Golf Central II

Just like my last golf update, feel free to not read this if you have no desire to read it. After completing another 18 holes early this afternoon, now may be as good a time as ever to assess my game now and moving forward.

Driver/Fairway Woods: Increased repetition with these clubs is greatly helping me keep more balls on the fairway and toward my target. I am nearing closer to the day I finally buy a new driver, which I think will certainly help this area of my game as well. When I'm feeling good, I can crush my ball with the big sticks; when I'm not completely on my game, I only hope I'm not screwing up bad enough to really hurt my game.

Irons: I really can't say that my iron game has changed much since my update last week. I'm still making the occasional mishit that can really mess me up on a given hole, especially par 3s. More practice, as well as possibly some practice from some different lies as well, will certainly help take my game to another level and shave some major strokes off my score. Therefore, I'll just reiterate that my iron game today, as it was at the time of my post last month, is still "serviceable."

Short Game: My parents were gracious enough to buy me a 56* wedge for my birthday, and having it in my bag has certainly helped me make shots that I had a great deal of trouble executing without on my bag. I can't say that my short game has improved a great deal since my post last month; I'm not surprised this is the case because I haven't spent nearly as much time practicing near the greens as I had the month before. However, with my new higher-degree wedge in my bag, I can more confidently play a higher amount of different shots that I thought I could before having it. Playing out of the sand, for instance, doesn't scare me nearly as much as it used to.
Remember when I said that I was reworking my grip for my putting stroke? Yeah, I switched my grip again, this time to the putting grip I used for all but maybe two or three years of my life. As of now, it hasn't drastically cut strokes off of my score, but I feel at least a little bit more confident making putting strokes from various distances. At least during my outing today, my putter showed signs of improvement, and I hope the improvement can become routine through these next months of golf.

Overall: Three points that describe where I'm at now with my game and where I need to go:
1. Though my above comments don't exactly sound like I'm doing much improving, I'm putting up legitimate scores that I sure was not achieving either at the beginning of my golfing this year or at any year in the past. Even with the portions of my game that I know I need to improve, I'm scoring better than ever right now.
2. Outside of what I've said above about how I'm hitting each of my clubs, I need to get in better shape than I'm in right now, especially in the parts of my body that are the most vital in executing the golf swing. As of this moment, if I'm playing 18 holes (and riding on a cart, because I'm not nearly good enough to have a caddy carrying my clubs around a course), I don't feel like my body quite has the stamina to carry out a consistent full golf swing throughout the entire round without tiring and thus throwing off my timing.
3. Keep practicing, or the decrease that I've been noticing in my scoring over the past month will cease to continue into next month's Golf Central update.

Golf Central I

This will serve as a quick way to both let you know the state of my golf game, which I have set out to improve tremendously over past years (see my post "Go to a Happy Place"), as well as be something of a personal journal for me to see if I've indeed made the desired improvements in my game. I'll most likely post updates monthly so I can have enough rounds of driving range and time on courses to assess my progress.

Driving/Fairway Woods: Like many golfers, it seems to depend on the day as to whether I'm having a good day with the big sticks. If I just recently worked out primarily my arms/upper body, it will make my shots look a little different than hitting balls not following a recent workout; thus, I might have to adjust mid-round. As they are a couple years past their prime, I am certainly looking to upgrade my clubs. Nevertheless, this does not excuse any poor execution of the golf swing. More practice sessions are certainly a must if I want to develop long shots that are at least somewhat consistently finding fairways.

Irons: My iron play has been relatively solid, aside from a few mishits once in a while. Like my longer clubs, working out and other factors on my physical condition will affect the shape of my particular shot when I'm just trying to hit straight toward a target. Aside from possibly my hybrids, I have no need to upgrade my irons just yet, as I don't believe the money I would have to spend to purchase a new set of irons is not yet at the point of giving my iron play a sizeable advantage in yardage over my current set. In addition, regripping my irons has greatly helped me get my club to where it needs to be in the full swing; it is a very noticeable difference compared with the clubs I did not have gripped (putter, woods, hybrids). All in all, I would evaluate my iron game as serviceable, but always in need of renovation so I can more routinely hit the areas of fairways and greens that I am swinging for.

Short Game: For the most part, I have developed a decent touch from about 70 yards in toward the green; more practice will assist me further in gauging the requisite club length for varying shot distances. What would also vastly help my game is the acquisition of one or two higher-degreed irons than my pitching wedge (at least a sand wedge) that could decrease the roll on these shorter shots and thereby hopefully increase my accuracy. My chipping game has been pretty solid as well. Being able to roll the ball close enough to the hole where I at least have makeable up-and-down putts has been a part of my game I have practiced the most, and I think I am seeing some good results on the course. Even still, this does not give me a reason to lay off working on this part of my game.
The most glaring current weakness in my game is my putting stroke. Star basketball players like Kobe Bryant and Ray Allen shoot essentially an infinite amount of shots to prepare themselves for showtime; I feel this is the best way to not only develop a consistent putting stroke from a variety of distances, but also determine what kind of grip, stance, etc., is perfect for me. Since my last time on a course, I spent some time on the putting surface and reworked my grip and my putting stroke. We'll see by the next Golf Central update whether it's boosted my game to the level of difference-maker!

Overall: Each of these elements of my game has contributed to what overall has been a somewhat inconsistent start to my summer goal of making myself what I believe is a good golfer. As far as I can remember, I am scoring better and losing fewer balls (added bonus!) than I have at this point in previous years. Despite this, plenty of work needs to be done if I want to get to levels I never thought I would fully reach before. As they say in the Department of Redundancy Department, repetition, repetition, repetition.

"Go to a Happy Place"

The weather forecast starting this evening calls for yet more snow for my area. This follows the most recent string of days featuring snow melting and even some sunshine. Man, we can not catch a break with this intense winter weather. As my way of coping with yet more oncoming snow, I figured I'd share something I really hope to get accomplished should the snow ever melt around here.

Starting at the beginning of last semester, but greatly picking up my pace during this semester, I have been hitting the weight room regularly. I feel like it's paid off so far; I have bulked up to a fairly solid 175 lbs., while at the same time making noticeable improvements in my flexibility. I'm not ready to proclaim myself, baseball spring training style, in the "best shape of my life," but I feel great about my progress.

Why dedicate myself so much to the weight room now? The self-confidence and health benefits are great. However, I'm also an extremely competitive person, and I always like to have some way of channeling my competitive nature into something I enjoy. Of course, the things I enjoy most where I can be competitive are sports (I think you've been missing the point of this blog for quite a while if you've thought otherwise). That being said, I hope to vastly improve my golf game by the end of the summer.

I'm certainly not foreign to the game of golf. I played in the summer rarely while in grade school and in high school, and played fairly often over the past few summers since I entered college. Still, I do not feel like I have dedicated myself enough to begin to make major improvements in my game. I want to get to the driving range as often as I can (much more so than last year), practice my short game just as much, and continue to improve my fitness level. Also, my current clubs (especially my driver) have endured their share of shots over the past few years; I may break my personal bank to go to a club seller and get new clubs fitted for my body type and swing. Lessons certainly aren't out of the question; if the greats of golf have swing coaches, I'm pretty sure I could not possibly be above getting swing tips. Also, I may try to avoid the free course around me more often than usual; I'm not sure if its ridiculous tee boxes and inconsistent fairways are very helpful to improving my game.

Despite the obvious costs involved with the game, it seems to me that playing and making improvements in golf is easier than a great deal of other sports. Every single facet of the game can be worked on both alone and in the presence of friends and others. A huge yard is needed for working on drives (if you plan on using regular balls for practice), but there are areas that one can practice even from the comfort of home. Hopefully I don't sound too antisocial saying all this; I love all the golf outings with friends that take place during the summer.

I'm not sure whether talking so much about my big golf plans has excited me more for the spring and the summer, or just made me more impatient in enduring this snowy winter weather. If you actually read this, I hope you stick around, as I have another fun idea coming soon...