Time to up the ante

It has been two weeks since I received a new set of clubs and changed my swing at the same time, and during that span things have been far from easy or smooth as far as actual playing goes, but I am starting to get the groove back and am ready for the next chapter in The Dan Plan.

This weekend, I signed up for the 95th annual Portland City Golf Championship at East Moreland Golf Course. It’s not a super huge event by any means, but will be the first individual two-day tournament I have played in. It is also the first individual tournament I have played since the event in late April at Pumpkin Ridge, so I’m excited to get back into a competitive mode and see what happens when not only 18 holes really count, but there are 36 on the line.

East Moreland can be a tough track due to the tight fairways and winding holes and I have a game plan for the event to keep it in play as much as possible. There are a few holes where it’s good to get aggressive and try to bomb the drive, but on most of them the safe play is to be sure you aren’t in the punishing trees lining the fairways. Today, I went out and played 18 at Columbia Edgewater with a group of guys where there was a little money on the line and tried to implement this strategy. I hit a lot more fairways than normal and had plenty of looks at greens with short sticks in hand. My irons were off (still haven’t really found the feel for the new ones) and I ended up chipping on too many holes, but over the next three days I am going to try and hone in the irons and find the feel. Once I get those down a bit better I know that I can score anywhere and have a good shot at shooting low this weekend.

It is time to start registering rounds towards the handicap again, too. When I got the new clubs I decided to take two weeks off of keeping score to work on the clubs and new swing mechanics rather than falling back to my old habits. This is an important part of the plan, you shouldn’t always play for score, sometimes you need to go out and drop multiple balls at different locations and experiment with new things. I’ve been doing that and have had a couple of “ah-ha” moments and am ready to get right back in the scoring saddle.

Some people have said that it’s not “fair” of me to take some time away from playing for score and recording rounds, but as far as I am concerned it is all part of the learning process. Sometimes you have to allow yourself building periods where you shouldn’t think about anything but learning a new swing or stick. These last two weeks just happened to be a combination of those two aspects and a good chance to hunker down and work out some kinks.

I had one of those “ah-ha” moments today after my round. I was chipping around a practice green and for some time my coach has been telling me to have less wrist hinge in my takeaway. I’ve been working on that for too long, but today I realized why he wants me to do it. I am not going to get into the specifics with what was happening in the club, but out of the blue it made sense to hit the ball the way he was telling me too and at the same time the feel for the new swing dawned on me. This isn’t the first time that someone has told me what I need to do but then it has taken me months to truly understand exactly what is meant by the change. At times things click right away and at other times long periods have to pass until it is fully understood. This is the beauty of practicing regularly, you allow yourself the appropriate time to consume the thought and implement it into what you are trying to do.

There is knowledge and then there is comprehension. I see my coach for the right knowledge, but I have to put in the time to gain deep understanding/comprehension.

3,100 hours + to date. People always ask me if I think I am where I should be at this point. It’s hard to say. I am constantly learning and improving in my game, but after two years of practice am I where I should be? What do you think?

21 Responses to "Time to up the ante"

Tore says:

July 31, 2012 at 11:53 pm

Very interesting post. I’m not a golfer so I can’t keep up with advanced golf descriptions. I find it very interesting to read about your learning experiences though. That it takes both knowledge and comprehension. That you have to put in time to get deep understanding and comprehension.
I find it to be the same way when I go surfing. I’m a terrible surfer (due to the fact that I just started) but I always surf together with good ones. They act as my teachers and evaluate my attempts and tell me what I should change (positioning on the board, timing, direction, etc). They provide the knowledge but I need to actually do it (and succeed) to actually “get it” (to fully understand).
I understand that know after reading your post.

Thank you for sharing. Your blog is in my reader and I will follow you with great interest on your journey. By the time you have succeeded I will hopefully have saved enough money to do something similar
Richard says:

August 1, 2012 at 2:35 am

Hi Dan,

I would have to say you are right were you should be after 2 years.
I will say that this is the most important year since this is were most players flat line.
Trust your swing and only little changes will help you progress.

Show me low digits!!!

Richard
Don says:

August 1, 2012 at 8:57 am

Hi Dan,
Great plan. Just came across this site.
I have been playing golf since I was 15. I am now 40. The lowest I ever got to funny enough was 5.9. So I can relate to what Richard says about most players flat lining out at this stage, even if I am only a weekend golfer. I will be keeping a good eye on this blog and rooting for you. Best of luck I hope to see you winning on the PGA tour some day. No reason why you cant with all the time for practice. Just stay positive.
Don.
Richard Chen says:

August 1, 2012 at 11:31 am

Getting down to a six in two years is great, specially with only a few months of being allowed to using the driver. It appears that you have natural talent. Of course, having formal pro instruction helps. It is probably like you once said that perhaps they should had allowed you to start with the driver earlier, perhaps at the one year mark, or less. That would have same some time (and money) in my opinion. Getting to a six without being provided time to master the driver is pretty great. Once you learn to use driver proficiently, you should go sub-par fairly soon. The driver is different in the setup, and swing precision requirements. The iron shots are hit on the downswing arc of the clubhead, which needs the left shoulder (for a right-handed play,) and the hands leading the clubhead into the impact. By setting up with the left shoulder (for a right-handed player) in front of the ball during setup, the setup encourages hitting the ball on the downswing arc. The setup for the drive has the left shoulder (for a right hander player) about even with the ball. The head is tilted away a little from the ball to put more weight toward the trailing leg, as oppose to iron shots where weight favors the leading leg, specially for short irons. Once your setup is more orthodox for the driver, your mastery of the driver should come rapidly, as you appear to demonstrate a fair degree of physical coordination and skillfulness. The driver is considered at the same time the most easy, and the most difficult club. It is easy as the ball is nicely teed up, the new drivers have super-sized clubheads, and the swing is smoother than the shorter shafted irons. Being that your swing appears to be nicely inside-out already with the irons, you should not have trouble with the slice, as most average golfer struggles with for years and years with the driver slicing. Thus, once the driver setup is refined like with the left shoulder even, or even slightly behind the ball during setup, you will rapidly master the driver to reach many par-fives in two. Reaching par-fives in two often is the mark of the pro. Sarazen related in his autobiography of asking his club pro manager/employer to sponsor him to compete in the US Open. It seems in the old day, they did not used the qualifying rounds system. His pro took him out to a long par-five hole in driving rain and wind. Sarazen got on in two, and his pro employer say “kid, you are ready” as related in the book.
Jim G says:

August 1, 2012 at 11:58 am

I used to play Eastmoreland as a kid. On a trip back to Portland a few years ago I took the chance again. Beware of long and left on #10! And I couldn’t figure out the right club on #12.

Having moved to Alaska 23 years ago, I don’t get the opportunity to play much at all. But I do really enjoy following your progress Dan.

Keep it up!
Russ Garcia says:

August 1, 2012 at 12:09 pm

Dan – your project is really interesting, not so much as what a general person may be capable of but more of what you, yourself may be capable of. Not sure this would transalte across the board to all people and what they could do with 10,000 of practice. You asked for opinions about your progess thus far. In all honesty, I would have thought you would have been much further along. I myself started playing golf in my mid 30s and was a single digit (9) after two years of basically playing a few times a week during the summer/fall time. And a friend who is really good, got down to a +1 after about 3 years, although he did play A LOT of golf during that time. But again, not anywhere near the hours that you have been able to do. I think some of this has to do with innate physical ability, my friend was a star athlete in football and baseball. That counts for a lot in my opinion. I’ve also read about several PGA players that were scratch within a year or two of starting to play. Although they started as kids, not as adults. That is a very big difference. Nevertheless, keep it up and I hope you get out of this project everything you wanted.
Scott Nobley says:

August 1, 2012 at 6:26 pm

Hi, Dan

Good work, I started back at age 29 as a 10 then the next year at 5, I was stuck @ 5 for a few years. It seems to me that we big breakthroughs where we do learn how to understand what we thought we already learn. You are on the right thought processes excellent. I enjoyed working on my ball sticking with the6 iron because it is right in between the scoring irons and the long ones. It helped to get one shot perfectly grooved, helps confidence you will always have.

Good Luck.
Stefan says:

August 3, 2012 at 2:02 am

Hi Dan,

really exciting project. I’m reading your blog from time to time and I think you are quite right on track. It surely is correct that some people made even bigger progress in the same time frame, but you have to take into account that these people could use all the clubs they wanted whenever they felt ready for.

In contrast you followed a fixed agenda about how long to practice each club, I don’t think those people would have spent 5 months or so with only putting routine. But your approach makes very much sense to me because you don’t only want to become a scratch player but reach out for tour level and so the time invested for proper control especially of the short clubs may pay out some time.

Your progress since using a full set of clubs and the driver looks quite impressive to me and now I’m really excited about your further progress entering the stages where golfers are split into scratch playing amateurs and real pros.

Best of luck and keep your head up even at some of the days where nothing seems to be working.

@Richard Chen

Your last comments to Dan’s swing show that you understand a lot of golf mechanics and can explain that very descriptive. About some of them I would have hoped that my pro had told them to me. I took advantage of some of your hints and even improved my game. I’d be very pleased to read more of your detailed analysis how to proper handle the different clubs.
dan says:

August 3, 2012 at 10:01 am

Hi Tore,

Thanks for sharing, too! I tried surfing for a little while when I lived in Australia and it took a long time to learn how and when to pop up on the board, but I did manage to catch a wave just right there was nothing quite like it.

Thanks again and have a great one,
Dan
dan says:

August 3, 2012 at 10:02 am

Richard,

Thanks for that. I don’t plan on flatlining, and will shot you some low digits soon!

Cheers,

Dan
dan says:

August 3, 2012 at 10:03 am

Don,

Staying positive over here. Low handi to date is 5.9, but hope to push that lower in the coming weeks..

Dan
dan says:

August 3, 2012 at 10:07 am

Hello again Richard,

Good points to the driver setup and my progress to date without the driver. perhaps it should have been introduced earlier, perhaps not. But, here I am today and all I can do is work on it and start the mastery process. Heading to the course right now to work on the driver setup.

Cheers,

Dan
dan says:

August 3, 2012 at 10:08 am

Jim G,

Thanks for the heads up. I’ve played it a couple of times but it has been a while. Everyone says to keep it in play and that is the truth!

No golf in Alaska?

Dan
dan says:

August 3, 2012 at 10:10 am

Hello Russ,

That’s awesome that you got down to a 9 and your friend to a +1 after three years. Perhaps that’s a benchmark for me to shoot for. If I can get this driver stick down I think that there is a lot of upward potential in my near future.

Thanks for the input,

Dan
dan says:

August 3, 2012 at 10:11 am

Hi Scott,

That seems to be a common thing, to get stuck at a specific handicap. I wonder if it’s mental, mechanics, or both?

Dan
dan says:

August 3, 2012 at 10:12 am

Stefan,

Thank you for that. I agree that the payoff will come down the road when the longer sticks have become more finely tuned. I am confident in my short game and think that once I can get off the tee scores will start to come in.

Cheers,

Dan
Williamevanl says:

August 3, 2012 at 12:25 pm

As I’ve said before, a six is about where I expected you to be at 3000 hours, so no surprise there. To respond to what you said about flatlining there might be a simple explanation. At some point you are going to do a lot of things really well but not well enough, it might be something like getting all your ~80 yard wedge shots closer from various lies, (like shooting free throws or hitting triple 20s in darts) once you know exactly how to do something but can no longer increase your performance in that act you have reached the end of the road. Can you deliberate practice your way to 100% make free throw percentage, of course not, people have natural variability in every action that can not be overcome with practice(evidence would suggest).
What happens Dan when you no longer have any technical changes to make to pitch shots but they just aren’t ending up as close as you need them to?
Marissa says:

August 4, 2012 at 9:08 am

Dan,

Congratulations on your progress. I’ve been reading your blog since the very beginning. I think you’ll make it to + handicaps in the 10k hours. I think you’ve got a good shot at the Champions tour.
williamevanl says:

August 4, 2012 at 10:37 am

Even If I were to follow the premise of ‘more practice’ = ‘lower handicap’ as a 6 handicap currently at 3113 hours or 1/3 of the way through, if you believe Dan will get to a +X handicap you must also believe:

3*(current skill level ’6 handi’ )= +X handicap.

So you are saying that someone that is 3 times as skilled as a 6 handicap is a +1 or +2 (as an example). That doesn’t make any sense to me.
kyle says:

August 6, 2012 at 7:42 am

Are you guys kidding me, if any of you knew the game of golf and how much work it takes to achieve the levels you are trying to get to you would know that this whole plan is a joke and will not happen. The fact that anybody thinks it will is a slap in the face to any professional golfer. Keep playing but get a grip on reality.
August 2012 Newsletter | Athlete's Locker says:

October 22, 2012 at 1:15 pm

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