Saturday, May 30, 2009

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.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

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.



Saturday, May 2, 2009

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.