Diece

Sounds like you are on the right track, one thing that people haven't touched on enough is that this is not a 1 person journey. You need to be making connections with the right people and placing yourself into situations to meet those people. Great social skills and an great attitude will attract the right people towards you, I know in my journey I've been very fortunate to make some great connections that are on my side and want to see me do as well as I can in the game. You need to be meeting people. The journey becomes a lot easier when you're friends with a wealthy business man who wants to sponsor you for some events. I call it the X factor because if you have poor connections and aren't an absolutely dynamite player then you're going to struggle standing out. Why would someone want to help the annoying, arrogant quiet kid who doesn't talk to anyone? Be social. If you aren't a member at a club, look at the high-end clubs and take advantage of the low rates young adults get. Careful of the places you associate yourself with, you don't want to be second guessing your dreams because some plug on here tells you that it's not worth it / going to happen. Nobody knows the potential of your development, keep working hard, be smart with your hours and go from there.

I agree. On my list once I move to get the books. This hardly warrants a response. In fact now that I think of it, it doesn't warrant a response. Whatever man. Judge me. ____ Nobody here knows how hard I am working on this dream and to be honest, I'm not even going to bother writing 1000 words on what I'm doing and my progress. Nor am I going to explain my own self-belief. So where does that leave us? Well.. I'm going to post on here, a side from this post and I wish the owner would ban me & delete my account. I don't need the distraction. Edit: Locking the thread would be better. Lock this please.

Finally have found a course to join. I've been looking forever and have settled on a course about an hour and a half away from home. It's called Whistle Bear. It's a long course at around 7400 yards, 76 rating and has great facilities + it's private. Membership is about 2000 which my dad is going to help with and I will be also moving closer to the course. I was invited by the director of golf to play in the field day today, I had a lot of fun and our team played great, we actually ended up winning the tournament. (scramble). Here's some pictures from today.. Imgur Post with 9 views. _________ Now, about my game. There's a demo day at the club next Saturday which I'm going to. I need to get my equipment upgraded, my driver has a crack in the shaft (getting larger) and my irons are not fitted properly. They launch the ball way too high and I'm losing a lot of distance, my 3i goes 200 yards while a good drive is around 280-290. My SS is I think 110,111 if I remember correctly, My brother who I drive the ball about 5 yards past hits his irons way further than mine. He'll hit a 9 and I'm hitting a 7 or sometimes a 6 (and he hits his irons quite well). I had my irons custom fitted but I don't think the guy who did it understood the level of play I was after. My driver needs to go, my 3 wood and hybrid are random clubs from the used club section and my wedges are also random used clubs. I know equipment isn't a huge deal but I feel like playing from 7400 yards, I'm not going to be able to do anything when my 2i goes 210 and I have 234. I also look at it as an investment. I'm going to get new stuff and that will be the sticks I play with until I get sponsored. Thankfully one of the guys I played with today offered me a job at his restaurant where they make really good money so I should be able to afford the new gear. Yeah. On hard greens, that are fast and have breaks. My averages are on shit greens that aren't very fast and don't have much slope. Another nice thing about Whistle Bear is that it has a fitness centre. Which is great cause my 145 pound ass could use some weight...maybe I'll gain some yards. Maybe.

Its stroke. Pull, push, bad allignment. My putting is by far my weakest part of my game. Average around 32-35 putts. Lets say i hit the green around 10-13 times, most of those green will be about a 25-10ft putt one or two probably under 10ft (this is going off where I played last year and had mosty short irons in) Id make maybe 1 of those putts and they arent hard greens with a lot of slope.

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.

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?

True, I wonder how hard the course was playing that day though. It also kind of makes sense, everyone is competing for presumably six spots. Of course the guys that make it are going to be shooting those scores. I read in one of the comments that Brooks Koepka said playing on the European tour is a better path than grinding in Monday Q's.

The process was interesting, this is the guy that did it. Custom Fit Golf Clubs - Dan's Custom Golf Shop 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. 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.

Eh, probably shouldn't follow up a 27 with a 38. The title is misleading, he was in a play-off so he didn't get in because he lost the playoff. Shooting a 27 doesn't matter if you can't follow the other 9 up with anything good. It's tough of course. That's part of the fun though. 😎

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

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

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.

Hahah..probably. I should get an anteater as a pet. Interesting, I'm probably going to get it...eventually. But doesn't seem like something I absolutely must have right now. It's more important to get some new, updated equipment.

Honestly, I don't know why I've been such a goof in regards to instruction. One of my other interests is art, painting, photography, sketching etc. The great artists, 90% of them were taught by teachers. Picasso was taught by his dad who was a painter. Matisse was taught by Gustav Morreau a teacher in the Beux Arts School in France. In Matisse's book on Art he literally says to become a great painter you have to study the masters and be taught in all of the forms of the greats. If great artists learned and refined their craft with lessons and teaching then why the F did I think I didn't need it. For everyone of the great artists who are self-taught, there's another 10 who took lessons. Same with Golf, for every pro who is self-taught there's another 10 who had to take lessons. Now, there's obviously a varying degree of how much you rely on your coach, I don't think I will ever be one of those guys who is joined at the hip with their coach and can't even wipe their own ass without someone helping them but I definitely know I need instruction. I need better fundamentals, I need to get rid of the major flaws in my swing. I can't do this shit myself.

Ive must have checked my phone every 10 minutes today, waiting for the response from the Evolvr guys. Cant wait to put my nose to the grindstone.

I actually was looking at a launch monitor last year, but like you said most of them suck. I don't know if the Mevo was out at that time though. Would you consider a Mevo a decent investment, considering what I want to do or should I wait?

Damn. I really appreciate this post and I'm not saying that to be ironic or a dick. I really do. What really stood out to me is basically how you told me that my swing is terrible, in regards to the level I want to be. It's made me wonder..is this really something I can achieve? I mean, I look back at my younger days and I never won anything, I came close maybe once but surely if I was meant to play pro I should have won SOMETHING as a youngster. I have not considered college, but you make a good case for it. Thanks for the kind words man. I've always felt that the only person who knows your life is you, no one else really knows and the story you are writing is your own, no one elses. __________ I want to take a chance to cut the bravado for a second, I've been thinking about this a lot. What if I am never going to be good enough to play on the Mackenzie Tour? I played with one of the best amateurs in the area yesterday and watching him play, made me question where my own head is at. He was hitting shots I have never really hit before, he was hitting a wedge and sucking it back a good 2-3 feet. I've never done that, not to that extent anyway. He was so consistent too. Driver in play, always hitting the green, good putting. Then there's my game, usually one lost ball, can't keep driver in the fairway, irons are decent. Short game usually saves me and putting is mediocre (if I'm being really honest). The guy I played with was also self-taught. The more I think about my dream, the more I realize I need to make the decision. Do I continue going for it? Or do I stop and invest all of that time and money into something else? At the end of the 2017 season, I had shot some okay scores, had some good moments but I did wonder. What if I invested all of that time into a business or something else? Would I be further ahead in life? Would I be more "successful?" And there's two things that keep me from packing it in. 1. I had a lesson with Henry Brunton in 2017. I told him what I wanted and he dropped some balls down, told me to hit to different targets at different distances. I was scared shitless because I thought for sure I was going to f*** up and make a fool out of myself. Surprisingly though, I didn't. He selected 3 target greens 100-150-200 yards away and I hit every single one. Then he had me hit to these large barrels at varying wedge distances. I hit the barrel on 3 of the shots. Then we went over to the putting green, he dropped 3 balls at medium, long and short distances. I drained all of them, then he put some balls in the bunker, I hit okay shots and he had me hit various chips. I drained one and the other 2 (or 3) from the rough I hit well. Then we went into the Titleist building and I hit some balls into the sim. After that, he sat down with me and told me what he saw. Which was essentially that I have the swing of a 30 handicapper but I have such good coordination and rotation that I'm able to work with it. He said when I get my swing fixed, I'll be hitting the ball 300 yards. He said my positions were very athletic and I was very athletic through the ball (or something along those lines). Now maybe he was blowing smoke up my ass but I see no reason why he would. He told me what he wanted me to do which was fix my swing path and that was it. So I went back home, (I drove 2 hours to see Henry) and worked on my game but I had no way knowing if my path was right or not, it seemed easy on the sim but on the range it was very hard. He told me to put a shaft a few yards in front of me and have the ball start on the right side of the shaft. (showing I had the right path). I did that for a week but still couldn't figure it out so I sort of gave up on it and went back to my old ways..... I'm kind of embarrassed to say this but I gave up and looking back, probably squandered an opportunity to really get good. I wish I didn't but that's what happened, though his words still ring in my mind. Especially when I'm driving to work, wondering whether I even have the ability to play at the level I want. 2. I've never had a coach, I've had probably 5 lessons my entire life. I've been obsessed with figuring shit out myself...but I'm realizing I can't do that anymore. I'm wasting time. I've got major faults in my swing that aren't going to go away by more practice and continuing to be self-taught. I may not have won anything yet but with a year of coaching, perhaps I will get good enough to win some small amateur events. Maybe with my dedication and willingness to do whatever it takes, I'll improve lightning fast. So what's the decision? I can't give-up. I need to give this an honest shot and going to the range, trying to figure out everything myself is not giving it an honest shot. I got down to a 0.9 handicap last year through being self-taught but now I need the guidance. This year, I'm going to take lessons and get a coach. I'm moving still but I'm saying f*** it in the meantime and I'm signing up for Evolvr for now and I'm going to start taking this goal seriously. Maybe with some serious work with a pro for a year will be what I need to start vastly improving. I don't know. Maybe by the end of the year I'm still going to struggle even with a coach. I have no idea. But one thing for sure is this year, I'm going to stop f***ing around and give this thing 110% of my effort and direct that effort into the proper things. Let's see where I end up. Edit: Purchased Evolvr.

Ill respond to you Bill later today. Heres just an updated version of my swing. I took this just now in our backyard.

Of course I'm looking for a job, I have a lot of customer service, sales and serving experience. So I'm not too worried about work. I'm fine with sacrifices. No real vices (just the occasional smoke). I agree...sort of. Part of wants to play devils advocate here. Am I really behind because I won't get a coach? I'd think the reason I am behind is not playing at all in highschool + never playing for more than a year straight (except the past 2 year). I'm hesitant to get a coach because I don't want to be one of those guys who relies on their coach and can't figure their games out for themselves. Although, I do think getting some lessons to work on my major flaws is a good idea but I don't want to be glued to a coach. And in regards to your example, wouldn't that be flawed? There's 1000 ways to swing a club and play great golf but presumably, there's a few "right" ways to build a rocket right? And there's probably a best way but there is no best way in golf. It comes down to the player. Bryson Dechambeau approached the game from a more scientific angle and Bubba Watson doesn't. Snead learned by feel, Hogan more so by mechanics. Nicklaus saw Jack Grout about 3 times a year, if that and he was never there on the practice tee with Nicklaus before a tournament. Don't get me wrong here, I still will get a coach but I'm definitely not going to be one of those guys glued to the coach. I agree and to answer, I've looked at some businesses and I have some ideas. One is to create an e-book (ebook at first and then physical book) that's a sort of compendium of the best players, from as far back as I can go to current times. I'm not quite sure the format but I want to have list of the books that the players have wrote too. So for example, Ben Hogans entry would be; - Five Lessons - Power Golf Coach/Teacher? None. I think it would be a cool resource for players that want to learn more about the game could use, especially if I include instructors too and the books they have written. I'd like to give a portrait of the player as well but I'm not sure if I could just use stories from other books and put them in mine (with credit) and I'd like to use photos of course but I'm not sure how that would work. It's just an idea right now but it's something I'd be interested in and I think players would be as well. If I get it printed, it would make a cool coffee table book for golf. ___________________ Now let's talk about my game. I played the first 18 holes of the season today, Shot 82. It was very windy and cold but I still think I could have broke 80, though I'm pleased with how my game "feels". A lot of the lost strokes were just the result of bad feel around the greens which I know I'll get back once the season is in full swing (the weather is still kinda crappy here). One of the major lessons learned today was that I need to stop trying to be like the "greats". I'm not Snead, Hogan, Nelson, Knudson, Woods, etc. I'm Jason f***ing Coull. That's me. I need to play like Jason and not everyone else. I'm athletic and I have talent for the game, I need to stop reading books and go out and play. I feel all of the books I've read in many ways, has been a waste. It's like it's stifled my natural talent for the game. I remember a guy I was playing with last year who was also an amateur asked me how I hit a high fade around the trees with my 3 wood and I couldn't tell him. My response was "Idk man, I just feel it and do it. I don't really think about it." The less I "think" the better I play, my problem is ever since I was 13 I've been reading books about golf, when in my case all I needed to do was go play. So that's what I'm doing this year, I'm not reading anything. I'll have my coach and that's it. The rest I'm going to just go out and play. Stop making what in my case shouldn't be complicated, complicated. I really think overthinking is one of my biggest problems in the game. I overthink everything and what is an easy 5 foot putt for par, I somehow see a hidden break that I think is there when it's not and I miss the putt. I need to trust myself more. I've also decided what I'm doing this year, which is moving slightly upnorth to Ottawa, where I will golf + work and save money to play down in the states during the winter. When I'm not golfing, I will be working on an online business which I haven't quite decided what I'm doing yet but I'm almost 100% sure I want it to do something with golf. While I am in Ottawa I will be playing out of this course: (most likely) Camelot Golf & Country Club - Private Golf Club Ottawa - Camelot Golf and Country Club I talked to the GM and it seems the course has everything I want. 1. Good facilities 2. Good price 3. Grass driving range 4. Only 2 leagues a week + 1 tournament a month, which means I will be able to play whenever (previous courses I've belonged to were very hard to book tee times for and they had leagues almost everynight.) 5. Private 6. 7000+ yardage 7. 74.2 Rating (I wanted something higher than 72) 8. Decent amount of amateurs that compete. 9. Good price for membership, around $1800 I honestly don't see anything bad about this course, the clubhouse is a little tacky but I'm not there for the clubhouse. Maybe you guys might see something I'm missing? I feel like this year is going to be my breakthrough year, My game and body feels like it's in a good spot right now. I know what I need to work on and where I'm headed.

Not in order.

I can see where you're coming from. I suck at planning. How would you plan for such a thing? In my mind, I need to start winning small events and work my way up + find a coach. Which I think I've found now. What else can you plan? Doesn't it kinda come down to my performance? Good points. I worked almost all last year on my grip. I noticed when I weakened my grip, I started slicing it worse than before. I think the strong grip is a compensation for a poor downswing and coming over the top. And the straight arm, again I agree. My lead arm is bent at impact.

@ what some of the people have posted as their dreams. I respect that. I was thinking about this thread earlier today. I knew I'd get backlash when I posted it and I also thought it would be a fun little project, where people could watch my progress. Maybe I just haven't positioned it as such but 90% of the replies to this thread have been useless, people telling me to quit, people telling me im delusional, people telling me all kinds of shit. Have I really received any value from this? Not really. There was a few posts at the start that helped me but after that I've got nothing from it. I don't need people telling me I won't make it, or that I don't have the talent or how HARD it is or how good the players are. Look, I've watched pro the Canadian Open and Mackenzie Tour events + lesser pro events (club pros). I know what they can do, I know I'm not close but I know I will make it. I watched the players on the Mackenzie Tour hit their long irons 245 yards uphill into the wind on a par 3, my jaw dropped. I've seen how good they are. I'm not going out there, shooting 1 under and going well I think I can go pro soon. You guys can shut the f*** up about it. Everyone here knows some guy who didn't make it, "I know a guy who tried, he was really good but didn't make it." It's always some guy. My response? I don't give a f*** if some guy you know didn't make it. I will. These posts are useless. Ever heard of the phrase you are the product of the people you associate with? Has associating with this forum made me a better player? Not really. I get close to 0 value here and I say close to 0 because some people have helped me, which I appreciate. Right now. I don't see the point in continuing this but I'm willing to give it one more shot however if people just want to talk shit and tell me shit I already know, as if they are being helpful and insightful. Then I'm out. Maybe you can prove me otherwise and I'm the one that led this thread down the path that it went. Maybe I should post more about golf and let the naysayers go f*** themselves. Anyway, with that said let me give you an update. _________________ I've been reflecting on my good rounds last year and what I was working on specifically during the time I shot those scores. Here's a break-down of the stand-out rounds. 71 - When I shot this, I know I was working on starting the swing with the lower body and I was also working on keeping the head relatively still. I shot this right after going to watch a Mackenzie Tour event. The main thing I noticed during the event was how stable their bodies were during the swing. Their heads didn't really move much (vertically) and it looked solid. I think before we go further, I should clarify what I mean when I say their bodies were solid. They swung around themselves, they didn't sway, they stayed in one spot and pivoted around their bodies to hit the ball. Whereas before with myself I would sway thinking it would give me leverage but all it does it ruin your shotmaking. Think about the golf swing, if you're just using the arms and you aren't really rotating at all. There's no power because you're not turning around the ball. So when I got back I was inspired to work on that. I also was working on a one-piece takeaway, maintaining the triangle formed between the arms and the body for as long as possible and swinging on an upright plane. 69 - I never drove the ball better during this time, it was the main reason I shot what I did. What I was working on at this time was again stability (stance) and maintaining the triangle between the arms and body for as long as possible in the backswing without feeling stiff. 72 - Again, a similar theme of keeping the head still and I was really working on starting the downswing with my lower body. I don't think it's a coincidence that my best rounds had similar thoughts. I should also note that during these rounds I was experimenting with letting my right foot lift a little off the ground in the backswing, which gave me more leverage on my longer irons. I could really get "behind" the ball when I did this. Here's a few swings from around the times when I shot the above scores. If you notice, my body is relatively still during these swings. I don't think this a very complicated thing to answer why having less unnecessary motion is good. There's a famous painter Henri Matisse who said in regards to painting that "Everything that is not useful in the picture is, it follows, harmful. A work of art must be harmonious in its entirety: any superfluous detail would replace some other essential detail in the mind of the spectator." I agree with Matisse, I also love that quote in regards to the golf swing. Removing unnecessary motions to create one, smooth, poetic swing that is in harmony. You should also notice that in my pre-shot routine, I was taking the club back and forth, this is where I was focusing on maintaining the triangle. The reason this helped me with ball striking was that it makes sure that I make a full shoulder turn and I don't bring the club back too shallow. (which is a problem of mine). I noticed I played better when my swing plane was more upright and less shallow, and this helped me stay connected + relatively upright. I also think it just helps with consistency, the more sturdy and stable you are in the swing, the more consistent. At least that's what I found. Starting the downswing with the lower body, I knew I had an over - the - top action in my swing. I think when I worked on starting with the lower body and rotation of the hips, it made it harder to come over the top. I was able to stop my right shoulder from taking over and wanting to chop at the ball but this was I think a bandaid solution to a bigger problem. Which is something I will be working a lot on this year. Watch this swing. See something weird in the downswing? Look at my head. It dips and as one pro said, it looks like I'm trying to keep my head down. And it's 100% true. Remember the old guy that took me under my wing when I was younger that I talked about in a previous post? He told me to keep my head down. He drilled it into me. And I think that's why I come over - the - top. I'm so focused on the damn ball that I drop my head and when my head drops, I can't really drop the club onto a proper line. I have to come over the top to re-route the club onto the back of the ball. I remember a long time ago, when I was like 16 or 17 that I had considerably better ball striking when I allowed myself to not worry about "watching" the ball. I also remember that my ball striking was a lot better when I swung with my eyes closed, I felt "free" and that I was able to swing through the ball and not at it. Watch Sams swing here, notice how he isn't trying to keep his eye on the ball and also notice how his head doesn't move and there is no big dip. He's able to get the lowerbody into the swing. Now watch this video of me. Look at my downswing motion. It's f***ing terrible. It looks like I'm chopping wood and I think it's because I'm trying to keep my eye on the ball. My head doesn't move much laterally but vertically it dips like crazy and when I dip it like that, I can't get my lowerbody into the shot and I screw myself in consistency and accuracy. It's a very cramped motion. I need to go to range and work this motion out more but that's one major change I am making to my swing. I'm removing the over - the -top motion and allowing my head to be free. I'm not going to worry about what my head does, I'm just going to worry about swinging through the ball and using the lower body. I definitely don't think I use my lower body enough which is robbing me of power and consistency and as far as my knowledge is concerned, this stems from trying to watch the ball. Now, doesn't this sound contradictory? I'm allowing my head to move, but I kept it still last year and shot my best rounds? I think keeping the head still, helps me with not swaying but I'm still putting too much attention on the ball and it's causing my over the top motion. It's sort of hard to explain but I'm thinking of swinging around my head, the head doesn't really matter but it shouldn't move like crazy because then you're changing all of the angles you started with at address. By freeing my head, I think I will start to cure my dipping problem, combined with focusing a lot on the lower body to start the downswing. So bottom line. Remove my dip in the downswing. Stop coming over-the-top. That's what I'm working on swing related right now. Btw, here's a cap of my handicap.

😂 I gotta wonder, has ANYONE that's posted in this thread made their dream a reality? Is anyone actually living out their dreams? And if not, then why the hell should I listen to anyone here. It's my thread, I'm going to write what I want and say what I want, keep posting and telling me why I won't make it. I'm enjoying the entertainment.