21, 22.....23, 24.....25, 26

One of the most difficult and frustrating aspects of my golf game has been taking the progress I make on the range to the course. Part of that can be attributed to less-than-intelligent practice; it's easy to groove a nice swing with the seven-iron by your 14th consecutive swing with the club and easier still to forget the first 12 to 13 swings and convince yourself you hit that club well. It's no surprise then, that the results on the course, where it's "one and done" rarely match either the perception or the reality of the practice leading up to that round. Towards that end, I've resolved to dedicate far more of my practice to true simulation, where I do only get one shot with each club and, further, don't get the luxury of working my way up gradually through the clubs, but rather hit driver, 7-iron, gap wedge or driver, 9-iron, 9-iron (chip).

Beyond that, however, I have to admit to nerves taking over. For every other sport I'd played at any competitive level, nerves could be fairly easily harnessed to work to my advantage. Further, those other sports forced me to react and operate far more instinctively given that the sport unfolded far more quickly (i.e., outside of the free throw in basketball, no aspect of the sport is as deliberate and slowly paced as every golf shot). With golf, though, I have the "luxury" (which at this point is still a curse) of having the game unfold largely at my pace - and it's less reactive than it is contemplative. This tends to exacerbate the nerve problem.

The way I'm coming to address this is through an old technique that got me through many a flight back when I was *terrified* of flying. Now I'll do it multiple times per week without batting an eye (yes, I'm highly important and "in demand"), but there was a time where the thought alone would cause me to sweat, even with no flight scheduled or anticipated for that year. Yet I still had to make it back for weddings, family celebrations and the like, so I needed a coping mechanism of sorts. That became a very steady, calming counting at a very soothing pace...almost like an internal metronome. In "packs" of two, I'd just start counting off cycles of 100s: one, two.....(pause)....three, four....(same pause).....five, six. I would carry this out at a minimum of 10 times and often restart the count if we hit turbulence. I won't lie, there was a flight or two where I counted the WHOLE flight off in that manner.

But it worked. And I figure if it allowed me to remain at least somewhat calm and rational when I quite truly believed I was seconds from plummeting to my fiery death (to the point of very seriously debating whether I should alert the flight attendants to my need for an emergency landing), then surely it can get the trick done for the golf jitters.

To test the theory, I've begun counting off in that same fashion that I used on my (perceived) doomed airliners while on the range or practice green. I always start at 21 these days (it just seems more melodious or something) and I have found so far that some of my best practice stretches come when the count is successful in removing me from my nerves. In fact, on my best shots, I'll often find myself still counting out to 88 or so in my head without realizing it - recognizing the ongoing count only when I go to start over on the next shot.

They say every golfer needs a routine and mental "constant" to act as a security blanket in a sport that tends to remove you from the more rhythmic flow of instinct and reaction - and I think I've rediscovered mine.

Product Review: Tour Striker

The first year of golf, if anything else, is a quest for shortcuts. You begin that first year believing that "it can't be *that* hard once you have at it with any sort of consistency," and quickly realize that, yes, it is that hard. This inevitably prompts one to look for something to "speed up" (shortcut is such an ugly word) the process. Invariably, we look everywhere (informercials, sporting good stores, etc) we probably shouldn't when the best way to speed up that process is undoubtedly a package of lessons. But that requires the swallowing of pride, more than an hour and greatly more than 100 bucks in most instances. And this mindset is precisely what makers of golf training devices the world over prey on.

Still, lost amongst that deluge of contraptions, some pieces of equipment deliver. And the Tour Striker, as far as I'm concerned, is one of the better amongst those pieces. In the picture above you'll see a normal 8-iron to the left and the Tour Striker (mean to resemble the 8-iron in length, loft and lie) to its right. You'll immediately notice the stark difference in shape, particularly the "bulbous" lower portion of the clubface on the Tour Striker. Given that there is in effect no "lower" portion of the clubface, if you so much as catch the ball even slightly on the upswing, you'll hit a low, screaming worm-burner at best, or more likely a dribbling ground ball. Yes, this club makes you look foolish at the range.

Why, you ask, would a manufacturer do such a thing? Or why would a beginning golfer, already hiding in shadowy corners of the range to avoid looking foolish intentionally exacerbate that potential? The purpose is to provide instant and unmistakable feedback: if you try to catch the ball on the upswing as opposed to hitting down on the ball, with the hands ahead of the ball at impact, you'll catch it on the bulbous portion of the clubface, with the results pointed out above the inevitable result. Hit down on the ball correctly, however, and the ball flies just as well as your standard 8-iron.

What makes this so valuable in my opinion is that most beginner golfers don't have the slightest clue A) that you should be hitting down on the ball (i.e., the bottom of your swing plane/circle is actually ahead of the ball and not *at* that ball) or B) that they subconsciously continue to engage in attempts at scooping the ball even after learning "A." In "I'm a highly technical golfer with a highly polished golf vocabulary" circles, that's known as "flipping" at the ball. In short, flipping at the ball is the act of 'flicking' your wrists in the last millisecond of the swing because - whether you're consciously thinking this or not - your mind can not accept that the ball will get airborne unless you scoop it off the ground. While they may blame a multitude of different reasons, this is more often than not THE main culprit behind those shots that dig in to the ground well behind the ball and take more turf than titleist - when attempting to time a delicate wrist movement while the clubhead is traveling anywhere from 75 to 105 MPH you'll get away with it on occasion, but only on occasion.

The Tour Striker won't even allow you to get away with those occasions. If you flip in any way, shape or form, it lets you know right then and there. No video analysis, no feedback from an instructor (NOT that I'm advocating this as a substitute for an instructor) - just affirmation of a solid impact position (or lack thereof).

Now, all this is predicated on one caveat - though you'll hear me bemoan "mat" ranges all over this blog and encourage beginner golfers to get on turf as soon as possible, this is an absolute exception to that. The more firm of a surface you can hit off, the better. If you have a lie board, use that - otherwise, use the most worn, flat, "non-fluffy" range mat you can find. The reason should be evident in looking at the picture of the Tour Striker; if you can get away with letting that feedback-laden bulb slide under the ball because of soft, artificial mat grass, you've immediately mitigated - if not eliminated altogether - the merits of this club.

On my list of equipment that's worth it, this one is right at the very top. I highly recommend you give it a try. It's very reasonably priced given that it can provide weekly or even daily lessons ongoing in perpetuity once you've made the investment.

http://tourstriker.com/

Of course, I must caution you that clicking that link will lead you to a picture of Gary McCord, beaming that "there's candy in the van" smile. But if I can still recommend you click that link, then that should further support how much faith I have in this product to be of value to a golfer trying to cross from beginner to intermediate.

My favorite swing drill EVER

To me, this about the single best swing drill I've ever utilized. I recognize full well that a relative beginner shouldn't be championing the merits of one drill over another necessarily, but I've said from the get go that this blog was very specifically intended to capture the thoughts, learning processes and steps of a struggling golfer, since there was very little of that out there when i went looking initially.

It's often said that you don't hit the ball with the backswing, but it doesn't take long in the game of golf to learn that you don't have a prayer of hitting the ball well without starting from the right position, and you can only get there via the backswing. Anytime I'm struggling, this drill almost immediately sets me back on the right path. I consider it so effective that I've often considered taking it to the course at times.

At this point, I'll shut up and let Faldo himself do the talking....

This time....this time it'll be *different*

Old bear; new putter. Given my renewed commitment to meaningful practice as opposed to mindful raking of balls at the range, I'd spent the last month - in part - realizing just how truly bad my putting was via my inability to display even the most pedestrian competence in carrying out the three foot 'round the clock drill. While there was far, far more wrong with the big picture than just my putter, I did strongly suspect that my putter face was too "jumpy," and even the tiniest tap had far more explosiveness than I would have liked. So I switched to a lighter, softer putter - the Odyssey #9 (seen with the bear i was given on the day i was born).

This time it will be different. This time the undeniable mastery of WHITE HOT technology is on my side. No more yips, pulls, pushes, jitters or quickly picking up a four-footer, laughing nervously and trying to convince the group, "hey, it's automatic...wanna keep up pace of play." This putter came with a *putter cover*, so you just KNOW it's high class. And I intend to treat it like the high class putter it is. Starting from here on in, I'll be tracking my putting practice on a stable landing page within the blog - recording personal bests on the three foot 'round the clock drill and its more insidious six foot counterpart.

I am putter...hear me ROLL.

Does the World Hate Golfers?

My "home" driving range abuts a fairly busy road - not some multi-lane expressway or even a state highway - but a heavily-traveled surface road. Put another way, travel on the road is just slow enough that anyone driving on it gets a good look at the folks on the range and just heavy enough that you get a pretty good sampling of traffic in any given range session. Spend enough time there, and you're sure to see your fair share of flat tires, speed trap victims and even the occasional fender-bender. But you'll also hear your fair number of "fore!" shouts coming not from the adjacent fairway, but the road - this in addition to loud, prolonged honks having nothing to do with the cars on the road and an abundance of "you suck" screams that trail off very distinctively one way or the other depending upon which direction the car is traveling.

Over the last year, it's become clear that anonymous passersby take a very real joy - or at least satisfaction - in screwing with golfers. Never have I heard "airball!!" shouted from a random vehicle while playing basketball on a roadside court. Nor do I imagine too many joggers being subject to "don't trip!" taunts as they make their way down the street. Yet you can't spend an hour at this driving range without hearing those equivalents and then some hurled at the line-up of golfers doing their thing. You get the sense that not only do the drivers/passengers of these cars want to witness a golfer failing, but they want to play an active role in that golfer's failure.

It's evident that the world at large harbors some sort of animosity towards golfers - an animosity it goes out of its way to voice. And I have to concede that I get it. I'll often say that I love golf but hate golfers. It remains a sport largely inaccessible without a not insignificant degree of financial commitment and the sort of career/lifestyle that affords you the luxury of good chunks of leisure time. For the guy struggling to find an hour to get to the grocery store in his day, I can sympathize with the frustration he might feel when confronted by the fact that some individuals are able to take five hours out of their day, drop 150 dollars on what amounts to a long walk and not bat an eye. And it doesn't help that most golfers lavish in being able to play up that aspect of the sport.

There's another blog post growing out of this phenomenon for sure, but in the meantime - golfers beware: there appears to be a world out there waiting for you to fall flat on your face.

Staggering Update: Grip Change

In what might be the biggest change I have made to my golf game since starting in earnest almost one year ago, I elected to change my grip from the interlock grip (middle picture above) to the Vardon overlap (right-most picture above). This was a fairly significant change given that not only have I spent the last year (well, almost year) with the interlock grip, but it has been my natural - or at least ingrained - preference as far back as when I first grabbed an ancient bamboo shaft driver from my grandfather's basement and whacked tennis balls with it as a means of more efficiently playing with my hyperactive Australian Cattledog. In short, this was a significant departure from any semblance of a "norm" or "instinctive feeling" as I'd developed in the game of golf, and I can only liken it to trying to write with your left hand if you're right-handed, or maybe more accurately shooting a left-handed lay-up (again, for a righty) for the first time once you get to junior high and the coach actually starts coaching as opposed to babysitting.

Without question (just as with writing or shooting the lay-up in a non-accustomed fashion), the change will represent several definitive steps back, and I certainly wouldn't so willingly accept this bit of regression if I didn't think it was *clearly* worth it. And I do believe it's worth it for two key reasons - one somewhat micro and short term, the other far more macro and "looking forward."

1. With regards to the short term, you will - if you've noted the comments on my practice calendar at the bottom of the homepage - recall that I've been making a very diligent effort to "remove" my right hand from its domination of the swing. Being right-handed, and having a tendency to want to use my arms as opposed to letting them be "pulled" by the lower body, I've long suspected that my overactive right-hand was to blame for a poor swing bottom (in short, fat shots). To remedy that, I'd taken to practicing the Ben Hogan drill (linked here) in which he advocated removing the right forefinger and thumb from the club in order to get a feel for a more even-keeled swing. The results were sufficiently impressive to the point that my suspicions were confirmed - once my right hand was out of play a bit, the swing was far more smooth and the contact more crisp. I couldn't, however, play with that grip (at least not on a long term basis), so I set to finding a way to take my right hand out of the equation and mimic that Hogan drill feel. Through some rather quick experimentation, the overlap grip proved to be as close to an instant solution as I believe I'll come across in golf. With my pinkie fingers not "linked," I feel as though my right hand is "floating" on the grip - the exact feeling I have with the Hogan drill. Though it's only been a few days, the results are incredibly promising and have me looking forward to the start of the official season far more than I was just a few weeks ago, when I felt as though I was butting my head against a wall.
   
2. From a more macro perspective, the unfamiliar, even foreign "feel" of the new grip has essentially given my entire golf swing a rebirth. Everything feels different, as if I just started golfing anew only a few days ago. Most importantly, though, I feel as if I just started physically but I have the benefit of a year's worth of trial and error as well as other forms of learning to immediately impart upon this "new" golfer. I'm at a loss for a sufficient way to explain it other than to resort to the following: imagine a basketball player who goes through junior high with a rather ugly shot - a "push it from the hips" type of shot that works against 5'3" junior high kids, but doesn't quite cut it come the first day of high school when 6'3" just might be "short" (my imaginary example of a kid goes to an inner city basketball powerhouse). At some point he's forced to abandon that shot and essentially start over from scratch. In doing so, however, he carries with him all the knowledge, trial & error, and learning that helped him cultivate his shot, but almost instantaneously erases all of the ingrained bad habits that had manifested and become an inherent part of his shot. Essentially, he becomes a blank slate from a physical standpoint, but with a mental awareness and "know-how" well above and beyond that of a traditional blank slate. It effectively becomes a way to reboot bad habits without erasing the beneficial eureka moments that blunted those bad habits. That's where I feel as though I'm at with my golf swing....I essentially have the opportunity to start from scratch given how everything feels new again, but with a year's worth of diligently accumulated knowledge.
   

I'm not suggesting someone read this and go make a drastic change simply for the sake of making the change per this "blank slate" theory of mine, but rather pointing out how one very deliberate alteration (taking the right hand out of play) has had a tremendous unintended side-effect of sorts. Or maybe I'm just trying too hard to be an optimist with regards to the "two steps back" aspect of the change........

Feel Good Stories....that make you feel *horrible*

The next time you're struggling on the range or embarrassing yourself on the course and feel inclined to blame your equipment, the playing conditions or the killer shoulder workout you did earlier in the week which simply *must* be affecting your swing, consider the following feel good stories which should at the very least keep you from ever blaming your terribly outdated, 2007, if-only-I-had-access-to-the-latest-technology-like-the-pros-I'd-break-80 driver for your golfing woes.

• There are a number of blind golfers who play staggeringly well. "Define staggering," you say? A blind golfer has shot a 74 during tournament play. Of course, you can take some solace in the fact that he was allowed to ground his club in a hazard, so he, too, had built in advantages you aren't allowed.
• So let's up the ante and take the hazard factor out of the equation. In March of 2005, a blind golfer just shy of 80 years old recorded a hole in one on the 170 yard par 3 11th hole at the Twin Pines Golf Club.

Complete lack of eyesight in a highly visual game not quite enough to convince you that blaming the new grooves rule for your nonexistent short game might not be the most empathy-inducing excuse at your disposal? Fine then, let's play hardball:

• Butch Lumpkin has *no arms* and ONE FLIPPER (yes, there's a horrible golf joke in there about keeping your hands ahead of the ball at impact). Yet he's a 9 handicap who some time back stopped considering it a big deal to break 80.
  
• Or how about George Utley, the Idaho golfer without the advantage of that one flipper. He has no arms or upper body appendages whatsoever, golfs using his armpits and has shot an 81.

"But golf's a game of using the legs," the most stubborn reader might insist. "Once you learn to use your legs and hips your arms might as well be non-existent; my instructor said so!" Well, you know where I'm going with that one. Predictable? Of course. But let's quickly profile a med student born with no legs who regularly shot in the 80s (from a makeshift stool so he could use regulation clubs....a stool which he would topple off of several times a round if really trying to carry a drive).

So there you have it: feel good stories, that if you're anything like me when it comes to explaining away a bad shot ("ahhh, these spikes are new, I can't transfer my weight as precisely as I'd like just yet until they're broken in a bit"), should make you feel pretty damn horrible.