Joey's Golf Bag

In my never ending quest to improve my game, I went to the Swing Clinic at the Golden Bear Golf Center this afternoon. I arrived early and went to the end of the range to warm up. I started out with the pitching wedge, and hit fat, fat, fat shots. I switched to the 9-iron and began to get my swing ironed out. I then got out the 7-iron and started to hit some decent shots, tending to pull the ball a little. The big hook wasn’t to be found today, for the most part.

Alan was the instructor today, and we started out with the sand wedge at the purple flagged green. I hit the wedge pretty solidly and he thought I was hitting it pretty well. The fat shot was no where to be found. Next, I got out the 7-iron and I hit a few balls, tending to fade the ball. Here I am at the swing clinic, wanting to fix my hook, and I’m fading the ball. (This game continues to baffle me). After I hit a few balls, he adjusted my grip. My left hand was fine, but my right hand was too far clockwise. He moved it counter-clockwise until it fit better over my left thumb. This had the immediate effect of making the shot dispersion smaller. He also adjusted my stance slightly to give my shoulders more tilt to the right. After that, my ball-striking improved pretty dramatically. As always, he’s able to fix me up and get my swing back into shape. The main thing he wants me to work on is to not freeze over the ball before I swing.

I hit a few drives, mostly well-struck, though there were two or three moon balls in the mix and also hit a few 5-woods, and that’s when the hook came back. My final drive was a perfect slight fade right over the blue flagged green, carrying about 220. Time was up and I headed home happy with the swing clinic.

This morning, I went to the Swing Master clinic at the Golden Bear Golf Center. The weather was windy and cloudy, with the wind out of the west. There was one other student besides me. Today, Bill Beverly, the instructor who first taught me golf just over two years ago, was giving the clinic.

He watched both of us hit a few shots. I usually have an issue with hitting hooks, but wasn’t really able to demonstrate it; instead, most of my shots were pretty good, straight, or with a slight fade. Billy then took us into the video area and video-taped our swing. Both of us had reverse pivot, mine just slight but the other student’s reverse pivot was quite pronounced. He then gave us a drill created by Jim Flick (many of the instructors at Golden Bear were trained by Jim Flick). The drill is designed to put us in the proper position in so that we can hit a correct inside-to-square swing. We did the drill while he video-taped it and showed us how it put us into the correct position for the downswing.

We went back out to the range and worked on getting into the proper downswing position and then hitting balls teed high. First he checked our setup and grip, then ran the drill step-by-step, and then we started hitting the ball very softly off the tee. I was hitting soft draws with the drill and soon straightened them out. We worked on the drill for about 30 minutes and finished out the class. I was quite pleased with the class.

After the class, I hit a few balls with the driver, 5-wood, 6-iron and pitching wedge. My drives were quite good, nice, high and long. I had some difficulty with the 5-wood, tending to hit low pushes. Most of my 6-iron shots were quite good, either a soft draw or a soft fade. My pitching wedges were perfectly straight, but short.

After the class, I went to the putting green and practice. I started out hitting a few short putts, concentrating on getting my routine fixed and making sure to accelerate through the ball in order to not leave the ball short. Next, I practiced 18, 30 and 45 ft putts. My speed was not as good as yesterday, but I left few putts short today, tending to go a bit long.

A very fine class today, and I feel like I made a lot of progress getting my swing back in order.

This afternoon after work, I practiced at the Golden Bear Golf Center. The day was warm and windy, with a brisk breeze from the southwest.

I warmed up by hitting pitching wedges towards the red flagged green. While the fat shot wasn’t as bad as the last practice, still hit a couple of fatties. Next, got out the 7-iron and was striking the ball pretty well but most shots were hooks or pulls, and my tempo wasn’t particularly great. So, got out the driver.

First drive was a slight fade, then a draw, then a perfect straight one. Next, I got out the 5-wood and hybrid and hit some shots off the deck, particularly well with the hybrid, a bit low but straight with the 5-wood. Also hit some shots off tees with both clubs, and hit some really nice shots. I then got out the 4-iron and started hitting some balls with it since my tempo was back under control.

As I was hitting the 4-iron, Alan walked up and I told him about my difficulties with the wedges. He checked my stance and had me bend my knees a bit more and put my feet closer together and I started hitting the wedges better. As he was leaving, I hit a spectacular hybrid shot and he said, “Last year, you couldn’t hit that shot”. That’s the truth!

Finished up by going through the bag and hitting all the clubs. I hit at least a decent shot with every club, even the 4-iron. My tempo died off at the end, but I was still happy to have gotten my wedges working again and my irons beginning to behave.

I then went to the putting green and practiced putts longer than 18 ft. I paid particular attention to my routine and taking practice putts to get the feel back in my putting. I’ve been neglecting my routine and I think that’s what’s made my putting suck the last two weeks even though I’ve practiced well.

I was pretty pleased with the practice today; just wish I’d had time to get to the short game area.

This afternoon, I went to the Golden Bear Golf Center to attend the weekly swing clinic. A representative from Yes Golf was there doing putter fitting and short lessons (I regret I forgot his name). As I warmed up before the swing clinic, Alan, my instructor, took me over to the putting green and put my putting stroke on the camera. The Yes guy had me hit a few balls and then showed me that I needed a bit more forward press and needed to hit down on the ball a little more. He put a Marilyn putter in my hand and had me hit a couple of balls and he said I had a pretty good roll with little skid.

Alan and I went back to the range and spent about 30 minutes hitting balls with a 6-iron, working on fundamentals. I was striking the ball pretty good today. Alan didn’t make any major changes, just had me make sure to avoid reverse pivot and make sure to rotate my forearms through the ball.

Next, we went back to the putting green and the Yes rep gave me a putting lesson. I hit a few balls and he noticed that I tended to “pop” the ball, so he adjusted my grip by centering the putter grip along the lifelines of both hands. He also moved me closer to the ball so my eyes were directly over the target line. I had some difficulty getting used to the changes, but was rolling the ball pretty well toward the end. I’ll need some time to get used to the new setup and grip.

Alan and I went back to the range and I hit the driver. Aside from one hook and one slice, I hit the ball very well with the driver. On both poor shots, Alan noticed reverse pivot and a bit too much lateral movement, which I corrected for the most part. He also noticed that I tended to let the club get loose at the top, and fixed that as well.

Today was a great lesson, and I thank Alan and the Yes guy (sorry I forgot his name).

This afternoon, I attended the swing clinic at the Golden Bear Golf Center. I was the only student today.

Before class, I spent about 20 minutes working on my usual speed drill on the putting green. I putted pretty well today, despite no putting practice since last weekend. I warmed up hitting 4-irons and we spent most of the time hitting that club toward various target greens. I started out hitting the ball pretty short, but soon had the club grooved in and started striking the ball a little better. He diagnosed my hook for me (I’m not completing my turn around my spine after striking the ball). I also tended to cast the club when I got quick with the downswing, and we worked that out as well.

Next up, I hit some high slices with the driver. He fiddled with my stance and I started hitting the ball down the middle with a little fade.

I finished up by going through the irons, hitting them well for the most part. I also hit a couple of balls with the hybrids, and struck them pretty well with the exception of one topped ball with the 2i.

I was pretty happy with the swing clinic today. Still have much to work on…

At noon today, I went to the full swing clinic at the Golden Bear Golf Center. Alan, my usual instructor, was teaching it today and I was fortunate to be the only student.

We discussed my difficulties of late, and then he watched me hit a few balls. He saw immediately what my issue is: too quick on the downswing. This seems to be a perpetual problem for me. He had me get out the 4-iron, which I can almost never hit well, and he had me pause at the top and then swing down. Once I slowed down my downswing tempo, I started striking the ball cleanly again, and even getting the ball high in the air with the 4-iron. He adjusted my stance slightly, putting the ball a little more forward and giving me a little more shoulder tilt. Once these adjustments were made, I was striking the ball cleanly.

Next up, I got out the driver and did the same drill. I still tended to hit fades or slices, but that’s just a matter of getting my tempo back in order.

Last up were some short wedge shots with the same drill. I had little difficulty getting clean contact on the ball with the wedges.

So, I feel better about my swing again. Tomorrow, I’ll work on tempo and timing, and see if I can get my swing grooved again.

This evening, in the muggy Texas dusk, I had a lesson with Alan at Golden Bear Golf Center. Before the lesson, I worked on putting, running speed drills. Tonight, I didn’t miss any putts less than 9 ft, so I was pretty pleased with that practice. I then went to the range and hit some sand wedge shots to get warmed up and then switched to the 7-iron.

Alan arrived and I hit a few shots, pretty poorly, with the 7-iron. He then had me switch to the 5-iron and hit fades into the green with the yellow flag. He worked with me on alignment. It took a few shots, but I finally started fading the ball into the flag. My main faults tonight were too much lower body movement (again!), too much hip turn (again!), and a little too far from the ball. I also tended to align too much to the right. We then moved back to the 7-iron and had me hit draws into the green with the blue flag. I tended to pull the ball at first, instead of hitting draws, but eventually got that worked out.

Next up, I got out the driver. The first one was a sky ball, though still with good distance, though a bit pushed. The next three were things of beauty: long and straight down the middle. No changes necessary there! 😎

For my final lesson, we went to the bunker and I hit some sand shots using Dave Pelz’ technique, and then some shots using the Jim Flick technique. Jim was definitely working better than Dave tonight…

I was very, very pleased with my lesson tonight.

I’ve spent the last two days trying to get the hook out of my swing, and really, it comes down to two things:

• I’m releasing the club too early, resulting in a closed clubface at impact.
• My swing is too inside-to-outside, and I’m tending to hit the toe of the club instead of the sweet spot, as the club lengths get longer.

Hooking the ball has gotten so bad that even the short irons are affected. I never thought I could hook a 9-iron 30 degrees, but, yes, I can.

To combat these problems, I’m standing a bit closer to the ball and setting the ball a little back in my stance. We’ll see how it goes this week. I’ve also put the Big Bertha 2004 irons back in my bag until straighten out my hooking problem.

I had planned on Saturday to determine my distances for all my clubs, but due to my extreme issues of hooking the ball and striking the toe of the clubface on the longer clubs, didn’t get time to determine my distances. I had earlier determined that I’d been striking the toe of the longer clubs, but still hadn’t quite figured out how to fix it. Alan saw me hitting balls and stopped by, and we worked on my swing quite a bit. He had me adjust my stance, open and closed, and the ball back a bit. Only closing my stance really helped at all, so I need to figure out how to get my swing inside-to-square again and to hit the sweet spot on the face of the clubs.

P.S. Earlier this week, I’d received my NEC 500g rangefinder. One evening this past week, I ventured out onto the Coyote Ridge Golf Course and took many distance measurements and compared them to markers on the course. The device works extremely well and is very quick with a measurement. I’m pleased with my purchase.

Today, after work, I had another private lesson with Alan at the Golden Bear Golf Center. Mainly, we worked on the longer clubs, and followed up with a putting session. I started out hitting 3-, 5- and 7-irons. He adjusted my stance slightly, having me put the ball a bit more forward in my stance, and also balanced my weight between my feet as I tended to put more weight on my left foot. I hit the irons pretty well today.

I hit a few balls with the hybrid, not as well as I’m capable, but pretty good. We then moved on to hitting the 3-metal off the grass, a club I struggle with. Again, he moved the ball well forward of where I was playing it, and that seemed to help. We did the same with the driver, which completely refused to do anything but hook. He tried out my club and came to the conclusion that the flex was too soft for my swing. I’m having the club re-shafted with a stiff Diamana shaft; we’ll see how that turns out in a few days.

Lastly, we worked on putting. Only changes were to stand slightly closer to the ball and with my feet closer together on short putts. No change on the longer ones. He recommended a few putting drills and that ended the session.

Today after work, I had my third lesson with Alan at Golden Bear Golf Center. Today, I started with the driver and 3-metal. At first, while warming up, I hit the ball pretty well with the 7-iron, the 5-iron, the driver and the 3-metal. As I warmed up, Alan watched my shots and made only minor tweaks to my stance (more shoulder tilt away from the target) and swing (wants more forearm rotation on the downswing). Near the end of the session, I had problems with tension; just couldn’t get loose. Alan had me hit short 6-iron shots gripped well down and that helped get rid of the tension. He wants me to hit that type of shot frequently if my swing doesn’t feel right. I’ve been doing punch shots with the 8-iron, and he said that’s a good shot to use as well.

We next went to the bunker to start work on sand shots. I’ve never done much work in the sand and my technique has never been good. Alan taught me a new, simple technique that he teaches beginners, and it worked very well for me. Standing in the sand, ball centered in my stance with my toes buried in the sand below my heels. Full swing. Ball out of the sand every time but once in 10 shots. A miracle! Much easier than the techniques out of Dave Pelz’s Short Game Bible.

A good lesson today, but I had hoped to show more improvement than I did.