Willpower and patience

Ugh, what a weekend. Had a 3 hour lesson on Saturday morning, and hour with Jeff getting the swing laid off to an exaggerated condition in order to continue fighting the across the line move. We even had a "who can lay it off more" contest in the studio. So the very first run, I clearly had it more laid off, he wouldn't believe me. We laid out lines in the V1 software on screen, he still wouldn't believe me. Then one of the other instructors there came walking by and I asked him to settle it. He was, non-committal. Haha, it's a conspiracy I tell ya! I won, hands down.

So anyway, first hour working on that, then an hour by myself hitting balls to keep the feeling going, then another hour with Jeff to make any adjustments to hopefully keep me going down the right path. I made several, check that, a bunch of swings that were actually laid off. Now, that's not what we're shooting for, but to get from how far across the line I was to actually laid off, is an accomplishment of gargantuan proportions.

After all that, I was whipped. Took a break and then ended up playing twice since then. First round was at The Duke where I'm playing in the Golf Channel event in 2 weeks. I don't know how long it's been since I hit irons this bad, but it's bad. I hit 12 of 14 fairways however, but approach shots were fat, blocked, pulled and weak. A difficult combination to throw into play all at once, but I somehow managed to pull it off. On another positive note, I have made quite a few good putts and the short game is getting locked in well. I had 2 out of 2 kick in up and downs from the bunker as well. On a down note, I ended my run of birdieing (nice word) the first hole at 4 rounds in a row.

So lets take an inventory of what's going well and what's going uhhhh, not well:

Good:
Fairway percentages
Putting
Short game
Bunker play

Bad:
Short irons
Mid irons
Long irons
Distance
(Wow, now that's a list that you don't want to see)

So I basically have finally reached the point that most people reach when they take lessons, I'm just turned around and don't know if I'm coming or going. But to add insult to injury, I'm hitting it S-H-O-R-T. Playing these courses that I've played before, I'm 20+ yards short on some tee shots from where I used to be, hitting some of the same clubs that I've flown greens with, landing them short now. Sorry to just dredge up a bunch of negativity, but I'm just not too happy about this right now. I know it's all for the best, and it's a short term problem, but it's pretty demoralizing to absolutely nut a 9 iron from 140 yards and end up short of the green when you finally put a good swing on it.

The good news about how bad I'm hitting irons, is that I'm not in the typical mode of blaming your swing coach. I know what Jeff is doing here is correct, and I'm practically begging him every time I see him to help me stop crossing the line. So there you go dude, careful what you ask for. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to wash my bag towel as it's caked with dirt from all the fat ass irons I've been hitting all weekend. I wonder if my wife will be mad that I clogged up the washing machine with 7 cubic yards of dirt?

Golf Channel Amateur Tour membership and event #1

Event #1 for the 2008 Golf Channel Amateur Tour is taking place on November 18th here at The Duke in lovely Maricopa, AZ. It's a nice little track named after The Duke himself, John Freaking Wayne. Just signed up for the tour membership for 2008, so I've got 12 months of events ahead of me for this, as well as any others we can come across. Getting excited for some tournaments again.

Trying to get a practice round scheduled for Sunday so I can get back out there. Haven't played The Duke in over a year. If my friend can find it in his heart to play golf again, I will get the opportunity.