The best things always come unexpected

[kafka01]

One thing golf teached me so far, was to never trying to force things. I still get frustrated quite often with the game (who doesnt ) especially if i seem to be stuck - and oh boy did i struggle with some things in that game in the past (it took me an endless amount of time and pain to learn to hit semidecent iron shots...). So yesterdays tournament was just another day of frustration not getting any irons flying shooting 85 and confirming my hcp. Had another tourney lined up today - felt really tired and when warming up at the range just plowing through dirt instead of striking balls so i remembered a little tip my pro gave me and i thought, why not try it out - how aweful can it be. It started with an awesome teeshot (followed by a 3putt) and ended with a 20footer for par - overall 78 and after 2 months of handicap stagnation and pretty much exactly after 20 months since starting golf i finally reached single hcp.
But if you would have asked me this morning if i would improve today i probably would have laughed and offered big odds against it...

5 strokes gone this year - hopefully a couple more to come...

Now when i started i hugly underestimated the steep learning curve of this game - and my mindset was like "mid single in one year - no problem". This mindset evolved as i started playing on a wide open desert course (whats a lost ball?) - after 5 months or so i played an offical round and had some ridiculous result of 20 over. When i picked a home course here in Germany i realized that something is different with that course when i suddenly shot 30 over - on my good rounds - and i was forced to learn a whole new set of skills. I probably would have advanced much faster when i had choosen a course that would have fit me better - but i stayed with the choice i made back then, since my goal is to play good golf with all its aspects and not just a portion of it.

So now i will take two weeks off of golf and maybe some more unexpected things happen after that....

[mellojoe]

so i remembered a little tip my pro gave me and i thought, why not try it out - how aweful can it be.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who wants to know... what was the tip?

PS: Congrats! Thats awesome making such a breakthrough.

[tonyy]

I was reading and expecting the actual tip your pro gave you! haha.

Good stuff though, it's great when breakthrough your plateau.

[kafka01]

I'm sure I'm not the only one who wants to know... what was the tip?

I´m sometimes having the problem of coming a bit over the top when my hips are to slow and my arms to fast when beginning the downswing. This for me results in mostly slightly fat shots (although it got really better - in the past a fat shot for me meant something like 30-40% off distance - now its probably closer to 10 % off) or inconsistent ball flight with either a slight slice or hook.

So my pro made me take my left foot way back and hit balls that way with the result that my hips are able to turn faster - i mean it really looks stupid - you look like a one legged golfer - but after a couple of balls i get used to it and i catch the ball cleaner. If thats the case i would reduce the distance i take my left foot back or even take a normal stance again.