicing I’ll give slow motion a go.
Homer
I try and conscioulsy step of the mat at the range after every shot or at the very least go through my grip and address set up for each and every shot. How often do you see guys machine gunning balls and getting no benefit from the session
Tiger
I’ve really got to take this approach for my whole range session as I do get sucked into machine gunning about halfway through. I hope that slowing down my play in practice will mean a better, more patient approach on the course. I’m going to start playing at a driving range in bishopsgate and at £4.80 for 40 balls I think that will slow me down significantly.
Simon Hutton
£4.80 for 40 balls… just been down the range here, £5 for 100, and after 5pm it drops to £3.50 for 100. No auto-tees though.
Tiger
That’s London pricing for you, you get three times as many for the same price on my local range but if I’m going to get the practice I need a pricey weekly visit to Bishopsgate seems to be on the cards :(
I've certainly improved my position at the top of my back swing but having issues on the downswing that I still need to work on. The most important development however was how well I struck the 3 iron by adopting the same pre shot routine as I was doing on the fairway wood. It's by no means perfect but it is back in the bag.
What is funny is that I actually need to spend more time engraining my pre shot routine than I do hitting balls. When I get it right I can hit any club in my bag beautifully. I hope that spending more time on each shot and getting relaxed will translate to better ball striking and fewer wasted shots. Watching the pro's at Augusta is certainly helping to reinforce the message. Looks like Monday's round is going to be interesting.
Comments:
Homer
When I have a lesson I spend hours just making practice swings. My pro has taught some good golfers and he gets me to make a swing and try and do it as slowly as I can so that I can reaaly feel the club move back, my weigh begin to move and my body turning properly. He then gets me to continue the transition and downswing and feel the club drop down into the correct position and plane and through impact.
Its actually a really hard drill to do properly as the temptation is to speed up on the downswing. We then hit shots and try and swing as slowly as we can and aim to hit a 6 iron for example with a full swing but no further than 100 yards. Again really hard but it reinforces the correct turn.
With all the rehersals etc it can take me an hour to hit 20 or so balls but I can really feel it. I tend to leave it after that. When I come back I start off with slow motion swings and then build it up to a full paced swing, working on feeling the movements and making sure the club stays in the correct position.
I guess the secret is to keep working on the drills and trusting what you’ve been shown. You’ll still hit bad ones but resist the temptation to change anything and work through it. It will come.
Tiger
Sounds like a good routine and one I should try to emulate. At the moment I’m in too much of a hurry to hit the next ball and definitely need to be more circumspect and meticulous in my preparation and practice. Having had a chance to reflect my speed on the course is a direct consequence of my speed when I practice. By slowing everything down I’ll hopefully play much better. I tend to start off with good intentions but let them slip, perhaps that’s why my game falls apart over the last 7 holes. Next time I’m practicing I’ll give slow motion a go.
Homer
I try and conscioulsy step of the mat at the range after every shot or at the very least go through my grip and address set up for each and every shot. How often do you see guys machine gunning balls and getting no benefit from the session
Tiger
I’ve really got to take this approach for my whole range session as I do get sucked into machine gunning about halfway through. I hope that slowing down my play in practice will mean a better, more patient approach on the course. I’m going to start playing at a driving range in bishopsgate and at £4.80 for 40 balls I think that will slow me down significantly.
Simon Hutton
£4.80 for 40 balls… just been down the range here, £5 for 100, and after 5pm it drops to £3.50 for 100. No auto-tees though.
Tiger
That’s London pricing for you, you get three times as many for the same price on my local range but if I’m going to get the practice I need a pricey weekly visit to Bishopsgate seems to be on the cards :(
Wednesday, 7 April 2010
Ice skating uphill...
Played again today, had to blob two holes because of a mysteriously disappearing ball, which was frustrating and carded 96 for the 16 holes I did play. Played the 1st and the 10th really well today, but seemed to lose my way on both 'nines' after that. My fairway wood can't come soon enough but I did hit some great shots today. A 4 iron on the opening 203 yard par 3 just finished short of the green and the 9 iron shot to the green on the 10th landed on the upper tier and finished 10 foot past the hole. I two putted for par while my playing partner, who drove the green in one, walked off with a 5 having had a mare putting on the difficult uphill slope.
And his trials on that green very much reflected my performance today. When I relaxed the swing was on the money but for some reason we were locked in a never ending tussle meaning lots of topped, wasted shots, with a couple of snap hooks thrown in for good measure.
In terms of making any notable progress this game feels very much like trying to ice skate uphill or swim in treacle. Looking back over my three cards the best score I can cobble together from all my best holes is +21. The problems start on hole 12. It's at this point my swing starts to get untidy and I start losing balls, wasting shots and getting careless. I've hit six pars across the three rounds all of them coming between holes 3 - 11. I've also hit seven of my nine bogeys between holes 1 - 11.
It's early days but I need pressure taken away from my irons on the longer holes and to improve my golfing stamina for the back nine. I'm off to the range for a lesson and to practice my wood striking tomorrow, possibly with some target golf thrown in on the par 3. Then I'm hoping for 18 holes on Monday & Tuesday next week and fingers crossed the fairway wood will be coming with me.
And his trials on that green very much reflected my performance today. When I relaxed the swing was on the money but for some reason we were locked in a never ending tussle meaning lots of topped, wasted shots, with a couple of snap hooks thrown in for good measure.
In terms of making any notable progress this game feels very much like trying to ice skate uphill or swim in treacle. Looking back over my three cards the best score I can cobble together from all my best holes is +21. The problems start on hole 12. It's at this point my swing starts to get untidy and I start losing balls, wasting shots and getting careless. I've hit six pars across the three rounds all of them coming between holes 3 - 11. I've also hit seven of my nine bogeys between holes 1 - 11.
It's early days but I need pressure taken away from my irons on the longer holes and to improve my golfing stamina for the back nine. I'm off to the range for a lesson and to practice my wood striking tomorrow, possibly with some target golf thrown in on the par 3. Then I'm hoping for 18 holes on Monday & Tuesday next week and fingers crossed the fairway wood will be coming with me.
Monday, 5 April 2010
It's good to be back
Back playing golf at long last and it feels great. Fully recovered now and fit and raring to go. Still meeting new people at the club but had no one to play with today and decided to spend my time practicing. Went through my whole game from tee to green taking full advantage of the facilities. I feel very lucky at our club. Alongside the 9th is a 150 yard practice hole, a practice chipping area, a driving net and putting green. Also, when things were quiet I could nip onto the tee of the 9th and practice a few drives with the 5 Wood. There was a little ring rust but it was great to blow away the cobwebs and have a chance to practice my bunker play.
I'm playing 18 on Wednesday so hopefully today's practice will have got me back in the swing...
I'm playing 18 on Wednesday so hopefully today's practice will have got me back in the swing...
Thursday, 1 April 2010
March Stats
Apologies for the lack of updates. My chemotherapy has knocked the wind out of my sails a bit more than last time and I doubt there'll be any major golf played this weekend. It's also had a knock on effect on my practice with more time spent working in the evenings than practicing to get everything ready before I went on leave.I just managed 7 hours 20 minutes practice this month, with the vast majority focussed on the short game. Now I'm playing the full course I'll be making less trip[s to the par 3 and will be treating those more as target golf practice sessions rather than rounds. In March I made just two outings to the Par 3 with a lowest score of 37. I also spent a couple of hours on a golf simulator with my brother though that was more of an eye opener into the world of hitting woods than a practice session!
Practice
I am making good progress with use of my wedges and my swing changes have meant improved consistency of ball striking with my mid irons down to my wedges. There is still the odd duff and slice to contend with but as you'll see from my playing stats I'm starting to keep the ball in play more.
Distance | Time (minutes) | % of practice time |
150 – 200 yards | 85 | 19% |
100 – 150 yards | 20 | 5% |
Short Approach | 295 | 67% |
Putting | 40 | 9% |
Total | 440 | 100% |
My chipping is still my main area of focus, especially as I need to get used to the reduced spin levels on the NXXT Tour. I must admit I do miss the feel of the ProV1 around the green and am looking forward to trying the ProV!x courtesy of the Titleist ball offer in this month's GM. Interestingly the other ball they suggested was the NXT Tour so at least I can replenish my stocks having lost three first time out.
Rounds
Pretty similar scores from my first two outings at Waldringfield but completely different performances. I hit an amazing streak first time out but had some massive disasters. No stunning run of holes second time but more consistent scoring.
Statistic | Performance | SS2 Handicap level |
Fairways in Regulation | 46% | 13 |
Greens in Regulation | 8% | 23 |
Putts per Round* | 37 | 21 |
Birdie Conversion | 0% | 28+ |
Par Scrambles | 6% | 28+ |
Penalties per Round* | 4 | 28+ |
The SS2 handicap level is a calculation made indicating your performance on different facets of your game.
Using the mid irons off the tee is helping me hit more FIR and I've noticed that more often than not it's my second shot that let's me down. If I could retain the same degree of focus and preparation as I do on the tee I could put myself into scoring positions more regularly, especially on the shorter Par 4's.
My putting is making a fairly solid transition to full size greens, but I need to spend more time practicing those all important six feet and under putts. As my green reading improves I expect to see those stats fall as my distance judgement is pretty sound.
My main aim is to recover first, but hopefully I'll be back out on the course continuing my development. My next lesson will be focussed on my wood play. Depending how I get on with my friends G2 during April I may well be out shopping for a Driver and Fairway combination in May. I don't want to go overboard and liklihood is the Driver will remain a long term work in progress. At the moment the list is being headed by the MD Superstrong but I'm seriously considering the Nike Machspeed / Mizuno MX-700 because of excellent reviews on both their forgiveness.
Hopefully, by the end of this month I'll have broken the 100 barrier and be able to tell you about that elusive first birdie.
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