I have not felt this positive about my game at any time since I started this adventure. Not at the beginning of any season, not at the end of any season, and certainly not at the high-point of any season.
I am hitting the ball as well now as I have in years. I’m finally hitting the shots that I know I have inside me. The ones that I’ve had at my command in years past that led me to believe that this undertaking is not a fool’s errand.
I think I have finally started to resolve my takeaway problems, where I was taking the club back outside the line, initially. That put me in poor position at the top and left me with no way to reliably make consistent contact. I’m going to explore my thoughts on the reason for this in another post, but I think it has something to do with not playing golf (rough winter) since last November. It’s as if I erased the chalkboard and started with a clean slate.
Saturday, after some practice, I went out for a round. I played the front nine for score and kind of messed around on the back nine. I scored a 41 on the front, in some adverse conditions. The course had standing water everywhere, it was windy, and most of the greens had been top-dressed.
Normally, during my first few rounds of the year, I struggle to find any semblance of a game and might not even break 90. In 2009, my first three GHIN posted scores were 98, 90, and 89. This year, my first time out in four months, I shot 41 in tough conditions.
On Sunday, I had my first lesson of the year and that put the final pieces of the puzzle in place and left me with the most confidence that I’ve had in years.
My pro confirmed that my long standing takeaway problem seemed to be gone. Mostly, anyway. Every once in a while, it pops up here and there, but I am diligently working on grooving the correct move, so it will become habit before long.
He also pointed out two interesting things that sort of grew out of the issues I was fighting last year. My primary miss was a massive pull-hook, caused from coming somewhat over the top, with a steep angle of attack. For most people, this would result in a slice, but I usually managed to flip my hands closed, giving me that huge left miss.
But sometimes, it would also give me a giant block to the right, meaning that there was no consistency in my misses. That kind of uncertainty has a way of eroding confidence. I had stretches where I could time things well and sort of had the illusion that things were fixed, but invariably they would break again.
Out of that big left-left miss grew two compensations. First, I was starting to address the ball with more and more of an open club face. Because that started to have me sending the ball more right (I fought some slicing late last year), and because I had a tendency to be misaligned to the right at address, I gradually started to be misaligned to the left.
Very quickly, my pro had me squaring my club face at address and had me aligning my stance to be more square. The square club face looked very closed to me, so I know it’s something that’s been happening for a long time.
Immediately, though, I started hitting shots that were very pure and consistent.
One thing that I do still need to work on is that my tempo gets a little quick with my longer clubs. Mentally, I think this is the result of subconsciously (or maybe even consciously) thinking that long clubs are for distance, not precision, so they need some “oomph” to get the ball out there.
Intellectually, I know that’s not a good thought to be swirling around in my head, but somehow it was happening. When I let go of this idea and made my transition more smooth, I started hitting the ball much better with my longer clubs. That’s going to require more work, but I’ve already been seeing the results.
After my lesson, I went out for another nine holes and shot a 42 this time, in even tougher conditions. It was even more windy and it was raining on top of it. I hit my approach fat on the 9th hole and followed that up with a skulled pitch. These are shots that are normally very solid for me. Had I hit them like normal, I was looking at a score of 40 instead of 42, but hey, I got what I deserved.
The bottom line is, my confidence is running extremely high right now. I can’t wait to get out and practice some more. For the first time in a while, getting on the course to play is feeling like my time to shine and not just time for me to put work in and to get a grip on whichever flaws need the most work.
Don’t get me wrong – there’s plenty of room for refinement and improvement, but I feel that for the first time, it’s more a matter of putting in work than it is a matter of solving a puzzle.
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My game started out alot like yours is now. I wasn’t squaring up my club face and eventually began trapping the ball into a hook. Then, I opened my club face and began slicing. After solving that problem, I video taped myself and realized that I was dipping my left shoulder down thru the swing, as well as, lifting my front foot off of the ground, which was making it hard for me to control my swing and my ball. Try keeping your front foot down and rotate your shoulders as far as you can without reaching outside your swing or getting off balance. You might not hit it as far at first but, you will definately hit it straighter. Do some good stretching before you begin.
A good positive attitude will go far in assisting you in getting to your goal. Looking forward to reviewing your stats this season.
Awesome DE.
That is a great place to be in this early in the season! I look forward to seeing how the year progresses. It will be interesting if you get to the point where you really are able to concentrate on things other than major swing adjustment. If you can consistently make good contact you will be free to put your full focus into things like putting or mental game or course management without the swing monkey hanging over your head.
I had the same thoughts, Happy Rock. It’s a liberating thing to stand over a shot and instead of worrying about how you’re going to mishit it, to be able to worry about how to conduct the chess match that a round of golf should be. This is something I had before I started this adventure and couldn’t find until now.
That doesn’t mean I won’t mishit shots here and there. In fact, during my last 9-hole round, I lost a drive way right and it plugged into a wet lateral hazard that’s normally playable. It was a bad shot and a bad break to compound the problem. But those shots seem to be the exception and not the rule now.
I shot a 42 that round with another bad break. I came up a yard short of being perfect on an approach shot (the ball was struck perfectly, but I just didn’t have enough club) and ended up in a bunker. That I can accept. But the ball teetered up on the edge of a deep, unraked footprint. I got under the ball and left it in the bunker. Very, very difficult shot, but it was just a bad break.
Even with a couple of bad breaks, I’m probably 5-8 strokes better (per 9) than I was at this time last year. This being a time when I’m just coming off winter, the course is still in winter shape, and I haven’t had time to refine my short game and putting yet. I feel a huge breakthrough coming.
I started playing golf at college and I am now 63. I have lost count of the times that I thought had my swing all figured out, only to crash out on the course next time I played. I am convinced that golf is 80% mental and 20% technique.
Man, sounds like your game is doing great! I agree with a prior comment that confidence is pretty much everything in this game. What stuck out to me the most about this post was how awkward you felt trying to square your club face up. I find it funny how weird “normal” actions feel when you have been doing them wrong for so long. My grip was messed up for the longest time, and I couldn’t get over how terrible it felt for the longest time. As a side note, the most important thing in golf for me is moving on from a bad shot. I guess you could call me a head case, but when at least I know my problem..HA!
Wish I could even hit the ball. Went to the driving range the other day and lets just say that it might be best to keep the club and balls away from me.. At least no one got killed while I was out there