The Best Way to Get to the Masters (Part 2)

My last blog post was regarding practice, and, the importance of practice, practice, practice.

Although I can't stress this enough, I do want to note that practice alone is not an answer.

SMART PRACTICE is essential.


I hit the range twice this week, and took notice of the other hackers working on their game.

Many (MOST?), swing, ball after ball, and repeat same slice (hook, top, etc.) over and over again, thinking that just swinging again will fix the issue.

Some others I see attempting to look at their swing.  Looking back at the club in the back-swing, or taking slow swings to see what it looks like.

When I went to the range on Tuesday, I had an awful slice with my drive, and was chunking my pitches.  Note, that my under-100 yard shots are all pitches with different clubs, and different length back-swings.

As of late, I had been hitting many FAT.  If you're a novice golfer, FAT does not refer to that jelly roll around my midsection - it means you're swing arc bottoms out before hitting the ball.  The end result is hitting the ball short (or barely at all).

On Tuesday, I took a video of my swing.  I see these videos all over FB, GolfMatch, and other sties for their #TipTuesday, where you post your swing, and get analysis by roughly 4,000 other hackers who not only comment on your swing, but your poor choice in shoes, attire, and hair style!

As I watched my drive swing on the video, I noticed right away that my first move was to cock my wrist, and then take the club back. THIS IS BAD!!

As I thought about it, I remembered that last season I had a very bad case of Golfers Elbow (tendinitis in the lower part of the elbow).  I might have adjusted my swing (subconsciously) in an attempt to minimize the pain, and my "muscle memory" now took over.
It looked ugly.

So, on the Thursday practice session, I made a point of keeping my takeaway all shoulders, and not cocking my wrists until my turn stopped.

WHAT A DIFFERENCE!  My drives were straight or a draw.  Such a simple change, yet so difficult to analyze when you look at yourself.

With that issue fixed, I now needed to fix my pitch shots.  I took out my two fold-able alignment sticks.  I recently got these off of the GCT (Golf Club Traders) forum on Facebook.  A great place to pick up equipment pretty cheap.  The pair was $10 with shipping.

So I set the sticks up aligning to the 50 yard marker.  I was still hitting chunks 50% of the time.
Then I reset the stick to 90 degrees off - meaning it was under me facing the ball.  As I set up directly over the stick, the ball should be at the tip of the stick (dead center of my stance).

I now saw that my setup had the ball a shade forward - a damn good reason to hit the ball FAT!

Once I adjusted that, my pitches were on point again.

So, what's the object of this post?

When practicing, don't keep swinging and repeating your errors over and over again.  I've always referred to muscle memory as a good thing.  But, in this case, if you keep repeating the wrong swing, your muscles will remember this and repeat it in practice.

1. Pay attention to your swing and issues.
2. Use practice aids to determine what you problems are.
3. If all else fails, see your golf instructor for some help.

I can't wait to hit the links this weekend and see if I can finally shoot a decent score.


Until next time

Keep it in the Short Hairs 

The Best Way to get to the Masters

There's an old joke that goes,

A visitor to Augusta on Masters weekend is driving around lost.

While driving, he sees Jack Nicklaus in his car.  

He yells out the window to Jack,

"Jack, how do I get to the Masters?"

Jack's reply is, "Practice, practice, practice"

Well, it might have been Palmer the first time I heard it, but the message is the same.  The only way to get better at golf, is to practice.

I play with a lot of golfers.  I will go out with friends, I'll go out alone and play with other groups, I'll meet some of my GolfMatch friends, or GolfStud friends.  

Invariably, I will play with a golfer that says "I can't believe how bad my game is".  

REALLY??? HE CAN'T BELIEVE IT???

More often than not, the words are spoken by a weekend warrior - those of us that have 9-5 non-golf jobs, and come out on the weekends to hack around the course with expectations of grandeur.  

How can a person think they are going to be a better golfer, when they play once a week?

Golf, like many sports, requires effort to become good.  It requires only a little effort to become a decent golfer.  It's a game where "muscle memory" is a key component of anyone's game.  If you're muscles are not trained to do the same thing over and over again, you are bound to fail.

If your pre-shot routine is to remember the 218 different swing thoughts that you've been taught across your golfing lifetime, you're bound to fail.  

As each golf season starts (in NY that's late March, early April), my game SUCKS!!!  It's almost depressing.   After all, I haven't swung a club in months. 

But, I head out to the practice areas mid-week to work on my game.  

This year, the weather has been awful, so I hadn't been able to get any practice time in, either at the range, or at the putting/chipping area.  

And it was reflected in my scores.  My 18 hole scores ranged from a low of 96 to 100 - on a consistent level.  Granted, the weather was playing havoc with the game, too.

High winds, light rain, low temperatures - all took their effects.  But, the root cause of the breakdown was a lack of practice time.

Finally, last week we had some good weather.  So, I went out to the range - twice.

I am lucky enough to work across the street from a golf course, and practice range.  So, getting to the range is not difficult.  

Leave work

Drive 5 minutes to the range, 

Wham!  

So, I hit the range - with two objectives.  

1. Work through all my clubs, focusing on setup and form.  
2. Get the balance of my new clubs (I replaced my old TaylorMade 4W, 7W and 4H with new Taylormade 3HL wood, and a 3 and 4 hybrid - both M2.

The results were not outstanding, but I was aware that it's a process.  

So Saturday's round started off much like my previous ones - after 8 holes I was 14 over par - already.  

Then, somehow, the muscles started to remember what they were supposed to do.

(at my age, I'm lucky that I or any body part remembers anything!)

I parred 6 of the remaining 10 holes and was 6 over for those 10 holes.  

What a change!  

My new GolfMatch pal Liam was with me, and was good enough to take a photo of our round.

So, my recommendation to all of you weekend warriors is to get out at least once mid-week to hit a bucket of balls.  And, don't just whack at it - work them.

I takes me 45 minutes to an hour to work through a bucket.  Between warming up, and working my swing, it takes a while.

I recently got alignment sticks, so I set these up at different targets to work different aspects and clubs.  I follow my usual pre-swing routine.  Then I watch my ball flight, and step back.  

Then start the pre-swing routine again.  

As the weather warms up, I'll head out at lunch to putt or chip for a bit - no one should ignore these critical components of their game.  

Every little bit of practice works.

So, my suggestion to all you golfers (or other sport enthusiasts) is to take Jack Nicklaus's words to heart.

Practice, Practice, Practice

So, until I see you on the fairway, or at the range

Keep it in the Short Hairs