Week 20 Update
Shopping Spree + A Poor Performance
Welcome Players! Did I have my worst performance of the year last Friday? Yes, yes I did. Did I proceed to blame it on my clubs and go on a buying spree? No, no I didn’t. But I did buy a new putter that I’m going to be very much looking forward to using. This week we break down two range sessions and a season-high 110. Read on to see what went wrong and what I’m doing to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
Contents:
Training Week in Review
Habit Tracker
Training Log
Skill Practice
Golf Performance
Wrap-Up
Training Week in Review
By all accounts it was nearly a full week.
Two range sessions, one round of 18, two conditioning sessions, and one resistance training session - that’s a lot!
The good news is I appear to be back on track with a new schedule. Two conditioning sessions and two range sessions are now primary, with at least one resistance training (the second being secondary) mixing in to the training schedule.
Per my review last week I’m going to make it a goal to get out and play 18 holes at least once a week, even as a single if that’s what it takes.
Will be looking to continue the transition from preparatory work to a focus on scoring!
Let’s get into it.
Habit Tracker
A real solid middle of the week, getting a range session in on Tuesday & Thursday before playing on Friday. The good news being that those range sessions helped me feel comfortable striking the ball when I played.
Of course having all of the practice “sandwiched” into four days isn’t ideal. I’d really like to be spreading practice out evenly over the course of the week.
Also I’ve clearly almost given up on putting at home.
But.
I remedied my problem… by ordering a new putter!
Yes, that’s right. I finally did it.
I did not like putting with the Scotty Cameron Special Select 2 that I had.
Blades are tough to putt with and I don’t have the skill nor repetitions necessary to be successful, so I wisened up and went with a more forgiving, mallet-style putter. To be revealed when it’s finished!
I do think though that finally getting a putter that not only fits my game but that I will look forward to learning/improving at will spark an improved practice time at home.
Training Log
Resistance Train (Gym): 2
Conditioning (Road Bike): 2
Yoga (@ home): 0
Skill Practice
Range session number one.
I’m getting the shaft more down-line on the top of my backswing which is good, but if I don’t get my hands higher into optimal position soon I think my coach is going to go berserk.
But it’s improving! Slowly but surely, it is getting better.
Range session numero dos:
My driver takeaway is so flat and I’m working on that. Watching it again now it also looks like my hips weren’t moving as much as they could/should. A sign I was getting tired, probably hitting too many balls without a break (it’s hot out there!).
Same views on the irons, I like that I’m getting the shaft more down-line but still need to get my hands higher and away from my body while keeping it in front of my chest.
Then the key is to really drive the downward rotation with the lower body allowing the pelvis to rotate without the torso to create separation and then swing the club.
Golf Performance
It was a tough one out there on Friday.
As all golfers do, I will stipulate a few things:
Greens were not in good shape. Course generally wasn’t great (compared to how it usually is). Play was a little slow because we had a first-timer get paired with us (should be a sin to pair solo beginners with a group).
But with that said, let’s really get into why I shot an atrocious 110.
Numero uno: Eight (8) three-putts is awful, and tied for the most-ever for me this year.
I also only hit two (2) fairways, 2nd worst driving performance to date.
Add on three penalty strokes and numerous chunked-chip shots and it’s easy to see where the 110 came from.
I’ve also been using my new Golf Performance Journal that I mentioned a few weeks ago. I’m still putting it through the rigors of my testing so I can’t give too much away just now (I don’t want to recommend a product without fully vetting it first), but here’s a sneak peak of a feature I really like.
This is it’s basic “shot tracker” which adds a little more context to tee-shots and approach shots.
It’s very interesting to see a lot of my approach shots were miss-left, whereas I know my tee-shot misses are usually slices. On Friday though I was managing the slice pretty well, except I would overcompensate and end up yanking the ball left.
Still some things to figure out…
Some of the biggest themes that sum up my play are:
Putting/Chipping/Driving: which I continue to work on/improve at the range. (also hoping new putter and the practice to come with it addresses some of the putting woes)
Did not stick to my performance keys: was trying to play smart and swing easy. While I certainly swung easy (not over-swinging), I abandoned my “play smart” key literally on the 1st hole when I ended up missing my approach shot wide right ending up in a bush on some small rocks. I lined up to try and punch it out and my playing partner who is an excellent caddie tried to advise me (gently) on taking the drop and playing a higher-percentage shot onto the green minus a stroke. I disagreed and proceed to chunk the shit out of the ball, had to then take the drop, and then chipped on. Started the day not only with a triple-bogey but the mental battle of abandoning my keys certainly set up for a poor performance day.
Par 3’s: I’m killing myself on mistakes on par 3’s. On the 2nd hole, first par 3 of the day, I pulled my tee shot left into the water, chunked my approach chip after dropping in the drop zone, and then proceeded to over-shoot the green on the next chip ending up on the fringe. Tough sequence of events that could have been avoided by taking the conservative shot off the tee-box and avoiding the “big miss” which I did twice (water + chunk chip).
I really think a lot of my poor scoring comes from my competitiveness to want to hit the “best” shot every time instead of being resolute in my capabilities and playing the percentage shot over the course of 18 holes.
This doesn’t just mean laying up, but changing targets to be higher percentage, making misses a higher percentage, selecting the higher percentage club, even reading the greens better to make everything a 2-putt at max.
I suppose much of this is due to my late-start in golf and having never played competitively, and also only watching it recently too so I was never exposed to much of the strategical element.
I’m learning that as I go along and have found that for as much as my game (swing) has improved, it seems my game (score) has only gotten worse!
I believe its simply due to the fact that as I get better in my swing I continue to take the aggressive shot on the course which leads to bad misses and so my score continues to decline.
For ex: I’ve got a 135 yard approach shot. That’s in between clubs for me. I hit my PW about 125 and my 9i about 145. Old me would have tried a “light” 9i which I didn’t know how to control and would end up going long or missing green. New me now takes a “hard PW” to try and fly the extra 10-yards which I can do, but not at a higher percentage.
The end result of both scenarios is the same: Missing the green and forcing a low-percentage chip to get up and down. That is not the recipe for success.
Smart golf is winning golf, I’ll learn that soon!
Wrap-Up
The thing that I enjoy most about shooting a season-worst score, is that the competitiveness of the score doesn’t really impact me that much.
And I’m not just saying that.
When we get back to the clubhouse and add up our scores, and I see that triple-digit, of course I’m a little disappointed I didn’t play better, but it doesn’t bother me at all.
I’m not pissed or upset or angry or salty or in a mood.
I’m just cool with it.
Like I said from the very beginning, this is a long process whose results will not be defined by any one point along the way, but by the culmination of a years’ worth of efforts leading to a (hopefully) positive result.
I understand my strengths and weaknesses better every week, and I’m not going to waste any energy on the the negatives when I already have processes in place to address them over the next period of time.
Hakuna Matata.
It means no worries.
See you next week!
Your swing looks good!!