Columbia Edgewater back 9 walking tour

It’s time to go on a little stroll with me again. This time we cover the back 9 of Columbia Edgewater in a hole by hole-swing by swing tour of this amazing golf course. Besides getting a nice glimpse of a great course, these videos are also a good way to demonstrate a bit of how I am currently playing and where my strengths and weaknesses lie. On any given day, some aspects of the game can be better or worse, but watching for a full 9 provides a better view into the state of my game.

Without further ado, please check it out and see for yourself:

I am actively working on my full swing and have a lot of news and a big blog coming up later this week. Stay tuned!

This post is brought to you by the wonderful Columbia Edgewater Country Club, who’s facilities are the best in the Portland, OR area.

28 Responses to "Columbia Edgewater back 9 walking tour"

Jay says:

May 12, 2013 at 9:11 pm

Dan,

Thanks for the video great as always. I’m not sure if you’re aware of this but the rss feed for the blog hasn’t updated since Apr. 5th.
Brian Kuehn says:

May 13, 2013 at 6:50 am

I enjoyed the video. Thanks. It would be interesting to me, when you do this again, if you would explain your strategy for each hole. Such as: “I what to hit a slight fade off the tee so I am aiming at that large tree. A fade will allow me to take advantage of the fairway slope and there are fewer trees on the left” or “I want to draw the tee shot so I am aiming at the right edge of the fairway bunker. A draw will hopefully get a kick off the hill and run down the middle of the fairway. The bunker is pretty flat with no lip so if I get into it, hitting out shouldn’t be a problem” or “I am hitting this right to avoid the water left; the rough is not too bad over there so a miss right is okay.
Brian Kuehn says:

May 13, 2013 at 6:50 am

I enjoyed the video. Thanks. It would be interesting to me, when you do this again, if you would explain your strategy for each hole. Such as: “I what to hit a slight fade off the tee so I am aiming at that large tree. A fade will allow me to take advantage of the fairway slope and there are fewer trees on the left” or “I want to draw the tee shot so I am aiming at the right edge of the fairway bunker. A draw will hopefully get a kick off the hill and run down the middle of the fairway. The bunker is pretty flat with no lip so if I get into it, hitting out shouldn’t be a problem” or “I am hitting this right to avoid the water left; the rough is not too bad over there so a miss right is okay.
Brian Kuehn says:

May 13, 2013 at 6:50 am

I enjoyed the video. Thanks. It would be interesting to me, when you do this again, if you would explain your strategy for each hole. Such as: “I what to hit a slight fade off the tee so I am aiming at that large tree. A fade will allow me to take advantage of the fairway slope and there are fewer trees on the left” or “I want to draw the tee shot so I am aiming at the right edge of the fairway bunker. A draw will hopefully get a kick off the hill and run down the middle of the fairway. The bunker is pretty flat with no lip so if I get into it, hitting out shouldn’t be a problem” or “I am hitting this right to avoid the water left; the rough is not too bad over there so a miss right is okay.
Brian Kuehn says:

May 13, 2013 at 6:50 am

I enjoyed the video. Thanks. It would be interesting to me, when you do this again, if you would explain your strategy for each hole. Such as: “I what to hit a slight fade off the tee so I am aiming at that large tree. A fade will allow me to take advantage of the fairway slope and there are fewer trees on the left” or “I want to draw the tee shot so I am aiming at the right edge of the fairway bunker. A draw will hopefully get a kick off the hill and run down the middle of the fairway. The bunker is pretty flat with no lip so if I get into it, hitting out shouldn’t be a problem” or “I am hitting this right to avoid the water left; the rough is not too bad over there so a miss right is okay.
Richard Chen says:

May 13, 2013 at 7:33 am

During setups for the Driver, it may be profitable to experiment with standing closer to the ball bit by bit.

Ken Venturi in his book “The Venturi Analysis” said to stand reasonably close to the ball in addressing the ball during setup. He said that Byron Nelson often said that one can’t stand too close to the ball. Of course, both were fairly tall players, so that it is natural for them to stand fairly close to the ball with more upright swings, but it can be observed that even the shorter touring pros do not stand too far from the ball. For example, the top of the driver clubhandle is slightly under the inside the chin for most pros during setup rather than further out away from the body.

In one of the driver swings in the video, the body fell a little forward toward the target line after the swing, which may imply that the stance was too far from the ball resulting in too much weight being place on the toes during setup, and through the swing.

In the video during setups, there is a quirky routine of pumping the arms and hands in and out towards the body and then out from the body during setup. The pumping in and out routine ends with the arms and hands pumped to the farthest out away from the body position in a reaching out position, that results in standing further away from the ball during setup. The Venturi and Nelson way by contrast would have the arms and hands taking the pumped to the most inward and close to the body position of the arms and hands, resulting in standing close to the ball during setup.

The experiment may be started by pumping the arms and hands a quarter to half way back toward the body after pumping to the farthest point away from the body during the setup arm pumping routine. This will move the stance just a little closer to the ball in a bit by bit fashion. A very experienced golfer should be able to instantly handed changes of standing any distance from the ball during setup, and still hit good shots, although there is an ideal stance distance to produce the maximum consistency and distance. Remember, the physics law of the conservation of angular momentum does come into play on swing rotational speed depending on whether the arms are close or far away from the body as a result of standing far or close to the ball.

Standing closer to the ball promotes the arms to be more vertical rather than reaching and slanting out. The “v” angle between the arms and the club shaft is increased. The arm swing will automatically be a little more upright. The clubhead will swing not overly inside-out. The leading upper arm is more connected to the chest. There is less tendency to roll the arms during the backswing.
Robert Johansson says:

May 13, 2013 at 7:59 am

Nice course.
Not enough space and spineangle in the down swing other wise it looks good.
Dan says:

May 13, 2013 at 11:56 am

Looks like a nice track.

I won’t offer any swing tips (beware internet commenters pontificating on your swing). But I’ll offer an observation that may be of interest and a related question: your pre-shot routine strikes me as very unorthodox. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone just take a slow-motion backswing, stopping roughly at contact. Is there some thought behind why you do that?

Now, the advice part, which you should feel free to ignore: I would think that one near-regular-speed swing would be much more valuable. And, even if you’re going slow-mo for a reason (like, you think it cements in your mind what you want to do), I would think following through to finish is important. This is especially true on shorter, half-swing shots, like chips.
Lawrence Bredenkamp says:

May 13, 2013 at 2:18 pm

Not quite sure what happened on the last hole. At first it looked like you were on in regulation but then you said you made a bogey. So your third was a long way from the hole – it seems.
The other 3 drop shots were all as a result of chips that ran past the hole – a long way past, resulting in 2 putts and bogeys. The other chip you had also went a long way past the hole but you nailed the putt.
So chipping them close needs to be worked on!
I also noticed that on your full shots you are not turning completely on the follow through. This can be seen by watching your left heel. It is coming up to way below vertical. That heel should be 90* to the ground on a full follow through. Check out the pros (of which you are soon to be one) to see their back heel at the top of the follow through.
Great video though and it must have been disrupting to have to set up the camera all the time. This would have impacted on your game and thoughts.
davidshiking says:

May 13, 2013 at 3:10 pm

Nice video dude, the course looks like its in great shape. Probably going to have to join CECC

Putting alignment looks dead on, keep it in the short grass my friend. When you need a break come hike Pennsylvania and New York with me, or any section at all.
theguru says:

May 13, 2013 at 4:32 pm

Hi Dan,

Just a question in regards to the “10000 countdown” section of the blog.

How did you manage to play 18 holes on May 10 in 2 hours?
thedanplan says:

May 14, 2013 at 8:41 am

Hi Jay,
Thanks for pointing that out. That is when I switched the URL of the blog over to the home page from a /blog page. I updated the feed, but can’t figure out how to retroactively apply the update to people who have signed up in the past. If you know how to do that please let me know.

Thanks!
Dan
thedanplan says:

May 14, 2013 at 8:41 am

Hi Jay,
Thanks for pointing that out. That is when I switched the URL of the blog over to the home page from a /blog page. I updated the feed, but can’t figure out how to retroactively apply the update to people who have signed up in the past. If you know how to do that please let me know.

Thanks!
Dan
thedanplan says:

May 14, 2013 at 8:41 am

Hi Jay,
Thanks for pointing that out. That is when I switched the URL of the blog over to the home page from a /blog page. I updated the feed, but can’t figure out how to retroactively apply the update to people who have signed up in the past. If you know how to do that please let me know.

Thanks!
Dan
thedanplan says:

May 14, 2013 at 8:41 am

Hi Jay,
Thanks for pointing that out. That is when I switched the URL of the blog over to the home page from a /blog page. I updated the feed, but can’t figure out how to retroactively apply the update to people who have signed up in the past. If you know how to do that please let me know.

Thanks!
Dan
thedanplan says:

May 14, 2013 at 9:06 am

Thanks for watching from the woods! Love your journey and it would be amazing to tag along for a state or two. When will you be in Penn? Come back soon!
Jari says:

May 14, 2013 at 10:46 am

14 over 9 holes is not too bad, Dan! You know the rule 17-3, right? Just kidding.
thedanplan says:

May 14, 2013 at 1:06 pm

Haha, yep. I knew someone would point that out just left them in so you could see the holes in the video. Thanks for noticing!
thedanplan says:

May 14, 2013 at 1:06 pm

Haha, yep. I knew someone would point that out just left them in so you could see the holes in the video. Thanks for noticing!
tony says:

May 14, 2013 at 4:39 pm

Well done. Really enjoyed watching it. Keep on grinding!
Shovo Shake says:

May 15, 2013 at 2:02 am

I
would like to give you the opportunity to receive offers and discounted lessons
via email. Its so simple and FREE, all you have to do is go to my contact page
and sign up for the newsletter and you will start receiving offers
straight away. Do it now whilst its on your mind.

Stuart has 20 years coaching experience and uses every last part of that
experience in making sure that he delivers a good and beneficial lesson to you
each and every time. Seeing the improvement in your game is what drives
him on into researching new techniques and ideas to help aid your game even
more.

Go To:>> http://stuartsmithgolfacademy.com/
Shovo Shake says:

May 15, 2013 at 2:02 am

I
would like to give you the opportunity to receive offers and discounted lessons
via email. Its so simple and FREE, all you have to do is go to my contact page
and sign up for the newsletter and you will start receiving offers
straight away. Do it now whilst its on your mind.

Stuart has 20 years coaching experience and uses every last part of that
experience in making sure that he delivers a good and beneficial lesson to you
each and every time. Seeing the improvement in your game is what drives
him on into researching new techniques and ideas to help aid your game even
more.

Go To:>> http://stuartsmithgolfacademy.com/
Richard Chen says:

May 15, 2013 at 10:21 am

Golf is a game of opposites to common sense like hitting down to make the ball fly up, and swing the clubhead to the right to draw the ball to the left.

Another one these golf opposites is to setup with the arms and hands closer into the body to speed up the down swing. While sticking the arms and hand out to get a bigger arc tends to slowdown the down swing. This is according to the physics law of the conservation of angular momentum, that says a bigger radius of a rotating body creates more inertia that reduces the speed of rotation.

Figure skaters pull their arms and hands into the body to speed up the spin, while they extend out their arms and hands out from the body to slow down, and to stop their spins.

None skaters can make turns using their feet with the arms extend fully out horizontally, and then pull the arms into the body rapidly. The body will feel like it turns faster as the arms are rapidly pulled into the body. To increase the feel of this automatic speeding up of turning speed, the hands can hold some additional weight like holding a golf club around the middle of the shaft in each of the extended hand at the start of the turning. When the arms and hands holding the extra weight of the clubs are rapidly pulled into the body during the turn, the felling of the turning speed being speed up automatically is enhanced. (This should NOT be done by people with ear balancing problems, nor by people with dizzying problems.)

Thus, arms out means slowing down, and arms in means speeding up. It is like pushing out with the arms and hands to press on the brake (which figure skaters actually do,) and pulling in with the arms and hands to release braking.

Furak and Rory driver setups have the arms and hands very close to the body. According to the law of the conservation of angular momentum, this will automatically add speed to their downswings. Hogan in his book of five fundamentals mentions having the arms close to the body during setup. These are examples of both tall, and shorter top golfers having their arms and hands closer in to their bodies during setup.
thedanplan says:

May 15, 2013 at 8:43 pm

Great thought. I’ll do that next time. It’s good to vocalize intent and would help me in my swing thoughts.
Cheers,
Dan
davidshiking says:

May 16, 2013 at 8:32 am

Will be in Penn sometime in early July. Have to go through 550 miles of Virginia before getting there!
Richard Hayes says:

May 17, 2013 at 8:52 pm

Get out early enough and anything is possible. I played 18 one morning in about an hour and a half and even had a group play through!!!
Richard Hayes says:

May 17, 2013 at 8:56 pm

Kinda seems like his own version of a waggle. I’ve done similar practice swings on occasion. It’s just to help visualize the shot and get the motion in your head before addressing the ball. I did notice a bunch of small adjustments on some of your shots – especially with the big sticks. Seems like you have a lot going through your head when setting up…?
Richard Hayes says:

May 17, 2013 at 9:02 pm

Dan,
I know a lot of people have commented and asked about the physical aspect of your game and your equipment, but how do you prepare mentally? Any words of wisdom or reading recommendations? Just curious because after watching your video I feel like I’m not far off (physically) from being where you’re at with your game. 80-90% of my mishaps on the course occur because of negative thoughts or lack of focus on the positive ones.

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