club fitting

Tomorrow I head down to Tigard for a club fitting at the Nike facility. I’m a bit torn between being excited about getting fit for clubs and hesitant in that I’m not sure if my swing is quite there yet.

The reason I’m not sure about my swing is because Christopher has me doing some big changes. The main change is going to an actual full swing, turns out that what I thought was “full” was only coming back about 3/4 of the way.. Hard to always know what your body is doing. Going all the way is causing me to top the ball some and hit it fat some, a good mix of where you don’t want to be. So, for the past three days I’ve spent a lot of time on the range and by the end of today I think I started to figure out what I need to do, but it’s not exactly perfect. These things just take time.

Another change we made was to add in the 6-iron. After a week of use, I think I like it more than the 8, but when you miss you miss by that much more, so I have to learn to keep it under control.

Finally, a big cog in the change wheel was to start my forward movement with more lateral hip movement. After looking at some swing footage, it was pretty apparent that I was over-rotating and not getting my hips through during the swing which was causing some fat shots.

So, three (at least) big changes and a week to prepare. I did what I could and hopefully the guys down at Nike will be able to properly fit me accordingly. No way to know but to do it, so tomorrow morning I’ll head down there and see what they say.

I’m excited about getting some new clubs, especially wedges. My current PW and 56 degree loft wedge are pretty worn out by now, it’s been a long 9 months for those two and it might be time to retire them..

Other news: I got a plane ticket to Atlanta today to attend the PGA Championship that is being held in Duluth GA around August 12. This will be amazing. I’ve never seen professional golf in person and am very excited about getting to see how these guys swing. Hopefully I can go to the practice round on Wednesday when there’s fewer spectators so I can get a good look at their mechanics.

PS. It’s still summer time and amazing out!! (Just thought I’d throw that out there, we don’t get many of these days in Oregon)

8 Responses to "club fitting"

Sean says:

July 20, 2011 at 7:17 pm

I would get a Sharpie and sign the shafts of the PW and 56 degree loft wedge, they will be worth a ton when you are on tour to show others what it takes to achieve your dreams.
Charlie says:

July 20, 2011 at 8:37 pm

I’m glad you’re going to the PGA, but it’s a shame you can’t go a little sooner. I’ve always had more fun, and learned more, from watching all the practice rounds and hanging out at the driving range and the practice greens and bunkers. That said, in practice rounds or during the tournament I’d encourage you to spend some time following one particular group for 6-9 holes rather than trying to see as many players as you can. Again, you can learn a lot from seeing how one veteran player approaches practice and strategy, based on his game.

If you get a chance, try to watch an LPGA event sometime. For the moment, you’ll probably gain a better mental image from women than from men — their balance and rhythm tend to be better and easier to imitate at this stage of the process. .
dan says:

July 20, 2011 at 9:57 pm

Sean,

Lol, I love it! I’ll sign all the old cart-path destroyed golf balls too

Thanks for that comment, made me smile.
dan says:

July 20, 2011 at 10:02 pm

Hey Charlie!

Good to hear from you again. You’re right about the practice rounds, at least that’s what I’ve heard from my coach and others: that you learn more and have much better access during the practice rounds. I think our plan is to go out on Wednesday and follow a group or two during their practices, then perhaps go out again on Saturday for some weekend action to see what it’s like to play at that stage.

I’d love to check out an LPGA event too and will probably go to the one at Pumpkin Ridge here in Portland just after the PGA Championship..

Have a great one!
Dan
Stefan says:

July 21, 2011 at 3:45 am

Hi Dan,

here in europe we are closely watching your project too. What a fine idea!

But I’d like to suggest now getting a handicap soon. A 6-iron is more than enough for getting a handicap, especially that you are very comfortable with the short game already. A buddy of mine recently scored a 92-round with no longer club than an 8-iron.

I suppose having a handicap would allow yourself and you readers to have an additional point of view to your progress.

Best of luck
Stefan
Williamevanl says:

July 21, 2011 at 7:36 am

You should post pictures of your wedges, I’m really surprised you have burned through them so quickly.
dan says:

July 21, 2011 at 8:38 am

Hi Stefan,

Good point. Once I get to the 6-iron on the course and can hit it consistency I’ll probably start registering some rounds and will finally get a handicap so I can answer everyone’s first question… It will probably be a couple of months from now and then you need to register 20 rounds before a handicap is established, so perhaps by mid-fall there will be one.

Thanks for following and for the comment!

Dan
dan says:

July 21, 2011 at 8:41 am

Hi William,

I’ll put some up later. To be fair, there are still some grooves left on them, but they are very beat up. They are the clubs that I learned how to hit on, so the entire surface is worn down due to bad contact.. Will post some later on.

Thanks!

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