Joey's Golf Bag

On Monday afternoon this week, the weather finally got out of the freeze zone and I was able to hit a bucket of balls before the sun went down at Golden Bear. I didn’t hit the ball very well, too many swing thoughts from my lesson the previous week. Most of the balls that were well struck were going dead right 15 to 30 degrees right of the target. I had problems with tempo as well, due mostly to lack of practice because of the very cold weather.

Yesterday afternoon, I went to Hank Haney Golf Ranch to hit some balls. The weather was pleasantly warm and sunny, but there was still ice on the pond, see photo.

Well, I managed to make the short irons go straight, more or less, but the long clubs were all going right. The driver, well, let’s not talk about the driver, other than to say, if players were on the 2nd green, they’d be in danger.

Today, I went to a golf lesson with Mike Murray at Golf Galaxy, and what an outstanding lesson it was. While my swing had marginally improved from the last lesson (grip was good, posture better, much less sway on the downswing), my swing path still needed work. My main issue was that I wasn’t in a good position at the top of the backswing, and that’s where we spent the bulk of the time. First, he put a Swingyde on my 7-iron and that device, once I made a few swings, improved both my swing path and my release. Next, he focused on getting me into a good position at the top of my backswing. Once he got me to move into the right position, the ball started going straight and my clubhead speed was really improved.

Wow, just wow.

OK, I know it will take weeks or months to get this improved swing (a pretty classic Jim Hardy one-plane swing) grooved, but the improvement on the video was amazing.

Much work to do, but I’m feeling more optimistic than I’ve felt in the two years since I first broke 90.

On Thursday after work, I had my first golf lesson with Mike Murray at Golf Galaxy in Lewisville. In addition to the change we made in my introductory lesson (getting my left hand grip more in my fingers), we worked on these things.

• Posture. He wanted better posture, as I had a little too much knee bend and not enough bend at the hips (in other words, stick my butt out more).
• Swaying. While I was not swaying on the backswing, there was significant swaying toward the left during the downswing, that would cause inconsistent contact on the ball, because the center of the swing was not always in the same spot. He had me work on turning my left side around and posting hard on my left leg.
• Swing path. As I suspected, my swing path was over the top. He had me change my swing path so that it was too much inside, knowing that I would naturally tend to move it to inside-to-square-to-inside. I spent much of the lesson hitting the ball right of the target, but was able to make the ball more down the target line as the lesson progressed.
• Backswing angle. My backswing is a little flatter than he wants, but not excessively so. I’m working on getting it slightly higher on the backswing to get it more on plane. He says I have a classic Jim Hardy type one-plane swing.

A very good lesson. I was able, within a few swings, to significantly improve my release angle with much less flip of the wrists at impact. I have a lot of work to do, but it was amazing to see on the video the improvement from one lesson. I know I’ll get worse before I get better, but I’m fine with that.

I’ve really needed to get back in front of a golf instructor, and I’ve finally found one. I went over to Golf Galaxy in Lewisville today after work and met with Mike Murray, who is the PGA Professional for that store. He gave me a mini-lesson while I was there. He had me hit a couple of balls on video. He corrected my posture and tweaked my grip slightly for my left hand. He also gave a drill to reduce my tendency to flip my wrists. I had some immediate improvement in striking the ball.

I’ve signed up for 5 lessons, and I’ll do them weekly starting this week. I’m really looking forward to the lessons.

This morning, on a sunny, breezy, cool day, I had my second lesson with Jeff Kennedy at Coyote Ridge Golf Club. I warmed up on the range, this time on the grass instead of the mats. While I warmed up, Jeff came over and had me work on my mid-length pitches. He noticed that I was still tending to decelerate when I took the club back too far on the pitch. We worked on that for several minutes and also on my trajectory. I got better the more shots I hit.

Next, I got out my 7-iron and we worked on fundamentals such as moving the ball a little forward from center and making sure I didn’t straighten my right leg on the backswing. We also worked a lot on keeping from sliding during the downswing. I was striking the ball pretty respectably, so we moved on to the 5-iron. We continued to work on the same fundamentals, and also worked on getting my trajectory down some. After some good shots with the 5-iron, we got out the 3-wood (Thriver) and hit some balls off the deck. I was tending to fade the ball but getting good trajectory and occasionally, good distance. He then had me work on my posture, getting some of the roundness out of my back. We then finished up with the driver, and I was pleased to see the ball go straight where I was aiming. Unfortunately, I was misaligned, but we soon had that straightened out as well.

I was very pleased with my lesson.

After a short break for lunch, John and I hit the course, playing from the blue tees with some older gentlemen who were playing from the whites. For whatever reason, the blue tees were, for the most part, on the same tee as the black tees, and the course was playing much longer than I’d ever played it before. Between the longer length, the wind, and too, too many swing thoughts from the lesson, my round was a mess, shooting 105.

I still beat John, though.

I had planned to have a golf lesson today with Jeff Kennedy at Coyote Ridge, but the very brisk spring winds ruined that possibility. Wind also caused the suspension of play at the Shell Houston Open.

After my pathetic performance on Saturday, I scheduled another lesson this week. I also spent an hour late this afternoon hitting mostly drivers. It took a few dozen balls but I did eventually manage to make the driver go straight and long (occasionally).

One of these days I’ll become a good golfer, even if it kills me.

This afternoon, I had my first lesson with Jeff Kennedy at Coyote Ridge. I warmed up for a few minutes with a 7-iron and we started the lesson. Jeff had me hit a few balls and started fixing my stance. I had too much weight on my forward (left) leg and was straightening my right leg on the backswing. We spent a few minutes working making sure to balance my weight evenly between my feet. He had to correct me several times, because I always wanted to put more weight on my left foot. He said my grip was perfect and my posture good.

Next, he worked on my alignment to the target. He demonstrated to me that I was lining up right of my target, thus, I’d trained myself to have to come over the top in order to get the ball back to the target. He also had me stand closer to the ball was I was too far away, which tended to make my balance poor. Once I had my weight balanced, my alignment to the target fixed and the ball the proper distance away, I started hitting the ball straighter and my balance was much improved.

He then gave me my driver and he showed me the proper way to line up with the ball off my left heel. He made sure my weight was evenly distributed between my feet and that I added a slight spine tilt right. He had me not hover the club, but instead set it on the ground and swing from there. My driving was immediately improved, very little side spin at all on the ball and good directional control. And once he had me swinging harder at the ball, with good distance as well.

None of this instruction was any different from what I’d worked on with Alan in 2007, but I’d gotten bad habits again by not having regular instruction. I’ll not make that mistake again. I’ve found the right instructor.

I was very, very pleased with this lesson, and I’m going to continue working with Jeff weekly to make sure I get the changes embedded in my thick skull.

Yesterday, I went to a swing clinic at the Golden Bear Golf Center. I’d decided that I had had enough of hitting the ball too high and short. The day was cool and sunny, with a strong wind from the east. I warmed up and my instructor came over and introduced himself. I’d not worked with him before. He had me hit a few balls with the 7-iron. First, he fixed my alignment, which was a little right of my target line. Then, he diagnosed my problem as taking the club back too much to the inside and too flat. That caused the swing to come in too steep and outside, and caused me to scoop at the ball. That made the ball go too high. He had me set my wrist-cock earlier, which had the effect of making the swing more upright, and then he had me try to hit the ball right of the target, to get the feel of the proper inside-to-square impact. It took a lot of swings but I managed to get the hang of it (it’ll take a lot of repetitions to get it ingrained). He then had me hit a few drives, hooked badly at first but managed to get the ball going straight once. He thought my shaft was not stiff enough. Since I was the only student this day, the lesson lasted about 45 minutes, which was really nice for $30.

This morning, I took my new swing to the North Texas Golf Center to hit a few balls, putt and play nine. The day was sunny and cool, with a brisk wind from the southeast. I warmed up by hitting lob wedge pitches, then hitting a few balls on the range. I struck the ball surprisingly well, considering I changed my swing yet again. I putted a few balls (the green was like shag carpet) and then played.

My score:

* Hit green in regulation.

My round:

• First hole. Hit a thin 9-iron right of the green. I hit a stellar lob wedge to 5″ and tapped in for par.
• Second hole. Hit a well struck 7-iron right of the green pin-high. Chipped poorly over the green, chipped poorly again to 18 ft and two-putt for double.
• Third hole. Hit a fat PW short and right, chipped to 7 ft and nailed the putt for par.
• Fourth hole. Hit a fat PW straight at the flag but short of the green. Hit a good chip to 4 ft and nailed the putt for par.
• Fifth hole. Hit an AW long and right. Hit a chip to 9 ft and lipped out the putt. Tapped in for bogey.
• Sixth hole. Hit a PW 18 ft right of the pin and two-putt for par.
• Seventh hole. Hit a 9-iron 24 ft left of the pin. Hit the first putt way too soft, missed the second and tapped in for bogey.
• Eighth hole. Hit a PW 15 ft right over the flag, left the birdie putt 6″ short and tapped in for par.
• Ninth hole. Hit a 9-iron dead shank 30 yards right of the flag. Hit a lob wedge just short of the green, chipped to 5 ft, missed the putt and tapped in for double.

Well, what a round. Got up and down 3 times for par, but chipped poorly after that. Putted pretty well except for the 3-putt on the 7th hole, in spite of the shag carpet greens. I hit only three greens in regulation, but that’s not too bad considering the wind and my swing changes.

I’ve been remiss in not updating my blog lately, as I’ve been extremely busy at work.

I started taking golf lessons with Alan Niederlitz at Golden Bear Golf Center about two months ago and just finished up this week. Along the way, we did some video analysis and it showed that my main fault was a backswing that is a bit too flat, and a downswing that is a bit over the top. So, those two things are what I’ve been working on. I also bought a book by Bobby Clampett called The Impact Zone that has been extremely helpful with my understanding of the golf swing. I’ve been doing the sand drill for a few weeks along with some of the other drills he describes in the book.

Finally, this afternoon, things came together. I’d been in the bunker running the sand drill and also practicing sand shots. I then went to the range, warmed up in my usual manner, and again was disappointed with my inconsistency. I’d hit some balls beautifully, and other balls like I’d never seen a golf club before. It was very frustrating. I decided to work on impact, so I pulled out the pitching wedge, set up for chipping and concentrated on getting my hands in front of the ball before impact. I started striking the ball well, so I continued the drill with longer clubs until I got down to the 6-iron. I then decided to hit some longer swings, but the results weren’t good — my hands weren’t leading the clubhead at the ball. I went back to the pitching wedge and concentrated on getting my hands in front of the ball at impact. Suddenly, out of nowhere, I started feeling lag in my swing and a nice, crisp strike on the ball with a divot that points directly at the target. I hit a few more with the pitching wedge, and then went down through the clubs to the 6-iron, and found I could keep the lag as long as I made a nice, smooth swing. I then ran out of balls…

This isn’t the first time I’ve felt lag, but the last time I didn’t realize what I had and I wasn’t able to reproduce that feeling until today.

It’ll be interesting to see if I can feel the lag again tomorrow…

This afternoon, I went to the Golden Bear Golf Center to attend the Swing Master clinic that is held every Saturday and Tuesday at noon. Today, Alan Niederlitz was my instructor.

I paid for the clinic and went to the putting green to practice. The putting green to the west of the pro shop is being renovated to a new strain of dwarf bermuda, so will be closed for a while, so I went to the other putting green to practice. That particular green isn’t in very good shape at the moment, a victim of the soggy weather here in Dallas. I first spent some time hitting short putts, did some speed drills and then practiced putting around the green at different holes. My putting was not particularly good today.

Next, I went to the instruction area to warm up before the clinic. I warmed up pretty poorly, even got out the iPod with Tour Tempo to no avail. I told him about my mishap with breaking shafts and then he asked how I was hitting the ball. I told him I was hitting the pitching wedge through 8-iron well, but the rest of the clubs weren’t being hit well. First, he had me get out the driver and I told him I was tending to hook the ball. I hit a few drives and they were hit pretty well. He then had me get out the 5-wood and I described how I tended to hit the ball thin and with a hook. He had me hit a few shots while he watched, which were surprisingly well-hit, considering how poorly I’d warmed up. He then adjusted my setup a bit to give me more shoulder tilt and that helped. He then had me get out the driver again and adjusted my stance, hand position and ball position. I then started hitting the driver very well with good distance even though I was hitting into a pretty strong wind.

Next, we got out the sand wedge and watched me hit a few balls with it. He moved my ball position back a bit in my stance and moved my hands more toward the middle with less forward tilt, and also moved my feet a bit closer together. It took me a few swings to get used to the new stance, but it is clear that that was the main issue with the wedges. He then checked me hitting short and mid-length pitches; with some more practice, I think I can get back to being a good wedge player.

This was a very, very good swing clinic today. Alan can always fix my swing and get me back on track. I really need to go see him more often.