F22Hack

Hi all, I am pretty new to the site, and forums in general, so forgive me if this is too wordy, or has been discussed previously... Like many, I have always struggled with making consistent solid contact...usually hit everything a bit out on the toe, as a general rule. I just had my third spine surgery, so can't swing a club again just yet, but happened to be on the chipping green and noticed something interesting...not for the first time, but enough that I decided to experiment a bit. I hope that I am not the only one that notices a "micro-nap" (loss of concentration, brain fart, whatever) between the time I start the downswing and impact. I usually have a few (too many) swing thoughts going on, and then after I chili-dip a chip, or thin an iron, I notice that "I have no idea what I was thinking about at the ever-important point of impact." I find that I am not sure if I was actually looking right at the back of the ball, concentrating on hitting down on the ball, in the center of the club-face, etc. exactly at impact. Basically, my concentration lapses for an instant, right when it matters most...and I am not sure why. So today on the chipping green (all very short chips because of my back), I practiced with a 60* wedge, which is arguably one of the more difficult clubs to use for chipping (i.e. can lend itself to lots of chili-dips and skulls). In order to MAKE myself concentrate on the ball from downswing through impact, I simply took the club back as I would do for the particular shot (including lofted shots, lower trajectory to run, etc.), stopped, and held the position for a minimum of "two potatoes." From there, I made sure that I was looking directly at the back of the ball, and then let my hands drop, accelerated, and finished as normal. I am sure that this "drill" can be used for a number of reasons, including checking your positioning, working on accelerating through the ball, etc., but I focused on the mental, or "concentration" aspect of the chip, and was quite surprised to see how well I could actually chip from a complete stop - making solid contact, in the center of the club-face, with MUCH better consistency, and a "feel" for what exactly the club-face was doing all the way through impact. As an "advanced" version of the drill, I would hold my position, and actually look up at the target for two potatoes, then back at the ball before I started the downswing...just to solidify the shot in my mind right before the swinging motion. I was chipping with 20 balls, and in the 45 minutes prior, I had only holed two shots. During the drill (six iterations with 20 balls), I holed at least one shot per twenty, and on one lucky round, I holed three out of twenty. Granted these were all chips inside of 15-20 yards, but there was definite improvement in the stats. Once I started chipping with no pause (doing this every-other ball), I found that my awareness of the club-face, and my ability to concentrate throughout the shot was much better. I was able to feel myself "place" the club in a good position at the top, and then had more control on the downswing. So why am I even writing about all of this?!? I am just curious to know if others have noticed a similar issue with micro-napping, and if so, what they have done to work specifically on concentration. Also, I would be curious for someone else to try what I practiced, and see if they are able to see any similar results. Ultimately, I want to try this with a full swing to see if I can start wearing down the grooves in the center of my clubs, as opposed to "just toe-ward" as usual...but that will be months from now. Thanks to everyone for a great site and I look forward to hearing any feedback :)

Since I happen to be living in this part of the world for the last few years (Former Soviet Union - Ukraine and Kazakhstan), I might be able to chime in a bit... I wrote about this a little bit in my introduction, but in my two years in Kyiv, Ukraine, I found only two courses in the country, and only one that was actually "somewhat" playable. The price was over $200 for a single round, so I never did try to actually play. There was one driving range in town, but the range was only about 200(ish) yards, and was often closed when someone was playing the "course" -- which also happened to be on the range, a 7 hole layout with no real greens. Cost was about $15 for a bucket of 40 balls... In Kazakhstan, same story...only one course, 9 holes, costs around $240 and a bucket of balls costs about $22 equivalent. Since one round of golf is more than a typical monthly salary, you can understand why not many people play. There are plenty of blacked-out Range Rovers, Mercedes G-Wagons, S-550s and such in the parking lot, but no one on the course...probably more of an oligarch meeting point than anything else... In neither country are you able to find ANY store that actually carries clubs, balls...anything at all. No surprise at all that there are no junior programs! I can't wait to get back to the States and tee it up...I am even looking forward to hitting off of mats (THAT is how bad it is over here!!). Cheers!

Hello, SimpleSimon...and welcome to the site! Like you, I looked around here for the past few days/week, and found the site to be quite informative, so just recently signed up. Looking forward to hearing about your progress once you are able to spend more time on your game... Cheers!

Thanks for your note...it is absolutely my pleasure to get to serve! By the way...I see that you are an LSU fan...I am from Lake Charles, but my entire family is from Lafayette/Breaux Bridge/Cecelia, etc...so needless to say, I grew up an LSU fan :) Ended up at Georgia Tech, but still like to root for the Tigers when I catch a game...

Thanks for the notes! Yep...I drove out to the "golf course" one day, through a herd of goats and cows, and finally found the clubhouse. Wasn't sure if it was a course or a goat ranch (literally!), but they had a driving range (kind-of). Bucket of 30ish balls will set you back about $22...9 holes of golf will cost you around $240 (not including cart, of course...if they even have them there). I guess you can'y be too picky when in the middle of the Siberian Steppe... So...if I shoot a decent round on 9, say 38 or so, that works out to just about $6.30 per stroke...but if I shoot 42, the price goes down to less than 6 bucks a stroke...pretty sweet! Definitely a pastime for the super-rich oligarch types. At least gas is cheaper here...

I am an F-22 pilot in the US Air Force...would love to have the chance to learn more about the game and eventually teach golf at some point in the future.

Hi, Everyone! I am new to the site, but wanted to say a quick hello and a sincere thanks to everyone that participates here, because I am already an addict... I am an F-22 pilot in the USAF, currently flying a desk at the US Embassy in Astana, Kazakhstan. Been overseas for a few years now, so haven't played much golf in quite some time, but looking forward to getting started again this summer (both golfing and flying!). As far as my golf game...I have an R1 Driver and 4-wood, and a set of black nickel Mizuno MP-68s that I bought while in Germany almost 2 years ago, and have had the chance to use them only twice so far (but holy crap, they were nice!). I played golf in high school for a few years, and then got busy with everything else, but am really looking forward to (possibly) having more time to practice and play over the next few years...we will see. Finally, I want to quickly say a public thanks to "iacas" and "david_wedzik" for a very kind gesture that they showed in response to some questions that I had on the "Analyzr" website...and I am really enjoying the wonderful product! Sorry if this is a bit wordy...I am new to "forum-ing," so please forgive any mistakes in my etiquette! Looking forward to meeting others, and thanks again in advance for all of your help... BTW... I have been doing a ton of research and reading on this site and others about the best camera for swing analysis, and am about to pull the trigger on a used Casio FH-100 (because of the issue with manual shutter settings), so would very much appreciate any inputs if there are better options here in 2013...cheers!