I did not plan on so long between posts but I’ve been busy with Life, Work & Golf.  I’ve never practiced so much on golf and I think I am getting things figured out.  At least I need to have that hope otherwise I will get very depressed if I conclude I will never get better a this game.

I finally took my AimPoint Putting lesson on April 9^th.  Much later than hoped but it was worth waiting for.   I had a couple concerns with AimPoint before my lesson but based on many positive comments I ignored my concerns and took the lesson.  My 1^st concern was that I would not be able to “Feel” the slope in my feet.  I have terrible sense of balance and did not think I could do it.   My 2^nd concern was it would slow me down and I do not want to be the focus of a “Slow Play” thread.

Kelly was a fantastic teacher.  For those who have taken AimPoint this likely sounds familiar but he started with having me stand at a 0% slope then moved to a 4% area, then to 2% then 3% just so I could start to feel the differences.  I was surprised I could feel the differences, although I will admit judging difference between 0 and 4 is much easier than between 0 and 1.  He then spent time showing me how to use the slope I feel to translate it into a place to aim.  I was shocked when my first attempt at a 6’ putt dropped in the center of the hole.  That was a real confidence builder.  Of course, the next several putts from other locations did not drop but overall most were easy “Clean-Up” putts.  We then moved to longer putts and he also through in a double-breaker here and there.  I left feeling more confident in my putting than ever before.  In the 2 weeks since the lesson I have hit the practice green so many times I lost count.  My problem now is I need to find a new practice green so I do not accidentally use “Memory” to make the putts.  So far I have worked to avoid using my memory by having my wife randomly select putts and I tell he my read and after the putt she tells me what the digital level reads to, hopefully, confirm my read.  I’ll often read it as a 2 when it is a 1 but that seems to have minimal impact since even when I am wrong the result is close enough to avoid most 3-Putts.  I’ve not used it in a real round yet, that will happen tomorrow.

I’ve also spent a lot of time at the range and did a few practice rounds.  My scores in the practice rounds have been thoroughly depressing but I am considering them irrelevant and forging ahead.  My last driving range session was encouraging.  I noticed something and made a very minor tweak and saw a very significant improvement.  One thing (of many) my teaching pro has me working on is completing my back swing. I have been very focused on that and what I noticed was that in trying to get that last inch or so of back swing causes me to move head and then as I swing down my head is moving all over the place and contact is totally unpredictable.  I found by just not going that last inch my head stays steadier and contact improves.  I’m not saying “I have arrived” but I was hitting some really nice shots, both on-target and Looooong.  I saw several drives roll past the 250 marker which is great for me.  I’ll put my average closer to 225-235 at this time.

Looking Forward, I have what I plan on being my first round of the year where I do not take extract shots and will have a “True Score” tomorrow.  I plan on hitting both the range & putting green ahead of the round to reinforce my swing then hope to play without spending too much time thinking about every aspect of my swing during the round.  I’m not expecting a miracle round but I am confident I will have enough “small successes” to feel good about my progress.  I just wish my “Game Golf” was working so I could get some accurate detail on distances but will have to live with basic stats.  I am going to track Fairways Hit, GIR, nGIR, Number of Putts and number of Penalties.

I do not know what I will write about next, hopefully it will be “Encouraged” and not “Discouraged”