Pulled muscles and commitment

So I finally got back from my trip to Seattle, 3 straight days of not touching a golf club. That was torture, I don't know how you people can live around that much rain and dreary skies. I was very happy to get back to sunny Arizona. On the positive side, I got to spend a bunch of time reading some old books and drafting my goals for the upcoming year. I'll post those here soon.

So anyway, I get up this morning, excited about grabbing some clubs to take with me so I can stop after work for some practice. I had a lunch appointment today, so I had to wait until after work. Well wouldn't you know, I literally pulled the muscle that runs from your neck down across your shoulder blade while putting on my freaking shirt this morning. Yep, that's the end of the story. There's no follow up line like "and then a bear came in and I wrestled him and pulled a muscle", I was just putting on my shirt.

So on the drive to work, it's getting tighter and tighter, literally to the point that I couldn't even turn my head to look into the other lanes of traffic on the freeway. I spent the entire day stretching my back, arms, shoulders, neck, etc. Literally in every meeting, while I was on conference calls, every spare moment, and by the end of the day, I was actually loose enough (just barely) to stop by Rio Salado and hit some balls. I started out pretty easy as you can imagine as I didn't want to make it worse. So after a couple of tentative, and fat, wedges, I started putting some ooomph behind it.

Very happy to report that the changes I made Saturday seem to have stuck, I still feel "IT" at the top of my swing, and although I didn't have the camera rolling, I "feel" like I'm still in the correct position. And I hit one wedge, three 7 irons and three 3 woods that were just absolutely perfect, wow did those feel great. I'll be bringing the camera tomorrow to make sure I'm on track, and then I have 2 rounds back to back Friday and Saturday. They are friendly rounds, but we've got some juice riding on it, so let's hope to stay interested.

I'm off to bed, just took 800mg of Ibuprofen and a muscle relaxer. I have a bag of ice and a hot pack that I'm about to start rotating. I'm hoping an hour or two of that with a good nights rest will get me back to normal for tomorrow. For now, I'm just absolutely miserable.

Did we just find "IT"?

Wow, great lesson on Saturday. I'm not sure what to think here. So as you all know, I've been working on flattening my swing and getting it to stop going across the line at the top. I've fully enabled the swing shape and plane, and have completely abolished the past parallel move (finally!). However I've been struggling with the across the line motion after so many years of it. I've gotten it down to literally an inch or two across the line, not much, but still something Jeff and I have been working on.

So after some thoughts and drills given to me, I had nearly gotten it done, but at the beginning of the lesson, I was still just a bit over. So after speaking to me a bit about some swing keys, BAM, it happened. And not just once, I laid down a bunch of swings that put me directly on the target line at the top, if not even an inch laid off. Now of course it is Jeff's responsibility to keep me positive, but he uttered the words "perfect" and "now THAT's a golf swing" too many times for me to ignore. I absolutely feel the specific movement that gets me to the correct position, and was able to key in on that to repeat it time and again. Ball flight and line were both just dead on. I literally have never felt my swing so good.

So after the lesson, I proceeded to plug away for a bit to ensure that I keep the feeling going, and while this may sound cheesy, I literally almost came to tears feeling the change and seeing the results time after time. I've fought that move for so long, to be on the cusp of true abolishment of the specific bad habit that has plagued me for years is definite cause for reflective thinking. Jeff commenting that I've have truly exceeded any expectations that he had for me in this short of a time obviously help bolster those good feelings.

So here's where we stand, over the years I've been good, played better than most, could make it happen when I needed it to most of the time. But there was always this nagging voice that said "your swing sucks", which obviously doesn't help from a confidence standpoint. I now feel like all the hard work has paid off to a point where I would be proud to show video of my swing to anyone, which is a journey of momentous proportions. Yes, position isn't the sole determining factor of outcome. Yes, there are many other facets of the game that count as well. Yes, I will make swings that are not perfect in the future. But from a personal confidence standpoint, I'm on top of the world and feel that with this, the only thing preventing us from achievement, is committment, willpower and the occasional good bounce. I can control 2 out of 3 of those things. I get goosebumps just thinking about how confident I am right now. It's almost time to start playing again, I feel like I could take on the world.

Before and now...

So here's a couple of snapshots of the top of my swing before I started taking lessons and from a couple of days ago at the range. Before it was all feel, didn't care about position, just wanted to hit it where I felt I was aiming it. I've been working hard, scratch that, I've been working my ass off to flatten this out and get it on plane, parallel and not across the line. I'm still a bit across the line, but a far sight better than when I started.

You are welcome to add comments about the pictures and progress. I'd be interested to hear your opinions!


Before:


Current:

About time for an update

So as you may recall, I contemplated giving tournament golf a bit of a break so I could bear down with my instructor and get some things going with the swing changes. So I've been doing that for a couple of weeks now and I think I'm seeing some pretty positive results. I made one absolutely picture perfect swing during my lesson last week, which I can't tell you how proud I am about it. Everything from the takeaway to most importantly my position at the top was exactly where we've been wanting it. The key obviously is to groove it in there, which I've been working hard on with some pretty diligent practice sessions.

Now my theory on practice is on the side of quality, not quantity. I have spent many afternoons just beating balls, with little to show for it. My practice regimine now consists of heading to Rio Salado during my lunch break to hit a medium "bucket" (God I hate that term), which consists of about 50 balls. I take 2, sometimes 3 clubs, alternating days. One short iron, one mid to long iron, then sometimes a 3 wood or driver. I've been working really hard on alignment by setting a stick down at my feet to ensure that I'm on the correct line. Once that's established, I'm free to work on position throughout the swing. Again, I've been working hard on flattening and shortening the swing. The changes Jeff has put into my swing have completely changed how I compress the ball and the sound that it makes. Trajectory is a bit lower, and a hell of a lot straighter from shot to shot.

So funny story from yesterday, I'm on the range and there's one other guy out there, he's got a whole mess of Ping G-10 clubs, literally 5 or 6 of them in his bag, that's a lot of woods. So I comment to him about them, he notes that I also have a G-10, and we continue. I pick up the driver and hit a few shots, and actually start breaking tees. About the 3rd or 4th shot in he looks over at me and I say "man, I keep breaking tees". He then proceeds to inform me that I'm probably teeing the ball too high, maybe I should lower it, and sweep the ball off the tee a bit more, etc. I tell him thanks but I've got it teed just where I'm wanting it. I can see out of the corner of my eye that this guy is now watching me as I'm teeing this one up and he says "okay" as in "fine, don't listen to me, we'll see what happens". So I just absolutely murdered this shot, big high soft draw, the G-10 just screaming in pain as the ball comes off the face. As the ball is about halfway down range I hear him say "well, okay then..." and he turns back to his balls to continue hitting. Classic, man did that bring a smile to my face.

So I have another lesson tomorrow with Jeff, hopefully I've not strayed too far with my swing plane, although my gut tells me I've slowly gotten more upright again over the past week. This is a long process, so that's to be expected for sure.

One other note, they just got done re-seeding the range at Rio Salado and let me tell you, the grass is just perfect now. I'm in absolute heaven. The last month or so every golf course has gotten to the burnt out grass that we all experience down here, so this time of year is especially nice. I would also like to thank Mike at Rio Salado for letting me know that the bowling league is open for tryouts. Nothing like a little shot in the arm of humility. Thanks Mike, I love you too. :-)