The Melee at Staley this weekend!!!!

My friend Dan's father runs a golf course in Kansas City named Staley Farms. He and I are flying up there Friday to play a 36 hole Ryder Cup type of deal against him and the #1 local women's college player. Supposedly they have taken on all comers and are undefeated. We've played a lot of matches against the old man in years gone by, so this will be a good time again. We haven't played for years. She's playing the whites, his dad is playing the blue's and Dan and I are playing the blacks. 7,018 yards from the tips, so a pretty appealing yardage compared with where we've been practicing for this event. We've been playing a course named Southern Dunes here in AZ that is 7,600 yards from the tips, with a rating of 76.1. It's the toughest golf course I've ever played.

Been playing pretty well as of late, shot 77 at Southern Dunes last week, which is great considering the rating and the fact that I was on my 3rd string putter. The Spider is back from getting re-shafted and I've shot even and 1 under in the last 2 other rounds I've played. Hoping the putter turns it up a notch!

Dan's brother Jack will be out there hanging out for Father's Day so they setup a Twitter page and he will be providing updates all through the event. Check in this weekend 7/20 and 7/21 to follow along or just catch up if you get a chance. We'll be playing the competitive events at around 2PM CST Saturday and Sunday, practice rounds in the morning.

http://twitter.com/meleeatstaley - Sign up to follow the feed, we're trying to get to 50 people following the event, tell all your friends!!!

Too far gone to catch up

Still so far behind, I think I'm giving up recapping the final round from the Phoenix City and the San Tan tournament. I shot 76 the last round of the Phoenix City after making the turn at 2 under, not sure if I ran out of gas or what, shot 6 over on the back, just got on a bogey train and couldn't get off. Then the next weekend at the San Tan I went 74 - 79. I played fairly well the first day, nearly made eagle on #1, but then just fell into a rut, and then bogeyed my last hole to rub salt in the wound. The next day was pouring rain, cold and miserable. To make matters worse, they did a reverse horseshoe for tee times, so my lucky middle of the pack ass at 74 went off promptly at 7AM in 48 degrees and rain. No rain pants, by the time we turned to the back my pants were soaked, my shirt was soaked from the sleeves and back being exposed, and I had slipped twice on tee shots. I turned in 4 over, and shot the same number on the back. As an insult, Mother Nature brought out the sun as I tapped in for par on 18. Bitch.

Phoenix City - Round 3

Ok, so Round 3 and 4 was the following weekend. Round 3 is at Cave Creek in North Phoenix, about an hour from my house. I really like this golf course, played well here last year and got nothing out of it. Trust me, there's more of that coming.

I saw on the pairings sheet that I was playing with my man Joe who I'd played some Golf Channel Amateur events with, so I was excited to see him again. I haven't played any Golf Channel events since before the shoulder surgery, so it's been nearly 10 months since I'd seen him. We go off of #1, a 363 yard straightaway par 4, we all hit driver, the best angle is from the right as the stick is just over the bunker in front, so I hit a nice draw. Just a small flip wedge left, put it about 8 feet past the hole, and left the putt 4 feet short straight downhill, wow, great start. Center cut the par putt and left shaking my head. 2 is a reachable 510 yard par 5, that I block into the trees. So I punch a 5 iron out to about 90 yards and hit a nearly perfect half wedge that catches the ridge and spins back down, straightforward 2 putt from there. 3 is a 195 yard par 3, pin is up front, hit a solid 5 iron that didn't draw, just past middle right about 25 feet away, JUST missed that putt, thought for sure it was in. Hit what I thought was a bomb off of 4, 387 yard par 4, left me with 95 yards, and Joe and another guy were a full 20 yards ahead of me, ouch. Somehow I actually hooked the SW left of the green, shortsided to a pin on a green that slopes away, best I could muster was 20 Goddamn feet, leaving me a downhill right to left par putt that broke 4 feet. Oh, and I left it 3 inches short, dead in the jaws. 1 over.

The tee shot on the fifth doesn't setup good for me, I cold blocked it last year, and followed through consistently this year. I think I nearly landed in my divot from last year. Left me 155 to the hole, back into a freshening breeze now. I decide on 7 and immediately begged for it to get down, luckily I don't know what the hell I'm talking about as it lands dead in the heart of the green, 15 feet below the hole. Hit another great putt that somehow stayed out, straightforward par. 6 is a 532 yard par 5, HUGE fairway, very easy looking hole. Hit it pretty good off the tee, but pulled it and landed it in the left rough. Ball was nearly a foot below my feet, I hit hybrid from 235 and just smother hooked it. Overcompensation says what? So now I've got about 40 yards to a green sitting 10 feet below me, sloping away, over a bunker to a back left (short side) pin. Hit a great pitch but it just kept running, ended up 30 feet away. I felt really good about this putt, even though it breaks nearly 6 feet and I actually lipped it out, tap in par. What a great putt. 7 is a 197 yard par 3, nutted a 5 iron dead over the flag, about 12 feet above the hole. Hit a good putt but it never really had a chance of falling, easy 3 and we're off to the next hole.

Eight is a 437 yard par 4 that has a huge grass covered wash about 290 yards off the tee, OB left, big desert wasteland right. Absolutely bombed 3 wood down the left side after the guy who went before me rope hooked it OB. Pretty happy with the aggressive swing after that. I get to my ball and I'm dead on 150 yards to the hole, but with the ball in the rough and quite a bit above my feet. Well I didn't deserve that. Fat that piece of shit short left, but hit a great pitch to about 8 inches and made 4. Off to the 422 yard par 4 ninth, hit a good tee shot down the right side, still 160 yards out though, bummer. I can feel the breeze, I know it killed my tee shot, but I still pull 7 iron and hit a great shot for a front right pin. Problem is we're back left today, about 40 feet away, hit the first putt the perfect pace, but misread it bad and left it 3 feet right. Made the putt to make the turn at 1 over. I ate the most wonderful flavor of Clif bar ever, Chocolate Brownie, oh my.

Hit driver on the 341 yard 10th leaving me a flip wedge which I pulled a bit, left me pin high about 12 feet left. The putt was low all the way and never had a chance. Ah well. 11 is a 521 yard par 5, water reachable from the tee. I hit a so so 3 wood fully intending this to be a 3 shot hole. The other guys hit bombs and had nothing into the green, kicking myself now. I decide on a 6 iron to lay up to the top of the hill with and fucking blocked it into the trees. Wow, great strategy, now I'm really kicking myself. Luckily I had went back to 6 instead of 5 as I had just enough room to hit a knockdown 9 iron from 135, pulled it just a bit but was pin high in the fringe, about 12 feet away. Very nearly made the putt but walked away with an easy 5. 12 is a 370 yard dogleg right par 4, Hit a beautiful driver down the right side and have nothing left, except for the big huge tree overhanging the entire right side. Looks like the shot here is a big rope hook off the tee, dammit. I figure I'll hit a knockdown wedge to the center of the green, over the big ass bunker, just take my medicine. Typically knockdown shots are supposed to fly low, I however invented the high flying rattle the overhanging tree limbs knockdown that lands 30 yards short of the green. Disappointed and super excited, I hit the pitch to a tidy 30 feet. Yay concentration. I haven't made a putt all day, so I say to myself "well, it's time" and damned if I didn't make it. In my excitement about it, I ran to the left side of the green and gave my best Phil Mickelson winning the Masters leap of 4". Joe and his caddy can't help themselves and promptly tell me "dude, that was gay". True.

13, 171 yard par 3, pin back right, wind is strong now. I nutted a cut 6 iron, looked soooo good from the tee. We get up there and it was actually 25 feet short, I just made a bomb, let's make another. Gave it a run, went about 5 feet past the hole and missed the comebacker. 2 over. 14 is 392 yards, water left and right about 270 off the tee, I hit hybrid right down the center, left me 140 yards and a solid 9 iron to about 8 feet. Once again, the putt never had a chance and we walk off with a ho hum par. I blocked driver dead right on 15, 383 yard par 4, SMACK right into a tree. Now I have no idea where the ball is. We start walking and wouldn't you know it, I'm dead in the center of the fairway. Clean living boys. Still had 150 in, good 8 iron about 15 feet left, putt never had a chance, par. The last par 5, reachable at 518 yards, big tree on the left about 250 out. Last year I blocked it right into a flat waste area and then fatted it into the pond short, this year I blocked it farther right. The good news is I was on a 30 degree slope behind a palm tree, so no chance I'm able to go for it this year. Bad news is I have no idea how far right, left or deep I can hit it to lay up without hitting it into the pond beyond the fairway. I get as good of a yardage as I can and hit a solid 9 iron, dead into the heart of the fairway. I can't remember what I had left from there, but it was a horrible angle, pin cut right behind the bunker. I of course leave it short, but hit an amazing chip shot down the tier to about 4 feet and made the putt for par.

So we're 2 over, we have 2 holes left, let's get something going. 208 yard par 3 17th, I hit the worst 3 iron I've hit in years. Short right, pin is back right, my ball ends up on hardpan on a downslope with zero green to work with. How does that happen? The proper miss is long, and that's where we go, into the fringe, about 15 feet above the hole. Awesome, straight downhill and I leave it 2 feet short. Now it's straight downhill and it breaks outside the hole, and I fucking miss it, double. I hit my driver really hard on 18, right through the fairway into the trees. hit an unbelievable punch 5 iron that was one hop away from being stony, instead it stops on a downslope just short of the green in the rough. I really, really tried to make the chip and ran it 5 feet by. Let's cap off that double with a missed par putt and make bogey on the last hole shall we? Yes. Awesome.

2 over through 16 after some unlucky breaks and go 3 over on the last 2 holes for 77. God I love golf. Yes, that was sarcasm. Shoot me.

Phoenix City - Round 2

Man I'm getting behind. So round 1 at Encanto was a disaster, lots of rust. Round 2 is the following day, I go off just before 10, play with the same guys as the day before. I had to drop my wife off at the airport at 7:30, so it's to the Waffle House for breakfast. Just as a joke, I call my friend Sean Murphy and wake him up to try to get him out for breakfast. He's hung over, played poker until 4 AM, needless to say he's not overjoyed that I called. To add insult to injury, I then suggest that he gets his hungover ass out of bed to come caddy for me. That didn't go over well either, but to his credit, he didn't hang up on me. We talked for a bit then I went in and had the old standby, the All Star. Oh what a meal, the perfect breakfast for any growing golfer. So by then it's time to head out to Maryvale.

I'm on the range warming up and I can "feel" some guy just staring at me, so I turn around to ask just exactly what the fuck he might need from me, and what do you know, it's my man Sean Murphy. Are you kidding me? My man got out of bed and drug his hungover sleepy ass to come out to carry my bag, words can't describe the love I feel for that guy. I have a lot of friends, and he's literally the only one you could get to help out in a situation like that. Amazing. But he's not done yet...

Ok, so here we go. Par 5 first hole, hit a decent tee shot, left me 3 iron in, took a big high cut at the left side of the green, clears the front bunker and settles just in the fringe in the back left, pin is back right, 2 putt from 20 feet for an opening birdie. #2 is 212 yards, and I comment to Murphy that the entire group ahead of us was short. It's playing a bit downwind though, so we pull 4 iron, of course, short left. Pitch was a bit aggressive, about 4 feet past but we center cut it for par. Three is a dogleg right par 4, hit a decent cut driver but back into the wind. We're now just under 200 yards into a crossing breeze, pin is middle right. As I'm pulling my 4 iron I notice that my putter cover is gone. Murphy sees it in the fairway and he literally RUNS down the fairway and back to retrieve it. Hung over and running, haha, what a sight to behold. I was so impressed that I informed him I would carry my bag for the rest of the hole. Haha, what a friend I am. Anyway, hold a 4 iron into the wind, stops about 15 feet short, got it up the hill double breaking, it hit the back of the hole at about 50 mph for another birdie. 2 under after 3, that's a little better. Fourth is a 160 yard par 3 over water, hit a good high hook 7 iron to about 10 feet but leave it low and walk out with a routine par.

Fifth hole is a short par 4, blind tee shot, I always hit 3 wood here, and always nut it, and always hit the fairway. And what do you know, I actually did it again. Left me 92 yards and I hit it 104. God I'm deadly with a SW, what a pathetic attempt. 35 feet away and nearly holed it for birdie, ah well. Sixth hole is a dogleg right par 4, 270 to the water straight out. I hit 3 wood at the corner and hit it so good that I yelled for it to get down. It was fine, dead in the middle. Had 120 yards to the middle right flag, thinned a PW perfectly pin high, about 8 feet away. Missed it and was damned aggressive, hit it 5 feet by, but made it coming back. Seven is just over 400 yards, a bit of a dogleg left, hit a solid tee shot and left me 120 yards again. Ok, don't hit the wedge thin again, mission accomplished. Left myself about 40 feet short, nice execution jackass. 2 putt from there, getting pretty disappointed with these 30+ footers here. Eight is a straightaway par 4, 425 yards, good tee shot up the right side, never comes back. 9 iron from 135 and caught it just a bit heavy, left it in the front fringe, pin is front left, so about 20 feet right and short, very nearly holed that putt as well, thought for sure it was in.

Ok, chop lickin time. Nine and 10 are both reachable par 5's, let's go do some damage. Good tee shot on 9, I had 219 in and hit my hybrid but blocked it into the bunker pin high. Pathetically safe bunker shot to about 10 feet, but uphill and right to left for birdie, never had a chance, left it a full foot short. I swear I wanted to make it, really. So no real damage done, 2 birdies and 7 pars, and there's still some good holes to make some stuff happen. I actually pulled my tee shot on 10 into the left rough, but bombed it so I only had 220 in. Pin is in back on the top shelf and nothing in front of the green. We decide on a little chaser 3 iron to get it up on top of the hill, but I fatted it, about 5 yards short of the green and steam coming out of my ears. Pitch it to about 6 feet after a terrible first bounce that kicked it dead right and missed the putt. We should be at least 3, legitimately possibly 4 under here and nothing to show for it. So now I get aggressive. Oops. 11 is a 175 yard par 3, pin is front left, oh I'm going for it. Hit 6 iron way way way high in the face and leave it in the front bunker. So now I'm short sided AND sitting on the downslope of the bunker. I get cute with it because we HAVE to get up and down, hits the lip and kicks back in. Great. Hit it out from there to about 5 feet and miss the fucking putt, back to even. I hit the tee shot on the par 5 12th hole hard as we had a case of red ass going on now. 590 yard par 5 and I've actually got a chance this time, I've never hit this green, but I have 270 in with nothing in front, we can chase a 3 wood in here and get something back. Hell no, I cold block the 3 wood and hit a 40 foot tall tree, ball kicks straight down onto the hard pan. Brilliant. We get to the ball, I've got a shot. About 80 yards in, pin is middle left, wind coming at us from the left. I'm about to pull the trigger on a SW and Murphy stops me. "Uhhh, where are we going here?" He hasn't said a word to me strategy wise since #2, but I just made double, and now my man rightfully steps in to get my head out of my ass. I tell him I'm trying to hole the fucking thing, seems logical to me. He then points out the overhanging branches on that line and suggests we take the middle of the green and try to make a putt, good call. Hit it dead in the heart about 20 feet away pin high, and very very nearly holed it, just misread it. #13 is a shortish par 4, the green is ALWAYS farther away than it looks, surely I won't be short this time. Bombed driver down the right side, had 90 yards in from the rough, thought I stoned it, we get up there and it had zipped off the green into the fringe. From the rough. I'm totally happy with that. Fuck. Hit a pathetic chip shot that stops 4 feet short on the top of the tier, leaving me a nasty downhill left to right putt for par, center cut it, awesome. #14 is a dogleg left around the only lake on the course, par 4, 280 to the end of the fairway at the corner, I always hit 3 wood. Killed it and went through the fairway, holy shit did I need that shot on 12. 126 yards left, let's hit PW again. Oh yeah, that's right, DON'T thin it! 15 feet past the hole though, no damage, almost holed that putt, was not to be.

#15 is pretty straight, goes back around the lake the opposite way. I pulled my tee shot and hear it hit a tree, but no splash. Well, it has to be dry, but if not, we see where it might have gone. We get up to the tree and can't find my ball until one of the other guys goes farther up on a whim. My ball was 40 yards ahead of where we thought, it had to hit a tree and kick forward hard, over the lake, only left me 75 yards. Amazing, don't know how it happened, I'll take it. At the last instant I had a vision of the thick grass killing the momentum so I gave it a little more flick, 40 feet past. One of the guys in our group left it short so Murphy and I walk around the green on the right and get to my putt from the side, look it over and go. Ran it 6 feet by the hole. Oh shit. As I'm walking to my ball, I notice just how far downhill this putt was, completely missed that, what a stupid I am. I'm so busy kicking myself that I miss the par putt. Murphy grabs my putter before I throw it and calms me down on the way to the next tee by telling me "you better fucking birdie 2 of the next 3 holes". That was the only thing that could have gotten through to me at that time, perfectly said.

Hit a good tee shot on 16, long par 4, dogleg left. I still have 180 yards up the hill, hit a 5 iron at the right side and we'll take a hook if we can get it as there's a nasty bunker between us and the middle left hole. No hook, 30 feet for birdie, how the hell that putt stayed out as well I won't know. Best putt I hit all day, tap in 4. 17 is playing 210 yards, back into the breeze, I hit hybrid perfect and one hopped it on about 8 feet short of the hole, great shot. One of the guys in our group was outside of me on the same line, hitting his putt for bogey (big block into the lake off the tee, big block, huge) and he ran it 10 feet by. Guess where mine ended up? 3 inches short dead in the heart. Murphy about choked me.

Last chance, 420'ish yard par 4 18th, back into breeze still. I unintentionally hit a wind cheating tee shot dead into the heart of the fairway. So this is it, we're concentrating extra hard here, we're looking at the trees, flags, leaves, everything. Murphy thinks it's going to blow it left, I'm thinking he's crazy and it's dead into us. I pick a line at a particular palm tree, he tells me 8 feet right of that. I think he's nuts, he's sure he's right. What a moron, I'm taking my line, he hardly even plays. I pure 6 iron from 160 and immediately start begging for it to stop hooking. He calmly says "I told you". Shut the fuck up. Sticks in the left fringe 15 feet short of hole high. The fringe looks real smooth here, I decide to putt it and leave it 3 inches short dead in the heart. Sound familiar? Murphy about choked me. Again.

So 1 over 73 after being 2 under through 3. The back to back par 5's really deflated me, but there's definite potential here. I didn't really put it into to much trouble except for the 6 iron on 11 and the 3 wood on 12 (I think a direct result of the double on 11). Good stuff to build on. More to come as soon as I get off my behind and finish this up!

Phoenix City Amateur 2009 - Round 1

Round 1 of the even is played at Encanto, arguably the worst course in the rotation. Par 70 and one of those city courses that is showing it's age. Didn't like it last year, definitely don't like it this year. Here we go!

My man Rob Brauer looped it for me this day, very much appreciated. My first tournament back, so it's nice to have someone along with me to keep me from getting too frustrated. First hole is a dogleg left reachable par 5, hit a horrendous weak heeled cut into the left rough, in an open spot between some palm trees. I was going to hit hybrid but Rob talked me into a 5 iron which I pured to 73 yards. Hit a nifty little one hop, zip pitch to about 6 inches for an opening birdie. I pulled 3 wood on the 322 yard 2nd, left me 80 yards over the greenside bunker, thinned it like a bitch and put it deep over the green under a tree. Fantastic pitch to about 5 feet but missed the putt and made bogey. 195 yard 3rd, a hair downwind and hit a terrible 5 iron into the bunker, poor bunker shot to about 15 feet and missed that putt for 2 bogeys in a row. Driver down the right side on 4, still left me 160 yards, pin cut over the bunker. I hit a good 7 iron dead into the heart of the green, should have been fine, instead it hits the back edge and hops nearly up onto the 5th tee, yikes. About 15 yards farther in the air than we were counting on, bad hop on the pitch left me about 6 feet for par, which I pulled, 3 bogeys in a row. Yay.

Fatted a 4 iron to nearly pin high on the 195 yard fifth hole, chipped it to about 2 feet and made the putt for my first par of the day. Perfect driver on 6, left me 117 yards, GW is at home so I hit a soft PW, chunked and pulled pin high left, aggressive chip shot past the hole, miss the putt, bogey. 9 iron on the 132 yard 7th, but it got hung up in the wind, left me about 30 feet, great putt that nearly went in but made par. Hit a good tee shot on 8, 569 yard par 5, solid 3 wood about 60 yards short of the green, time for a nice tight little pitch. Yeah, ahem. 35 feet past the hole, like a surgeon! Cozied the birdie putt to a foot and made par. Hit a good tee shot up the right side of 9, OB left, OB right. I said "the hell with it" and just swung hard. Ended up in the right rough in some casual water, got an iffy lie from the drop and fatted 7 iron to the fringe, pin in front. Rob and I surveyed it and he confirmed it will bounce right on the first hop, had him remove the stick and promptly dunked it, just made the putting surface. Wow. Solid 2 putt bogey from there for a front nine 39, 4 over.

10 is a 304 yard par 4, pin just over the bunker so I hit it down the left side, nearly pin high, about 30 yards left of the green. Hit another wonderful pitch to the center of the green, a mere 25 feet away. Rob says "ok, good shot, center of the green, let's go make the putt". "Fuck you Rob" I replied, there wasn't an ounce of sincerity in that comment. Smartass. Oh yeah, 2 putt par. Time to make something happen, 161 yard par 3 eleventh, pin is back left, we pull a full 7. Ummm, I nearly got "el hosel" dead right, clanked off the fence that lines OB and settled it in between 2 palm trees. Couldn't have asked for a better lie. Pitch to about 15 feet and missed the putt, bogey. 541 yard par five 12th hole, hit a good tee shot up the right side, Rob calls for the 3 wood at the left side of the green, if it fades then awesome. Oh it faded, and hopped and skipped and rode the cart path around nearly pin high. Took a drop into a shitty lie, came out soft and short, too aggressive with the chip shot about 6 feet by and missed it and made another bogey.

Hit a beautiful cut driver off of 13, playing for a hook of course. Actually had an open shot, 9 iron out of the rough and stabbed it, ended up short of pin high left, chipped that to about an inch and finally made another par. 14 is a great hole, 219 yard par 3, playing a bit back into the wind, and I hit a gorgeous cut hybrid, Rob yells "I love it!" as it's in the air. Ballooned a bit and landed short of the green, oh man did that look good for a minute. Pitched to about 4 feet with the lob wedge, Rob and I decided on a read and it never broke. Bogey. Hit what I thought was a very solid tee shot on 15, of course on of the guys in my group hit it FIFTY yards past me. 4 iron to the front left corner about 20 feet away and made an uneventful up and down par. Another good tee shot on 16, solid 6 iron to about 20 feet below the hole. Knew I had this read right, and I was rewarded with a 3 foot par putt remaining. Nice read jackass. Solid tee shot on 17, left me a bit more than a comfortable 8 iron, but when in doubt, hit it hard. Dunked it into the left bunker, short sided, out to 8 feet and missed the putt. 18 is a dogleg left par 4 with OB right, hit a smoked driver over the trees and around the corner to 88 yards. Then put my SW over the back left corner of the green. Up and down for par, which kept me from shooting everyone in sight. Another 39 for a 78 on a par 70 city course, who's the man now? Not me. God I hate this golf course...

Phoenix City Amateur event

I played in the Phoenix City Amateur over the past 2 weekends, just now getting around to posting the details of the rounds. They probably won't all be posted at once, but they are coming...

Posted a new video

I have a new video here on the page and on the YouTube/paperhogan page. Jeff and I were working on 3/4 shots focused on swing path at the ball to fight the pull. Wow is that on plane! Very happy with how that's turned out.

Another overdue update

Been a long time again, main reason I haven't posted is I've been fighting it really bad. I haven't played very well for a while, really poor contact, and I've been struggling mightily to score well. I've also been fighting an over the top pull move, been really hard to shake it. I've been having weekly lessons with Jeff and I am finally starting to see some improvement. Here's an update from just today. Here we go!

Played Las Colinas again, ended up playing the front twice so we could get it all in. Started on #1, 555 from the way back tee, but they were up about 20 yards today. Great tee shot down the middle, left me with 205 in, pin was way up front and I hit a dead straight 4 iron, no cut, just short of pin high left, pitch shot died in the fringe and I missed the 8 footer but made an easy par. Bombed it on #2, 373 yard par 4, probably playing 350 or so today. Had about 30 yards in (tee shot landed on a downslope, so not all me unfortunately). Pin is in between 2 swales, ended up about 8 feet behind the hole, chickened out and left it short, easy 4. 403 yard par 4 third, hit a bit of a hook and got a good hard bounce, in the left rough but only about 80 yards to the back left pin, I actually hit a 6 yard cut with a 3/4 SW (that's pretty tough to do, and no, it wasn't intentional), hit and spun right, about 15 feet away. Missed that putt for another easy 4. 444 yard par four 4th (that's a lot of fours). Blocked the tee shot a bit, had 155 left to the front right pin, into a breeze so I hit 6 iron, pulled it and hit the backside of a hump on the left side of the green, bounced over the path, ended up about 15 yards left and long. Hit a GREAT pitch to about 4 feet and missed it. I guess there really were too many fours on that hole.

Number 5 is a 532 yard par 5, hit what felt like a whimpy tee shot, but ended up 212 yards to the center. Hit my new 19 degree hybrid a bit heavy, landed middle left of the green and bounced into the fringe. Chipped that to about 2 feet and made birdie to get back to even. Sixth is a 186 yard par 3, playing only 167 to the hole, hit a hard 7 and pulled it, pin high left in the fringe. Hit the first putt up the hill and left it about five feet short, and missed the par putt. Gave it right back. Number 7 is a 339 yard driveable par 4 that I have never driven. Why I hit driver here I'll never understand, but I hit driver, about 15 yards short of the green, pin is right in front, slopes severely away from you, of course I end up 20 feet past. Missed the putt low but made par. Eighth is playing 181 yards, hit a pulled 5 iron pin high left, great pitch shot to 3 feet and made it for par. Number 9 is a 380 yard par 4, huge fairway, just licking my chops, and hit it dead in the heel. Stopped just short of the left fairway bunker, 120 yards left to the back left pin, took about 14 pounds of dirt with the fattest wedge ever, somehow made it into the middle of the green, two putt par.

We teed off on 10 back into the first fairway, had about exactly the same yardage in as before, so I hit 4 iron again. Not real solid, ended up just short in the fringe. Very bold with the chip shot and ran it past the hole into the fringe about 6 feet away, but made the putt for birdie to get back to even. Back on #2 again, wanted to hit this one extra hard, pull hooked it, got a really good bounce and ended up 80 yards away. If I'd have been 3" left of where I ended up I wouldn't have had a backswing due to the tree there, but as luck would have it, I was fine. I hit it 81 yards in the air, and got zero spin, ball kept running to the back part of the green. Hit the first putt and it immediately started hopping, you could hear it hitting the rocks and dirt on the green that I didn't see previously, about 5 feet short. To say my par putt was a pathetic attempt would be too kind, 3 putt bogey, gave it right back again.

Hit the middle of the fairway on #3 this time, and ended up in a 2" deep divot (you know, they give you sand to fill in your divots right?). 121 yards to the back left pin, pulled a 9 iron knowing I'd have to just punch it, but got a little too steep with it and ended up short. Hit a great pitch to about 2 feet and made it for par. Here's #4 again 444 yards, I decide I'm going to cut the corner, and I did, left myself 105 yards to the middle. Now, when I say "cut the corner" I didn't picture hitting a smothered hook that somehow missed all the trees and left me in the middle of the fairway, but I'll take it. A bit uphill and a little breeze, so I chose GW, and hit it like shit. But all is not lost folks, somehow that horrible feeling GW ended up 6 feet left of the hole, will wonders never cease. Downhill left to right, hit it just outside the left edge and it never moved. Amazing. No matter, par 5 coming up...

Hit another of basically the same tee shots on the par 5 fifth again, didn't feel all that good, but my ball ended up within 2 feet of where it was the first time around. This time I hit my hybrid perfectly on line, even though there was a good chance it would go over. As it turns out, the ball landed 8" right of the cup, on a downslope, and I end up in this barren, dirt patch over the green. Somehow I got that heavy and left it about 12 feet short. I really wanted this putt and had a muscle spasm (not good timing) and blew it 8 feet by the hole. I was too busy laughing at that poor attempt and never even really tried to make this ridiculous downhill right to left par putt. I of course immediately started to care after I made bogey to go 2 over now. Yay me. Ass. Hit 7 iron again on six, big sweeping hook this time instead of a pull, ended up in nearly the identical spot. Only came up 3 feet short this time (ass), but made the putt for par. Ok, back to #7, remember when I said I can't remember why I hit driver here? Well fool me once...you know the drill. I'm no dummy. So I hit driver again...no, I can't explain why, and put it about 10 yards short this time. Guess where my pitch shot ended up? Yep, 20 feet past the hole, missed it low, tap in par. This is getting repetitive.

I should have mentioned that by now the two of us had caught up to a single (yep, that's right) on #7. He took his sweet time filling in his divot, putting, putting the flagstick away. Ok, he's not used to seeing other people out here this late, he'll get it in gear. So we get to the 8th tee (17 for the day) and Mr. PGA (who had just gone off the tips mind you) was about 60 yards short of the green (par 3, 181 yards). He's plumb bobbing from 60 yards short, behind a tree. Surely this can't be real. After what seems like an eternity, he puts it 20 yards right of the green. From 60 yards. After plumb bobbing it. Ahem. Ok, well we're waiting now, so he'll kick it in gear. Yeah, not so much. Same drill, plumb bob, practice swing, step back to make sure he's lined up, plumb bob it again, then he goes back to the cart to get a different club. There is a twosome behind you, and you are switching clubs after a 90 second pre-shot routine and you are lying 3 on a par 3. Move it dude. So, new club, pre-shot routine again, he misses the green. From 20 yards. After missing it from 60. So he pulls the cart to his ball (about 15 yards from where he was) and goes through the whole damn routine again. Chip shot from 5 yards off the back of the green, survey says...short. So let's see, missed the green from 181, 60, 20 and 5. You have a twosome waiting for no bullshit, 5 minutes for you to play this hole, and it's getting dark. Time to pick up? No. Ben Crenshaw himself has never gathered as much information on a putt that this man is gathering. I'll spare you the details of this pre-shot routine, and the two additional ones that accompanied his 3 putt, and just tell you that he made, let me count...7 on the par 3, with no water, no bunkers, no penalty shots, just raw talent, from the tips, with a group waiting behind him the entire time. Bitter, party of 1, your table is ready...

Ok, so after waiting for at least 8 minutes on a single, I hit a fat 5 iron (yay me again!) that somehow, inexplicably ends up 8 feet left of the hole. Mmmmkay. Left it dead in the heart short, totally my fault. You see, just before I was going to pull the putter back, I thought I should step back and plumb bob it just to piss off my friend, but I kept it inside and laughed and smiled and forgot to hit it. 8 footer for birdie short? Yeah, a little pathetic. Get to #9, last hole, I'm going to bomb it. Nope, hit it in the heel again, this time into the right rough. 125 yards to the back right hole, over a bunker, no problem, I'll hit it fatter than I did from the left side and leave it just short of the bunker. Words cannot describe...so the pin is back right, I've got 8 feet of green to work with and a bunker between me and the hole. As I walk up I notice a small hump to the right of the hole, and figure that's a good spot to land it into to stop it. Hit a nifty little pitch right into that hump, one hop and stop, then just trickles out to the hole, ends up 8" away for a tidy closing par.

2 over 74 on the day, nothing exciting but no big numbers either. Finally hitting the ball out of my own shadow, which felt really good. I've got some impact position and swing path issues to work on in order to get the ball started on line properly and finally get rid of this pull. I'm going to practice for 4 hours or so tomorrow, no playing tomorrow at all. I'll see if I can get out Sunday. Not pleased with the score overall as I just give every damn birdie right back, but it's a hell of a lot better than I've been playing. One other note, the last couple of days I've actually gotten the slightest bit of soreness in my right shoulder, which for anyone who missed it, I just had surgery on back in September. We'll see how that goes, especially after a good practice session tomorrow. I have an appointment with my surgeon in April for a follow up, so I'll be able to get an x-ray and some face time with him to discuss. Until next time!

Breakthrough day with Jeff Ritter

I've been fighting a very pronounced upright swing tendency that I developed over the years after never having seen an instructor. For a glimpse of how bad it was, check this out...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Pwp3a0Z4hg. Jeff and I had gotten it fairly manageable, but I was always fighting it. I'd come back after a few weeks away and the first thing he'd say is "a little flatter, more laid off". God I'm sick of hearing that. But I work my ass off to keep it under control, it needs to happen to get us down the path.

Well today I come in for a lesson, after just butchering what progress I'd made over the past few weeks in a single practice session yesterday. The wind was blowing from the left, I was on the right side of the range, and I grooved an outside of the ball path like nobody's business. Figures, I can't groove anything Jeff teaches me but give me an hour unsupervised and I can chisel bad technique in stone. After warming up and hitting a few, Jeff immediately takes me inside, which was odd because we usually don't go capture video all the time, and certainly not right at the beginning of the session. I know better than to question him so I went along for the ride.

First thing out of his mouth was a change to my takeaway. Now if you saw in the first video, I used to take it WAY outside, a self taught method of what I thought would be a way to keep the club from coming across the line at the top. For those who didn't watch the video, let's just say it didn't help. Well it turns out I might have been on the right track. Jeff changed my takeaway from pushing back with the hands and arms (one piece takeaway ring a bell?) to "almost" kind of cocking my wrists in order to get the club more on plane as the club goes back. I was starting to get a bit inside, causing the next move to be up, which causes the across the line move. So by taking it outside (it's not really outside, it looks like it a hair, but camera angles can fool you a bit) just a shade the next move is a flattening motion. I go through a few takeaways to get down what he's saying and hit a ball. Jeff says "hmmm, that's interesting", which typically doesn't mean anything good.

Turns out, I was laid off at the top, a lot. Holy shit, I laid it off and got it on video? No way! So we take a few more, I must have hit I don't know, 20-30 balls, every single one of them was spot on at the top of the swing. Flat, behind me, not across the line, and not laid off, just, I mean absolutely where we've been wanting it. Here's the kicker, before I was always concentrating on laying it off, now I'm not even thinking about it. I went outside after we were done and hit a ball, threw my club in the air and walked back inside. I said "Jeff, I don't normally do this, but I just wanted to tell you that I fucking nutted it, I mean perfect."

I hit 15 -20 more outside before heading out, and they weren't all perfect from a ball flight perspective, but a change like this doesn't exactly take in 30 minutes. I can say that the swing plane has nearly "stuck" with me. I shot some video in my basement this evening just to see if I was still on track, and 6 out of 6 swings were again, perfect at the top of the swing. I'm beside myself right now. I've been working at this for well over a year, and now it's almost automatic, I'm not even thinking about it. A very small change made a dramatic difference today.

Here's the video from today's session. No audio, just a repeat of the swing about 10,000 times so I can just sit here and stare at it. Today is a good day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r87162WKO8M

Played 9 holes, where did this come from?

So as I said last time, I'm done waiting. Hell, I'm only 8 days away from my follow up visit to the surgeon again (should be the last one). He stated that by this visit I should be back 100%. I've been practicing pretty hard and have had several lessons with Jeff in the past few weeks. Met up with a friend of mine and his son this past Sunday and played the back nine in the cold ass rain, here we go! (Been waiting a looooong time to say that again!)

Started out on #10, 426 yard dogleg right par 4 and SNAP HOOK, hit the downslope and made it into the lake at the corner. Crapola, welcome back. Took a drop and hit fat 4 iron about 10 yards short. Pitched it into the bank and instead of a one hop and stop it took 3, left me about 6 feet left to right down the hill for bogey, which I made. Nice bogey dude, wow. #11 is a 188 yard par 3, pin all the way back, hit 4 iron to the middle left of the green, hit the first putt down the hill, down down down down, about 8 feet by. Nice read, canned that for par. Interesting.

#12 is a 541 yard par 5, tee was up a bit though, hit a great tee shot down the right side into what is normally a chute that runs down the hill but with the wet conditions, it went nowhere. I'm right at 245 to the middle stick and promptly fatted a 3 wood about 25 yards short, on fire. There's a big backstop behind the stick as it's on the bottom of the 2 tiers, so I think "I should skid this in there and run it back down the slope" and I'll be damned if I didn't pull it off. Made the 3 footer for birdie, back to even after 3 holes. Thirteen is a 396 yard par 4 that never plays that far, and I just got a 19 degree Titleist hybrid for Christmas, pured that thing to the left side of the fairway, leaving myself 117 yards to the front pin. Since I just got the hybrid, I had to pull a club out, which of course was my gap wedge, which would have been perfect here. I decide on a little punch wedge but pulled it up on top of the slope left of the green. Now I've got a ridiculous downhiller through 4 feet of fringe to a pin cut what looks like 6 inches on, on a slope that is tilted about 20 degrees, crazy pin. Hit that 8 feet by, couldn't really expect any better for short siding myself, canned that one for par too.

14 is playing 151 yards to the stick, just over the bunker. I nearly whiffed a fatted 8 iron (in the cold too, that HURT), ended up pin high left, about 12 feet below the surface of the green, about 5 feet of green to work with. Hit a nifty pitch that landed in the fringe and ran out to 2 inches short, dead in the heart. I thought for sure that was in. Wow. 15 is a 535 yard par 5, again the tee is up a bit, good tee shot down the left side, but ended up in the left rough on a downslope. I have 210 in with a nasty lie, hey that's what they make hybrids for right? Didn't hit it all that well, but you really can't hit a bad shot with a hybrid, it hooked back into the fairway and when I got to the green I see I made it on the front, about 30 feet short. Missed the eagle putt (on the high side mind you) by no more than 3 inches, birdie to get to 1 under.

Blocked my tee shot on the 390 yard 16th into some trees and rough, but plenty of room to get out. I'm left with 110 yards (hey, great shot for a GW no? dammit...), it's a bit downwind so I pull SW, but no, leave it about 30 feet short. How this putt missed I have no idea, just turned right at the last possible second, tap in par. 17 is playing 151 yards (just like 14) so I decide to hit a better 8 iron. Well, it wasn't fat. Way out on the toe, comes up about 8 yards short left, hit what I thought was a too soft pitch but it bounced hard out of the fringe somehow and ended up about 8 feet past the hole. I surveyed the putt over and over and played it left edge, ended up 18 inches right of the hole, great read jackass, back to even.

18 is a 420 yard par 4, HUGE tree in the middle of the fairway, pin is left so I take the right alley and busted it good. Left me with 114 yards to the pin (anyone seen my GW? Oh yeah, it's in the trunk of my car...) so I decide on another little cutesie wedge, which I fatted to about 5 yards short of the green. Well, I've been chipping and pitching good during my practice sessions, so let's make good use of it. Pretty straightforward shot and hit it clean, viola, chipped it in for birdie, back to 1 under. Will wonders never cease?

We turn to go back down the front but there's quite a few players out and it's backed up so we call it a day. It's sort of official from a USGA standpoint as the 9 hole score counts, but most of all it was me back out on a golf course again. Pretty damn happy about getting the first tee shot wet and still keeping it all together. Just a friendly round but I was surprisingly calm throughout the day, never worried about making a put, hitting it offline, not scared of trouble / OB, just "played" and it felt great. It's great to be back!