Why I write this

5/20/2014
I'm writing this in hopes of improving my golf game.  That may sound strange but I think if I force myself to write about what I'm doing wrong, what I'm doing right and what I need to work on, it will help me focus on the aspects of my game that need improvement.  For example, this weekend I play in a GC Am Major in Kohler, Wisconsin.  I shot a 105 the first day and 110 the second.  I haven't had rounds that bad in years.  But what was more frustrating than the scores, was that I knew exactly what I was doing wrong, yet I couldn't correct it on most of my shots.

A golf school I went to a few years ago, Vision 54, focused on the mental part of the golf game and lord knows that's my weak link.  One of their recommendations is to write about each round and do so in a very specific format, which is what I plan to do here.  Of course, I've started to write about my rounds off and on maybe 10 times and I never get past round three before I lose interest, or more likely just too lazy to keep it up.  One of my excuses for not continuing to write was that I had to use a specific computer which wasn't always convenient.  Thus this blog, which can be accessed from any computer, tablet or smartphone.  It eliminates that excuse.  Can't wait to see what I come up with now for a reason to stop writing.

So here is the Vision 54 format:
First, write what was Good about the round
Second, write about what could have been Better
Third, write about what I need to do to Improve

Following this format gives some structure and continuity to each round's analysis and it puts a positive spin on each category.  Since I just finished the two day Kohler major and both rounds were similar, I'll combine the two rounds for my first assessment.

But before I start I have to note that I recently starting taking lessons from Golftec at the Castleton Golfsmith store.  I have had a number of lessons over the years by different instructors and attended a few golf schools.  I even had a few lessons from Golftec a few years ago.  Plus I've tried different techniques on my own like Stack and Tilt, Square-to-Square and Hit Down Dammit!  What brought me back to Golftec was a conversation I had with a lady at the GC Am Senior (50+) National's last year while waiting for my tee time.  Her husband was also playing in the Nationals in the Senior Palmer flight.  That flight is for those with single digit handicaps.  So I ask her if he played in college and she said no he just started five years ago at age 50.  Wow, five years and he's already a single digit handicap player!  The obvious question was how did he get so good so quick.  She said when he decided to take up golf he started with lessons from Golftec in their home town (can't remember where that was) and he took one lesson a week for two years.  So now I'm back at Golftec.  I signed up for 10 lessons (not cheap) and my instructor was Erika Wicoff a former LPGA player.  She played in 3 US Opens and had a few top 10's.  With all Golftec lessons you get strapped in to a harness that measures about 7 angles.  When you can get all seven in the green your swinging like a pro.  Erika was really focused on these angles, which I'm sure is Golftec's technique for their instructors.  On a good lesson I might get 3 out of the 7.  I felt I was making some progress but wasn't overly excited about where I was headed.  At our 4th lesson she informed me that she was leaving for a newly formed golf academy at a local course.  A good move for her.  With 6 lessons left I had to switch instructors.  My new instructor, Toby Baldwin.  I knew nothing about him.  I showed up for my first lesson with Toby, got hooked up in my harness and he just ask me to warm up hitting balls into the net.  While I'm hitting balls he starts asking me a whole series of questions while he is watching me swing.  He ask more questions than any instructor I've ever had and I like that.  He is getting to know me, how I play, what I think are my strengths and weaknesses, etc.  AND, he has none of the 7 angles showing the monitor.  We talked about me playing in the Golf Channel Am Tour and that my next tournament was in two days (not the Kohler event).  After a few minutes of watching me hit and asking questions, he said I think what we ought to do is first get your swing on plane.  He showed me how my back swing was below plane (which by the way was where Erika had me) and that I needed to get my hands higher at the top of my back swing.  He put together a simple drill where I put a ball 3 feet directly behind the ball I'm going to hit.  Make sure I bring the club back over that ball then raise my hands high and then let the down swing just happen.  He also said we need to work on my shoulder turn but that would be later.  First things first, get on plane.  He has a kind of relaxing manor that is good for me because it seems to make it easier for me to make a relaxed swing.  So I walked away feeling really good about Toby (who has been there 8 years so hopefully not leaving anytime soon) and about what I needed to work on.  I was able to make a few trips to the driving range working on this assignment before the next tournament.  At the tournament I shot a 91, my best this year.  Where I lost strokes was on my chipping and pitching and I had 36 putts, BUT, my ball striking was the best it had been in quite some time.  I couldn't wait for my next lesson.

Lesson two:  One day before I left for the two day Kohler Major.  Toby added one new element to my practice.  The one piece take away which by default increases my shoulder turn.  I had this lesson on Thursday night.  I left for Kohler Friday morning and after a stop in Chicago got in to Kohler after 9 PM.  My tee time the next morning was 9 AM and it was a shot gun start.  When I got to the course the driving range was full with players three deep waiting.  I decided to working on putting instead.  So I started the tournament without having practiced my new one piece take away.  And that leads the the following analysis: