One of my favorite golfers? Tommy Gainey. Hoping he has a big year.

Get to know Tommy Gainey

I'll keep this short. Incorporating turning my left knee in early with moving the club into the backswing? Bad combination with whatever I'm doing in my swing. Immediately caused the shanks. Dropped it immediately.

HOWEVER! I did figure out where my occasional unexpected draw was coming from. Setup! I have been getting into my setup with a good spine tilt. I may be shifting weight to my back foot... instead of 50/50 I'm mabye 45/55 front /back foot. If I hang back I let my hands go and there's the draw. I setup well 50/50 for a small bucket and striped all of them!

 Signed up for the www.tgaatour.com event at Waverly Woods 3 May 2014. I figure since I shot the 75 at Lake Presidential and all of the $237.50 I earned will go to the $250 membership fee I might as well get a little more tournament toughness in before the 21 May event a Andrews AFB and maybe earn some more prizes (amatuer remember)!

27 April 2014 - Good tip from Charlie Rymer

Charlie Rymer pointed out during morning drive today that Lydia Ko did a great job of getting her back to the target.  He pointed out she did this during the start of the swing by turning her left knee in early to get the hips moving in the backswing.  Instead of restricting the hips she lets them turn early.



Tried it today in the morning room and it did feel easier to get to the top of the backswing.  I feel like I'm in the same position as I do now with restricting the hips but the backswing felt more effortless.  Could also help on shorter swings for 1/2 shots.

I think I'll give it a shot on the range today

26 April 2014 - 18 at Gunpowder

Wow.  Hilly.  I needed that though, I have 24 days until the MD Open/Amatuer qualifier at Andrews AFB East course.  It's a relatively flat course so should be an easy walk but still need to keep the swing under control and tired legs will derail quality shots.

I got alot out of the walk and found that I could tackle the hills while still using my legs in the swing. However, I didn't spend much time on shot analysis before hitting.  Shots were loose today.

I also think I'm going to spend some time next round hitting drives with different settings on my Titleist driver to see what gets me the best distance benefit.

26 April 2014 - How do I get better?

Bottom line, it's all about improving and beating balls on the range with a 7 iron won't address troublespots... What troublespots?  How well do you play from uneven lies, firm fast conditions, needing a shot shape (draw, fade, high, low) or analyzing the situation and playing the right shot (conservative, agressive, laying up or going for it)

Lookng at my 75 and -1 rounds I see areas that ended with scrambling pars or bogey's.

Cause and effect:

1. Nerves - thin tee shot
2. Skipped putting routine - missed 2 foot par
3. Didn't analyze wind - 30+ feet from flag on 124yd hole
4. Got quick - lucky bounce into fairway
5. Right hip bump on backswing - blocked drive down right w/ bad angle to green
6. Negative thought in backswing - thin hybrid to right of green and poor angle
7. Didn't analyze distance and choose correct club/shot & no practice swings - short pitch lead to bogey on a easy Par 5
8. Pulled driver into hazard - wrong club choice for situation was too risky. 
9. Didn't pull through with left side - 60+ feet left of hole on 150yd hole.  Scrambled for par
10. Weak drive to right side of fw - 25 yds too short to go for green. Par on easy par 5.

Troublespots:

1. 1st tee nerves and execution
2. Hybrid tee and fairway shots 
3. Distance control with wedges inside 105 yd
4. Draw and fade control
5. Lag putting over 40 feet
6. Shots from uneven lies (below feet, above feet, downhill, uphill)
7. Takeaway on long iron/driver swings includes hip bump

Skill development:

1. High trajectory straight/fade/draw
2. Make more midrange putts (9 to 15 feet)
3. Plan use of backboards and spinning the ball back to the hole
4. Recognizing conditions and applying correct strategy (wind, firm, soft)
5. Course strategy (distance, club and direction choices)

SCOTTY!

24 April 2014 - Success! First round ever below par on regulation 18 hole course

Let the record show on Thursday, 24 April 2014 at 6:38pm I achieved part of my goal - shoot under par for an 18 hole round of golf.  The Courses at Andrews AFB, East Course Blue Tees.  71 on a Par 72, 71.9/126.  I played 18 holes in 2 hours and 38 minutes during twilight so I used a cart.

Noting that the course is relatively flat, no rough to speak of and not overly long with early season greens speeds... in short -easy.  However, I'm not going to diminish the accomplishgment.  I've played this "easy" course many times including two qualifiers for the MD Open and never shot even par much less under par before.

The course has odd grass in the fairways and in front of greens.  Some small tufts of grass cause odd bounces.  Even in the fairway a tough knot of grass can twist your clubhead and I had each of those occurences lead to a pushed shot or a bad bounce leading to a missed green and 2 bogey's on the back.  A couple poor swings with my hybrid nearly cost me but great wedge play got me within 12 feet and I made four (4) one (1) putts for pars to keep the round alive (All that winter putting on the basement putting green w/ the best suprise christmas gift from my wife ever... A Scotty Cameron Newport)

STATS:

• 4 Birdies (24ft, 15ft and 3 ft - 1 Chip in ~35 feet)
• 3 Bogies
• 27 Putts
• 7 fairways
• 8 Greens

BIRDIES:

• For each of the GIR's my distance to the hole was pretty good... I hit 6/9 greens on the front nine.  On the back I scrambled alot and hit only 2 greens.
• Distance to the hole for the 1st put #'s 1-5 respectively:  13, 10, 13, 24, 15 
• Distance to the h for #8 I chipped in from ~35 ft from the back fringe
• Birdie putt on hole #9 was 3 ft

19 April 2014 - 75 at Lake Presidential's www.tgaatour.com Pro-Net Tournament

Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF): I shot a 75 from the blue tees.  1 double, 4 bogey's, 2 birdies.  With 5 missed birdie opportunities from inside 15 feet.

Review of Lake Presidential: I understand it's supposed to be an upscale course and that cost money to maintain and I understand contracts made last year need to be upheld.  I also understand that the snow and cold have slowed grass development.  That said there was more dirt than grass in all fairways and the greens were very sandy following topdressing... both due to limited rain and warm temperatures for growth.  Makes it a challenge to putt well on bumpy sandy greens.

What's the good, the bad and the ugly?

• Ugly first - Nervous but in denial.  Between shanking the first couple swings on the range to the thin driver on the 1st tee I didn't 'feel' nervous but the end result was my swing wasn't comfortable.  It turned out to be not having that slight pause at the top of the backswing and a poor transition.  Also due to not using my normal tournament prep process due to limited range balls and a range with NO GRASS!  Had to use a tee to hit irons.
• Bad - Ok, I didn't roll in the 7 foot putt on #2 but the leave was good (maybe 2 feet). The bad is missing a 2 foot putt for par - three putting from 7 feet.  The bad is not using your putting routine on every put unless the tap in is like 6 inches.  I leaned over this 2 footer like it was a tap in and missed it because there was some break and the bumpy greens exaserbated that fact.
• Good - Those 3 strokes (double on #1 off of thin driver and bogey on #2 from 3 putt) were out of character (Ugly Nerves) and should have been par or birdies.  Once  I settled down I played even par golf from that point forward (2 bogey's and 2 birdies).  That should have been a round of 71. 

1. I had 6 birdie opportunities from inside 15 feet and made 1 of them including a 3 footer.  The other birdie was 27 foot putt on #1 handicap hole (hole 7)
2. I made 5 par saving CLUTCH putts on the back nine includes two 1 putts
3. Good course management with only one club I would have changed (Change DR for 2H on 14) and one shot where I didn't collect my distance before the shot lead to a bogey (hole 13)

Overall a very encouraging 1st tournament of the year.  This was, without the ugly nerves, a even par round and without sandy greens possibly a 70 or a 69 with some improved putting.

What to work on? PUTTING!

On hole 16 I didn't use my new lag putting stroke.  I kept my wrists firm and tapped it in perfectly center cut with about a foot of break on a 5 foot putt.  I'm wondering if the lag is too much for short putts.  I also didn't have great feel on the long putts with that technique. I still love the roll it puts on the ball but I think as an excercise it may have taught me how to take my hands out of the pytt and I can get a bit more conventional on the stroke now.

shoulda, coulda, woulda... need to decide when I am playing next. I'm thinking Waverly Woods on 3 May 2014.  I really like that course and it's a challenge with a course rating of 72.2 and a slope of 132.  More appropriately it makes you choose your shots, some are blind so there's alot of trust in executing your plan.

18 April 2014 - Two great practice sessions

Thursday and Friday before the www.tgaatour.com Lake Presidential event, two great practice sessions.  Using the techniques being developed for Brendan and my upcoming instruction product seems to be paying off.

My strategy before tournaments has always been no range practice  the day before an event so I hit balls Thursday.  Why you might ask?  Confidence.  I don't want to undermine my confidence in my swing the night before an event.  I want to go in with positive thoughts.

In this case the practice session made me more confident in my swing.  I hit a half bucket going up through the bag from 52w, 9i, 7i, 5i, 3i, both hybrids and driver.  All clubs hit solidly and most importantly excellent control including fades, draws and low/slow tempo to cheat the wind that was howling.  My lower back did get somewhat tight and I ended up with some less than stellar 2 hybrid shots but back down through my 8i I was again amazed at how well I'm striking the ball.

The Swing...

1. The grip in the fingers feels comfortable now
2. Getting connected with the back of my biceps to my chest/torso
3. Stepping in tall with the club hovering or barely touching the ground (keeping connection with the torso)
4. Get square and ensure correct spine tilt away from the target (4/30/14 - check 50/50 weight balance)
5. Slow "Mike Weir" takeaway from the ball to feel the tempo of the upcoming backswing
6. Slow backswing with resistence in right leg, don't let weight to outside of right foot
7. Roll to inside of right instep to shift weight to left side
8. Turn chest to cover ball, soft arms  - don't hit from the top.  This move keeps the hips turning ahead of chest which is covering the ball
9. As shoulders/chest turn and get hands to slot the right arm extends and the left arm/hand is pulling (I have to pull through w/ the left side or the right hand will dominate and close the face - big pull hook)
10. Stay balanced as you turn to a finish

Today, putting was money also.  The stroke has been improving in the basement.  Brendan noticed that I appeared to be setting up tall to the ball and getting shorter then taller before the stroke. Also that my eyes would get outiside the ball before the stroke.  I recalled from reading Geoff Mangum's site that the proper eyeline requires you to get the back of you head flat with your neck so you eyes properly see the line.

Green Reading:

1. Same method as earlier, find the high point of the putt
2. From the low side of the break, read the green from half way and at the hole with the last foot of the path being most imporotant
3. Does it curve all the way to the hole, does it straighten out anywhere, is it uphill or downhill?
4. Make a choice for the path
5. Pick a target either past the hole or short of it depending on the slope
6. Focus your eyes on the mark and then back to the putter and align
7. Follow "The Stroke" below

The Stroke

1. The grip has the left hand on first with the thumb straight down the flat part of the grip
2. The left pointer finger lifts to allow the entire right hand on the grip, right thumb down the shaft. 
3. Snug the right hand up to the left 
4. Hold the clug loosely
5. Step up to the ball standing tall with feet close together.
6. Look down the line to the high point of the break and then straight through the point to a target near the hole
7. The target depends on if it's a downhill or uphill slower putt, we want to see a mark short or long of the hole respectively to feel the right stroke speed (don't get mechanical with backswing length)
8. With the mark clearly defined/focused in myt mind I look back at the putter head and get the line aimed at my target
9. Widen your stance, see the target and stroke

12 April 2014 - Great practice session

Today's practice was by far the best this year... I think I just turned a corner.  At this point in the year i'm hitting the ball much better than years past all based on fundamentals.  Driving the ball well, solid irons with no pain in my elbow (i've shallowed out my swing, I think the left side pulling noted below helped with this)

The big improvement today came on adding a little more spine angle at address.  I've been hitting my long irons and hybrids weak and to the right and feeling stuck.  The key to making adjustments is don't make more than 1 or 2 at most in a single practice session or you might over-think the golf swing.

Wow, what a difference that made.  It got me behind the ball more and I felt more free to release the club.  My shots started perfectly on line only drifting right due to the strong breezse out of the east.  Every club in my bag was tracking.  With my wedges I was working on distance control by narrowing my stance to control the length of the backswing and found that with a narrower stance the move through the ball felt easier and the balls were still flying as far as my wider stance.

My swing queue's: (1, 2, 4 & 8 were developed/engrained this year between January and April using the new instruction techniques my partner and I are developing for our book)

1. Grip more in fingers with VERY lite grip. 
2. Stand taller by stepping in but hovering the club above the ground behind the ball
3. Proper spine tilt to the right at setup.  I need to incorporate this into the setup routine so that it's ingrained and not an afterthought
4. Square up my rear foot a bit (my right toe had flared out a bit causing my right hip to pop out a bit on the downswing)
5. 1 or 2 "Mike Weir" style pre-swing takaways.  Do the pre-swing takeaways as slowly as your planned backswing.  The backswing should be very slow to setup tempo 
6. Little pause at the top before rolling the right foot onto the instep to start the weight shift to left side to start downswing.
7. Turn your chest while delaying the hit to create lag
8. Pull the handle through the hitting zone.  This is important... I have found that my left hand is just riding and my right hand was dominating the swing. Essentially the right hand was releasing early shutting the club face.  Now, as my chest covers the ball and keeps turning I am pulling through with the back of my left hand through the hit.  It's keeping my hands ahead and really compressing the ball.
9. Retain my posture after the hit while following through

PUTTING: I've been working to increase my visual accuity and green reading now that my stroke is rolling it on the line I want. 

1. To control speed/distance I'm not looking at the hole to determine the feel/length of putt.  I'm looking at a spot either short of or past the hole depending if it's downhill or uphill respectively.  This gives my mind a target to feel/putt to instead of the hole which could produce too firm or too soft a roll
2. When picking a line focus your eyes on the smallest spec you can focus on.  This allows your mind to have a very clear target. When you look back at your ball/putter you will feel the direction of the putt and have that in your minds eye as you make the stroke

This week will be all about getting that spine angle incorporated more naturally but being sure not to over do it.

11 April 2014 - Glenn Dale Golf Club

Got out to play with a co-woker on Thursday after work at Glenn Dale Golf Club.  I was a member at Glenn Dale for two season and enjoyed it as a club.  Short course, the greens are small, tilted heavily from back to front so you MUST keep it below the hole to minimize 3 putting.  There's some elevation changes with elevated tee boxes or fairways sloping up to greens requiring you to club up. If you play from the blue tees you'll be challenged with positioning off the tee. You'll need to hit it either to the right or left of the fairway and long enough to have a clear shot at the green.

3rd round of the year... more positive signs!  To shoot under par you have to score.

Upside?  I drove the ball well off the tee, excellent wedge play (setup three of four birdies) and solid putting lead to four birdies.  The grip is feeling very natural now and combined with the pre-shot routine and good tempo to hit solid shots.

Downside?  Two things... uneven lies lead to poor balance and thin shots and fitness.  I'm walking every round to build up stamina and frankly, my legs were dead after the walk up the hill on 16.  I started pushing the ball when I couldn't get to my front leg on the downswing.  Esentially I had 4 bad holes off of a couple mishits, the unfortunate bounce off of the cartpath that went OB and the three putts.

Promising though even with a final score of +7.  

Next up?  TGAA Tour  event at Lake Presidential.

8 April 2014 The season that might not be...

My MD Open and MD Amatuer are slightly in doubt.  The club where I signed up for a handicap hasn't paid their dues to the Maryland State Golf Association. It's just an oversight and I've been assured the "Check is in the mail" but I have to wait a few days to hear back from the MSGA that my application has been accepted.  Of course I could pay ANOTHER $30 at a different member club to transfer my handicap and get entered.  I'm on the fence/worried about it but I'm communicating with the Director of Operations so I'm hopeful that this will get worked out either way I go.

6 April 2014 - Gunpowder Golf Club

The year just took on a whole new dynamic... for one I think I just found a hidden ______. No, not a gem but a hidden value.  Sunday I decided to find close cheap golf course to play.  Just so happend that there is a new road near my house that opened up.  Not sure how they named it "Contee Road" because it is NO WHERE close to the current Contee Road BUT it connects you to Gunpowder road near the entrance of Gunpowder Golf Course.

So, at 5pm the greens fee was $15.  At 6pm the greens fee is ... wait for it... $5!  Yes, $5  Not sure if that's an early spring price or will it be there all year or moved back some but... for less than half the cost of a bucket of balls at the OVERPRICED Laurel Driving Range you can get 90 minutes of golf in on the course.

I started at 5pm and at 6:30pm I had putted out on the 9th hole WALKING.  I decided to head home but I bet I could have finished at least 6 more holes.  To me that means I could get in 9 holes for $5 most days of the week and some weekends.

ANYWAY!  Why am I more excited about the year?  Ball striking and putting.  I walked out of the car onto the course. I gave myself a few practice balls down the fairway to get the feel and headed into the round.  Fairways and greens (not quite).  The course has some odd angles on the first 4 holes but I managed to get up and down for par on each.  A nice block into the trees on the right on hole 5 earned me a double.

My excitement started building on hole six where I laid up on the construction shortened hole to 97 yards and hit a 58 degree wedge to 3 feet and drained the putt.  On seven I drove it down the right side and from an awkward downhill lie got it on the front of the green for a solid par. More fireworks on hole eight where my 6 iron into the wind from 167 never left the flag leaving me 9 feet downhill right to left.  Great read and perfect roll for second birdie and back to even par.  Ninth hole is SUPER wide open and I still managed to hit it down the right side.  Still had a good angle to the pin from 105 up hill into the wind.  A well struck 52 degree wedge finished 4 feet from the hole.  A chance to get to -1 ... right read but poor speed.  I didn't hit it firmly enough and it broke below the hole...

Basically the grip change I've been practicing daily combined with a consistent setup from last years drills are starting to firm up.  If I can continue to improve my tee shots to combine with the solid wedge game I'm really excited about shooting some sub par rounds early this year (not later in the season as the pessimistic side of my brain is suggesting)

5 April 2014 Snuck in a practice session

I've hit balls 3 times this week after work when I unexpectedly gained free time from my wonderful wife.  A large bucket each time at the University of Maryland should have been a small or medium. I took my time with each ball using my normal pre-shot routine but got sloppy halfway through the bucket - probably tired.

LESSON: We love to hit balls but fewer balls hit well is better than many balls hit poorly.

Wisely, this time I got a small and continued work with the new grip. Today I focused on tempo and staying in my posture with my eyes on the ball longer to stop from popping up.  Also noticed I am swinging with just my right side, passive left arm through impact.  I focused on pulling through impact with BOTH arms and it really helped starting the ball online with solid contact.

KEY: Good tempo, puling through impact with both arms and staying in my posture through the strike by keeping my eyes on the ball.

Also spent some time on the putting green.  The new strokes continues to be solid.  I focused on visually selected a point on the green for both line and speed.

KEY: Instead of looking at the hole I picked out a spot either short for downhil or past for uphill in encourage using my eyes to set feel without being overly mechanical.    it encouraged me to roll it to that point which delivered the ball to the hole with the perfect speed.

HEALTH NOTE: I've been battling a muscle knot in my back near my shoulder blade.  Doing the same drills used in physical therapy years ago along with SALAMPAS patches... slow going and it's pretty painful.  I think my poor posture and weak core muscles contribute to this happening.

29 March 2014 - Duty Calls

Unfortanately had to cancel my tournament plans for this weekend.  I'm the on call manager this weekend and there's a test on our systems. Can't chance a call while I'm on the course.  The weather won't be the best anyway so the field will be small.  Next event?  likely the TGAA event at Lake Presidential in MD.  I'm also excited to have signed up for the MD State Open and Amateur qualifying at Andrews AFB on 21 May 2014.  I've qualified twice at this course and this year I'm more excited about my putting than in any year past.

Practice for tournaments has been interesting... I've made a grip change.  During practices for the past week I noticed the club getting up into my palm and my release of the club through the ball felt restricted.  I made a slight change to the position of the club in both hands... In my right hand I started my grip setup by placing it across the 2nd joint of both middle fingers and the right hand it made sure it was in the same joint.  Effectively this strengthened my grip and while it felt odd I could feel it was more in my fingers.

On the downswing I can feel the club setting better and as my chest covers the ball into the hitting area I can feel more whip through the ball and a crisp strike.  I am noticing more distance and a slightly lower ball flight. I just have to be more conscious of staying in my posture and not popping up out of my swing to watch the ball flight.  Practices are starting well, I'm losing that good feeling part way into practice and then getting comfortable with the grip and pulling the swing back together.