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Journey to the Mackenzie Tour: One Amateur's Pipe Dream


Diece
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5 hours ago, Diece said:

Okay, I would normally agree....

But I'm playing with old Hogan blades.

My wedges are worn + not fitted.

3 wood was from a used club rack.

Driver was great, until it broke and I couldn't get it fixed so my dad fixed it but he put way too much epoxy in the head. 

If I was playing with 5 year old equipment, yeah I would agree with you but I have shit that's 20 years old and only the irons are fitted. I definitely need to upgrade.

You will still get better value spending money on coaching vs equipment. 

Stevie T

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4 hours ago, David in FL said:

I’m curious.  How were old Hogan blades “fit” to you?

Drove 4 hours out of town to a world renowned club fitter who learned from Tom Wishon.

2 hours ago, Beastie said:

You will still get better value spending money on coaching vs equipment. 

I agree and disagree.

Better value, yes.

But sooner or later I need to replace my equipment which I will expect to be good enough until I turn pro or get sponsored.

________

This Evolvr guy needs to hurry up! I'm getting impatient over here...

But seriously, I can't wait to here back from Evolvr to see what I need to work on. I hope I get feedback today but we'll just have to wait and see.

It's finally a warm day where I'm from so I'm going to go to the range and practice my wedges + putting. I'd like to play but I don't know if I'll be able to do that today.

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53 minutes ago, Diece said:

 

This Evolvr guy needs to hurry up! I'm getting impatient over here...

 

I just went to the Evolvr website and they say they'll get back to you in 3-5 days.

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20 minutes ago, Double Mocha Man said:

I just went to the Evolvr website and they say they'll get back to you in 3-5 days.

You didnt have to do that man,  I was only half serious about my impatience.

But thank you anyway.

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7 minutes ago, Diece said:

You didnt have to do that man,  I was only half serious about my impatience.

But thank you anyway.

I just know how hard it is to anticipate and wait for something.  I'm already looking forward to Christmas.

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1 hour ago, Diece said:

This Evolvr guy needs to hurry up! I'm getting impatient over here...

You submitted your second videos (non practice swings) 22 hours ago. He'll get back to you soon.

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Erik J. Barzeski —  I knock a ball. It goes in a gopher hole. 🏌🏼‍♂️
Director of Instruction Golf Evolution • Owner, The Sand Trap .com • AuthorLowest Score Wins
Golf Digest "Best Young Teachers in America" 2016-17 & "Best in State" 2017-20 • WNY Section PGA Teacher of the Year 2019 :edel: :true_linkswear:

Check Out: New Topics | TST Blog | Golf Terms | Instructional Content | Analyzr | LSW | Instructional Droplets

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3 hours ago, Diece said:

Drove 4 hours out of town to a world renowned club fitter who learned from Tom Wishon.

That’s not what I meant.

Generally speaking, getting “fit” entails trying various head, shaft, grip, loft, and lie  combinations to find the best match for you.  Other than a simple loft/lie adjustment, I’ve never heard of a set of “old blades” being “fit” to someone.

Again, just curious as to the process...

In David's bag....

Driver: Titleist 910 D-3;  9.5* Diamana Kai'li
3-Wood: Titleist 910F;  15* Diamana Kai'li
Hybrids: Titleist 910H 19* and 21* Diamana Kai'li
Irons: Titleist 695cb 5-Pw

Wedges: Scratch 51-11 TNC grind, Vokey SM-5's;  56-14 F grind and 60-11 K grind
Putter: Scotty Cameron Kombi S
Ball: ProV1

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On 4/30/2019 at 11:10 PM, iacas said:

No, it’s not.

Putting is not really important? I bet you have some creative stats to prove that, too! Save yourself the time. Putting is important. This is a stupid conversation. I’m done replying to this thread, and i’ll even give you the chance for the last line. Have a nice day.

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6 hours ago, David in FL said:

That’s not what I meant.

Generally speaking, getting “fit” entails trying various head, shaft, grip, loft, and lie  combinations to find the best match for you.  Other than a simple loft/lie adjustment, I’ve never heard of a set of “old blades” being “fit” to someone.

Again, just curious as to the process...

The process was interesting, this is the guy that did it.

TLT-logo.png

Custom fit golf clubs will only make a difference if the fit is right. True Length Technology is an Award winning fitting system that will keep you athletic

I don't know how I feel about his system, it feels weird having a longer wedges.

I couldn't tell you the technical details, I swung a bunch of different weighted clubs, he looked at my positions in addressing the ball and most of it was done by feel.

34 minutes ago, NationwideTourCrimsonTide said:

Putting is not really important? I bet you have some creative stats to prove that, too! Save yourself the time. Putting is important. This is a stupid conversation. I’m done replying to this thread, and i’ll even give you the chance for the last line. Have a nice day.

I agree, I can't quite remember who said it but basically if you want to win golf tournaments you have to be able to putt. I'm sure there's a point where it's a diminishing return but putting is pivotal imo. Look at Knudson, arguably one of the best ball strikers couldn't putt worth a damn, he still won but nowhere near the amount he should have. I can't think of any recent players but even Tiger in his prime, his putting was deadly. When I think of Tiger in his prime I think of 2 things, clutch putts and unbelievable shots.

I know in my own game that when I score well it usually comes down to putting. If I can putt, I play well, if I can't then it's going to be a grind.

____________

Had my first REAL range session today, the other few I've had so far my focus was mediocre and I was more or less working on getting comfortable swinging a club again. Knocking the rust off if you will.

Before heading to the range I had read an article about practice and how to practice effectively. The article said that there's 3 steps to proper, deliberate practice. These are;

1. Performance Phase

This is where you work on your swing, you do your practice swing, you make sure your alignment is proper. You get the right visual representation of the shot in your mind and you pull the trigger.

2. Self Reflection Phase

This is after the shot, where you reflect on how you felt, what your body was feeling, the result of the shot and consider why it was either good, bad, etc. 

3. Forethought Phase

After the self-reflection phase you then must come up with a strategy for the next shot, what are you going to do different? What did you like or not like about the shot? This is where you decide how you will take the information deduced from the 2nd phase and use it to determine what you are going to do for the next ball.

With these 3 phases in mind I hit 2 large baskets of balls which took me approximately an hour and forty-five minutes to go through, the last 15 - 20 or so I just did some chipping as it was starting to rain. 

I went into the session with the goal of working on making my swing a little more upright and less around my body, which I'd say I accomplished even if the path was a little less clear than I originally laid out.

The first 12 balls I just hit some easy 56 and 58 degree wedges to distances of 50 yards and 75 yards, each shot I played it like a real shot on the course. Doing a practice swing, thinking about my trajectory, spin and considering how my body feels, reflecting on the shot.

After these 12 or so wedge shots I moved on to the pitching wedge which I hit to a barrel about 125 yards away. I focused here on a getting a low, penetrating type wedge shot that wouldn't be affected by the wind. 

At first I put the ball back in my stance, put my weight forward, then tried to maintain the angle of my hands and the shaft to "knock" the ball down but what I quickly realized was that when I did this I started to hook the ball. My shots had this really big draw on them which I didn't like. So I tinkered with my stance and what I realized was that the more you put your weight forward, hands forward and ball back in your stance you are going to hook it because of the way you're coming down onto the ball. (at least in my swing)

So with some minor modifications I moved the ball slightly forward and opened my stance a tad which gave me the ball flight I desired. A nice relatively low wedge that would cut through the wing. It had a slight draw on it which was fine.

Once I felt comfortable with this shot, I moved onto my 6 iron. I picked a target about 170ish yards away and swung. Interestingly enough, I was hooking the ball quite wildly, big pull hooks. This can't be right I thought.

So I stepped back and reflected, had a smoke and considered what had been happening. Something felt odd in my swing and set-up. 

1. Swing

In the swing, I felt like I was swinging with an extremely closed club face, not allowing my arms to rotate in an effort to get my swing more upright. The more I did this, the worse the hooks got.

2. Set-up.

I noticed that I was addressing the ball with a slightly closed club face and my lead hand did not feel comfortable. The grip felt way too strong and, when I let my hand relax I noticed that the clubface would close quite a lot. So I tinkered with this, at first I hit some half shots to see if the problem was in my full swing or if it was also prevalent in my half shots. What I noticed was that in my half shots I was also hooking the ball so this made me look more at my grip and stance as the culprit.

I tinkered with my stance some more, mainly ball position as I like to play the ball quite forward. I did this and it didn't really matter much, I was hooking it regardless. Then I thought about my grip and how it felt "off".

I addressed the ball and took my grip. Aha! The clubface was slightly closed but not only that, I was having such a strong grip that when I let my hands go to a normal position it would shut almost completely. Then I took away the club, and let my arms hang gripping an imaginary club. When I did this, my hands weren't as strong and they took a more natural position.

So holding that position I gripped a club. It felt weird, very weird. I took some half swings and my hook was gone but the grip still felt weird. It felt too weak.

Then I had the idea to move my club out of my fingers and more into my palm. 

This made a huge difference. The hook was for the most part gone and had been replaced by a draw. By putting the club a little more in my palm on my lead hand, It felt like I could really get through the ball and I also feel like when I come into the ball my arms are allowed to rotate whereas before they weren't or else they would snap the clubface closed.

I hit some 6 irons to the target and was pleased with the flight + direction. I hit some 3 irons and again was pleased with the flight. By putting the grip slightly more in the palm on my lead hand I may have gained a bit of distance too because I was definitely hitting the ball a bit further than usual. This was further confirmed when I took the driver out. I'd say it's about a 3-4 yard gain, which I'll take.

After hitting the 6i, 3i and driver I moved back to the 56 and 58 degree. I hit some shots with my older stronger grip and my more palm grip, with the club a bit more in my palms I felt like I had more control and where my hands were more accurately corresponded to the whether the club was open or closed. With the strong grip, I had more trouble with feeling the position of the club head and it was a tad more erratic.

By this time I had only about 15 balls left and it was starting to rain so I just did small chip shots to about 10 yards away before packing up and leaving.

Once I got home, I reflected more on my grip and I had wondered why it was so strong. I thought back to my golfing history and remember that I used to spend a ton of time on the grip when I was younger but the way I was working on my grip was wrong. It was way too much in my fingers, which when you try to close your hand around a club that's entirely in the fingers you have no choice but to take a very strong grip. Take a pencil and lay it in your fingers on your lead hand, then close your hand.

Your grip is going to be quite strong because the pencil is in your fingers. Now, you could just rotate your hands back to a weaker position but that feels really weird to me, I much prefer to have it slightly more in my palm. 

Anyway, that was my session for the day. Definitely the best session of the year so far.

I'm starting to track my session by 3 metrics, focus, learning and thoughtfulness. My score for today would be (and I'm very harsh on myself)

Learning 7

Focus 6

Thoughtfulness 6.5

My focus wained a little bit towards the middle part of the session and at the very end when I was chipping. I feel like I walked away from it with valuable info and I think everything I did had thought behind it.

In the future, I'd like to see myself with better focus, I was a little bit distracted by some of the other guys at the range and some shots could have had more focus behind them but there were no pointless shots and I never started to just belt balls out into the range.

 

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7 hours ago, NationwideTourCrimsonTide said:

Putting is not really important? I bet you have some creative stats to prove that, too! Save yourself the time. Putting is important. This is a stupid conversation. I’m done replying to this thread, and i’ll even give you the chance for the last line. Have a nice day.

Putting is the least important of the four skills in determining your score.

Is it “important” because there are only four? Sure. But it’s least important of the four.

Erik J. Barzeski —  I knock a ball. It goes in a gopher hole. 🏌🏼‍♂️
Director of Instruction Golf Evolution • Owner, The Sand Trap .com • AuthorLowest Score Wins
Golf Digest "Best Young Teachers in America" 2016-17 & "Best in State" 2017-20 • WNY Section PGA Teacher of the Year 2019 :edel: :true_linkswear:

Check Out: New Topics | TST Blog | Golf Terms | Instructional Content | Analyzr | LSW | Instructional Droplets

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8 hours ago, NationwideTourCrimsonTide said:

I bet you have some creative stats to prove that, too! Save yourself the time. Putting is important. 

Unless you’re just talking semantics, this isn’t a good way to go about learning new things. 

314F7E3D-8277-4DC2-8EE3-64346792C32F.gif.860512f3ad243504014b71069aa199b5.gif

Edited by Vinsk

:ping: G25 Driver Stiff :ping: G20 3W, 5W :ping: S55 4-W (aerotech steel fiber 110g shafts) :ping: Tour Wedges 50*, 54*, 58* :nike: Method Putter Floating clubs: :edel: 54* trapper wedge

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7 hours ago, Diece said:

I agree, I can't quite remember who said it but basically if you want to win golf tournaments you have to be able to putt. I'm sure there's a point where it's a diminishing return but putting is pivotal imo. Look at Knudson, arguably one of the best ball strikers couldn't putt worth a damn, he still won but nowhere near the amount he should have. I can't think of any recent players but even Tiger in his prime, his putting was deadly. When I think of Tiger in his prime I think of 2 things, clutch putts and unbelievable shots.

Tiger separated himself with his ball striking more than his putting

 

7 hours ago, Diece said:

I know in my own game that when I score well it usually comes down to putting. If I can putt, I play well, if I can't then it's going to be a grind.

If you tracked your strokes gained stats using an app/platform like GameGolf, Shotscope, etc you would likely find that isn't always the case. On average you will shoot lower scores if you hit a ton of GIR and putt poorly than you will if you miss a bunch of GIR and putt solid. My lowest round ever I two putted every single hole, but I also hit like 15/18 GIR. 

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Driver: :callaway: Rogue Max ST LS
Woods:  :cobra: Darkspeed LS 3Wood/3Hybrid
Irons: :tmade: P770 (4-PW)
Wedges: :callaway: MD3 50   MD5 54 58 degree  
Putter: :odyssey:  White Hot RX #1
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Still looking for a course, have my eyes set on St Charles (Manitoba) so far. I talked to the GM and the Head Pro about the course and membership, seems like it has everything I need.

Does anyone here have experience at the course? Or is familiar with it?

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WhistleBear.

That's the course I'm going to.

Very happy to have come to a decision on this.

Here's what I'm currently working on. (attached image)

My takeaway is awful, compare 2 web.com players on the right to my positions on the left.

God awful.

 

Screen Shot 2019-05-04 at 2.13.28 AM.png

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On 5/2/2019 at 7:56 AM, Vinsk said:

Unless you’re just talking semantics, this isn’t a good way to go about learning new things. 

314F7E3D-8277-4DC2-8EE3-64346792C32F.gif.860512f3ad243504014b71069aa199b5.gif

I’ve studied the strokes gained statistics for years. They are informative and valuable.

Strokes gained vs. the field or other PGA Tour members throughout a season does not measure Diece’s game or the games of other aspiring mini-tour players. 

It compares performance of players who have already reached golf’s highest level. Using Tiger vs. Rory examples in the context of Diece’s current improvement plan to reach the Mackenzie Tour and telling Diece that putting isn’t important is a complete misuse the Strokes Gained data. 

Further, when you incorrectly analyze data and conclude that “putting isn’t important,” you’re doing a disservice to the multitude of intelligent quantitative scientists using technology to make informative breakthroughs across the world.

So in conclusion...Diece- continue practicing all aspects of your game. Because you earlier said that your short game and putting were “terrible,” I would simply tell you to work on becoming a good putter. It’s really hard to “go low” without making some putts.

And unless you already hit it as good as Rory, or Tiger, who also happens to be in the Top-5 greatest putters ever, I still say putting is important.

 

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3 minutes ago, NationwideTourCrimsonTide said:

Strokes gained vs. the field or other PGA Tour members throughout a season does not measure Diece’s game or the games of other aspiring mini-tour players.

You’re right… except that the ratios of the categories are pretty consistent across a wide spectrum of golfers.

5 minutes ago, NationwideTourCrimsonTide said:

Further, when you incorrectly analyze data and conclude that “putting isn’t important,” you’re doing a disservice to the multitude of intelligent quantitative scientists using technology to make informative breakthroughs across the world.

I’m one of those people, and I work with another who is top of the field.

7 minutes ago, NationwideTourCrimsonTide said:

So in conclusion...Diece- continue practicing all aspects of your game.

Nobody told him to stop practicing his putting.

Erik J. Barzeski —  I knock a ball. It goes in a gopher hole. 🏌🏼‍♂️
Director of Instruction Golf Evolution • Owner, The Sand Trap .com • AuthorLowest Score Wins
Golf Digest "Best Young Teachers in America" 2016-17 & "Best in State" 2017-20 • WNY Section PGA Teacher of the Year 2019 :edel: :true_linkswear:

Check Out: New Topics | TST Blog | Golf Terms | Instructional Content | Analyzr | LSW | Instructional Droplets

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There is a Strokes Gained Calculator that Diece could use for putting.  All he needs is an honest handicap.  I think he will see that on days his numbers are in the negative he'll score poorly.  On the days he's in the green, relative to other similar handicappers, he'll score well.


Use this tool to calculate the strokes gained metric for any round of golf. Track your putting improvement.

 

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