Pressurised Putting Practice

Autumn has arrived and with the 2012 season winding down I'm now putting all my effort into my practice.
The Ryder Cup showed everyone what really counts when it comes to shooting low scores and that is making good putts. Notice I didn't say holing good putts, obviously that's the ultimate goal, but the players on both teams displayed awesome lag putts as well as ridiculously long hole outs ( nice one Justin Rose ).
I recently downloaded Ping's putting app iPing and have had some much needed challenging fun with my time on the practice green ( see results page ). I found this style of practice is definitely for me as I need that competitive pressurised situation to really ingrain all the correct actions for success. I also came across a great program called GRiP ( which I'll talk more about in my next post ) as it deserves more detail.
Another great practice drill I've really started to get addicted to is the 9 Hole par 2 putting game ( thanks to "Never miss short putts" ). This game can be played alone or with friends and is ideal for confidence building. For those who don't know it :
Pick 9 holes of varying lengths,
Hole out in 1 for a birdie 2 for par,
Before taking your second putt you must move the ball back a putters length ( long putters are a hindrance rather than a help ). This is brilliant for ridding 3 putts from your game and plus while keeping score, there is always a goal to beat and pressure on every putt.
My best 9 to date is level par.......see how you get on and let me know what I have to beat ( be honest ha ha ) good luck post scores, pics, videos.

Improving the right way

First of all I have to briefly mention the recent Club Championships. If you read my last post you will know that I was really hyped up and confident in my game going into the event. My first 18 was a fairly decent 79 which put me in a good position to go out the following day and really challenge for the title....... Now, I don't like to dwell on failure so I'll keep this short, ha ha. Day 2 was far from pretty both with the weather and my scorecard.... this leads me on to my next post.
     I recently went to my local Pro and booked a lesson. This ( probably quite mad to others ) was my first lesson in over 10 years. Since my recent run of good form I have hit a mini slump. My ball and trajectory control has become somewhat ragged and this is having a knock on effect on my whole game, including my mindset. My Pro is using a flightscope, which compared to the strikeboard I used at my lesson previous was absolutely brilliant. Straight away I could see my numbers and pin point exactly where I was going wrong. The results showed my clubface to be slightly closed through the hitting zone but more importantly my path was way out. This revelation explained my shot shape and also my trajectory ( especially with my irons ). We found from the video analysis that I was swinging over the top, using my shoulders to start rather than my lower body. This in turn steepened my angle of attack on the ball causing high pull fades and slices.
      With so much great feedback from my lesson this only meant one thing.....PRACTISE. If you follow the PGA Tour like myself you will have heard on numerous occasions the mention of ingraining swing changes. This is something that I have ( only very recently ) began to fully commit to. In the past I have tried these bandaid fixes, which help very infrequently, then slowly revert back to my old COMFORTABLE swings.
        I feel now that I must continue to ingrain any new swing changes ( fighting through the bad shots ) till I fully own the swing which works best for me. This way I can then have more trust when on the course and also feel/prevent my old swing habits from creeping in and ruining my momentum

Club Championship ( Fairways and Greens )

 Its that time year again when the Club golfer squeezes in as much practice as the other half will allow and spends the whole week prior strategically plotting his way round his course, (in his head) working out the best plan for success.......(or maybe thats just me), Its Club Championship Weekend.
     With my Handicap down to a very respectable 7 I'm out in the second group of the day, which I can't deny, is putting some very welcome nerves and pressure on me to do well. I am super confident with my game at the moment and I really feel as though I can get off to a good start. Of late my driving has held me back a touch, not from wayward strikes, but, just slightly off line hits which are finding the first and second cuts (rough is thick and gnarly this time of year), this in turn has had an effect on my GIR stats which has really tested my short game and scrambling. All said I'm really looking forward to the challenge and also the mental test that I will put myself through to stay focused. The fact that I will be grouped with complete strangers, who will have the same if not better ability, will also help me to stay sharp and zone in on my targets and routines. Hopefully in my next post I'll be talking about how I became Club Champion in my first season at Stoke Albany.........time to go and practice. See Your Goal...Play to it.

The US Open 2012...can't wait.

Source: A Graphical Look at the US Open Golf Tournament

Experiencing The Ryder Cup Venue (The Belfry)

The question is did I make the 10th green in one with a big high cut..............Answer........no, but had fun trying.

Focus,Feel and Single Figures

There are so many buzz words flying around in golf teaching circles, it's sometimes hard to keep track of what can help you and what will potentially kill your confidence. Two which I never really gave enough time to were FOCUS and FEEL. 

WOW, what a difference, I mean not only from a scoring point of view but my overall confidence in being able to put the ball in good positions and most importantly where I wanted it to go. Looking back for a brief moment, I found that my concentration was easily broken and even at address I was still thinking about outside factors which were clouding my focus of the shot in hand. Not any more. Don't get me wrong I still enjoy the banter and company of my playing partners but when it comes to my next shot my aim is to enter my "zone" (another great buzz word ha ha).

FEEL, well that's something else completely. That needs to be ingrained by way of "reps" (thanks Tiger). understanding how my swing feels is an ongoing challenge. Knowing where the clubhead is during my swing (subconsciously) is my goal. This will give me more opportunity to shape shots when needed with less thoughts.So far my practise routine is still a little unstructured at times, but I will definitely be working alot more on feel.

The Handicap......great news.......I'm currently a 7.6 playing 8 thanks to another great medal performance. Only came second (with my lowest round ever ha ha) but after dropping from 10.8 to 9.6 the club handicap committee decided after my "exceptional scoring" (their words ha ha) I should be cut by another 2 strokes. What a great feeling and my confidence is sky high, I'm really excited about my golfing future.

Handicap and Rain Falling

RELENTLESS, is this best word to describe the rain here in England over the past weeks. The undercover driving ranges have been loaded with frustrated golfers (me being one of them) who just want to get back out and and into their club competitions. My last Medal was another good step in the right direction, although my driving wasn't as accurate as it has been and a really nasty double on 18 after playing a safe 5 iron to the middle of the fairway, did leave me with food for thought. I have been sticking to my routines diligently and it's really starting to pay off, but I know there is a fine line between good fundamentals and complacency.

My first two medals of the season have been such a confidence boost with my lowest round ever, a 77 and a 1st place, also a 79 and a 4th place, both combined reduced my handicap to 10.8 (playing 11) which I feel I can improve on using my many forms of instruction, ( Revolution Golf, Golf State Of Mind,PGA Tour.com, 4golfonline, various books) and practise routines. 

When the weather improves I'm hoping to video some of my practise sessions to give me a better understanding of how my swing, setup, posture etc look from different angles and hopefully get the footage posted in various places to attract some comments/critique which may help me on my quest.

My Golf games looking and feeling brighter......just need the weather to catch up.                                                             

The Masters Good Friday Feeling

It's been a while, but during the time between posts I have got in plenty of good positive practise. Unfortunately I couldn't make the first Medal at my club,(maybe a good thing as from all accounts the weather was terrible and scores were high) but with Masters week and the Easter holiday approaching there was alot of great golf ahead. Watching the Pros on Thursday was very inspiring and left me feeling really positive and focused for what would be my first official comp of the season, The Good Friday medal. There was a field of 30+ guys and the conditions were good with a bit of wind. The afternoon previous I managed to play 9 holes of practise and dropped an eagle on the par5 3rd so confidence was high. Using my GPS device to record my round stats I know that If I hit fairways I tend to score well so my driving was of real importance, I found this added a slight over thinking on the tee rather than just going through my usual routine. Through the first 9 I hit only 3 fairways, but hit 7 greens in regulation and 3 putted once for a 2 over 38, a great start with good birdie opportunities coming up. The back 9 starts with 2 really tough holes with water all down the left and OB down the right. I usually focus really well and hit these fairways but again with over thinking I put my drive on the 10th OB and my 3rd from the tee hit the fairway bunker and I managed to escape with a double bogey 7. On 11 I didn't hit a great drive but it was straight and in play although the connection sounded really strange. After another green in reg I marked my ball and gave it it's usual inspection and clean. I noticed just above the titliest badge there was an inch slice in the cover, that explained the strange sound off the tee,(still managed a green in reg and after changing balls, made par). Again my fairways hit wasn't great, although I managed 1 more than the previous 9 and sadly 3 putted 3 times, I did hit 8 out of 9 greens in reg and made a birdie on the short par 3 15th. I came home in a 4 over 39 which totalled up as my lowest round to date, and what a great time to do it. With a 77 I won The Good Friday medal by roughly 10 strokes and lowered my handicap by at least 1 so down to 11 I go. I took alot of positives from my round and highlighted the areas where I need to spend more practise, all in all a good weekend topped off by a great Masters win by Bubba Watson, that guy is brilliant to watch.

Scorecard and Round stats :  Golfshot GPS
Next competition : 14/04/12 Medal

PGA TOUR Charities: Farmers Insurance turns great golf into great beginnings with generous Facebook fundraiser

PGA TOUR Charities: Farmers Insurance turns great golf into great beginnings with generous Facebook fundraiser

Frosty but Fun

The winter League certainly lived up to its name at the weekend. Conditions were......let's say just about playable. Although the temperature was down at 3°c/37°f the air was still and with the morning sun out it was quite nice. The course looked great......if only as a golf Christmas card (see pics) and as it was the first real frost, it hadn't fully frozen the ground solid though there was no high wedges to be played into the greens ha ha.
     I normally don't care much for golfing in such conditions but in a strange way I was looking forward to the challenge. We were a 2 ball, which was a good thing as it's harder finding 4 white balls in the frosty rough and also It was good to have a catch up with my old school mate Mark. The round started well even though I pushed my tee shot right into a small coppice ( swinging too hard Dexter :) ) I managed to save par. The 2nd, par 3, I over clubbed this was the first blob on the card (stableford). The next 2 holes were bogeys, the par 5 I hit a frozen fairway bunker (see pic) that was different.... and the next hole, after a fairway hit, my approach to the green hit, bounced and ice skated off again ha ha. The front 9 ended with a few errant drives resulting in tough second shots which had to be hit into the mouth of the green to stand any chance of holding them and another blob due to a lost ball just off the fairway ( one of those mystery disappearing golf balls ). A nice par on 9, which in normal conditions my approach would've been a tap in birdie, and I was still enjoying the challenge and had played some really nice long irons.
     The back 9 started really well,although my tee shots weren't particularly accurate, I managed to make 3 pars on some pretty difficult holes. By now the sun was at it's winter highest and the exposed parts of the fairways were thawing slightly but unfortunately the greens and bunkers were just as unforgiving as the front 9's. Strangely, I was still really enjoying the round and all it's challenges, the course and surrounding landscape was looking really picturesque and the overall temperature had risen slightly and I was able to remove one of my many restricting top layers. I managed to find more fairways and hold more greens in regulation this improved my stableford score and gave me a card worthy of competition entry. Just as on the front 9, I finished with a really nice par which capped off a thoroughly enjoyable mornings golf. I handed in a stableford score of 28 points( scorecard/round performance ), which considering the conditions, I was reasonably happy with as I knew the rest of the field, over the next few days, would have to play to a similar standard.
     This round, as the title says was pretty much just for fun and It didn't disappoint. I hit alot of good shots and made some ridiculous putts so all in all very enjoyable..............but can't wait for the good weather.

Swing like Stricker

Going to the range.......I either leave with a feeling of, well that wasn't much help or, I cant wait to get out on the course. I think the problem is I'm a bit of a purist and like to feel the grass under my feet instead of the rock hard overused range mats, that coupled with the fact that I never had a range routine and struggled to overcome the urge to aimlessly drill balls into the abyss. All that's now in the past and after creating an interesting routine my time on the mats is going to be much more productive.
   For all golfers like myself, I'm sure the 2012 golf season couldn't come quick enough and what a cracking way to start with 4 days of beautiful Kapalua scenery in the background with some of the best players from the PGA Tour. Stricker set the pace for the event and kept it going right through to trophy time ( the guy is a legend ). It was great to see Simpson, Laird, Byrd and the boys putting on a show with their vast array of shots, which just proves that to play good golf you have to have a good imagination.
    The reason for this post was to explain how the first event of the season gave me another simple yet very effective lesson. After watching the majestic/seemingly effortless swing of Steve Stricker I went out to the range for my regular Wednesday session ( accompanied by Damian and Caroline..... see Damian I said I would mention you ha ha ). My first thought was swing within yourself, don't ask me why but WOW. I seemed to be getting much crisper contact with a nice trajectory with all my irons, although the swing only felt 3/4's I was getting the same distance if not a touch more. This new easier feeling swing accompanied with the routine has left me with such a positive outlook to the range and a lot of promise for the Winter league at the weekend ( scorecard to follow )....... Big thanks to Steve Stricker.