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About this blog

A chronicled look at my journey to get down to a 5 index. It started 10 years ago on the Sand Trap and now the saga continues to beyond the original goal into whereabouts unknown. 

Entries in this blog

New Equipment Update and Tweaks

The starting line-up has changed with the addition of a face balanced TM Spider Tour putter. I ordered it at 33.5" with the tour red body with black, silver, and tour red accents with a black shaft. Three footers don't stand a chance.  Intrigued with the driving iron buzz, I checked out the offerings wanting to be fit into a 2 iron Cobra or Titleist U510. When the dust settled, the Titleist U500 was declared the champion in the 20* lofted 3 iron with the 6.0 Hzrdus Smoke Black. I let go of

TourSpoon

TourSpoon in General

Just Do It!

It's been a while, but I haven't had a lot to write about. Until Saturday. It finally happened. The hip pivot showed up. It's been my number one thing to fix for a long time and I finally had enough.  Two weeks ago, I took some video and just realized that if I am ever going to get to the next level of consistent sub 5, I need to fix 2 things. The hip pivot and the overswing. So I decided that I would do the damn wall drill and turn the right cheek towards the target a few hundred times unt

TourSpoon

TourSpoon in General

Even Par Blocky Boy

My comeback started in July and its time to check in on what's going on. I found a serious group of guys that all play scratch and single digits that play for a little cash twice a week. Its been great for my game to play it down every time. The last 8 rounds I have shot 75, 77, 80, 78, 82, 75, 81, and 78. But let's talk about the last 75 and 78 because I learned a lot from those rounds. The 75 was the second round of the day after a 39-43 (OB, Lost Ball on back) performance so I was not expecti

TourSpoon

TourSpoon

Mr. Boom the Golf @$$hole

A few months ago my group was on the second 18 of the day when we get to number 6 which is a 415 yard dogleg right that you can cut off if you carry some trees about 220 out. We hit our shots and I rocked one that made the corner and I've got 9 iron in. One of our guys takes it straight toward the green and really cuts it off leaving him 100 yards but hidden from the tee box. We get a text from the group behind us that they let a quick twosome through and they will be coming up on us.  I am next

TourSpoon

TourSpoon

Tales from the Golf Shop

Today I decided to go to the local Golf Super Duper Store to try out a 3 wood that caught my eye. As the product expert sets up my request, I take a few practice swings with my own club. The lighting is not great, its hard to see if my club face is square, and I hit about the 3 worst balls in my life warming up. I was hemorrhaging on the astroturf as someone's grandfather just stood behind me wondering why the hell I asked to try the tour model.  Then, on the 5th ball, I finally hit the ball dow

TourSpoon

TourSpoon

Six Greens and Six Over

After the stellar 75, I followed with rounds of 81, 78 (1 birdie, no doubles, bogey-bogey from both fairways finish), and another 78 on a tough course (3 birdies with a double bogey-bogey finish). This last round, despite 2 doubles, was about playing golf (not playing swing) and making good decisions in tough conditions. Let me set it up for you guys.  I arrived at the course early and hit about 25 balls into a significant left to right wind. This is my least favorite wind, but I was there

TourSpoon

TourSpoon

Centered and Crispy

If there is one thing that I have learned over the years is that your setup and backswing should put you in the very best position to make a good swing through the golf ball. So during this latest comeback, it was pointed out to me that I was slipping back into a pattern of relying too much on compensating moves because I was working against myself before I made my downswing. My setup had the outside of the right hip even with the outside of my right foot which encouraged a hip slide instead of

TourSpoon

TourSpoon

Geeking out on Lofts and Wedges

So those of you that know me from back in the day know that I am a numbers guy. I totally geek out on lofts especially when it comes down to wedges. Here is one example of my thought process that really still applies today:  So to set the backdrop, back in the early 90s my first real iron set came from my buddy who played on the Tommy Armour Mini Tour.  TA had the hottest irons at the time with the 845 Silver Scots and had Davis Love and Freddy Couples on Staff. My friend sends me a custom

TourSpoon

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Silky Smooth

So today was a total surprise. I didn't sleep well and was out early to meet my group a county north to play a friendly track that is very receptive at 6400 yards and rated at 70.5/127. The driving range was closed so I chipped, putted, and hit 5 balls into the "driving net" they had set up by the bag drop. Feeling a little tired, I decided to concentrate on my swing keys and to not try to kill it. The first key is set up and making sure my right hip is even with my right instep. I had been gett

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Let's Go!

So let's get right to it. I have probably played 10 rounds this year since the "comeback". Now lets just say there has been some good, some bad, but not too much ugly. The worst score was an 88 and last month on a trip to Orange National I posted between 80 and 86 for six rounds averaging one birdie per round (fill in the blanks with doubles and maybe a trip or two). Since the trip I have seen my old coach and shot some video and most of my issues start right at set-up. Its the simple things tha

TourSpoon

TourSpoon

Where it Started

For those of you joining on the new blog format, I started this thread 10 years ago (see link above for 12 pages) and chronicled my path to getting back down to 4.5 index being a weekend warrior. It was my way of capturing the lessons I learned and the golf I played.  Stay tuned (or not) and I will chronicle the next chapter from equipment, practice, rounds and general golf thoughts.  

TourSpoon

TourSpoon



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    • FINALLY hit some balls this weekend. I did a short range session Saturday.  Hit only 20 balls.  10 with 8 Iron & 10 with Driver.  Overall the foot felt good during the session but I did notice I was not fully turning and was rather flat footed on the last couple of shots.  In the past that usually happened as the pain in my ankle kicked up but this time I did not feel pain...AT THAT TIME.  About 30 minutes after the range session pain clearly kicked in and I had to ice that evening.  I
    • While both of these are true, of the two I'd peg beer as the greater of two evils. It turns out the problem, maybe the greater problem with alcohol isn't just the empty calories, but alcohol also raises your cortisol level. Increased cortisol encourages your body to save/add fat. Chocolate, conversely, particularly dark chocolate, can actually help lower cortisol. I've all but given up alcoholic beverages. This coming from a man with an enviable stock in spirits (particularly Bourbon,
    • I agree with all comments 100%.  I did speak about it with PT today and they felt I should be able to swing and asked if my not doing it was due to pain or due to lack of confidence.  Right notwI would say maybe both.  I've not even tried a normal speed swing.  Just now I finished a short walk after lunch and the foot is hurting so I am thinking a true swing could cause some pain, or at a minimum discomfort.  Either way, discomfort or pain would inhibit a successful Stack session. The frust
    • Yes, this. Stack is not rehab. And you don't want to train yourself to swing slowly.
    • Make sure you are really confident with swinging fast before you start Stack. Stack is going to ask you to swing as hard as you can 20+ times during a session. If you're still a little tentative, I would be worried about injuring yourself and not getting as much out of it as you could.  And repeating what others have said, don't beat yourself up about having chocolate and beer. If your diet is to eliminate those things entirely, it's going to be harder to be successful with it. Much better
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