A fresh start to 2015

It has been a long time, perhaps too much time, since I last sat down to write a blog. I spent about 10 days over the Christmas holidays in both Atlanta and Hilton Head visiting with family and while I did managed to squeeze in 4.5 rounds of golf in the sunny Southeast, I decided to take a little break from writing and just enjoy the time with family.

I returned to Portland on New Years eve day and despite the freezing temperatures and frozen greens I got out there and played a round a day since being back. Riverside has been closed (18 temporary greens) so I found myself at some of the other courses around town trying to learn how to stick greens hard as ice cubes. It’s actually a ton of fun to play in these conditions as you literally have no clue how or where the ball will bounce coming into the greens. You can try to leave it short but it might either plug in the fringe or if it lands in the shade can take a crazy left or right bounce. Puts a new twist on the game of golf, as if it wasn’t hard enough already

The weather is warming up, though, and by tomorrow the rains will have thawed out the sod and the courses shall return to more normal conditions. Today I am resting as my entire family shared a rather nasty chest cold over the holidays, brought by my brother and his wonderful daughter all the way from Switzerland as an unexpected present to us all. I thought I was in the clear, but the flight back to Portland proved to be just enough time spent in airports to let it set in. So, one day off and then back at it tomorrow.

I still haven’t figured out my driver situation. I got a demo one built for my by Jari down at Birdie Finnish golf but it had an Accra extra stiff cut down shaft and I think it was too much club for my current swing, so am going to try the same one but with a stiff shaft to see how that feels. One thing I definitely know, though, is that a shorter shaft both allows me to swing more freely as well as does not slow my swing speed, which I thought it would. It’s good to know and I think a 43″ shaft will be a great fit once I find the right combo of shaft/club head. In the meantime I have been sticking with my gamer Titleist 913 and working on getting my swing a bit steeper with the driver, which helps control/minimize the left and right miss.

I actually had this realization while playing with a plus-3 golfer down in Hilton Head who is heading to Portugal to try and qualify at the European Tour Q-School. I noticed his pre -shot routine and swing were all about keeping the club a bit more upright through the swing and I realized that I had been reverting to a flatter driver swing again which for me creates a bad two-way miss. It’s amazing how in this game you can essentially “forget” to do something for a long time and then all of a sudden have an “a-ha!” moment getting you back on track. That is why taking notes is so important, and my Vision54 notebook is pretty much packed with these types of swing thoughts. Perhaps it’s time to go through that notebook and combine the useful thoughts into something I can keep with me during each round.

It’s the beginning of the year and a natural time to reflect on the past year as well as set up goals for the one to come. I typically set process goals as they are good for keeping things on track and when hit generally allow for the outcomes that may be hoped for. One outcome that I would like to hit this year is to place top 5 in a tournament. Instead of focussing on that outcome, I will choose to work on improving my driving and putting as if I can transition from 30 percent of fairways hit to at least 50 percent by improving my driving accuracy that will translate to more fairways and more greens and if I work on getting the ball started on my line and improving my 7-15 foot putts it will lead to less putts per round and lower scores. those are my main goals right now. My irons are pretty solid and not a weakness, but tee shots have continued to lag behind the rest of my game. My putting is solid, but can always get better. I plan on attending an AimPoint seminar this year to help me improve my green reading skills.

For the tee shot I think having a shorter club that I trust will help, as well as improving my swing technique vie video and FlightScope.

All good things and I am excited for the new year and new possibilities. 2015 is going to be the best golfing year yet, I know it!

If I was to honestly reflect on 2014 for a moment I would have to say that as a whole it was slightly disappointing golf-wise. I do believe that I improved in a lot of ways, but the outcomes were not what I had hoped for over the past 12 months. I did shoot under par for the first time and got my handicap down to under a 3 at one point, but my tournament golf was not where I had hoped it would be. It’s a completely different beast and the only way to really improve in pressure situations is to compete in those as much as possible. I have started to play in a regular Saturday money game and this is helping that learning curve. This year I will join a couple of different men’s clubs around town to have regular games on a few different days of the week at different courses. Also, I’ll play in more tournaments, as many as I can afford to sign up for.

In 2016 I want to play in a series of mini-tours and this year is all about amping up for that time.

Sorry again about the long delay in blog posts. This time of year, I have noticed from blogging for the past 4 years, is very slow for both posts and audience. The week around Christmas and New Years typically sees about 30 percent of the traffic as the rest of the year does. Not that that is a good excuse, but it makes for a natural short break time. Much more to come soon!

15 Responses to "A fresh start to 2015"

Kay says:

January 4, 2015 at 6:39 pm

Glad to see your new blog post again. Happy new year and wish you reach your goals for 2015!
Richard Chen says:

January 4, 2015 at 7:29 pm

Happy new year!

Maybe it is time to start using the “Accugolf Analyzer System” to perfect the Driver shot by first perfecting a consistently squared driver clubface at impact. A few days to a week of using this system should train both the body, and specially the mind to hit the ball with a squared clubface consistently. After which, the clubhead swing path can be fine tuned if necessary.

As posted recently before, a piece of masking tape can be pasted onto the driver clubface. The tape can be covered with a layer of crayon. The ball is teed up with the ball name label either on top and squared to the target line, or the ball name label is set vertical inline with the target line. When the driver clubface hits the ball, a layer of crayon is transferred onto the ball where the clubface presses against the ball. A circular ball mark of crayon is imprinted onto the ball by the impact. The position of the ball mark on the ball relative to the ball name gives whether the clubface is squared, opened, or closed during impact.

During the waggle (whether actual or imaginary) at setup, visualization can be made to imprint a ball mark squarely at the center line (longitudinal vertical line) at the back of the ball. This will instinctively work the hands and wrists during the waggle to square the clubface at the back of the ball by the rotation of the hands and wrist, and not by the path of the clubhead.

It should be noted that the position of the ball mark is (essentially) dictated by the clubface angle, and not by the clubhead swing path (other than the twisting of the clubhead due to off center hits, which can be detected by the crayon mark on the masking tape on the clubface.)

A diagram on the “thesandtrap dot com/t/65995/alternatives-to-impact-tape/18″ shows how the position of the ball mark on the golf ball is dictated by the clubface angle, and not by the clubhead swing path. This means that clubhead swing path changes should not be used to correct a clubface angle deviation. Using clubhead swing path changes to correct any clubface angle deviations will cause frustrations, and a lot of weird problems, because the geometric mathematics of this approach or changing swing path to correct an off clubface angle is unsound mathematically.

This system of imprinting a ball mark onto the ball gives the highest visualization of the impact of the clubface against the ball without using an ultra slow motion camera (or two such cameras for 3D visualization.) The ball mark on the ball provides significant information similar to foot prints on the ground provides an expert Indian scout significant information.

For example, the size of the ball mark shows how hard the ball has been hit. The harder the ball is hit by the Driver, the larger will be the ball mark imprinted onto the ball. The ball is compressed more by the Driver clubface when the ball is hit harder, and thus leaving a larger ball mark onto the ball.

In a “late hit” with the hands way “in front” of the ball at impact like for iron shots, the clubface will tend to be “left” opened at impact with the center of the ball mark on the ball to be inside of the vertical center line.

Scooping and swing up will tend to leave the ball mark on the ball too low on the ball. When the hands, wrists, and forearms do not turn toward the target during the release, the clubface will be left opened with extra dynamic loft, resulting in the ball mark on the ball being too low and not high enough.

Like footprints can provide an experience scout a wealth of information, the ball mark on the ball can provide a lot of key information of the clubface and ball impact. To provide even more 3D-visualization information the Accu-Golf Swing Analyzer template can be used in addition to just using the ball mark.

As mentioned in the “thesandtrap” posting mentioned above, common sense can be misleading like “someone was trying to argue that the path changed where the ball was struck” when it is the clubface angle is the factor. Such faulty common sense can result in unnecessary swing changes to change the swing path to correct the clubface angle. Faulty common sense can also result in hitting the Driver like an iron with overly late hits with the hands way in front of the ball at impact, as had happened even to major champions.

Gaining the knowledge and the visualization of ball marks on the ball (besides the ball mark made on the clubface) is like gaining the footprint reading skills of an expert scout. In addition, the visualization of making a large ball mark into the back center of the ball during the setup and the swing promotes hitting these great long and true drives.

With this skill, it becomes easier to hit the ball squarely whether using an upright or a flat swing. During a course of play, uphill lies need flat swings, and downhill lies need more upright swings. A skilled player will produce good hits during the round switching from flat to upright swings to handle these uphill and downhill lies.

Nicklaus during his prime had a very upright swing. In the backswing, his rear hand, arm, and elbow raised up higher than average in the so called “flying” elbow. It is like raising the hand, arm and elbow way up to attract the attention of the teacher in a class room. It is like in a prize drawing, and the winner raises the hand, and arm way up to signal the winning number held in the hand. Nicklaus raised the leading heel way up during the upright backswing. An upright backswing, specially for a tall player, make squaring the clubface at impact easier; however, a flatter swing can be effective in squaring the clubface like in the hands of Hogan during the second part of his career. Hogan changed from an upright swing to a flatter swing. It is uncertain whether this was due to the severe injury in a car crash in the middle of his career. Hogan did advocated supernation as a means to better squaring the clubface.
Pete says:

January 4, 2015 at 10:29 pm

Happy new year, mate. Good to see you back at it. I am too after a bit of a layoff due to a chest infection lot of it about over here in Europe . Let me know if you want to take me up on the offer I made before. I tee’d it up but if you’ve changed your mind will switch that off again.
Best of luck into 2015. Keep in touch.
Pete says:

January 5, 2015 at 2:00 am

Richard, I’d love to have a long chat with you offline about a lot of your posts – they are extremely technical (which can be a good thing – I use a lot of tech to help me improve) but don’t you think sometimes it can go too far? An example:

While I’m sure you’re spot on with what you say about what kind of a mark will be left on a ball if you hit it in a given way, leaving aside the fact that you have to go and pick up said ball to assess the mark which can be a snag at times, I think there’s one fatal flaw in the process you’ve described. Namely the time between hitting a balland ‘feeling’ how you hit it……… and then assessing how you actually struck the ball by walking down the range and looking at the mark on the ball. Far more would be achieved by simply learning the ball flight laws properly so you can assess how you are striking the ball by imediately seeing the resultant ball flight. If you (not you I’m sure, I mean “if one”) do not understand the ball flight laws go learn them, if you find them tough to understand get some help with them.

Instant feedback is important when you want to ‘feel’ a change and you won’t get it if you have 5 minutes between striking a ball and getting ‘feedback’ on how your club face was when you struck it. It’s an ingenious way of assessing what your club face was like but in reality it’ll help far less than learning how to read the ball flight.

I start most sessions with a little routine where, after warming up, I hit a draw, a straight(well, straightish ) shot then a fade….. a draw, a straight shot then a fade – I do that a few times. I punch a few low then hit a few high. Basically I play with the ball flight for a bit. I get instant feedback on what I’m doing and that allows me to have far more control over my club face. I honestly think you’d gain more from this than by any method where there’s a long gap between swing and assessment of club face etc.
Pete says:

January 5, 2015 at 4:47 am

Last comment, honest. Richard Chen, been trying to work out who you are Did you play on the Golf Channel Amateur Tour a few years ago – say 2011 or 2012? Just trying to work out what your background is as you seem to have a wealth of technical info to share. Is it based on personal experience, coaching you give, read in books……. in some ways it doesn’t matter much but I’m just curious where you’ve come across it all and whether you’ve actually done it yourself and found benefit etc.
Richard Chen says:

January 5, 2015 at 5:32 am

Pete,

I think it is better to discuss these not off-line, as the information involved can be beneficial to Dan and others, if they choice to get involved with the technical and scientific aspects of golf, which can offer extra edges for those who can understand them. Remember that Bobby Jones had a formal Mechanical Engineering degree. He wrote an article on “It is All Decided at Impact” in which he said that he had seen touring pro’s attempt shots, which are scientifically impossible. He thus imply that with his technical and scientific knowledge of ball impact, he will not fall victim to trying the wrong and even impossible way of hitting the golf ball. Jones was not physically domineering even in his days at 5’9″ but his play was domineering in his prime years winning opens at a high percentage rate as an amateur. Perhaps his technical and scientific knowledge gave him an extra edge?

In golf, specially competitive golf, there can be long periods of waiting between shots, as players may take long times lining up shots, and specially lining up putts. It is not like on the practice area, where shots are beat out one after the other in a rapid stream without much waiting between shots. It is a skill to be able to perform effectively with large waiting gaps in between. Most experienced golfers can automatically operate effectively with a lot of time gaps in between shot activities. Time gap between the shot, and the reading of the ball mark may be inconvenient, and even a flaw, but it is not a “fatal flaw” in my opinion. The knowledge gained may out weight the inconvenience. Plus, the main advantage is to learn how the ball is actually impacted by the clubface for pennies, without using very expensive ultra slow motion cameras. This learning of ball/clubface impact can be seen, and learned using the Accu Golf Analyzer can be done in relatively short session(s) of use, so that a visualization skill in three-dimensions of impacting and imprinting with a squared driver clubface can be developed in the brain to “stamp” the ball with a squared clubface at impact. Because, as said in the “thesandtrap dot com” website, that some people had the misconception of having the clubhead swing path controlling the contact point on the ball, which is not possible (sort of like Jones wrote that he had seen golfers try the impossible,) it is important for people with these impossible misconceptions to fully see how the ball and clubface interacts in actuality rather than in some faulty common sense misconception.

Ball flight laws can be complicated to apply. For example, a fade can be the result of a combination of slightly open clubface at impact, a slightly outside-to-in clubhead swing path, and the “gear effect” and clubhead twisting of hitting the ball off the sweet spot of the clubface. And, there may be wind effects. And, there may be funny bounces from uneven ground. So, observing flight trajectory, and the direction of roll after landing can be complicated, and even misleading without using analyzers to measure, and to break out each of the many factors that can contribute to the fade.

From reading this blog, it appears that radar and optical analyzers are great at precisely measuring many factors of the swing, but they do not “teach” how to correct deviations measured. The ball impact mark analyzer offers “teaching” of how to better square the clubface at impact during the release, as it offers a visualization of “stamping” out the ball mark, and on how to compress the ball with a squared clubface.

For example, the ball mark system shows that lining up the hands with the back of the ball at Driver impact is the best way to get a squared clubface impact on the ball. Having the hands either too far in front of the ball, or too far in back of the ball at impact complicates getting the clubface squared at impact. This can be seen during the setup and the waggle of trying to stamp a squared ball mark on the ball with the hands either too far in front of the ball, or the hands too far in back of the ball.

The ball marks (on the ball, and on the clubface) shows the actual interaction between the ball, and the clubface during impact. This is as real as they come of impact. Having a detail knowledge and understanding of this actual reality can be useful in producing long and straight drives. Having this extra knowledge and understanding can only help, and may even help greatly in developing the release action of the hands and arms and the body during the release to square the clubface.
Pete says:

January 5, 2015 at 8:27 am

Richard, I’m happy to discuss ‘online’ if you’d prefer

What I’m really getting at here is the tendency in some quaters to reduce golf (which is a sport IMO) to a science experiment or maths equation. It’s one thing to be able to cite the precise science behind a given shot, and that can be helpful, but it’s something altogether different to be able to feel what that shot is like to execute which is far more useful.

Take the point we are talking about here – knowing the spot on the ball you have hit. Yes, it’s handy and the method you have described would tell you that. But it’s disregarding the central fact that a human being is involved and the way we learn best is by ‘feel’ and ‘result’ …….backed up by knowledge. It is far more useful to hit a ball, feel how that felt, see the resultant ball flight and be able to mentally link the result with the feel than it is to try to hit the ball in a given spot….. IMO

Here’s an example: I’m very lucky and have my own swing studio with a GC2A and full sim type setup. I can run the GC2A through a laptop and project the image of the shot on the screen if I want or if I’m short on time I can just blutooth the GC2A data to an ipad sat next to me and hit the ball into a blank screen. When I am working on shot shape I never use the ipad, I always project the image in 3D infront of me as if I’m on a range. Why? Because if I have the image in 2D next to me I may know what the shot shape was a second or so after taking the shot but I don’t get the same feedback as when I project it in front of me in real time and in 3D – I don’t get the same ‘feel’ for the shot and when you want to progress quickly at this game you need to build up your feel.

As an aside I think the likes of Sean Foley are partially ‘to blame’ (if that’s the right term) for the way of thinking that results in golf being thought almost entirely in terms of ‘science’ rather than ‘sport’ and his lack of success with Tiger (a pure talent) is an example of why it doesn’t work. See Tiger interviewed some years ago and he’d say things like “I just see the shot” or you’d see him go after some miracle shot round a tree, over water to a tight pin….. and pull it off. Now since working with a scientist he’s saying things like he’s working on some new technical move etc. I just think it’s a perfect example of when science gets in the way of talent.

Me, I’m pretty new to golf. An injury meant I had to give up Rugby so I have a slightly different perspective to some at the moment. Regardless of me saying that golf shouldn’t be treated as a science my coach is forever telling me not to be so technical, go with my feel more, as I’m always asking him why this or that happens. He’s the head pro at our National Academy and his best student are off about plus 6 USGA handicap equivalent. I got my initial handicap at 5.5 (roughly 3.5 USGA handicap equivalent) and shot par in my first competition to drop it to 5.1 within a couple of weeks. I truly think golf is a skill and trying to learn it by the numbers is a mistake. Some knowledge of ball flight laws etc is a good thing but the most important thing is to treat golf as a sport and a skill, not a science experiment.

This is of course just my opinion.

I asked if the Richard Chen who played in the Golf Channel Amateur Tour was you, was it? If it was that must have been fun – nothing really like that over here
Richard Chen says:

January 5, 2015 at 11:18 am

Pete,

No, I am not the person of the same name you mentioned.

You appear to be a very strong and athletic person being you played Rugby, which is similar to American football here in the US, although it seems rougher than American football as seen on television, so that you have a lot of natural athletic abilities of strength, agility, and coordination. I don’t know whether you are a six footer, but may probably be over six feet tall. Plus, you have this very advanced golf simulator/analyzer set up available for use everyday to practice, and to analyze the swing, and ball striking. The need for additional golf science is probably minimal to none in view of your natural abilities, and the advanced golf simulator/analyzer setup you have, unless you have some issues which cannot be overcome by your ample natural abilities. Maybe in long and medium length putting, chipping, pitching, or getting on par fives in two?

There is a misunderstanding of how science is done. A lot of scientific investigations are basic, which are done to explore some often small aspect of phenomenon. Formulas can be theoretically explored. Measurement data can be gathered. These may or may not have immediate practical use. Only in the applied science branch is practical use even considered, and even in the applied science branch many investigations are not immediately of practical use. For example in the applied science and engineering of artificial intelligence, which has been studied for decades, there are only limited practical results emerging now like ATM machines being able to read the amounts on checks being deposited via the ATM machines. There may be many formulas pertaining to golf that are still in the developmental stages, and they are not robust enough as yet like the example you mentioned about the formula on when to hit an approach shot directly at the pin. I guess a robust finished version of such a formula would be able to take a photo of the approach to the green with a smart phone, and the computer program will analyze the pin position, the positions of the sand traps guarding the green, the severity of the traps, the depth of the green at the pin position, the slope there, the hardness of the green there based on database information, wind as determined by the movements of leaves on surrounding trees, how the golfer is doing with that length of the shot, etc. etc. The person who wrote the formula is probably not aiming for such a robust finished computer product implementing his formula for actual practical use, so that taking the formula alone is not a fair evaluation of the worth of the formula. When Newton came up with the formula of F=ma, he did not put man on the moon in his life time, nor for centuries afterwards. During those centuries, it did not mean that the formula is worthless for space travel. It just means that much more other developments are needed to enable the space travel.

I would guess the brain of Bobby Jones was filled with a lot of Newton’s physics laws of motion, and their formulas, as he had a degree in Mechanical Engineering, so that his view of golf is from a person who had done a lot of studies and lab work using physics formulas. How much of that training in physics rubbed off into his golfing he did not say, but some probably had. He probably also had the ability due to his education in engineering to evaluate the worth of any formulas as to the extent of applicability to golfing. It is like the untrained person cannot appraise the value of one diamond from another diamond based on the three c’s.

Most people don’t take the current science of golf too seriously, if they even know there is such a thing. They play by “feel” like you say. But, there are feel, and there are feel. There are many feels. Perhaps there are hundreds to thousands of different feels that are possible in golf. What feel works in one person may not work in another with different build. For example, Hogan and Amour wrote to feel hitting hard with the right hand during the release, while Nicklaus wrote he feels nothing with the hands during the downswing. The feel of how much to roll the hands and arms toward the target during the release varies between different instructional literature. If the objective of imprinting the ball mark properly on the ball with is clubface is known, than the amount of the feel of rolling can be calculated.
Pete says:

January 5, 2015 at 12:04 pm

You’re right, I am very lucky in the setup I’ve managed to give myself, luckier yet to have found a coach like the one I have and to be able now to be practicing golf full time which I’ve just started doing. Regarding playing other sports I was what’s termed an open side flanker in Rugby – closest American Football equivalent is a Tight End as you’re a forward (in the pack) but have to be a bit more mobile than some other forwards and at 6’1” I was considered a bit small when playing the potition at uni and afterwards – basically good call on your part. I also used to throw discus and javlin competitively in my youth which kind of helps with the drive. I think you’re right and all of this helps.

I think where we differ (and hopefully it’s a friendly disagreement ) is demonstrated in the last thing you wrote – “then the amount of feel of rolling can be calculated.” You see, I don’t calculate it, I just hit the ball. In fact I was asked by a pro I was playing with the other day what I did with my hands on the downswing. My answer was, as far as I’m concerned, absolutely nothing – I set the club and simply rotate through the ball, my hands and arms take care of themselves. If I want to draw it I just sort of think draw, visualise a draw and hit it, if I want to fade it I visualise a fade, think fade and fade it. I’ve hit so many of each that one feels utterly different to the other. The one thing I never do is try to calculate it, it’s all simply feel. I guess it’s sort of more like if you were to walk round the course throwing the ball to different spot, you wouldn’t think about *how* to throw it to a given spot you’d just throw it there. Hours of hitting balls one way then the other gives you that feel.

Like I said before, I agree that there’s a place for science in golf, of course there is. And to be honest I get bogged down in it a bit too much for my own good sometimes – I have tested a swing analyser for one company over in the States who got the numbers wrong on initial release – I pointed their error out to them, and have recently been interviewed by a launch monitor company about the use of simulators in training given my pretty rapid progress and a background in using simulators for training in a different field. But I think tech and science need to be used in conjunction with skill based training and not in any way as a substitute for it.

At the end of the day the important thing is that the person holding the club has the skill to execute the shot. The science is all well and good, I just think it should be kept in perspective
Dan says:

January 5, 2015 at 6:16 pm

I enjoyed reading your post Dan! Especially about your having fun playing in the freezing conditions. I played yesterday with my son and some friends in Los Angeles in very cold conditions but I am sure it was not nearly as cold as where you are. I got handwarmers in the pro shop and put them in my pockets, and stuck my hands in there from time to time to warm them. I was glad when the sun finally warmed me up! You are young now and able to handle the colder temperatures. Years from now, you will look back and be glad that you did this while you were able.
Theguru says:

January 6, 2015 at 2:53 am

Hi Dan,
I’ve noticed your 18 hole rounds only count 2 hours or so towards the 10000 hour countdown.
You will face 5 hour rounds when you hit elite amateur/semi-pro rounds. How are you preparing for those?
Brian Kuehn says:

January 7, 2015 at 5:15 pm

Nice that you were able to take a break. If you decide to take another extended break from posting, perhaps an annoucement like, “I will not be posting for the next 30 days, see you in a month”, might make sense. It is a bit disappointing to occasionally check and see nothing new posted.

As to your participation in “money games”, that is not really going to get you prepared for tournament golf. Teeing it up with 3 complete strangers out of a field of 120 players and counting every stroke for 3-4 days is proper preparation. Get your driver fixed and play a lot of tournaments in 2015. Success on the course will get you the attention you need, not interviews in Swedish newspapers or Australian TV shows. Make the match play at the USGA Mid-Am or a run at the Oregon Amateur Championship.
Vincent Rosenbalm says:

January 12, 2015 at 8:19 am

Good luck on new year 2015 and know your about ready to get some competitive golf. If you get down to Scottsdale/Phoenix area big skins games going on all the time and make sure to check out the foresight system at Boccieri golf. Played a decent course with nice greens at Indio recently called Shadow Hills, love the greens. The real test is taking the game to competition from the range and getting into the mix and finding a way to make that last putt or two to win or compete. In any golf competition amateur or professional it almost always comes down to closing the last couple holes, and making that putt you need to make. Did you see Damian Lillard close the Lakers last night, best 4th quarter closer in the NBA, take note of him of late, Go Blazers. Have a great year, tough weather to golf in Oregon right now, but will get better a couple months from now. Keep moving forward, and keep the faith.
Schuyler says:

January 12, 2015 at 8:38 am

I am a 11.6 index…for now.

Hi Dan, the ups and the downs…I’m figuring out that this is what golf is. Early 2014 I hit a new low index of 10.7! Then BLEW UP To a 14.7! Ouch.

I learned I needed a lesson. When I fell out my swing was off and I couldn’t figure it out alone.

Have u had a lesson recently? If not, schedule one stat!!!

I have found that lessons are required to dig out of a rut. They have also helped me get back on track pretty quick.

I shot a 76 a month ago, then a bunch in the mid 80′s and on Sarurday I shot a new low of 75 in a tourney w 108 guys. A net 62! (My new name is “sand bagger piece of shit) which I accep w pride!

What I have been doing is not stressing off the tee. Teeing off relaxed, not trying to squeeze every inch out of it. Same w the approach shots. Playing the conservative shot and then taking the shot w confidence.

Then I get really serious (reading the chip and putt) w my chip shots and putting. Getting up and down has been the secret sauce.

I haven’t gotten excited w a good shot nor w a bad one. Just letting it happen. My best rounds are always quiet, peaceful with a bit of belief that the ball is going towards my target. Which to me is very fulfilling.

I think we all need to work back to our happy place. This is where the magic can happen!

Peace Dan!
bill patterson says:

January 12, 2015 at 1:25 pm

Gary Player once said: Truly great golf is played with no mechanical thoughts. Good golf is played
with one mechanical thought and poor golf is played with a variety of mechanical thoughts.

Nick Faldo recently said: See the target, visualize the shot and react.

I like to think that good golf is played pretty stupid!! And often times the smarter you get and the
more technical you are, the more difficult it is to execute good shot making on the course and
especially in tournament situations. Visualization without mechanics can be a powerful tool.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply