It's been a little while

It's interesting how golf manages to be the first thing to go when life gets busy. And it should. One of the hardest hit commercial real estate sectors in this recession are golf courses because golf is expendable. It is a true leisure sport. When either of the two great commodities become scarce (time and money), so does time on the course.

June in the Kjelstrom household got pretty busy with the arrival of my third son, Trenton, on June 6. My time was needed at home. July brought unexpected work obligations which had me at the office 60 hours a week. August however, is a little more open. I had the opportunity to play a few times, some good, some bad. I also played a new course a few weeks ago in Colorado that will shake up the top 10 (more on that in another post). I am also looking forward to two big golf outings in the next month, one at Arrowhead (#3 on my list) and the other at Perry Park (currently #9 on my list).

A few things have become clear to me in my last few outings. Firstly, I am more consistent. My irons are MUCH more consistent since changing my grip and improving my stance earilier in the year. Secondly, the next step for me is to fix the "flying elbow." No, not the WWF wrestling move, but the common mistake in hackers like myself to over compensate at the top of the swing resulting in the right elbow pointing toward the sky rather than the ground where it is supposed to be. This Golf Digest article hopefully will provide some guidance. I will keep you posted. Arrowhead on Thursday!

A few weeks at the range and two rounds later

After the realization that my golf swing was pathetically ugly, I made the determination to get comfortable with the "correct" grip, posture and back swing. The first week I spent 3 days at the range (two days during lunch and one after work). It took the whole week to get comfortable with my new grip. the first two days were terrible and I was glad no one I knew was watching. The third day seemed to show a little improvement.

The next week, I spent 2 days at the range and ended the week with an early 9 holes. I really worked on my posture and although it is difficult to really tell if my posture was improving without a camera, I did start to see some improvement and began to get excited for the 9 holes on Friday. My instructor at Golftec told me my handicap would slip while I became comfortable with my new swing, but I thought a few trips to the range would cure that. Well, after an embarrassing and ugly 55 on Friday morning, I believe him.

It was back to the range this last week, only once this time on Thursday and I probably had 8 errant shots out of the entire bucket of 80 balls! I was feeling good... comfortable with my grip, posture and had a routine down. I hadn't planned on playing 9 holes this week, but couldn't pass up the opportunity to apply my new founded confidence. After being rejected by my regular playing pals, I made a rare trip alone, excited for what would no doubt be my best 9 hole round ever. I was paired up with 3 old men, and I mean OLD! One guy could hardly walk. Each teed off in front of me on the first hole and each one poked it out into the fairway 200 to 250 yards out! Even the guy who took 5 minutes to get from the cart to the tee box! My first shot.... dribbled it about 20 yards. Bummer. It took 2 holes (and 14 strokes) to regain my composure before putting together four par puts (all misses) sandwiched by another snowman. All in all? A 52. The gentlemen I played with? Well, the guy who can't walk shot a "measly 43". Back to the range.

Golftec

I finally took the opportunity to cash in on my birthday present and take my Golftec evaluation lesson. I've heard nothing but good things from those that have taken lessons from Golftec. So I made my appointment and took my six iron to the nearest Golfsmith store. Now, this wasn't my first lesson. A few years ago, Stephanie gave me a private golf lesson for my birthday with a pro at an Irvine, CA golf course. I could write a whole blog entry about that expereince, but the long and short of it was that it was not a good expereince and soured me to the idea of lessons at all.

Golftec was different. I was sceptical simply by how much they charge per 1 hour lesson ($98). The first thing they did was hook my up to some monitors and asked me to hit a few balls. Based on the computer feedback, they gave me 6 different numbers, each critical to a technically perfect swing and then went over each one, starting with what I needed to improve on first. My tutor was a PGA certified golf instructor and gave me practical advice for improvement. The best part of all though, everything was recorded and posted to the web for my immediate access. Now that is a quality lesson. I found my lesson on the web and saved the videos, pictures and audio to my computer to play back as often as I please. In fact, they gave me so much to chew on, I don't think I will be going back until I am ready to have my number reevaluated. All in all, Golftec was a good experience and worth the money.

After my lesson, the oder of needed improvement shows like this:

1. Grip
2. Posture
3. Left arm mechanics
4. Top of swing
5. Down swing
6. Follow through

Check out the difference in my posture from just the one lesson and a few pointers. (Why hasn't anyone told me how ugly my setup was?) For the audio, click on the link below the pictures.

Don't mark me lucky

After a long March and early April full of spring snow storms, the grass finally became green enough to get in 9 holes. Now, in December I had purchased a box of used Callaway Warbird golf balls and as you can read in one of my previous posts have been very good to me. In fact, I had managed to play with two of these warbird golf balls for 36 strait holes (3 separate golf outings) without losing a ball. The beginning of this uncharacteristic streak coincided with the purchase of my new 7-wood. Needless to say, I was feeling pretty good on this beautiful Colorado afternoon. So, in my fit of confidence, I felt the need to brag to Chris, my coworker and frequent playing partner, about this feat and even have the audacity to mark them "Warbird I" and "Warbird II" thinking perhaps they would continue their streak and retire as golf ball heroes.

Tee #1 - A simple par 4 with a row of homes just beyond a thin area of rough on the left and wide open on the right, including another fairway. Out comes the 7-wood and Warbird II gets teed up. A few warm-up swings just to make sure, and there it goes..... a stinger to the left at a 45 degree angle and forever lost in someone's backyard. Rats. I should have just turned around and gone home. I call a first hole mulligan and tee up Warbird I, sure that it wouldn't happen twice, not after the consistent success I had experienced with this club/ball combination since December. There is goes, not quite a steep left degree as the first and luckily lands just short of a homes backyard fence and playable. But, two holes later, Warbird I would also be donated to the course. Not coincidentally, that is where I stopped keeping score and chalked this one up as a "spring warmup." Today I signed up for Golftec lessons. Stay tuned, I think I have one or two warbirds left in my bag.

Year of the Ox (2009)

I have already seen fortune smile upon my new golf year. With the addition of a 7-wood in my bag, I seem to have a little more confidence off the tee. I have changed the look of the blog slightly for the new year, including the addition of 2009 goals as a list item to the left. Among my golf goals for the new year is to bring my handicap to below 20.0. Although my handicap was an estimate (35.0) at the beginning of last year, I still feel like I improved and now have a well supported handicap of around 25.0. To bring my handicap down 5 strokes, I will continue to focus on my short game, primarily chipping to a chip/putt average of 2.8 or below and to work on my swing mechanics by using a birthday present at Golftec. For those unfamiliar with Golftec, follow the link. So here's to a new golf season and here's hoping the year of the ox brings good fortune.

A 7-wood for all seasons

Stephanie and I are currently in Scottsdale, AZ on a mini-vacation. No kids, no work, no snow. This was part of a Christmas present from me to her, so she has the charge of choosing all activities. In fact, my even being here with her was only at her invitation. But, true to her character, she is always thinking of someone else and has insisted that I be allowed to golf 9 holes while in Arizona. At first I resisted telling her it was her vacation, but she wouldn't have any of it. So, reluctantly, I played.

Before I played however, I had to use the remaining budget money from 2008. I enjoyed using a borrowed 7-wood so much over the Christmas holidays, I had to at least take a look for one of my own. After finding a used Callaway Big Bertha at a Scottsdale Golfsmith for almost exactly what I had left over from last year in my budget, I couldn't resist. And with Stephanie's approval, I asked the salesman to recommend a decent place to play 9 holes. For a cool $39 I was able play 9 holes at a nearby course called Scottsdale Silverado that had wide open fairways and the greenest grass I have seen since October. A perfect testing ground for my new 7-wood. The first tee provided a HUGE fairway with acres of room to the right. No pressure. Out comes the 7-wood to deliver a picture perfect drive right down the middle. 220 yards. Second tee, not such a big fairway, but again a flawless drive. 220 yards. After the round was over I had hit 5 of 6 fairways with my newest favorite club, consistently around 220-230 yards! To be sure my game was not just uncharacteristically on, my irons were terrible and I hit a 49 for the day. Maybe I should look into a 9-wood.

The Warbird

Christmas brought one more round of golf in 2008. Stephanie and I took the boys to Arizona to spend Christmas with Stephanie's family. Fortunately for me all three of Stephanie's brothers play golf. Because it would cost at least $30 to check my clubs and because we were already taking two suitcases a few backpacks and two car seats, I elected not to bring my clubs. Brent kindly obliged to borrow a set of clubs from his father in law in Benson, AZ. Although it was a little chilly, 55 degrees sure beat the 17 degrees I left in Denver. Playing with different clubs took a little while to get used to, especially since I had no irons higher than 7 in my bag (although, I did quickly become fond of the 7-wood). A few pars and half-way decent putting put me in at a 103 for the day. If it hadn't been for several multiple chip holes, I would have broken 100. But not to get too excited, because the course is relatively easy, and my handicap actually went up to one-tenth of a point. The highlight of the day, really was a Callaway Warbird golf ball which made it an entire 18 holes without getting lost. Not a bad way to end the year.