Mattlevinson13

Hey everyone, sorry this update is a little late, but I've been busy golfing so I haven't had much time to sit down and write something up. But anyways onto what happened for me in golf this past week. I shot 39 twice and 36 (even par) on a 3300 yard back 9 at a local course. The course is pretty easy, but I'm still happy with the progress. I have spent the bulk of my practice time working on my driver, glad to say I hit 5/7 fairways the last time I went, and an overall of 60% the past 5 times, without losing much distance. I have actually gained about 10 yards per drive, so I can get it out 260, sometimes more, sometimes less. I also have worked on my putting, especially distance control and short 4 footers that I always seem to leave myself for par. My putts per round have dropped as well, and this has resulted in more birdies and lower scores. Other than that I have gotten much more accurate with my irons, but I am struggling with the wedges and making sure distance control is right. The plan for this next week seems to be play a good amount (a few of my friends who belong to country clubs are inviting me out to play), and focus on my wedge distance. A question about the wedges, is Dave Pelz's short game guide beneficial for wedges/should I read it? That's all for this week, as always thank you for reading this, and any questions or comments or suggestions, feel free to leave them below; I would love to read them.

First off, that swing overall looks pretty good! Before I start this advice part, I am not a golf teacher or pro, and I have not spent a long time studying swing flaws and fixes, everything is from my experience. The best advice I can give is if the problem persists and fixes don't do anything or make the swing worse, go to a pro for a quick lesson so they can see what is wrong with all their experience. But here is my two cents: The big thing that stood out to me though was how much the lower body was moving back and forth especially near impact, and the off-balance finish. I used to have the same problem of almost rocking my lower body which not only cut back on power, but also made it very difficult to time the swing correctly. When the hips are moving so much, the swing becomes much more based on timing of hand rotation and in-part luck of where the club is because of the inconsistency of where the body is at impact. The best way I have found to fix that "swaying" is to slow down the swing. During practice sessions take 5 minutes and just go through the motions of your swing very slowly. Then, when you are actually swinging make sure that your swing is not rushed, speed is obviously important to hit the ball far, but rushing through the swing and firing your body through with no control will decrease power and accuracy. Sorry if that sounded a little mean/like I don't like your swing, they are just my suggestions. Otherwise, the takeaway and grip and everything else looked fine to me. Hope your swing gets back to being consistent and you start to bomb it straight again.

So, I decided that I'm going to post weekly updates/ updates whenever something big happens, because I want to show you all my progress and what I've been doing. Firstly, thanks to everyone for their advice and comments, always appreciated. The overwhelming piece of advice was to get longer and play longer courses, so in this post I will let you know what I've been doing about that. Some more details about the course I play: It is 6320 yards, but has a 410 and 440 yard par 4, a 250 yard par 3, and a 570 yard dogleg right par 5 (all on the back 9). Those are the longest holes on the course, and I think they match up somewhat well to longer courses. I have played 3 rounds on the back 9 this week (I played two on the front, but nothing there is exceptionally long), and these are my scores. 410 yard par 4: round 1: 4, hit fairway, 2 putts (approach to 12 feet)/// round 2: 4, hit fairway, 2 putts (approach to 8 feet)/// round 3: 5, hit fairway, 2 putts 440 yard par 4: round 1: 5, hit fairway, 2 putts (2nd shot hit out of divot, 3rd was from 100 yards)/// round 2: 5, hit fairway, 1 putt (hit 2nd shot from 190 into trees on right side)/// round 3: 4, hit fairway, 1 putt from 17 feet 250 yard par 3: round 1: 4 (hit tee shot in bunker), 2 putts/// round 2: 4 (tee shot in trees on right), 1 putt/// round 3: 3 (tee shot left greenside rough), 1 putt 570 yard par 5: round 1: 5, hit fairway, 1 putt (approach from 150, right greenside bunker)/// round 2: 6, hit fairway, 2 putts (approach from 175 yards hit into left greenside rough)/// round 3: 5, hit fairway, 2 putts (approach to 7 feet) These are a lot of numbers but basically I mainly get bogeys on the longer par 4 and the par 3, but can par with birdie opportunities the other 2 holes. If any of you have ways to increase distance by a little without radically changing my swing that would be great. Anyways, I am playing in my first tournament in a month-ish when school gets out on a 6000 yard par 72 course that is very straight and has no monster holes. I have almost no experience playing in competitive golf, only school, so I was wondering if anyone who has played a lot of tournaments had any advice for preparation, playing, etc. That's all for this update, but thanks for taking the time to read this and thanks for any advice you have offered/will offer.

Hello everyone, my name is Matt and my goal is one day to play in one PGA or European tour event, not necessarily getting a pga tour card (but that would be nice). So now for my golfing background. I am a high-school sophomore, and I do play on the Varsity golf team. I have been playing for 2 years now, so I know I am behind a lot of kids. I play golf everyday either at a range, short game area, or actually playing. I have not played in many tournaments, but I do play money games pretty much every time I play (I know, not the same thing, but its the most pressure I've been under besides the school matches). In school I take all honors classes and have close to a 4.0gpa. My golf-game specifics: Driver distance: 250 7-iron: 155-165 pitching wedge: 125-135 (This is all according to golf stat-trackers I use) I have a driving accuracy of 64% (23% miss left, 13%right) I hit 38% GIR, and take 2.0 putts per green I average a score of 84 on a variety of courses, usually anywhere from 5500 yards to 6100+, and I usually shoot roughly the same on the courses regardless of the length, so I know I need to work on my short game a lot. My plans for the future in golf: I have 2 more years of high-school where I want to get down to at least a 3 handicap which will be hard, but I think that will be necessary to be able to achieve my goals. I also will start playing in tournaments to get a better feel for pressure, and just see how my scores stand up in competition. I also do want to play in college, and I believe my grades will be good enough to help in the process (I have a good GPA, won some academic contests, etc.). I know D1 is probably too difficult to get into, but low D2 or D3 would at least allow me to work on my game in good practice facilities. After that, if I am somehow good enough to play professional golf, I would, but I think I would try to Monday Qualify for some events. Thanks for reading all this, and if there is any advice, encouragement, or other comments you could give me that would be much appreciated. I will try to update this periodically with the status of my goals (scores, stats, other miscellaneous things), so thanks again and please wish me luck!

Hey everyone, my name is Matt, I am 16 years old, and I am looking to play golf in college in two years. A little bit of background; I started golfing two years ago and have improved to a single digit handicap, an 8 (I know my profile says 14 but I don't know how to update that). I play most of the summer at local courses, and I am a member of my high school's varsity golf team. I'm just wondering if any of you have any tips to improve in golf and to have a better chance of being noticed by colleges (any college, not just D1). Thanks!