Some catching up

I've been thinking about golf a lot recently and recording my thoughts and insights, but not always on this blog.
After numerous dead ends I finally think I'm heading down the right path.
My intention from the beginning was to record everything I tried, good or bad, in this blog, so today I'm going to copy a bunch of stuff I had written elsewhere so that this will be a more complete record of my progress.

Here it is....
7-27-11:
Played twice last weekend, once at Prestwick Saturday morning and 9 holes at Dwan around noon on Sunday.
Only got in 13 holes at Prestwick because of the weather, but it was free because of Scott's connection to the Van Duesen guy (Matt Anderson?).
I have been hitting the ball well. My average drive at Dwan was 230. I hit it 250 twice and at least 200 every time. Only had 2 drives that didn't hit the fairway & immediately reloaded after those. Irons are also going straight - but not getting good distance.
All-in-all, my best summer of golf.

7-11-11:
Played twice over the holidays, once at Moss Ridge in Mich, and yesterday at Dawn - just nine holes as it was so god-dammed hot we about expired on the course.

I have been hitting the ball pretty straight, both off the tee and from the fairway.

Actually, now that I think of it, I should be pretty happy with the way I'm playing.

Most of my balls are going straight and landing in the fairway - playing very few from the right rough any more. I am now hitting multiple balls off the tee. If the first drive isn't to my liking I'll immediately re-load and hit another - so I usually have at least two shots to choose from.

I'd guess that 80% of my drives fall into the 190 to 210 range. If I can get the ball to draw just the tiniest bit I can get closer to 230.

Although I'm hitting my irons pretty straight off the fairway, they just don't seem to be going very far. I've gone up 2 clubs from what I used to hit, I'm hitting a 9-iron from 125 yds now, and can't seem to hit anything longer that about 150.

I've also adapted a new, improved chipping method. If I could eliminate the complete miss-hits, ie: chips that only go 2 yds, topped balls, etc, and putt better, I'd probably be pretty close to bogey golf.

My drives seem to work if I concentrate on keeping my arms relaxed, and I hit my irons straight if I rotate my hips. When I'm hitting my irons I don't try to snap my hips like I used to, but just try to start the swing with a smooth rotation - and I don't think I hit a single slice off the fairway yesterday.

There are a couple of things I want to try at my next range session:
1. working on just the release - letting my wrists turn over.
2. starting my drive with the same smooth turn that I'm using on the fairway. In fact, I want to just try and get my hips out of the way before I swing and see what happens.


6-27-11:
Played Bluff Creek w/ the boys on Sat.
First drive went about 200yds straight down the middle. Mixed results after that. Lots of drives fading to the right and short. Last drive of the day went about 250 and straight. Still trying to nail it down.
Scott & I went to the range yesterday afternoon. I hit some good drives when I stayed totally relaxed - sometimes I feel like I mastered the technique on my very first drive but I need to hit a bucket of balls to convince myself that it really works.

I'm still optimistic, hopefully I'm at a plateau that will eventually give way to more progress.
I'm still confident that I will be able to consistently drive the ball 230-250 and straight.
Right now I have the sense that I need to concentrate on a longer, down the line, follow through.
Also, at the range, I need to concentrate on hitting a target.

6-20-11:
Played Summit in Cannon Falls yesterday with Scott & Steven; Mary came along for the ride (literally). Two trips to the driving range had me convinced that I had grooved in the 220yd loose arm drive. I did hit just about every fairway - although I took many mulligans - but I was only hitting it about 185 yds. Got a new driver for Father's Day and immediately took it to the range to try it out. At the end of the bucket, after the boys kind of egged me on, I really tried to crank the last 4 balls. The first 2 sliced, but the last 2 went straight as an arrow - and long. So now I don't know. I would have been happy with 220 and straight, but not 185. I'm not sure if I can master the 260yd crank.
I am convinced of two things:
a. passive arms,
b. torso rotation.
Maybe I should add a third thing: stop thinking. As soon as I stand above the ball and start thinking about the process, all the gears in the machine start to grind to a halt. I need to keep loose and just hit the ball. The problem is that right now I'm kind of going back and forth between working on the mechanics and trying not to think about the process.


6-06-11:
Steven & I played 9 holes at hidden greens Saturday morning (Scott on call). Usual problems hitting the ball - however - I did hit a couple of 220 yd drives using Scott's driver. I reverted to my loose arm, relaxed wrists, abbreviated back swing method. I think that I end up getting at least 80% of the distance I might get on a full swing and am able to hit the ball pretty much dead straight. This method is worth perfecting at the driving range - both with the driver and my irons, kind of like a 2nd server in tennis, you want to have the confidence that it will always go in - or in this case, always land in the fairway.

5-23-11:
let me also write something about golf here.
Golf ball anxiety.
My swing is starting to feel natural, relaxed.

Put a golf ball in front of me and now all my attention is focused on hitting the golf ball.

Now I don't have a relaxed swing because I'm worried about whether I'm going to hit the ball.

I need to learn to set-up to the ball and then forget about the ball and let my swing happen.

I'm also starting to focus on letting my right arm relax and straighten during the downswing - this is what causes the wrists to un-hinge and release.