awmgolfer

I had a really great season as I finally was able to shoot some scores in tournaments that I shot when playing on my own or with friends, really looking forward to this coming season!!

I have been playing more competitive tournaments over the past 7 or 8 years and hopefully some of what has helped me might help you. I used to be able to handle the nerves, pressure, and everything else that goes along with it with no problem back in high school but after being out of that environment for 15-20 years I really struggled. When I started playing more competitively I would either fall apart out of the gate due to nerves or if it was a 2-day event, I would be in the lead or near the top after day one and completely fall apart on the 2nd day. I have been trying to qualifier for our top state amateur tournament along with playing in some local Open Championships which I knew I had the game to win or at least qualify. I spent last season really focusing on my mindset and how I act mentally and physically with the nerves and finally discovered what works for me. This year I shot one over at the qualifier to reach our state Amateur Championship (didn't do great at it but now I know what to expect and had a blast) and I won our local 2 day tournament shooting two rounds under par which I have never done. For me it has been finding a quick relaxer that lets me bring back my focus on the shot, just taking a simple deep breath during my pre-shot routine and then having a really short term memory. One shot at a time and if I hit a bad shot, you know, be frustrated but when I move away from the previous shot that is forgotten and all I am focused on is the next shot I am about to hit. Those two pieces have completely helped my nerves. My wife caddied for me in the tournament I just won and said she was shocked to see how much I was shaking at times. Up until this year I always felt that shaking but with my two tricks I used for relaxing and focusing I never once felt those shakes or had them bother me when making a swing. The last part has just been having confidence in myself, I know my game is good enough and I know I can hit the shots I need, trust it!

This winter I have access to a simulator that is being left with me so I am planning to start working through a few other issues. Nice time to do it when you have 6 months of winter!

I definitely know I have an interesting swing but I can consistently repeat it. I always tell the kids do as I say and not as I do…lol. I actually figured out what I was doing that at least put me back to my normal yardages. My hips were facing the ball at impact instead of being a little more angled forward. I was also cupping a bit, as soon as I fixed both of those my yardages were back to normal. When I went from hitting my 8 iron 155 to barely hitting it 135 yards it became quite frustrating. There really are no competent instructors near me so I’m mainly left on my own. I coach our golf team so I can usually figure out the fixes but this one took me a while!

I've been Playing Golf for: I've been seriously golfing for the past 14 years but been playing 30+ years on and off. My current handicap index or average score is: 2.9 My typical ball flight is: High with irons and generally a cut shot with longer clubs. The shot I hate or the "miss" I'm trying to reduce/eliminate is: Loss of about 20 yards due to losing all my lag early in the swing. I have never had great lag into impact but up till this year it was a little better then what it is now. This year I have lost 15-20 yards with my irons only since I am adding loft at impact. My woods hit great and still get the good yardage I have had for the past 10 years, it is just the irons. I know I am too inside on my takeaway and currently working on that, it's just the early release I can't seem to figure out. I only have a face on video for the moment as the down the line didn't come out right but will try to get one up shortly! Thanks in advance!! Videos:

Check your grip, make sure your grip isn't too strong.

I try to mix it up, sometimes I'll do a good warmup-up with stretches but sometimes I'll go straight out to the first tee and do a quick stretch and even just step up to the tee without stretching and just go. I mainly do it because I've been in situations where I missed my alarm and had to go straight from my car to the first tee and go.

It's a special course that I'm glad to have ended up in the town that it sits, and even better I only live about a mile and a half from the course

This is near and dear to my heart as I am an instrumental music teacher and also our high school golf coach. I have played trumpet for a long time and play currently in a number of groups ranging from orchestral, band, commercial, and jazz. Most of the kids over the past 10 years I've had on the team have been current or former band students, though a lot of that is more related to having a good relationship with the kids. I can say being a musician in golf really helps because musicians can only count to 4 so it helps the scorecard, many songs are in 3 or even in two, but rarely in 6 :) I find the process is very similar in becoming an accomplished musician to being a good golfer. The process of practice has always come very easy to me in golf because I already know the process from my years of practicing on trumpet. I have also failed many times in performances and used to being the only one on stage in front of a large audience so the nerves and pressure are nothing new and very transferrable. Within my own swing I am very tempo based to keep from making the transitions too quick. I started doing that before I read many golf coaches do that already, it came to me due to being a musician but I would have picked it up no matter what as that is a standard technique. So overall to me the process of becoming a better golfer completely relates and has been very easy for me. It has also helped a lot with the nerves and dealing with pressure. So yes, a lot of relation and definitely has helped me become a better golfer.

I think for most it depends on what you shoot, when I was just starting out I didn't care, just wrote down the score and moved on because it was high as it was and a little harder to track those higher numbers...lol. As I moved into being a single digit handicap I just knew where I was an now I'm a low single digit and generally right around par, without even paying attention I know where I am, I just don't put any stock into and play each hole one at a time. In regards to tracking handicap, the recent change has been really hard for me, I don't play rounds with others very often and the guy I tend to play with the most, we do a lot of practice round, multiple balls, fun games, things like that. So the change has drastically cut how many rounds I can submit, however, it really hasn't had an effect, less scores but still about the same overall.

I have about 6 months off from playing due to our winters so the simulator has become an essential part of my practice. I have an Optishot I keep at school and go in on the weekends to use. I play the rounds for fun and have customized my yardages to match my actual yardages but sometimes it just doesn't pick it up well but overall it does a good job. What I use it strictly for is swing path and face angle which it does a really good job of picking up. The previous couple of years I used it a lot and when the season started outside I was pretty much starting out with my normal scores right away. Last year I didn't use it much and there was a definite difference and it took my usual 3-4 weeks to get everything back to normal. If anything it just keeps your swing going, and of course it's better than sitting on the couch looking out the window at all the snow, at least you're swinging a club and "playing" a round.

This is something I am going through right now, though we have 3 feet of snow outside so all I am going on is my Optishot. I have lost 70lbs since this past October and will probably be down another 20lbs before our season even begins. All I've done is just counting calories, keeping my nutrition in a healthy place, and spinning. The swing overall doesn't feel unusual, the biggest change is readjusting my setup position because my hands being in the same spot as before puts them a lot further away from me now. The biggest feeling difference is chipping and putting because of the reduction of the belly, I've just had to make some tweaks and relearn some of the feeling but I'm finding my swing feels more solid. Looking forward to taking it to the course.

I really like the feel of the XR 3 wood and I would like to have a 3 wood that matches my driver setup for consistency in feel, just something I like to have. I also would like a little lower degree 3 wood along with a shaft adjustment which would give me a few extra yards as the 3 wood I have goes a bit too high for my liking. A few shots on my home course my current 3 wood puts me in some funky positions and driver just isn't the right club for those holes. The extra 7-10 yards puts me right in the sweet spot which is what I was hitting the XR 3 wood compared to my current older Ping 3 wood.

When I didn't really understand the swing at all and had a wicked slice, one tip I read was belt buckle should be pointing away from target on the backswing and towards target on the follow through. I finally learned how to fix it but that tip has given me a terrible overswing that I have been trying to break for a while.