Hey, I can hit a driver again!

I setup an "emergency lesson" with Jeff this morning so we could go through my ailments with the driver. I was hitting some 8 irons decent warming up when we went inside to capture some stuff on video. Jeff had me flatten the swing out as I'd gotten a bit upright since the last time we met. I'll be fighting that forever.

Anyway, we made some really exaggerated moves flattening it out and hit a few outside again, immediate and dramatic difference in compression and ball flight. "Let's hit a few drivers now, just at about 80%" he says. Ok, well here's the real test. Very first ball, bam, better than I've hit a tee shot in the 5 1/2 rounds since this began. I hit 15 or so with him, and nearly every one was nutted. A few offline, which is to be expected after making such a drastic change in plane. I then hit 10 or so more after we were done and hit them all quite well.

So now it's lunch time so it's off to the range to hit some balls during the break (my daily vacation away from my job). Well what do you know, it's the first 80 degree day in Phoenix and the place is PACKED. I have to settle for a spot on the far right, just next to a couple of guys who are "hootin an hollerin" after their shots that by the descriptions "musta went 5 miles there". So I find a spot between their bags, chairs and pitcher of beer (no, I'm not kidding) and settle in. I was prepared to drown out any noise but began to realize that these guys were literally betting quarters one each shot to see if they could hit it farther than me. Now, I'm hitting wedge here, so I'm not quite sure what that's going to accomplish, but suffice to say they were quite impressed that their drivers were blowing by my wedge shots. Me too I guess.

Back to it, so with the newfound ability to hit driver, I'm ready to duplicate the success from earlier now that I've gone through Wedge, 8 and 6, and the G10 did not dissapoint. The very first swing was met with a resounding click of success and the ball did fly quite high and far, with a little draw. Then the Duke Boys joined in again - "WhoooooWeeee, you hit that like Tiger Woods! I bet you 5 dollars you can't do that again". Ok, now seriously, that was funny. So with a gracious "thank you" from me and a desperate attempt not to laugh, I made good on my mans challenge, although he did not pay me the $5 I was rightfully owed. I finished up with 8 or 10 more drivers, then cycled through some pitch shots to the closest green as is customary.

As I was leaving, my new friends informed me that they were there to give me lessons any time I wanted (self depricating sarcasm, I think I like these guys after all). Alas, I had to go so I was unable to join them in their newly refilled pitcher of beer (again, not kidding) and thanked them for their kindness. Ah what the hell, I'm so happy I can hit a driver again, I don't even care. What a great day!

Oh to hit a driver again...

So I've now played 5 1/2 rounds without hitting a single good tee shot with my driver. I absolutely can't shake it, I've hit some great shots with my irons and 3 wood, but I just can't pound anything with a driver. The last round I played just killed my back, which definitely indicates something is amiss. My instructor Jeff Ritter has been down with pneumonia (get better dude, I need some HELP!) so I haven't been able to see him to work anything out.

I scheduled a lesson for Wednesday morning at 8AM to work on this and get to the bottom of my issue here. When I told my boss that I have an emergency appointment at 8AM on Wednesday and that I'd be late to work, he was really concerned. "Is everything alright?" he asked. "NO" I said, "things are terribly wrong, bad stuff is happening here". He really got a concerned look on his face and asked if there was anything he could do to help. After breaking it to him that the tragedy was my lack of any assemblence of a golf swing with my driver, he grew less concerned about my plight. Ah perspective...

Wish me luck!

Rainy day practice

Man do I need some rain pants. I went and practiced at lunch as usual, only today it had been raining all morning. Luck would have it that it let up and although windy and cold, the rain subsided on my trip to the golf course. As I proceed down to the practice tee, there's only one other person down there, so lots of room to practice. I've been singularly focused on a tournament coming up in 2 weeks (more on that later) so I'm pretty much in my own world right now. On the plus side, I am really swinging pretty well, hitting shots pretty solid, everything is really coming into focus with the changes I've made.

So I'm going through PW, 8 iron, then 6 iron. Through that time, I notice that 3 new guys showed up on the practice tee, which kind of surprised me because the clouds looked ominous. I like practicing on days like this as I feel like I can pick up progress on everyone else as not everybody chooses to practice in incliment weather. Not today it seemed.

So I'm working through some shots, hitting it fairly well, pulling quite a few though, not sure if it was the extra layers (T-shirt, golf shirt, jacket) that I'm wearing or what. So I'm focused on a target down range (175 yard sign) when I begin to notice that I can't see it very well. That's when I realized that it was actually pouring down rain, and my entire right pants leg was soaking wet, I had water running down my back, and it was freaking COLD. I also noticed that there were 4 half empty buckets of balls on the range now as the other guys who were just hitting balls all bailed because of the rain. Now I'm happy again, as I'm still hitting shots. Screw it, I'm already wet, and water dries. I don't know how long it was pouring like that before I realized it, nor how long I was out there alone before realizing it. I'd like to say it was my intense focus on the task at hand, but it's probably more likely that I'm just too stupid to realize things like this. Ah whatever, either way it was fun.

Nothing really to report here, other than I feel good about plugging away in the rain when everyone else decided to pack it in. I do wish I had some rain pants though as literally 6 hours later I was still soaking wet.

1st Round Under Par with new swing

A friend and I played a round at Bear Creek on the short course (Par 59, 5 - par 4's, 13 - par 3's) as golf in Arizona is expensive during the FBR Open and SuperBowl weekend. I'm not paying 5 times the rate just becase the snowbirds are here, cheapskate? Yep. It's a nice little course, and since par 3's have always been my nemesis, it's good practice. I birdied the last 2 holes to shoot a 2 under 57, which if nothing else, is just really cool to say. Geiberger? Duval? Only 59's. Maruyama? Only a 58. I'm clearly better than those guys. Who cares that I played half the yardage?! Ok, only kidding, I'm in a good mood though. Even though it's a short course, you still have to hit the shots. I started out with 11 straight pars before finally making a birdie on 12. I hit a lot of really good shots today, pretty happy with the swing progress. Here we go!

181 yard 1st hole, hit it fairly bad down into a swale short of the green, chip shot stopped quickly, made the 6 footer for par. Pulled it ot the far left side of the green on #2, pin was back left (of course). The putt broke well right, which I didn't see, made the 6 footer for par there as well. Hit a real good 4 iron on the 209 yard 3rd to 8 feet, and somehow missed it. Absolutely pured a 5 iron on the 4th right over the flag, solid 2 putt there. Pulled my 9 iron a bit on the 5th, but got a great bounce to about 8 feet, straight downhill. I must have been pretty scared because I hit the putt so timidly that I actually apologized to my buddy for how heartless that effort was.

Number 6 is a 75 yard par 3, and it's tricky. I literally don't think I've ever hit the green as it looks about 3 feet deep. My buddy gives me a yardage of 70, and I hit a beautiful Stan Utley inspired pitch shot, 25 feet past the hole, ugh. 2 putts down the hill for par, but a bummer nonetheless. Hit a toe hook on the first par 4, 357 yards. I had nearly the same shot here as the last hole, but hit it real high in the face of the wedge this time, and left it short. Dead spot too, the green is pretty elevated, pin right up front. I hit a perfect Stan Utley inspired chip to an inch for par. Toed an 8 iron on #8, 159 yards, but still got it almost to the hole, solid 2 putt for par. Number 9 is 300 yards even, and I absolutely ripped a driver about 220 yards. God what a lame swing, I was cursing myself pretty bad on that. Another similar pitch shot, but this came out really low, just bad execution. Hit a great chip shot just a few inches past for par.

Number 10 is another par 4, 353 yards, great tee shot, just a short little pitch to the green, left it short. I said to the guy I'm playing with "I really need to work on this pitch shot more". Putt from the fringe to a foot, good par. I hit my new Vokey SW on #11, only 81 yards, thought I hit it perfect, but it spun back down the hill about 25 feet away, good 2 putt for par though. For those keeping track, I've been 25 feet away on the 2 sub 100 yard par 3's. Yay wedge game.

I blocked my tee shot a bit on #12, 315 yard par 4, but it ended up kicking left, stopping just a few feet short of the green, and I nearly holed the putt from the fringe for eagle, but finally a birdie. Another well hit SW on the 103 yard par three 13th, but it landed and spun back to about 20 feet (Yay wedge game again), nearly made that putt too. I hit 6 iron on 14, 170 yards and toed it pretty bad. Pin was in back, and my ball landed nearly in the middle. I got a flash in my mind of "well don't three putt this" and what did I do? Man, the mind is a powerful influence isn't it? First bogey, I was really gunning for a bogey free round here. Swatted at a 9 iron on 15, 141 yards but playing a bit shorter, not short enough for my swing though. Another elevated green, pin right in front, hit the chip shot perfectly to about an inch for a solid par. Hit a blocked 5 iron at the 191 yard 16th, but it kicked off the hill and ended up just past pin high, 20 feet away. I hit the putt exactly like I wanted, but somehow it didn't break, tap in par. 2 holes left and we're even, a good spot, but I'm hitting it on line, fairly solid, and putting well, I don't want to be greedy, but we have goals here and not going for the throat of the golf course won't get it done.

286 yard par 4 17th, I ended up hitting a little cutter off the bunker, preparing myself for a chip and run as the pin is on the far left, but I get down there and see that I got a favorable bounce and actually ended up on the green. About 35 feet away, a bug flew right over my ball as I hit it which really screwed my attempt at it, however it worked out well. Ended up about hole high, 3 feet left of the hole, center cut for birdie from there. 18 is a 129 yard par 3, a good PW for me, but I swatted at this one too, just didn't get any compression on the ball. Result wise, ended up about 8 feet away, which I jarred for the closing birdie.

So all in all, contact is coming around, I'm hitting a few on the toe, but that is a direct result of me still wanting to attack the ball shallow instead of steep, which frankly won't happen overnight. When hit well, it's really well. My putting was pretty darn good as well again, as was my chipping. Pitch shots need a little more work obviously. Overall, the swing shape is great. I think I'm doing a good job of sticking to what Jeff and I are working on, and that is putting me in good position to be able to attack golf courses vs. defend my score. It's supposed to rain here tomorrow, so I'll probably just focus on working out unless we catch a break in the rain. I'm hoping for it as I'd love to go practice for a couple of hours tomorrow.