Alright, as I commented in the "resolutions" thread, I have two "major" goals for this season:
1. Break 90 by mid March
2. Break 80 by the end of the season
I'm not saying that I want to be down to a 5 by the end of the year (although that'd be nice), I'd just like to get a few killer rounds in this year. I'm going to go about it by mainly achieving several small goals.
1. Work on my fundamentals (which are generally pretty good) by maintaining a strong pre-shot routine. I follow the "GAS" method (Grip, alignment, and stance).
2. Work my swing mechanics. I've been told by every pro that I've gone to that I have a fundamentally strong (not perfect or even sound) and a fairly natural swing, but I need to work out a few minor flaws that cause a lot of damage. These include an overly active upper body (my upper outraces my lower on the downswing, which leads to pulls), occasional plane problems (generally good, but nobody's perfect), and wrist hinging and releasing at the proper times (I tend to hinge a bit late and release a bit early, which greatly reduces my power at impact - although my size still makes me quite a bit more powerful than many others that I know). I have a few other minor things, such as being extremely right hand dominant, which tends to cause me to close the face at impact, and also when I try to generate more power, I tend to come over the top and we all know that leads to significant problems. Oh yeah, and I need to smooth out my tempo a bit, a more relaxed back swing rather than the "throw-back" that I sometimes start to employ when I get worked up.
3. Short game. While my short game is generally not "bad", I'll rarely get up and down for par, but often for bogey. I don't have a lot of 3 putts, but I do have a lot of 2 putts (often within 10-15 feet). I need to work on getting my pitches and chips closer to the hole, rather than just onto the green. I need to work on my putting within 15 feet to start being able to make more of those. I need to make sure that I don't 3 putt from the 15 foot+ range, much less within that. My lag putting is generally not bad, although I do still get the occasional "oh my, that's still 10 feet from the hole" putt.
4. Mental game. I need to maintain my cool. I need to forget bad holes and somehow not let it affect my game. An example of this was when I was playing Fraserview last Tuesday and dropped my scorecard on the tee box at 13 (the downhill par 3 with the water hazard in the pictures). I noticed as we were walking to 14 so I ran back to the tee box to get it and ran back to the tee box at 14. This was a bit of a stretch for my old tubby lungs, so when I got back to the tee, I was winded and the blood was really flowing. I hit a bad drive OB and hit another that wasn't much better, but was playable. I ended up with a 9. I followed this up with a 7 (another lost drive), a 4 (with a nearly lost drive) on a par 3, and an 8 after I lost a ball on a really nice approach shot from 200 that just hit the cart path just left of the green and in turn sent the ball sailing into the woods. I just about lost it, but tried really hard to keep my focus. I then lost the scorecard again somewhere between 16 and 18 and therefore couldn't even add them all up. I think I had a 7 on 18 with another lost ball. I had obviously lost my focus and could think about nothing more than NOT LOSING ANY BALLS and just kept losing them. Hell, I almost lost a tee shot on a downhill par 3 - a bloody 7 iron!
5. Attached to the mental game is course management. I need to stop going for glory. I'm not on the tour. I probably never will be. I don't need to try for shots I don't have a high likelihood of success with. I can very easily hit par 5 greens in regulation, even if I hit bloody irons off the tee. I need to play smart and to my strengths (currently my iron game because I've totally lost my tee game lately). I should really just leave my driver at home until I can regain some confidence with it. I need to do things like hit my hybrid off the tee more, hit layups and go for bogeys rather than risking it all for a bit of glory.
I'm fairly confident I can break 90 as early as my next round by focusing purely on #5. It's pissing rain right now, but might clear up early next week in time for me to get a decent round in somewhere. Breaking 90 shouldn't be hard for someone who has a half decent short game, a fairly strong iron game, and is generally pretty long (not super long, but an 8 is usually 150-5 or so, a 6 about 175, a 4H about 200-225 etc). Avoid the blowups, hit the smart clubs, and keep it in the short grass.
Anyhow, that's about what I can think of right now, but I'll keep updating this thread as I make actual progression, including links to videos of swing progression and what not. Hopefully these won't include anymore shank music videos though.
1. Break 90 by mid March
2. Break 80 by the end of the season
I'm not saying that I want to be down to a 5 by the end of the year (although that'd be nice), I'd just like to get a few killer rounds in this year. I'm going to go about it by mainly achieving several small goals.
1. Work on my fundamentals (which are generally pretty good) by maintaining a strong pre-shot routine. I follow the "GAS" method (Grip, alignment, and stance).
2. Work my swing mechanics. I've been told by every pro that I've gone to that I have a fundamentally strong (not perfect or even sound) and a fairly natural swing, but I need to work out a few minor flaws that cause a lot of damage. These include an overly active upper body (my upper outraces my lower on the downswing, which leads to pulls), occasional plane problems (generally good, but nobody's perfect), and wrist hinging and releasing at the proper times (I tend to hinge a bit late and release a bit early, which greatly reduces my power at impact - although my size still makes me quite a bit more powerful than many others that I know). I have a few other minor things, such as being extremely right hand dominant, which tends to cause me to close the face at impact, and also when I try to generate more power, I tend to come over the top and we all know that leads to significant problems. Oh yeah, and I need to smooth out my tempo a bit, a more relaxed back swing rather than the "throw-back" that I sometimes start to employ when I get worked up.
3. Short game. While my short game is generally not "bad", I'll rarely get up and down for par, but often for bogey. I don't have a lot of 3 putts, but I do have a lot of 2 putts (often within 10-15 feet). I need to work on getting my pitches and chips closer to the hole, rather than just onto the green. I need to work on my putting within 15 feet to start being able to make more of those. I need to make sure that I don't 3 putt from the 15 foot+ range, much less within that. My lag putting is generally not bad, although I do still get the occasional "oh my, that's still 10 feet from the hole" putt.
4. Mental game. I need to maintain my cool. I need to forget bad holes and somehow not let it affect my game. An example of this was when I was playing Fraserview last Tuesday and dropped my scorecard on the tee box at 13 (the downhill par 3 with the water hazard in the pictures). I noticed as we were walking to 14 so I ran back to the tee box to get it and ran back to the tee box at 14. This was a bit of a stretch for my old tubby lungs, so when I got back to the tee, I was winded and the blood was really flowing. I hit a bad drive OB and hit another that wasn't much better, but was playable. I ended up with a 9. I followed this up with a 7 (another lost drive), a 4 (with a nearly lost drive) on a par 3, and an 8 after I lost a ball on a really nice approach shot from 200 that just hit the cart path just left of the green and in turn sent the ball sailing into the woods. I just about lost it, but tried really hard to keep my focus. I then lost the scorecard again somewhere between 16 and 18 and therefore couldn't even add them all up. I think I had a 7 on 18 with another lost ball. I had obviously lost my focus and could think about nothing more than NOT LOSING ANY BALLS and just kept losing them. Hell, I almost lost a tee shot on a downhill par 3 - a bloody 7 iron!
5. Attached to the mental game is course management. I need to stop going for glory. I'm not on the tour. I probably never will be. I don't need to try for shots I don't have a high likelihood of success with. I can very easily hit par 5 greens in regulation, even if I hit bloody irons off the tee. I need to play smart and to my strengths (currently my iron game because I've totally lost my tee game lately). I should really just leave my driver at home until I can regain some confidence with it. I need to do things like hit my hybrid off the tee more, hit layups and go for bogeys rather than risking it all for a bit of glory.
I'm fairly confident I can break 90 as early as my next round by focusing purely on #5. It's pissing rain right now, but might clear up early next week in time for me to get a decent round in somewhere. Breaking 90 shouldn't be hard for someone who has a half decent short game, a fairly strong iron game, and is generally pretty long (not super long, but an 8 is usually 150-5 or so, a 6 about 175, a 4H about 200-225 etc). Avoid the blowups, hit the smart clubs, and keep it in the short grass.
Anyhow, that's about what I can think of right now, but I'll keep updating this thread as I make actual progression, including links to videos of swing progression and what not. Hopefully these won't include anymore shank music videos though.
Canada
