Q-School

No I haven't become totally deluded and lost consciousness of what universe I belong in.  However, Q-School has been on my radar for the last week or two for a few reasons.  Firstly, since joining GCoG I have gotten to know some of the tour pros up there and even had the privilege of playing a few rounds with them.   This week is first stage of Q-School and the guys I have met are getting started on what hopefully will be the long road to the PGA Tour or at least a Nationwide Tour card.  Secondly, someone introduced me to a book written a while back by a scratch golfer who decides to pursue his ultimate dream and totally devote himself to a year doing whatever he could to to try earn a tour card.  I just started it but it already looks like a fun read.  Its called "The Fine Green Line" by John Newport.
It gives me some perspective as to how good these guys are that they can perform to such a level under extreme pressure.  I find myself playing in a friendly game with buddies getting nervous over chips off a tight lie when I am playing for nothing.   These guys are playing for their livelihoods and have to somehow manage the nerves.

Review

I'm told that I should every now and then reflect on my recent play so I figured I would look back at this weekends club championship and decide what I need to take away from it.
Over the three days, I had 31/36/36 putts.  31 is acceptable but 36 is not for an aspiring scratch golfer.  (In truth it depends on how many greens you are hitting in regulation - more greens should be more putts).   I missed 4 three footers!! That has to change.
I was surprisingly very happy with my driving.   I feel I have finally overcome the driving woes that plagued me for the last 6 months.   I averaged 8 of 14  fairways for the 3 days but I only had two big misses both of which cost me a bogey.
Greens in regulation were ok but I am not yet fully committed to my technique.   I feel only time and practice can help me here.   It all goes back  to starting the downswing with an unhinge rather than a lunge!!   I get it right about 70% of the time but I still have a tendency to go back to old habits under pressure.
My chipping/pitching technique is vastly improved, however again I tend to not trust it under pressure.  Need to get some advice from TW on how to improve in this area.

Interestingly I saw this definition from the USGA:

A "scratch golfer" is a player who can play to a Course Handicap of zero on any and all rated golf courses. A male scratch golfer, for rating purposes, can hit tee shots an average of 250 yards and can reach a 470-yard hole in two shots at sea level. A female scratch golfer, for rating purposes, can hit tee shots an average of 210 yards and can reach a 400-yard hole in two shots at sea level. 

Alas it takes much more than being able to hit a 470 yarder in two to be a scratch golfer.   I have a long way to go!

Club Championship

We had our club championship this past 3 days.
It was a blast.  I have never experienced such pacy greens.  I believe the greens were running at 13!!  Surprisingly, playing from the tips was not such an issue.  Weather was superb.
This is going to sound funny but given what I shot today but I have never been happier with my ball striking.  I have finally eliminated that horrible big high block to the right with the driver.  It was being caused by a slide towards the target with the left hip on the downswing.   THE DOWNSWING HAS TO BE INITIATED BY LETTING THE CLUB FALL/THE RIGHT ELBOW UNHINGE WHILE REMAINING COILED.
Anyhow, I shot 81/81/87.  I was in 9th place as of this morning but probably finished in the high teens.
In general I'm very happy with my ball striking tee to green.  I had maybe 3 bad swings all weekend.  Alas two of them cost me a 9 on the 11th hole (that's a par 5).
Was disappointed with how I chipped and putted.  In truth I was tentative and a little chicken on the fast greens.  I missed about five 3-footers or less.
Season is winding down.   Only one event of note left - final round of the Green Tour on Nov 6th.   Will take a week off to freshen up and get a few good weeks practice in before that!!

Spoke too soon!

Seems I spoke to soon about it cooling down - today was close to a record high for this date - well above 90. 
That hasn't stopped me from getting a little more practice in thankfully.  
As I keep mentioning, Tim has told me that once I stopped initiating the downswing with my entire body and instead started by letting the club fall first, that I would stop missing those drives with high blocks to the right.   I have been struggling though to ingrain this move until a playing partner gave me a wonderful tip this weekend.   I need to think about swinging the club downwards while keeping my back/butt to the target for as long as possible.  (i.e.   keep my back to the target while unhinging my right elbow)   I had one session at the range working on this thought and the initial signs were very encouraging.  The high block to the right is gone and I seem to have gained some distance.   Hopefully it will stick.
The club championship is on two weeks time and that is my number one focus now.   A top 10 finish would be very sweet!!

Cooling down

Its been a month since my last post and for good reason.  Its been sweltering here in Atlanta.   I think that I read somewhere, that there were fifty something days in a row with 90 + temperatures.  I'd hate to be a golf course superintendent at a time like this.  In actual fact, ours has seemingly done a very good job making sure our greens survived the heat.  I played Sunday and was pleasantly surprised at how well they rolled.   Many other courses round here have not been as lucky.
But I digress - so I came back from Ireland and for better or worse, decided that because of the quality of my driving I wanted to rebuild the swing again whatever  it took.  I told Tim this and he gave me some caveats - it may take a LONG time and I may have to swallow my pride along the way as I am likely to get much worse before I get better.   So far he has not been wrong :)
I have a couple of major swing flaws (probably mentioned this a few times before) that need to be resolved before I will reach the level of ball striking to which I aspire.   First, is the fact that I get the club too much to the inside on the backswing and second is the lateral sway during the swing.   For that reason, I have to work on 3 major things - keeping the right elbow closer to the side and not sliding back behind me, getting the left arm along my toe line in the backswing (and not inside/behind me) and finally preventing the right hip from sliding away from the target in the backswing. 

The net result so far is the I am really struggling.  It may take quite some time and effectively  I can't play any competitive golf at the moment - even little club events.   Every second shot seems to be either very good or terrible.  All I can do is continue to hit as many balls as possible and hope that the changes become ingrained to the point that I can execute correctly repeatedly.
Maybe I am crazy for taking this on?  I'm going to have to stick with it either way as I can't seem to get back to where I was 2 months ago anyhow.

Back to HOTLANTA

Just got back from Ireland and it's absolutely steaming.  I don't think there will be a lot of golf played in August.  First of all, its just too hot.  Then there is a matter of the condition of greens seemingly everywhere.  Anywhere with bentgrass greens is really struggling with this heat.   Played 4 times in Ireland.

Status Update

About to head off to Ireland for a couple of weeks so I think its probably a good time to take stock of where things are with my game.
Handicap is 2.3 but strangely I don't feel like I'm playing great golf.

No more left side

When I first started my lessons with Tim, my ball flight was what you might describe as a controlled hook at best.  That was my good shot and my miss was either a big block to the right or a quick snap hook.

Back to the grind

After the debacle that was last weeks qualifier, I went 5 days without picking up a club.
Spent some time reflecting on why I didn't qualify.  77 was the number, something that should be well within my grasp on an average ball striking day.   Unfortunately, chipping was my downfall.  It is no longer a technique issue.  It's more of a nerves thing I guess.  In tournaments where I really want to qualify/do well, I tend to be very tentative and this manifests itself mostly around the greens.  As I don't fully trust my chipping and pitching technique yet I tend to be cautious leading to deceleration - at least that's my theory.
Not sure how to get past the nerves/tension issue.   Maybe it's something that comes over time?  I suppose I could just take a couple of shots of brandy before each round.

On a more positive note, I shot 77/76 over the weekend.  The 76 was in the club matchplay.  Won 2 up.  Was pretty happy after being 3 down on the 7th tee.

Desperately Seeking Short Game

Thoroughly depressed after today!
Had a GA state am qualifier at Atlanta National.  Shot 83! 

Staying in the moment

I think thats what the pros refer to it as.
Yesterday, I got off to a great start - three under through five on Lakeside.  Then came the rain delay and I started thinking about possibly breaking 70 for the first time.   That was the end of that.  I preceded to double bogey the first hole after the rain delay.   I ended up shooting 73 but it should have been better.
Once I started thinking about shooting a low number, I started playing like I was hanging on for dear life.   Everything became tentative.
The thing is, this has happened before and its a mental barrier I need to find a way of getting over.   There's a lot of cliches out there ("stay in the moment", "one shot at a time" etc).   Not sure how to address this one!!
On a more positive note, the driver and 3W are working very well and putting is markedly improved.

More club fitting - 3 Wood

A couple of years back, I found a 5 wood (TaylorMade V Steel) that I really liked.  It had a Penley shaft (stiff flex).   It's probably my favorite club in the bag.  So shortly thereafter I purchased a similar 3 Wood with the same type of shaft.

June Handicap Revision

Handicap now at 3.5.   Had a few good rounds in May to cut 1.5 shots.
However, still a little behind where I had hoped to be in terms of ball striking.
The new driver and playing the Penta ball has definitely helped.   Not yet  as comfortable as I would like with the driver, but I figure I have gained about 20 -25 yards.
The real room for improvement remains on and around the greens.
Have a Georgia State Amateur qualifier this month at Atlanta National, so that is going to be my main focus.  In advance of that I am going to try get a little more comfortable with the driver, get lots of putting practice in and try to compress the irons a little better.

Putting Lesson 1

Had a lesson with TW this morning and we started to address putting.
Before we even considered the putting stroke, Tim was able to see that my putter is the incorrect length for me.  I had it cut down to 33 inches a couple of years back.  As a result, I am crouched over way too much and my eyes are not directly over the ball.  In fact my eyes are a couple of inches outside the ball.
TW tells me that my eyes must be either directly over the ball OR a tad to the inside.  Outside is an absolute no-no.  
Since it's not physically possible for me to get my eyes in this position with my putter as is, I am going to switch temporarily to my old Scotty Cameron with a 35 inch shaft.    I will get the shaft on the other lengthened to 35 also and see which one I am most comfortable with.

We also took a look at why I struggle so much with my 3 wood and yet am so comfortable with my 5 wood (both TaylorMade V Steels).  TW is convinced it is because the shaft on the 3W is wrong for me (frequency is very different from the 5W).  I am going to see a clubmaker on Monday who will replicate my 5W shaft specs in the 3W.   Let's see if that makes the difference.

Flat stick woes

Had my first half decent 18 hole round of the year on Saturday at Druid Hills in the 2nd round of the Green Tour.   Shot 77 but left so much out there.  Tee to green I had two bad strokes all day.  One I got away with, however a pulled drive cost me a triple on number 12.  I blame that on a failure to stick to  my game plan.  That's a tight fairway - only 352 yards and I had planned to hit hybrid to about 140.    Instead I got off plan and hit driver.   That aside, my main issue was putting.  I had probably 8 makeable birdie putts and didn't threaten the hole on a single one of them.   In addition I had two 3 putts.   I will be seeing TW next week and intend to start working on putting.   I need to develop a repeatable routine.
On a positive note, the driver investment is really starting to pay off.  Still not totally comfortable with it but when I catch it, I'm getting at least another 30 yards.

Finally, putting it all into perspective is Ken Green.  Less than 1 year after an accident that claimed the lives of his girlfriend, brother and dog AND resulted in the amputation of his right leg AND a mere 4 months after the accidental death of his young son, he finished far from last in a Champions Tour event in Alabama.  What an inspiration.  I salute you!!

TaylorMade Driver Fitting (Awesome)

Finally the time came for my driver fitting session at the TaylorMade fitting center (aka The Kingdom) at Reynolds Plantation.
It was an amazing experience and one I highly recommend.  Here is the low down.

USGA Handicap Revision

USGA Handicap hits 5.0 in today's revision.

Ball Fitting

Bridgestone were at the Golf Club of Georgia this evening for complimentary ball fitting sessions (Bridgestone Ball Fitting Challenge).
They had a launch monitor and had me hit a bunch of drives with some different balls.

Pivot and Hinge

When I had my first lesson with TW, I asked about his teaching philosophy. He told me that from a technical standpoint we would work on 5 main keys - Grip, Posture, Stance, Pivot and Hinge.
The Grip, Posture and Stance elements have been reasonably easy to consume (although I can't emphasize enough how important it is to have them spot on).
The 'dynamic' elements of the swing - pivot and hinge, have been much more of a challenge. Essentially the body (torso and hips) make a pivot (backswing and downswing) while the elbow and wrist hinge and unhinge.
I feel that I have consumed the hinge quite well. However, to this point, I am still struggling with the pivot. I have this tendency to drop the right shoulder on the downswing and for some reason, I am having an incredibly difficult time eradicating this move. By all accounts it is a killer. Without getting too technical, I think I have always done it because I am conscious at the top of the backswing that the club has to move along way downwards to get to strike the ball. Incorrectly, I have been accomplishing this by dropping my right shoulder and throwing the hands down at the club.
This downward motion of the clubhead needs to be achieved by unhinging the right elbow and uncocking of the wrists at impact while making a level turn/pivot.
This is something that I need to work on a lot over the next couple of weeks.

On a side note, I got my hands on a copy of Homer Kelley's The Golfing Machine. Seems interesting but an extremely difficult read, so much so that I had to order another book that breaks it down into more simple terms.

Opposite Direction

In the interests of full disclosure, I need to admit that I had my first handicap change since I started this project.
I am now a 5.3 index, an increase of 0.2!!
Oh well, I can only say that I feel I am hitting it much better however my putting needs drastic improvement.

Kingdom Come

I tried out the driver that the Pro put together for me last week. For 9 holes, I hit my own driver and the new one once on each hole (except the par 3s of course). The outcome was pretty telling - when I made solid contact with both, I hit the new one 20 yards past mine!!
However, I still felt that I was hitting it too high, therefore I decided to bite the bullet and have made an appointment at The Kingdom at Reynolds Plantation for the full driver fitting on the real outdoor launch monitor. (May 6th was the first available slot)
Seemingly, the deal is we will start in the MATT room and then move to the outdoor range using the launch monitor.
Based on their findings, they will then build my driver for me to take home. It's all included in the package price. This looks, to borrow an Americanism 'way cool' and I'm very excited about it.

Driver Fitting - Part I

Over the last couple of weeks, I painfully experienced being outdriven by numerous playing partners of all ages and builds. I'm convinced there is no way I can get to scratch driving it 240/250 yards. I think I'm fairly athletic and of at least medium body strength level for a thirty something male. So why am I hitting it so relatively short? Well, first of all, my current driver (R7 425) which I love the feel of has only a 43 inch shaft (no innuendo please!!). The standard is 45 these days. That accounts for a loss of club head speed. Then there is my launch angle and spin. I launch it way too high with too much spin. As a result, the ball pretty much comes to an immediate stop as soon as it hits the ground instead of getting 20/30 yards of roll.
Therefore I started the process yesterday of finding the right driver so that I can optimize my driving distance. The goal is to find a driver that I like the feel of that will give me a better launch angle and spin (hopefully about 14 degrees with about 2500 rpm).
One of the pros at the GC of Georgia came to the range with me to try a plethora of the current drivers with the goal of identifying which I like the feel of. From there we will start to optimize loft, shaft, lie angles etc.
Here is a list of the drivers I tried and what I thought of them:

• TaylorMade R9 Super Tri - tried with two different shafts one stiff and one premium stiff (sorry can't remember the exact shaft spec but have it written down somewhere) Didn't like it so much with the first shaft but with the premium shaft (Motore i think) I started to like the feel. The ball seems to come off the clubface verly lively and not too loud of a ping.
• TaylorMade r9 460 - Liked this one. Doesn't have as many configuration options but I liked the sound and feel and it seemed to launch a little lower and take off when it hit the ground.
• TaylorMade Burner Superfast - Hit this one out of the stratosphere. Could not keep it down. Also, its quite a gimmicky head shape to me so this one is not a runner.
• Ping i15 - Classy look but it seemed to come off the clubface very dead. Just didn't really like the feel to be honest.
• Ping G15 - Opposite of the i15, this one came off with an enormous 'ping' (forgive the pun). The sound is just a little off putting for me.
• Callaway FT Tour - I seemed to hit this one quite well. Again, came out lower with lots of run. However, for me the feel is awful. It felt like hitting a block of wood with a block of wood. Don't think I could get past that.

So out of that, we built a driver ( TM Super Tri 9.5 with a stiff shaft Motore) that I am going to try after work today for 9 holes. Will hit one with my old driver and one with the new on each hold for comparison. If that goes well, we will go to the TaylorMade lab and see what we can do about reducing the spin rate and whatever else the computer spits out.

Qualifier (NOT)

Well, I played in a qualifier for the Georgia State Mid Am at Brickyard Riverside in Macon today. Pretty sure I did not qualify (didn't stick round til everyone finished). I shot 86!! No way to sugar coat it - I did not play well. Hit it well on the range beforehand but could not take it to the course. Course was so long! 4 times I had 5 wood and 3 times hybrids to par 4s after well hit drives. I struggled with the pace of the bermuda greens. Very slow especially compared to the GC of Georgia. Main weakness was iron play. Can't say I hit one good iron all day.
Positives? Hmm - lets see. Chipping and pitching was better and I got up and down from sand twice.
Had 29 putts.
Hit (only) 4 greens.
Hit 8 fairways.

Disappointed with how I struck it to be honest. Just not comfortable with the swing changes. Was way too mechanical trying to experiment with every swing instead of just hitting it. Of the greens I did hit 1 was with a 5 wood and 2 with hybrids. That tells a story.

Need to go back to working on ingraining the swing so that I can do it without so much concentrating on mechanics.

Elbow Fold

One of the many misconceptions I had about a proper efficent golf swing has always been how the hands and arms should move in the swing relative to the torso/trunk. In fact I would go so far as to say that I initially believed that a golf swing was driven by the hand pulling the club up and behind and then back down to the ball. I'm guessing this is a very common misconception for recreational golfers especially those who teach themselves based on what they see the pros do on TV.
Well, this couldn't be further from the truth. As my ball striking has improved, I think this is the biggest 'Eureka' moment I have had (Thanks Tim).
Rather than try to explain it myself, here is a good article that describes the move.


P.S. Had a very good bunker lesson yesterday which I will describe a little later.

State of Play

(Incidentally that's the name of a good movie I saw last weekend - if your into political thrillers)
Anyhow, I'm about about a month into this venture so I figure its time to take stock of my progress.

• USGA Handicap is still 5.1.
• Have had a few lessons and ball striking is improving drastically however I am struggling to take it from the range to the course a little.
• Equipment wise, I will be going to Reynolds Plantation sometime next month to get fit (on a launch monitor ) for a new driver - I feel sure I am giving up about 20 yards by not being optimized. My launch angle is way too high as is my initial spin rate.
• I have started to address physical conditioning - will continue to update on that. (P90X)
• I have NOT yet put together a practice plan. I need to do that starting from Monday next. I need to emphasize pitching, chipping and putting.

Oh and I have a lesson on the sand game tomorrow.
Hopefully by next month I will have started to make some progress in terms of scoring and thus handicap.

Pitching solved??

Last time, I mentioned my 'pitching crisis'.
Well, I had a lesson with Tim and I think he has set me right. I haven't fully got it down yet but I think its going to come good.
Basically, I had many flaws.
First of all I need to drastically open the club face. A little closed does not work for pitching.
Secondly, I have to eliminate the hip slide on the back swing. In fact I need to lock that right hip in the back swing. Tim describes it as pre-setting the impact position.
Perhaps, most importantly is how I start the downswing. Like in the full swing, the downswing must begin by a 'falling' straight down of the club. To me this has a feeling of dropping the club behind me onto the ground along my toe line - however in reality because of pivot/rotation the club should make nice impact with this technique.
Had a good session with it at the range today. Had a good degree of success hitting high soft pitches - something I have never been able to do.
So, lets see if I can take it to the course now over the weekend!!

Proper Physical Shape

One of the tasks I identified as part of getting to scratch was to get in proper physical shape.
To that end, I started P90X on Monday. Its a fairly popular 90 day program that involves an eating plan and daily exercise regimen. Obviously it should help my golf game if I can strengthen my core and also have some more energy at the end of my rounds. Aside from that I really need to do something for the sake of health. My weigh in (part of the program) had me at 190lbs and 31% body fat!! A fit male would have a body fat of not much more than 15%. (Elite athletes can be 5% apparently). The eating plan has 3 phases, the first of which involves a high protein diet.

The first workout I did on Monday Chest & Back still has me sore. I could only manage a measly 5 pullups. In any case, hopefully this program will be a success for me. I'll keep track of my measurements here as I go.

One Step Up.......

Hit the range a couple of times this week focusing on the two things I took from last weekends lesson - getting more width in the backswing and unhinging the elbow as the first move of the downswing.
For the most part I seemed to be hitting it pretty good so I was looking forward to playing in the Tradition today. Started well - level par after 5 on Creekside (which was playing notoriously difficult). Fell to pieces after that. It all started when I hit a pitch fat on number 5 (after two great shots to get to the edge in 2). I totally lost confidence from there on - every time I was faced with a pitch I was somewhat terrorized - the club felt like a hose or a snake or something to that effect. This is not that much of a surprise - pitching is not something I have addressed with Tim and I have never been comfortable with anything less than a full shot.
In any case, I ended up shooting 89 - our best ball was 78. Thats my worst score in quite some time - years. Putting was a real issue but the greens were so fast on Creekside that I won't focus too much on that.
Got to start working on pitching with Tim as soon as I can get a lesson scheduled.
As for ballstriking - well, there were some positives - hit a few great drives. I would say I'm just not comfortable with the changes I am making yet when out on the course.
Has a feeling right now that its always (to quote Springsteen) 'one step up and two steps back'.

Width = Speed

Had the next installment in my lesson series with Tim on Saturday. My initial reaction was disappointment in myself when I saw my swing on video. I hadn't made the progress I had expected in terms of some of the flaws I am working on.
The two things I left with to focus on this week are increasing the width in the backswing and to continue to focus on starting the downswing by letting the club fall/unhinging the right elbow instead of starting with an entire body move.
I intend to get to the range 3/4 times this week so lets see if I can do a bit better this time round....

Good Riddance Winter

Hope I'm not tempting fate but it was glorious here today and I finally got to do some practice over the last couple of days. Found myself hitting balls beside Edoardo Molinari on the range. Seems like a very likeable chap so I hope he does well at Augusta. In any case, I wasn't sure whether to be inspired or realize how inadequate my game is. I'll opt for inspiration :) It truly is phenomenal how well these guys hit it. Interestingly, some of the Georgia Tech guys (who practice at the club too) seem to hit it just as purely. But I digress!

I myself seem to be making a little progress. I'm focusing mostly on ball striking at this time. To this end, I worked on a few things this evening:

• Maintaining the brace in my right knee/not turing my hips until they are called upon in the backswing. This helps me to keep the club in front of me and not take it too much to the inside.
• Keeping the right elbow in front of the torso as it hinges on the backswing (again to prevent the club moving too much to the inside/behind me)
• Starting the downswing by 'letting the club fall', basically unhinging that right elbow.

I actually seemed to be hitting it quite well. Have a lesson in the morning so we will see if I am heading in the right direction with those changes.

Specific Weaknesses

Golf Digest has been promoting some tools (see the latest at www.golfdigest.com/makemebetter) over the last few years that track your stats based on the notion that each player has two handicaps - a long game handicap and a short game handicap. I tried it for a while last year, entering some basic stats about each round that I played (greens in regulation, fairways hit, total putts etc). According to GD I have a long game handicap of 2 and a short game handicap of 8. I'd have to say the 8 might be a little generous.
First and foremost, my chipping is brutal!! I probably get up and down about 1 out of every 6 or 7 attempts. In order to get to scratch I will need to get this stat to 70%. I can't even describe what the basic technique for a chip (or pitch) shot is. Shameful!!
Probably the next biggest area of concern are pitch shots from 60 yards and in. As often as not, I will skull or blade it to the point where I will lay up to 100 yards rather than be faced with anything closer.
The third focus area would be driving distance. I'm guessing that I average about 240 (yards) off the tee. Admittedly, I do hit a lot of fairways but I really need to get that extra 30 yards or so in order to challenge scratch. I'm hoping that general swing improvements as well as optimizing my equipment (that's right I'm going to get fit for a new driver).
On a recent visit to the PGA Superstore in Roswell my driving specs were 18 degree launch angle with 4000 rpm initial spin. I've been doing some research on this and clearly these figures need to change. That launch angle should be more like 14 degrees and a spin rate of 3000 rpm would be more than acceptable. (Incidentally my club head speed was between 95 and 100 mph) . While acceptable, I'm hoping to get that a little closer to 105 by the summer.

Two other areas spring to mind, putting and sand play. I'm a half decent putter but I simply haven't practiced this element enough over the last few years. Also, I think I have become lazy in terms of executing a repeatable routine.
As for sand play, pretty average but I feel confident that once I address this with Tim, I will see a huge improvement.

To summarize, chipping and pitching are going to be the key criteria to me getting to scratch. I need to get another 20 yards off the tee and dedicate a couple of hours a week to putting and sand play. R

Roll on the warm weather!!

Lesson time.....

As mentioned in my last post, getting lessons from a really good pro was one of the tasks I identified.

One thing I have learned over the years of struggling with the golf swing is that I certainly am not going to teach myself. I got the opportunity of playing with a couple of European tour pros a couple of years back and was totally blown away by their ball flight and their swings. I promised myself at the time to come back and truly learn how to play this game properly. In the pursuit of this I have taken lessons from two of the top 50 teachers in the US as rated by Golf Digest and Golf Magazine. I stuck with both for at least 12 lessons. However, I saw relatively little progress in truth (despite the $150 a pop I was parting with). Now, I'm not saying that those pros were not excellent at their craft. I think finding the right pro is not just a matter of finding someone highly rated - it's more of finding a good match. I came away from those two experiences very frustrated believing that perhaps I would never get much better than a 5 or 6.

I had a go at trying to figure it out on my own for a while since then. I gave Jim Hardy's 'one plane' methodology a twist for one season with some moderate success but it seemed to desert me after a little while. Again, I think the problem is not with the methodology so much as it not being right for me. A season later I happened upon 'Stack and Tilt' and thought why not. For about 3 weeks I struck it so pure that I started getting some silly ideas but yet again it seemed to leave me after a short while.

So, last summer I found myself back to square one - unhappy with my game but not sure what to do about it. So, I set about finding a pro I could work with for the long haul. A friend suggested I talk to Tim Weinhart. I met with Tim and discussed his teaching philosophy and my goals.

At this point it seems like a really good match. I'm totally convinced by his teaching philosophy. (He teaches the swing by focusing on five key fundamentals - NOT to be confused with Hogans book). His manner is another huge bonus for me - easy going, not at all arrogant. (I'm sometimes a little intimidated by people who are leaders in their field :)) A very good communicator with a nice utilization of modern tools (video cam etc) without being totally reliant on them. I think it also helps the I have great respect for his playing accomplishments - numerous PGA championship appearances, PGA tour appearances etc. I do think it helps that I am totally open minded and prepared to literally forget everything I thought I knew about the golf swing.

We've had 6/7 lessons at this point. Still very much a work in progress. To summarize the major points we have worked upon so far:

• My grip was way off (club was in the palm of my left hand for a start)
• Stance was very closed
• Took the club way inside on the backswing (not surprisingly way across the line at the top)
• Way too much lateral movement

I think that's enough for this post. I will expand on some of the details of what I have worked on with Tim in the coming months. I think the key point is that finding the right pro is a process. Explain what you are hoping to achieve, ask questions about how they will help you get there and most of all once you pick a pro, give them the time to succeed - even with the best teacher results will not be immediate.

Intro

I've always (or at least since I first got hooked) dreamed of being a scratch golfer. Right now, I'm a 5.1 index. I have flirted with something in the region of 1.5 a couple of years back but truthfully that was more a factor of a couple of freak good rounds in succession than a a true reflection on the quality of my game. This year I have decided to give it one concerted 'lash' to achieve that long held dream. "Why blog about this?" you may say! Well I figure that it will help me be true to the goal AND also, who knows, perhaps someone else out there may benefit from my experiences. In the days and months ahead, I will describe my efforts and share anything worthwhile learned along the way.
Truth be told, I began planning this journey a couple of months back. The initial task was to come up with high level plan. I have arrived at the following approach in no particular order:

• Get lessons (from a really good pro)
• Get into proper physical shape
• Develop a practice plan
• Find some playing partners I can learn from
• Identify my specific weaknesses
• Join a club with a challenging course and great practice facilities
• Get the right equipment for me
  

I will expand on each of these in more detail in the next few days.