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.