Been thinking more and more about putting since it’s the only thing I’m able to practice regularly during the winter. I read a recent article about grips and have decided to try a left hand low grip this season. While I eventually to buy a new putter with a bit more feel (the thing I have now is a fricken brick), a new grip might just be the ticket.

Left hand low feels really awkward, my hand muscles don’t seem to want to adjust to the feeling, but I’ve been putting about 50 balls a day in my basement from different distances and it’s feeling pretty good.

My guess however, is that new putting grips more than anything encourage you to think good thoughts as your brain tries to adjust to the new grip. We’ll see how it plays this season!

Yes, it’s been a long while - not only since I’ve blogged, but since I’ve touched my clubs. I hit the range today and hit quite well - why oh why does that always happen?

Take 3 weeks off and you hit the ball great. Practice like a mad dog and get worse and worse.

I’ll get a chance to play next weekend - can’t wait.

My lessons have been very helpful so far - I’m hitting the ball further and further and with a bit more accuracy. One of my biggest issues is my elbow coming up too high which among other things is causing me to not get the club face in the right position at impact.

Watch the video below to see what I’m talking about.

I had my 2nd of 3 lessons last Friday before my round on Saturday. I ended up shooting a 101, which all things given wasn’t too bad. I’m working on so many different things, it’s hard to keep track.

The main thing we did in the lesson was focus on swing plane and impact. My swing plane is terribly steep, so I’ve been visualizing flattening it so that it feels almost completely flat. It’s a totally new feeling and in order to feel it and get into the proper position, I need to open up my hips faster and keep my elbow down.

I’m a baseball player (or was one) - so my right elbow wants to come up. This may be my big problem. I used a nerf looking training ball in between my forearms and took a few swings - no way to raise my elbow!

I believe alignment is a huge issue as well - once I got my swing groove and was blasting away with no slice, I realized everything was going way, way left. I adjusted by laying down 2 clubs and immediately, I was on target.

The next day, I hit 6 fairways and came very close on 2 others. Getting there… slowly.

I found this great post on the Golfchick blog about personal golf tips. I’ve been developing one of my own, but it’s not there quite yet…

G (grip)
A (alignment)
A (rotate Around)
P (pull it through)

My lessons bore small fruits with me shooting 100 the last full round I played. That’s 10 shots lower than the last time I played!

I hit some balls on the range this week, but didn’t have time to get on t

I had a terrific golf lesson yesterday - within 10 swings I had adjusted my alignment and swing mechanics and my slice was all but gone - we’ll see what happens tomorrow on the course.

You get so many different pieces of advice from magazines, tv shows and other players - it turns out that I was simply not sticking with the basics.

• More bend in my stance - my angles were all messed up
• I need to bend my front knee to give me more rotation - and when I did the ball literally jumped off my club
• I need to work hard to get my club face around and in position - I get lazy sometimes on my swing and that creates my incredible slice
• And when I get lazy, I get real lazy and don’t finish well. I’m working on really getting around on the swing - blasting open my hips and finishing all the way around
• The proper driver position feels completely awkward - but it works. Because I can’t get my shoulders in alignment, I actually start my swing with the driver head about 8-10 inches BEHIND the ball which gives my shoulders room to pull into alignment.
  

For father’s day, my family gave me a hint - and 3 lessons with the local pro… I hope to take them soon - and stop sucking so bad!

Sub 100 can you hear me? I’m coming for you!

Sunday was gorgeous out so I hit a couple of buckets of balls at the local range. The weather was unreal and there was only 2 or 3 other guys there with me.

I have the notion that I should learn how to draw the ball, if nothing else than to help me fight off my natural slice. I worked on that a bit, with some success but should most certainly invest in a lesson or two shortly. Maybe I’ll even have to rename this blog (doubtful).

I also tried out my new irons (Taylormade RAC OS) that I bought a few weeks ago. I like em a lot, I hit the ball very consistently with the 5 iron but can’t seem to control the 3 iron at all.

Meanwhile, my girls are taking golf lessons in Norwalk so they won’t grow up to “suck” - Julia hit a driver in the simulator 90 yards - improving from 71 which was her previous best distance. It’s fun to see them learn so quickly. I can’t wait to see what happens when we get out on the course.

I managed to hit a few balls at the Norwalk Golf center and set up a mini-putting area in my basement so far - but basically winter stinks worse than I am at golf.

The Norwalk golf center is pretty amazing however - they have a simulator, a ton of bays with computers and cameras and a full bunker. My girls are doing a girl scouts/LPGA thing so they can learn to stink at golf too - and while they were getting lessons I hit a bunch of balls on my own.

Seeing yourself on video is odd - my swing really isn’t that bad but I have literally no power - something to work on for next spring. It would be nice to be able to hit the ball another 30 yards or so - there’s no reason why I shouldn’t be able to hit the ball 250 yards with a driver (or more to be honest). I’m capping out at around 225/230 and think it has to do with my hips not opening soon enough.

Maybe I should get some real lessons!

I spent some time at the driving range last Friday - and thought I really had worked out my shoulders and legs. I hit the ball pretty well with the driver - longer than I ever had before.

Then something changed and my ball was suddenly all over the place again. Frustrating as hell.

Tags: golf