Hello again. It's been a couple of weeks since my previous blog. I was writing more or less every day so thought I should spread them a bit so I've got more to write about.
So, what's the situation?
Well, the news isn't that great to be honest. In fact, it's been very frustrating. I have been having very good sessions on the range and just not being able to take it to the golf course. For some reason, I just feel extremely uncomfortable on my backswing and this bleeds into my downswing which makes my bad shots feel horrendous. But then i'll get to the next shot make a slightly better backswing and hit an awesome shot!! I need to get to the bottom of this. If I feel good at the top, I hit good shots. That's all there is to it. I went to the range tonight to experiment and see if I could find some kind of means of making things more comfortable. More on that later...
Last week I finally got off my backside and went to do some work on my pitching. This was a lot of fun and has certainly given me a basis to work from. I really wanted to spend some time on Waterhall or Hollingbury to test this for real but the weather has been rubbish the last 2 weeks.
I worked on my half and three-quarter swings with my gap and sand wedge. Here's my yardages so far:
GAP WEDGE
1/2 swing - 50 yards
3/4 swing - 70 yards
SAND WEDGE
1/2 swing - 44 yards
3/4 swing - 56 yards
These yardages are very basic and as I say I need the opportunity to work with and adjust these on the golf course. At least I have rough ideas now. I have been pitching more with my sand wedge lately and building my confidence.
My last 2 wednesdays at Hollingbury have been inconsistent. Last week I shot 82 and 79 (+17) in some severe gales in which I made 24 pars over the day and no birdies and then yesterday I shot 76 and 75 (+7). I can't make up my mind about yesterday. The conditions were tough and I did not play well. Thinking back over the day, I hit so many poor shots and made lots of sloppy mistakes. Yet, I shot 10 shots better than last week. I guess I have to take heart from knowing I can scramble. For some reason, the more reliant and more pressure that is placed on my short game, the better it is. The figures are still poor in terms of the quantity of up and downs I am making but I am throwing in 3 putts as well!! My game feels really poor at the moment but my scores are possibly reflecting better than this. That's a good sign as it tells me that as soon as I get to grips with my swing feels so uncomfortable surely I am gonna start shooting some low numbers. I'm trying to be patient but it's so hard. My temporament has always been questionable but recently it has not been good at all. I absolutely hate this side of myself and wish I knew how to deal with things better. There is no magic formula, I guess it comes down to self control and perspective. I need to work on this.
So, the range today. How did it go?? Well it started poorly but ended quite well. I hit balls in front of a mirror but this told me nothing. It looked nothing like it felt so I decided that I would avoid looking in the mirror and concentrate on feelings.
I made some slow backswings to try and get to the bottom of things - to try and see if anything felt good, bad, uncomfortable etc. I wondered if i've actually been rotating my club face shut on my backswing. This was possible and could explain why I hit so many violent lefty shots at times and also pushes when I try to fight it.
In the JH book it talks about rotating the forearms from the halfway back position to the top of the backswing as a necessary means of completing the backswing on plane even though theoretically this gets the clubface open. As someone who is prone to pushes, any movement to get my clubface open has always scared me. Maybe this is why my fault is what it is. Anyways, I thought ok, lets give this a go. One thing, actually two things I will say about this are that one: it felt strange but far more comfortable at the top and two: my downswing felt easier to make and I actually ripped a few nice and high! It was exciting but I find it so hard to trust this move. I know that any conscious move on my part to square up on the downswing leads to disaster but it seems to happen pretty much automatically anyway. I can only assume that the backswing facilitates these good moves on the downswing. Either way, as I say it feels much more comfortable so I think I may stick with it and see how it goes. It's going to take a lot of practise for me to trust it on the course though. Let's see.......
Thursday, 23 July 2009
Thursday, 9 July 2009
Learning-dings!
Well it was an evening of discovery at the range this evening, particularly after my round yesterday afternoon I was anxious to get to the bottom of a few things. Although I had played a couple of good ball striking rounds, I needed to find out why it went so wrong and felt so foreign in the afternoon. It took nearly 300 balls this evening but I think I found some very important things out, but I won't know these for a fact until next time I hit the course.
I'll summarise these things rather than waffle on:
* My set up is crucial!! Get over the ball!! I worked on establishing my set up position and then adjusting this until I could reach under my knee caps!!
*I have taken the focus off of my shoulder rotation in my backswing and trying to trust that if I stay in my spine angle I will turn in the 48" zone!!
* The '2' move is absolutely crucial to my ball striking!! I will now be focusing on this by making the move by increasing the flex in my left knee!
* Shoulder turn through the ball. I ascertained that this was definitely my problem yesterday. I know how to distinguish the feeling between turning and tilting my shoulders and for some reason the tilting thing was feeling very natural!! Aargh - that is not good, and I realised this was true because when I rehearsed some slow motion shoulder rotations it felt very strange. However I built this up from short backswings and before I knew it I was crunching it and it felt so easy! I think this is where I struggle when things go bad and so I will need to be aware of it when things go bad.
I'll probably elaborate more as and when. For now at least I have documented this....
I'll summarise these things rather than waffle on:
* My set up is crucial!! Get over the ball!! I worked on establishing my set up position and then adjusting this until I could reach under my knee caps!!
*I have taken the focus off of my shoulder rotation in my backswing and trying to trust that if I stay in my spine angle I will turn in the 48" zone!!
* The '2' move is absolutely crucial to my ball striking!! I will now be focusing on this by making the move by increasing the flex in my left knee!
* Shoulder turn through the ball. I ascertained that this was definitely my problem yesterday. I know how to distinguish the feeling between turning and tilting my shoulders and for some reason the tilting thing was feeling very natural!! Aargh - that is not good, and I realised this was true because when I rehearsed some slow motion shoulder rotations it felt very strange. However I built this up from short backswings and before I knew it I was crunching it and it felt so easy! I think this is where I struggle when things go bad and so I will need to be aware of it when things go bad.
I'll probably elaborate more as and when. For now at least I have documented this....
Wednesday, 8 July 2009
Better Round, and poor round!!
Well I played 36 holes today, and overall it was a very mixed bag. My 2 rounds were compiled very differently. In the morning I shot a level par 72 and hardly put a bad swing on the ball!! One bad swing and a 3-putt caused two 6's but other than that it was the steady kind of round I used to compile regularly. I'm beginning to realise how important the 2 move is to my swing and how much easier it is to make my downswing from this position.
I did not play well in the afternoon, however. Considering it was a darn sight better condition for scoring with much less wind, 78 was not a good effort, especially considering how it was compiled. It was a bit alarming actually because for some reason I felt unbelievably anxious over the ball and just felt like I couldn't get into the right place at the top and therefore that the ball could literally go anywhere. On one shot, I literally had to stop mid-swing as I felt so bad at the top of the backswing!! This was worrying and I couldn't come to terms with it. I don't know what happened there really. I recovered to hit plenty of good shots but I was not swinging with any confidence at all. I hardly hit a good iron shot the whole way round. I'm pretty sure that I was tilting my shoulders on my downswing and therefore trapping myself. I'm gonna need another range session to work on this. I need to get my arms working better on my backswing as I seem to be getting really 'steer-ey' all the time and I know I don't need to. But for some reason, I can't trust myself.
And as for pitching the ball, well this is now becoming a serious problem. I made so many bogeys today from pitch shots. It was driving me bonkers. I must have steered every bloody one of them and as for distance control, AWFUL!! This can't go on any longer - I need to spend a lot of time pitching and getting confident. A pro golfer should never be shying away from pitch shots! These are supposed to be what seperates the good from the great and to be totally honest, half the time I don't even feel like i'm gonna hit the green!! And my putting still sucks too. I had 2 ridiculous 3 putts today from nowhere and miss so many short putts it was painful. I just couldn't trust where I was aiming and was putting a bloody good push stroke on the ball again. This is not good. There seem to be a lot of negatives in this blog. I guess that +6 over 2 rounds was not a bad total considering the amount of rubbish in there and it was a 7 shot improvement on last week. Hopefully I can build on this. I'm gonna go back to my Jim Hardy book tho and see if I can't find something on my backswing to sort myself out. I think I need to work on the forearm rotation to the top of my backswing. I'll look at this tomorrow and write again after.
I'll leave it there for now....
I did not play well in the afternoon, however. Considering it was a darn sight better condition for scoring with much less wind, 78 was not a good effort, especially considering how it was compiled. It was a bit alarming actually because for some reason I felt unbelievably anxious over the ball and just felt like I couldn't get into the right place at the top and therefore that the ball could literally go anywhere. On one shot, I literally had to stop mid-swing as I felt so bad at the top of the backswing!! This was worrying and I couldn't come to terms with it. I don't know what happened there really. I recovered to hit plenty of good shots but I was not swinging with any confidence at all. I hardly hit a good iron shot the whole way round. I'm pretty sure that I was tilting my shoulders on my downswing and therefore trapping myself. I'm gonna need another range session to work on this. I need to get my arms working better on my backswing as I seem to be getting really 'steer-ey' all the time and I know I don't need to. But for some reason, I can't trust myself.
And as for pitching the ball, well this is now becoming a serious problem. I made so many bogeys today from pitch shots. It was driving me bonkers. I must have steered every bloody one of them and as for distance control, AWFUL!! This can't go on any longer - I need to spend a lot of time pitching and getting confident. A pro golfer should never be shying away from pitch shots! These are supposed to be what seperates the good from the great and to be totally honest, half the time I don't even feel like i'm gonna hit the green!! And my putting still sucks too. I had 2 ridiculous 3 putts today from nowhere and miss so many short putts it was painful. I just couldn't trust where I was aiming and was putting a bloody good push stroke on the ball again. This is not good. There seem to be a lot of negatives in this blog. I guess that +6 over 2 rounds was not a bad total considering the amount of rubbish in there and it was a 7 shot improvement on last week. Hopefully I can build on this. I'm gonna go back to my Jim Hardy book tho and see if I can't find something on my backswing to sort myself out. I think I need to work on the forearm rotation to the top of my backswing. I'll look at this tomorrow and write again after.
I'll leave it there for now....
Monday, 6 July 2009
Tournament At Pyrford...
Hey! I had the Crown Golf Assistants Championship qualifier at Pyrford today. It was blowing an absolute 'hooley' and I seriously dislike windy conditions as I tend to struggle in them! Here are the vital statistics:
Score: 82
F'ways: 9/14
Greens: 9/18
Up and Downs: 3/9
Putts: 33 (2 3-putts)
Penalty shots: 4!!!
Yup, I shot 82. I have to be honest though, I didn't play as bad as that and hit a bunch of great shots that didn't really get the reward they deserved. I got off to the perfect start and was -1 thru 3 holes. Here's my round:
1 - I hit a nice little drawing 5 wood down the middle and then a gap wedge to about 20 feet. Then I 2-putted nicely for par.
2 - I hit a solid 6 iron about 20 feet pin high right of the flag and just off the edge of the green. From there I holed the putt to go -1.
3 - I hit 7 wood off the tee and pushed it slightly. However it suited the shape of the hole perfectly and wound up about 50 yards from the green. From there I hit a POOR pitch about 25 feet short of the hole but 2-putted for par.
4 - Crunched a drive down the middle of the fairway, then hit a good 5 wood up to about 100 yards short. There, I totally lost concentration and skulled my gap wedge over the green. This was poor and I compounded it with a duffed chip and a 2-putt bogey. Back to Even Par.
5 - Hit a poor blocked 5 wood off the tee and an even worse 8 iron block 2nd shot! However, I hit a great pitch to 7 feet and boxed the putt for a par.
6 - This was the first time I got screwed by the wind. Having watched my playing partners have their shots blown majorly long so I hit my wedge softly. It never really got up in the air and got blown straight down into the front bunker. From there, I had an average bunker shot and missed my par putt. +1.
7 - Realised on my way to the tee that I'd forgotten my 'two move' and proceeded to hit a sweet 3 wood down the fairway. Then I hit a nice 9 iron which came up about 30 foot short. Then I hit a terrible first putt and missed the next for a lame bogey. +2.
8 - Nice 7 wood lay up to about 60 yards short. Then baring in mind the pitch was straight downwind, I did well to get it to about 20 feet. 3-putted woefully again!! +3.
9 - Cracking 3 wood down the middle. Then, on a very narrow lay up and a strong crosswind, I let my 5 wood lay-up drift on the wind for my first taste of the water!! I took my drop and the wind seemed to drop and then pick up and then drop again. I committed to an 8 iron and hit is really solid at the flag. However, I got the wind wrong again and ploughed the ball over the back of the green from where I chipped and 2 putted for a double bogey 7. Front 9 score: 41 (+5).
10 - I hit a gorgeous low 5 iron straight at the flag again through the wind. It seemed to penetrate the wind completely and ended up long. However I putted back down to 3 feet and saved par.
11 - Tried to draw my driver and it stayed straight. From there I flushed a 3 wood just right of the green, leaving a pitch over a hill. I struck my chip perfectly with plenty of spin and left it about 6 feet away. This was a good save when the putt dropped!!
12 - I hit a lovely 5 wood down the middle and the layed up with a pitching wedge. I was left with 84 yards and hit a shocker!! A REAL SHOCKER!! The ball flew low left, over the back of the green in to a lake!! I was in shock!! The wind just propelled my ball forward like i'd never seen. Not even I can misjudge a pitch that badly!! This is how bad the wind was. Anways, following a duffed chip, I made another double bogey 7 and went to +7!!
13 - Hit a lovely low draw with my driver and then a beautiful 5 wood straight at the middle of the green. I didn't see it land and when I got to the green and found it had gone through the back into deep rough I was gutted. I had misjudged the wind again. I hit a great recovery but couldn't save par. +8.
14 - I went for the green but bottled it right slightly. I hit a good shot out of the rough but it didn't release. I 2 putted from 30 feet for par.
15 - I hit a gorgeous low 3 wood down the fairway and then another misjudged pitch to the back of the green. 2 putt par.
16 - I hit a low thinned pull with a 5 wood in to a fairway bunker. From there I hit a great recovery over water with a gap wedge to about 20 feet for a 2 putt par.
17 - I could not commit to a club here. I couldn't decide on the wind. In the end I took a 7 iron and although I hit it well, turns out the wind was against, and a massive gust just killed it up in the air. It bounced back in to the water hazard. From there, I had a lousy drop in to a divot and chunked my pitch short of the green. From there, I hit a much better pitch and holed an 8 footer for another double. +10.
18 - I didn't commit or concentrate on my 5 wood tee shot and shoved it right into water again. I dropped out, smacked a 5 wood up near the green and pride allowed me to chip and putt for par
Back 9: 41 (+5).
Overall: 82 (+10)
Well, it was a day of good execution and poor judgement. On those grounds I feel quite pleased really. I swung it well. I had to remind myself to stand over the ball properly and make my two move. These usually culminated in good shots. My new routine with my grip is working well. I am working to get rid of my closed clubface problems by starting with an exagerrated weak grip, and I work from there back to square position. This was great, it really took my hands out of shots and I didn't really get any closed clubfaces so I was pleased!!
My pitching particularly needs dire work. I have absolutely no idea of my distances so I really need to pull my finger out and work on this. It cost me a pantload of shots today. On a longer golf course I would have done ok I think. And as for my putting, it was it's usual crap!! My judgement of distances is poor!! I have the yips and just basically zero confidence. I am licking my wounds a bit now, so am going to think about how I can improve these areas of my game.
Anyways, for a long blog, I'll leave it there.....
Score: 82
F'ways: 9/14
Greens: 9/18
Up and Downs: 3/9
Putts: 33 (2 3-putts)
Penalty shots: 4!!!
Yup, I shot 82. I have to be honest though, I didn't play as bad as that and hit a bunch of great shots that didn't really get the reward they deserved. I got off to the perfect start and was -1 thru 3 holes. Here's my round:
1 - I hit a nice little drawing 5 wood down the middle and then a gap wedge to about 20 feet. Then I 2-putted nicely for par.
2 - I hit a solid 6 iron about 20 feet pin high right of the flag and just off the edge of the green. From there I holed the putt to go -1.
3 - I hit 7 wood off the tee and pushed it slightly. However it suited the shape of the hole perfectly and wound up about 50 yards from the green. From there I hit a POOR pitch about 25 feet short of the hole but 2-putted for par.
4 - Crunched a drive down the middle of the fairway, then hit a good 5 wood up to about 100 yards short. There, I totally lost concentration and skulled my gap wedge over the green. This was poor and I compounded it with a duffed chip and a 2-putt bogey. Back to Even Par.
5 - Hit a poor blocked 5 wood off the tee and an even worse 8 iron block 2nd shot! However, I hit a great pitch to 7 feet and boxed the putt for a par.
6 - This was the first time I got screwed by the wind. Having watched my playing partners have their shots blown majorly long so I hit my wedge softly. It never really got up in the air and got blown straight down into the front bunker. From there, I had an average bunker shot and missed my par putt. +1.
7 - Realised on my way to the tee that I'd forgotten my 'two move' and proceeded to hit a sweet 3 wood down the fairway. Then I hit a nice 9 iron which came up about 30 foot short. Then I hit a terrible first putt and missed the next for a lame bogey. +2.
8 - Nice 7 wood lay up to about 60 yards short. Then baring in mind the pitch was straight downwind, I did well to get it to about 20 feet. 3-putted woefully again!! +3.
9 - Cracking 3 wood down the middle. Then, on a very narrow lay up and a strong crosswind, I let my 5 wood lay-up drift on the wind for my first taste of the water!! I took my drop and the wind seemed to drop and then pick up and then drop again. I committed to an 8 iron and hit is really solid at the flag. However, I got the wind wrong again and ploughed the ball over the back of the green from where I chipped and 2 putted for a double bogey 7. Front 9 score: 41 (+5).
10 - I hit a gorgeous low 5 iron straight at the flag again through the wind. It seemed to penetrate the wind completely and ended up long. However I putted back down to 3 feet and saved par.
11 - Tried to draw my driver and it stayed straight. From there I flushed a 3 wood just right of the green, leaving a pitch over a hill. I struck my chip perfectly with plenty of spin and left it about 6 feet away. This was a good save when the putt dropped!!
12 - I hit a lovely 5 wood down the middle and the layed up with a pitching wedge. I was left with 84 yards and hit a shocker!! A REAL SHOCKER!! The ball flew low left, over the back of the green in to a lake!! I was in shock!! The wind just propelled my ball forward like i'd never seen. Not even I can misjudge a pitch that badly!! This is how bad the wind was. Anways, following a duffed chip, I made another double bogey 7 and went to +7!!
13 - Hit a lovely low draw with my driver and then a beautiful 5 wood straight at the middle of the green. I didn't see it land and when I got to the green and found it had gone through the back into deep rough I was gutted. I had misjudged the wind again. I hit a great recovery but couldn't save par. +8.
14 - I went for the green but bottled it right slightly. I hit a good shot out of the rough but it didn't release. I 2 putted from 30 feet for par.
15 - I hit a gorgeous low 3 wood down the fairway and then another misjudged pitch to the back of the green. 2 putt par.
16 - I hit a low thinned pull with a 5 wood in to a fairway bunker. From there I hit a great recovery over water with a gap wedge to about 20 feet for a 2 putt par.
17 - I could not commit to a club here. I couldn't decide on the wind. In the end I took a 7 iron and although I hit it well, turns out the wind was against, and a massive gust just killed it up in the air. It bounced back in to the water hazard. From there, I had a lousy drop in to a divot and chunked my pitch short of the green. From there, I hit a much better pitch and holed an 8 footer for another double. +10.
18 - I didn't commit or concentrate on my 5 wood tee shot and shoved it right into water again. I dropped out, smacked a 5 wood up near the green and pride allowed me to chip and putt for par
Back 9: 41 (+5).
Overall: 82 (+10)
Well, it was a day of good execution and poor judgement. On those grounds I feel quite pleased really. I swung it well. I had to remind myself to stand over the ball properly and make my two move. These usually culminated in good shots. My new routine with my grip is working well. I am working to get rid of my closed clubface problems by starting with an exagerrated weak grip, and I work from there back to square position. This was great, it really took my hands out of shots and I didn't really get any closed clubfaces so I was pleased!!
My pitching particularly needs dire work. I have absolutely no idea of my distances so I really need to pull my finger out and work on this. It cost me a pantload of shots today. On a longer golf course I would have done ok I think. And as for my putting, it was it's usual crap!! My judgement of distances is poor!! I have the yips and just basically zero confidence. I am licking my wounds a bit now, so am going to think about how I can improve these areas of my game.
Anyways, for a long blog, I'll leave it there.....
Wednesday, 1 July 2009
Wednesday's Golf...
Well I played 36 holes today in extreme heat and to be in honest I wasn't very happy with how it went. I shot 79 (+7) at Hollingbury in the morning and then 76 (+6) at Singing Hills in the afternoon for a lame +13 total. This standard simply isn't good enough for where I want to be.
In terms of ball striking, I was pretty good really. I struck a lot of solid shots, it was just the directional element that was bad!! Damned if I couldn't rid myself of the bloody hooks and pulls again!! I was tearing my hair out by the end of as I just couldn't find a fix. I worked on weakening my grip a bit but I was terrified of err-ing in the opposite direction and considering I haven't worked enough on this at the range, I simply couldn't trust it. My driving was great, but to be honest without being arrogant, it always is. But my irons were inconsistent and my shortgame was downright abysmal.
On the back 9 of my second round I actually shot -1 and hit a lot more decent shots simply by making sure my address position was good.
With regard to my short game, well how do you like these figures:
- 0/7 for up and downs on the morning round &
- 4/11 for the afternoon.
A total of 4/18 up and downs over two rounds is simply unacceptable. A lot of was down to terrible putting in the morning. 37 putts in a round is disgraceful!! Urgh, I hate to read it. I was blocking putts all morning, just couldn't hit the damn thing on line and it was very frustrating. I worked on turning my body through the putt a little bit more at lunchtime in an effort to release it a little better and had 29 putts in the afternoon on some tricky greens. However, I only hit 8 greens in reg which in itself is not a very good number.
So, the tale again lies within inconsistency. I set myself a goal to make no double bogeys the whole day and only made 1. This wasn't a bad start. At Hollingbury in the morning I managed this but I also had 9 bogeys. This is too high. At this point, I only want 6 bogeys at an absolute maximum! A lot of my stupid bogeys came hitting TERRIBLE pitch shots. Oh my god, at times it felt like a miracle that I even hit the green. I seem to do this stupid thing where my hands seem to want to steer the ball!! This is not what I want as it an absolute killer under pressure and can make me look very silly indeed!! 50 yards and in needs work urgently. But, I am not sure exactly what it is that is causing my problems. Therefore how can I honestly aim to improve. Hopefully through trial and error I will figure it out.
We will see. Anyways, I'll leave it there for now....
In terms of ball striking, I was pretty good really. I struck a lot of solid shots, it was just the directional element that was bad!! Damned if I couldn't rid myself of the bloody hooks and pulls again!! I was tearing my hair out by the end of as I just couldn't find a fix. I worked on weakening my grip a bit but I was terrified of err-ing in the opposite direction and considering I haven't worked enough on this at the range, I simply couldn't trust it. My driving was great, but to be honest without being arrogant, it always is. But my irons were inconsistent and my shortgame was downright abysmal.
On the back 9 of my second round I actually shot -1 and hit a lot more decent shots simply by making sure my address position was good.
With regard to my short game, well how do you like these figures:
- 0/7 for up and downs on the morning round &
- 4/11 for the afternoon.
A total of 4/18 up and downs over two rounds is simply unacceptable. A lot of was down to terrible putting in the morning. 37 putts in a round is disgraceful!! Urgh, I hate to read it. I was blocking putts all morning, just couldn't hit the damn thing on line and it was very frustrating. I worked on turning my body through the putt a little bit more at lunchtime in an effort to release it a little better and had 29 putts in the afternoon on some tricky greens. However, I only hit 8 greens in reg which in itself is not a very good number.
So, the tale again lies within inconsistency. I set myself a goal to make no double bogeys the whole day and only made 1. This wasn't a bad start. At Hollingbury in the morning I managed this but I also had 9 bogeys. This is too high. At this point, I only want 6 bogeys at an absolute maximum! A lot of my stupid bogeys came hitting TERRIBLE pitch shots. Oh my god, at times it felt like a miracle that I even hit the green. I seem to do this stupid thing where my hands seem to want to steer the ball!! This is not what I want as it an absolute killer under pressure and can make me look very silly indeed!! 50 yards and in needs work urgently. But, I am not sure exactly what it is that is causing my problems. Therefore how can I honestly aim to improve. Hopefully through trial and error I will figure it out.
We will see. Anyways, I'll leave it there for now....
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)