My Swing (Golfingdad)

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by dsc123

Ouch, is that 3 penalties on 10? Looks like you had a great year though!

Yeah, that was a fun hole. ;)  It's a medium length par 5 that goes up to a crest, and then down and to the left, with a pond in front of the green.  I hit my first drive fairly well but with draw into a headwind that pushed it even further left and into a bad area.  So I hit a provisional.  Found the first one, but had an awkward stance due to the hill and a little tree.  I took a 9 iron and an abbreviated punch swing and got it out of there and into a somewhat reasonable position ... right side of the fairway, 165 or so out.  There were trees in my line to the pin, but the pin was tucked all the way to the right of the green and I wasn't going for it anyways.  Aimed well left of the pin and the trees, but managed to hit a big push directly into them and then into the pond beyond.  Moved forward a bit on the line with the hole such that I could hit a PW, and topped my next one directly into the bushes in front of me.  Tried the exact same shot and this time hit a rocket about 12" off the ground that skipped across the pond, but it hit the bank on the other side and dropped in.  Now, I was able to move up to the edge of the pond away from the trees and bushes and hit a wedge onto the green.  Hit a horrible lag putt to about 6 feet, but then made a nice stroke on that one and drained it! ;)  That was sweet relief too, because I mean, could you imagine if I had to take a 12 on that hole?!?!  How embarrassing that would have been!!!

Oh, and I also whiffed once on hole 12.  Hit my second shot left into the leaves and up against a stump.  I'd pretty much stopped really worrying about anything at this point and just wanted to hurry up and get out of there.  I took a really steep swipe at with a lob wedge to try and axe it out of there but caught the stump and it jumped right over the ball.  Knocked it out of there on the next one though. :)

But I had a couple highlights ... The last hole was a 645 yard par 5 according to the cart GPS, and after my drive I had 333 left.  After my 3 wood I had 72 left.  [I shouldn't tell you that after my lob wedge I still had about 30 left, but that was the way the day went. ;)]

(Yes, If you MUST know ... the hole is downhill and was playing downwind)  Hopefully most people won't notice this part.  Shhhh!

[Ernest Jones]

Gdaddy, you are awesome and I say that without so much as a speck of sarcasm! Way to roll with the punches big guy!

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by Ernest Jones

Gdaddy, you are awesome and I say that without so much as a speck of sarcasm! Way to roll with the punches big guy!

Thanks.  I kind of take pride in not taking things too seriously. :)  I play a lot of golf with my dad, and he's a bad golfer with a worse temper who never seems to have any fun out there.  I try to do the opposite. ;)

It's a silly game, that also happens to be ridiculously challenging and a lot of fun.  And that's it. :)

[cipher]

I feel your pain GD...;)

[jefkve]

Originally Posted by cipher

I feel your pain GD...;)

This. Time to shake it off and get back out there!

[Golfingdad]

A 6 iron swing from today.  Main issue is still trying to keep the elbows from separating at A4.  Secondarily, James wants me to not have such a long follow-through, and try to keep my right foot from rotating "out" so much.  Shortening the swing like this seemed to result in better contact overall. :)

Just gonna keep on doing work with the pipoe, and one of these days its gonna click!  :)

[Golfingdad]

Nothing exciting here.  It's from yesterday, also a 6 iron, and shows only a lack of any discernable progress from the last update.  (It does also show a FO view of my lack of progress, which the last post didn't, so that's gotta count for something? ;))

More importantly ... I made a trip to Old Navy and got some new pairs of pants so I could dump my old high-waters in the trash. :)

[Golfingdad]

Played pretty decently today ... [URL=http://thesandtrap.com/content/type/61/id/83450/] [/URL] Lowlights:  Dumped 3 in the water (a bladed UW approach on 2, 3W tee shot on 11, and 4 iron tee shot on 13) and a sloppy double bogey from the greenside bunker on 8. Highlights:  3 of the best shots I've hit in a long time ... - A UW on 7 from 120 to about 18"  (After a 270 yd. perfect drive into center of fairway) - 3 wood 3rd shot on 11 after dropping behind the pond, from 250 out to 12 feet ... sank the putt for par. - 9 iron from 155 on 13, after dumping my lay up tee shot into the pond again, to about 30 feet. What's so special about this one, you ask?  Here's where it first landed ..... - I have now played 60 consecutive holes without a 3-putt.  Go Aimpoint!!!

[dsc123]

- I have now played 60 consecutive holes without a 3-putt.  Go Aimpoint!!!

Whoa, impressive!

[Ernest Jones]

Wow, that is one solid putting stat! Wasn't that one of your weaknesses earlier in the season? Good job!

[cipher]

Great stuff GD, it is like we were saying the other day, so many people can learn to putt better. A little method correction and learning how to read greens(aimpoint) and it can make a big difference. Awesome to see what you have done there.

[bplewis24]

Originally Posted by Golfingdad

Haha!

[bplewis24]

GD, when things start going bad for you, what is it you feel like you're doing wrong?

I know our games are dissimilar (I think you were good with your short irons but sometimes struggled off the tee, and my short irons suck), but I'm just curious.

[Golfingdad]

GD, when things start going bad for you, what is it you feel like you're doing wrong?

I know our games are dissimilar (I think you were good with your short irons but sometimes struggled off the tee, and my short irons suck), but I'm just curious.

That's a really good question.  Unfortunately, for me at least, the answer is still a bit of a mystery.  I got some theories though.

When I play like I did in that round up above (the 101) it's was basically everything.  I pretty much tried to forget about that round immediately afterwards and not really worry about it.  Like it never happened. ;)

My "normal" bad rounds are usually caused by extra bad tee shots.  (I say extra bad because even on good rounds I'm not great off the tee.  Yesterday, for example, I shot a pretty respectable 80 and I hit 3 fairways.)

Now, why am I so bad on tee shots?  I certainly have little trouble being halfway decent on the driving range with the long clubs.  My current theory is that it's more mental than physical.  I think that I know that I'm mediocre with the driver, and I know that a wayward tee shot is going to be a lot more costly, so when I'm hitting ones that count, there is a fear that creeps its way in.  Perhaps that fear takes away a little bit of focus, thus my pre-shot routine is compromised.  When that happens, I tend to get quick, and then all hell breaks loose.

The good news is that I've definitely been hitting the driver better lately.  Not so much in the fairway more (like I said, 3 fairways yesterday) but I've been making solid contact a lot more often.  I believe that that is going to lead to a bit more confidence, which is going to lead to better driving, and it's going to be an upward spiral. :)

The shorter answer to your question is ...

1.  Bad swings & lack of focus with the driver.

2.  Short game.  Lately I've been in a pitching/chipping slump, so I'm going to have to actually practice it now. ;)

3.  Course management.  I sometimes overthink a hole or two (hit a 4 iron to play safe when driver is the prudent play) or overreach when I'm trying to escape trouble.

But, mostly its the tee shots. ;)  I swear, if I could drop my ball in the center of the fairway 275 yds out off the tee on every hole, I think I'd be a 1 or less.

Gotta run ... chinese food just arrived!! ;)

[Golfingdad]

So the wife pulled out a bunch of pictures of me through the years (I've got a big birthday coming up) and she found this. I'm guessing I was about 10 or 11, and that means this is from about 1984 or 1985. Hey @mvmac and @iacas ... what do you think of that A5?? Also, what do ya'll think of those socks??? Jealous, I know. ;)

[Golfingdad]

Double post intentional because my @mvmac and @iacas didn't seem to link right in the last one. ;)

[JetFan1983]

Yea definitely look like you could have been on the Bad News Bears roster, at least.

Nice A5!

[Golfingdad]

Yea definitely look like you could have been on the Bad News Bears roster, at least.  Nice A5!

Lol! Actually, at the time I was on the Norwest Financial A's (hence the green hat). :)