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The Goofy Game of Golf Trying to Execute the Answer

Well, for a man claiming to have found the answer to the game of golf, the play was not very good for the week. I was able to get four rounds in this week but failed to break 80 in all four rounds. I have built in excuses already, from not feeling well on Tuesday to some very tough conditions on Saturday. Trying to execute the answer in the short game and putting is proving to be  much tougher than executing it in the long game. I probably struck the  ball better this week, than any time this year, but the short game and putting was so bad, that this killed any chance I had of having a good number. I do feel that I made some progress in this area but time will tell. This week it looks like I will be able to get in 9 tomorrow and 18 on Tuesday and possibly Wednesday but after that the weather is going to turn ungolfable for the rest of the week. While I am not going to reveal the answer today, I am going to write about what the answer is not.

The answer is not for someone with a handicap of over 12. The answer does not replace the fundementals of grip, stance, posture, and alignment. If your handicap is over 12 then you got some work to do in that area and in areas of the swing itself.

The answer is not the shoulder control swing that I developed. I still like this as a way to describe the golf swing and as a teaching aid but it is not the answer.

The answer is not, what I termed the mind body connection. The mind and body have to be in sync but it is not the answer.

The answer is not visualization and only thinking of your target. We all hear of stories of players getting in this mode and shooting a great round but why doesn’t this work every time. It’s simply is not the answer. However, visualization and being target oriented, may be a step in getting to the answer.

The answer is not something new or earth shattering and is quite simple. It will require an open mind, particularly when it concerns your own golf game. Once you accept  this as the answer it will rid your mind of many golf thoughts, that you have clung to for years.

Next week I will write about all the things that the answer explains in this goofy game. Hopefully I will find even better ways in executing the answer.

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The Goofy Game of Golf Searching for the Answer

Its been three weeks since the last blog even though I intended to blog on a weekly basis. Since the last blog my rounds have been 79, 75, 79, 75, 80, 75, and 71. The 71 was a one over par, so I have yet to have an even par round. Even though there is more golf to played in the Burgh this year, there will be no more scores to turn in. Despite being unsuccessful in obtaining what I considered the ultimate mind body connection my handicap went down from 4.1 to 3.7, after reaching a June high of 5.8. I have already played my 100th round of the year for the third consecutive year.

I have good news and I have bad news. Now, ususally when someone says that, most people want the bad news first. I am going to give the good news first because the bad news won’t make any sense. The good news is, and it is very good news, that I have found the answer. The bad news is that I haven’t figured out how to execute the answer. So because I have found the answer the blog will have a new title. It’s going to be called “The Goofy Game of Golf Trying to Execute the Answer”. Am I going to reveal the answer today? NO! Am I not going to reveal the answer because I am a no good S.O.B? I am a no good S.O.B. but thats not the reason. I have two reasons that I am not going to do it today. I am 95% sure this is the answer, but since I just discovered it, about 10 days ago, time will tell. Secondly I would like to be able to find the best way to accomplish the answer before I reveal what it is. Naturally, if I am right about this, my scores should reflect that the rest of the year, and into next year. Now if I feel this is the answer by July 1 2015 but I am no closer in finding a way to execute the answer, then I will reveal the answer. I may do this even sooner if I am totally stump, but I feel now, that I want to try through June of next year.   This has already freed my game up immensely and I will be even going back to practicing but for a different reason. As weeks roll by, I will discuss certain aspects of my game, and how finding the answer has changed them, hopefully for the better. There is about 2 to 4 weeks of golf left in the Burgh and maybe more, so we will see how I do in the coming weeks. Maybe I will find the how to the what faster than I expect. I should be able to play 2 to 3 rounds this week and we will see how it goes.

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The Goofy Game of Golf Searching for the Answer

Have been back in the the Burg for about 12 days and the game just continues to motor along at about the same level. Despite having a slight cold and some windy weather I shot the last four rounds 76, 83, 77 and 78. This has been a generally frustrating season but I think I have learned some things, which I will pass along during the off season and discuss some of my futile attempts to connect the mind and the body.

But tonight’s blog will be focused on the big bad Ryder Cup. I think this Ryder Cup has been more controversial after the matches, than during, thanks to Phil Michelson’s ridiculous and inappropriate remarks at the post Cup press conference. The Americans have not won a Ryder Cup in Europe since 1993. The Europeans have won the last 6 out of 7. The reason they have dominated the Cup for the last 20 years is they are simply better. Thanks to the PGA, and them coming up with the Presidents Cup, here is living proof. The Presidents Cup has been around for almost 20 years, and who has dominated those matches, the American team, by retaining the cup all but once. It has nothing to do with who the captain is, or using some pod method, or whatever the hell Phil was talking about. The American team is simply better than the International  team. So the question should not be who to pick for a captain or how we pick our team, the question should be, why is the European team better and they have been better for a long time. They rode the underdog role, thanks to the American press, about 2 cups too long. I think there are 2 reasons that the Europeans are now better. One happened awhile back when the smaller British ball was taken out of play. In the 1960’s when Jack and Arnie came over to play in the British Open they changed over to the smaller ball. In 1974 the British ball was not allowed in the British Open but it wasn’t until around 1990 that the ball was banned from all European events and so now everybody plays with the same size ball and this made the European players better ball strikers. The second reason the Europeans are better players is that they play in tougher weather conditions and on courses that are not in the pristine condition that the United States courses are in. They also seem to play on courses that have more terrain and slopes. Therefore the Europeans have to manufacture more shots. In fact when the AT&T tournament had a pretty bad run of weather over some years, there was talk of even changing the date of the tournament to improve the conditions for our poor PGA players.

I think the only way the Americans are going to get competitive in the Ryder Cup is they are going to have to play in more overseas events or the PGA is going to have to  play a little riskier venues where the weather is not always going to be perfect. I hate to even have to put this down in print, but by the way Phil when you lose 16.5 to 11.5, its not the captain. See you next week.

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The Goofy Game of Golf Searching for the Answer

After about a month’s hiatus the blog is coming from San Diego where the golf game is taking a little hiatus, as it is fun and good times with the grandkids. The golf game continued on a nice run for 2 more rounds with a 72 and a 77. Then I went into a real tailspin, with rounds of 84, 82, 87, 77, 81, 80, and 81. These were played on some courses that were not even that hard. On September 17th I played 36 holes. The first 18 was at Village Green and I shot 81. Then on to Indian Run,  and I bogeyed  the 1st hole, bogeyed the 2nd hole and double bogeyed the 3rd hole. Now the 3rd is a pretty short par 4 with some trouble on the right, which of course I found, which lead to a chip out and the subsequent double bogey. Going to the 4th hole, needless to say, I was in a state of frustrated despair. I just made that up “frustrated despair” but I really like it. Any way from that point on, something just clicked in the other direction and I played the next 15 holes 2 under par and shot 73. I followed that up with a 75 at South Park and another 75 at Scenic Valley. The 75 at Scenic Valley was a grinding 75 where I made a double bogey, 2 bogies, a birdie and 14 pars. I  hit a lot of mediocre shots and missed 2 short putts but managed to shoot a pretty descent round. So what happened. How did I go from an 80 shooter to playing the next 51 holes 4 over par. Without any detailed explanations, here are the highlights.

Ball position seemed to be a key factor on the physical side of the game

Maintaining a calm demeanor

Better shot evaluation during the round.

Playing the proper shot

Making final adjustments before executing the shot.

Being instinctive

Its only 51 holes and time will tell if any of the above will keep me scoring and avoiding frustrated despair. How did this all come about after the 21st hole on Wednesday September the 17th. I have no idea. I won’t get back to the golf groove until October 1 and right now I am just enjoying this beautiful weather and being a grand parent.

I know the Ryder Cup is coming and I will be watching it, but I must say that I don’t get as excited about it as I once did. I think some of the luster came off the Ryder Cup, when they started the President’s Cup. I think more interest would be created if we went back to every other year and all three teams would play each other at the same time. You would have to tweak the format a little bit by doing only alternate shot and singles. I think best ball may be a little time consuming. Maybe they could do a scramble. Just think how great the strategy might be. Your ahead in one match but behind in the other match. Do you gamble to catch up on the one side or play more conservatively to maintain the lead in the other match. Having a three team match would be great and the Americans would only have to play every other year like everybody else. See you in about 10 days.

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The Goofy Game of Golf Searching for the Answer

Back after about a 2 and 1/2 week hiatus. My play has been interesting if not spectacular. Of my last 19 rounds, 15 of them have been between 73 and 77, with the other 4 being 78, 79, 80, and 81. Most of them have been between 75 and 77 with the last three, being 77. I know there are some people who would die for a “streak” like that, but I am feeling frustrated. I have not shot a par round this year and I haven’t felt like any one part of my game has been all that solid. I did go through one stretch when I hit my irons really well, but other than that I have had my usual problems. But I have been able to rake it around, and shoot in the mid seventies pretty consistantly. I don’t have any conclusions drawn from the last two weeks of play, but that’s just the way it has been.

We, as golfers, are always talking about how hard the game of golf is, for various reasons. Rather than say the game is hard, I think we should change the wording, and thus the thought process, from hard to complex. Lets give a prime example. We all talk about how important it is to know how far we hit each club. This is true only to a certain degree. I hit my 50 degree wedge 110 yards. Sounds simple enough doesn’t it. So if I am 110 yards from the middle of the green I should hit my 50 degree. However, there are 80 combinations of the way the ball is lying on the ground, and in the grass, and the conditions that we are playing in, that will affect how far that ball will travel. I am not going through all those combinations now, but trust me there are that many, especially here in Western Pa. It is our awareness and how we evaluate those conditions that will dictate how successful we are in executing a good shot. We are talking about conditions that can make a difference of 20 or 30 yards on a shot of only 110 yards. It is even more so on longer shots. So pay attention and think complex not hard.

Finally and maybe even least, Tiger Woods is going to  swing number 5.  A quick review. Swing number 1 won the Masters by 12 shots.  Swing number 2 won 7 majors and 20 sum odd tournaments. Swing number 3 won 6 majors and 20 sum odd tournaments. Swing number 4 gave him a dominate 2013 where he was player of the year, again No. 1 in the world, but alas no majors. You noticed I haven’t mentioned any names. I don’t think the names are important. But who will guide swing number 5. Will he go back to one of the old swings. Highly unlikely. I know I am in the minority but I think Tiger will come back full blast and even past Jack Nicklaus. Of course there is one big if. He has to get healthy. If his back and knee continue to be a problem, then he is done. He may win one major on just talent and guts, but he will never be a force unless he has all the physical tools. So what will swing number 5 be like. Maybe he will swing like Lee Trevino. I think he should swing like Annika. Was there ever a better more fluid swing in the last 50 years. That premature release of the head should take the strain off the back. So Tiger, go find Annika’s coach, and make swing number 5 the most fluid and stress free swing since Sam Snead.

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The Goofy Game of Golf Searching for the Answer

About another 2 week hiatus from blogging, but reading some other golf blogs, which I haven’t done for awhile, inspired me to put some things down in print today. First it is an unusual Sunday in that I am not golfing today because I will be heading to the Pirate game later today. My play has been interesting as ususual. I am on a nice run right now with about 8 rounds in a row below 80 and I have put together some really good nines but not a total round. I have had one 2 under 9, two even par nines, and one 1 over nine. Working on a lot of things right now which I may get into in later blogs. Here is what inspired me.

1. THE ZONE. Ah yes the zone. We have all been there or at least think we have been there. I have no suggestions on how to get into the zone, but here is one thing that I find very interesting about the golf zone. Sometimes you can find it in just one part of your game. I have had days when I know I am going to hit every, and I mean every, drive right down the middle of the fairway. In fact it is almost comical. By the time I get to the thirteenth driver hole sometimes I almost start laughing because I know the drive is going right down the middle. I can say the same thing has happened with my irons and putting. What I find amazing is that even though this one part of your game is in “the zone” the rest of your game sucks.

2. THE DECLINE IN GOLF PARTICIPATION.  Even though I think it does not hurt golf to have a popular superstar, I don’t think it is a major factor in people playing or not playing the game. There are many reasons that golf has declined. Rather than discuss them let me just list them,  without really expounding on any of them, but they could be fodder for future blogs.

1 Time and money. Golf is time consuming and can be expensive

2. Golf is paying the price for not encouraging diversity.

3. USGA  for not making a set of rules for the average golfer that will make the game faster and more enjoyable. Other than when they have a national tournament they do very little to promote the game.

4. Golf Courses for shooting themselves in the foot so many times that they can only walk on their kness. Here are a few examples. Setting up golf courses too difficult on the weekends with some very tough pin placements. Not making any effort to speed up play. Not having enough tee boxes. Not maintaining cart paths. Trying to squeeze too many people out on the course. New golf courses are just too difficult.

5. The PGA for having no true standard of teaching the game. Golf instruction is pathetic. If the PGA was responsible for teaching children to read then 80% would be illiterate.

6. Desperation. There is nothing wrong with the game and ideas such as a bigger hole and 12 hole rounds are ridiculous.

7. The Tour. The way they handled the Dustin Johnson situation and other negative aspects of players. Enough said. Do next to nothing to promote the game except for their own gain.

The game will survive if for no other reason the attrition of golf courses. As more and more shut down there will more players for the ones that survive. See you again when I have it all figured out.

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The Goofy Game of Golf Searching for the Answere

I haven’t blogged for about 2 and a half weeks for various reasons. My grand kids were in town for a week and golf took a back seat for that week. But most of all just not a lot of progress made on finding the answer. The scores the last two weeks have been about the same with most in the mid 70’s and a couple of 80’s tossed in just to make sure that I know I haven’t found the answer. There has not been a lot of stimulus to write, but today I thought I would like to discuss a subject not directly related to golf, but with some of the things that I am doing right now, it may have more meaning, if by some flukey chance, these things turn out to be successful.

I would like to discuss our perceptions, or the way we perceive things. In some cases this could be about a particular subject. Let’s take the example of Obama Care. There is one side that feels this is the greatest thing since sliced bread. The other perception is that Obama Care threatens the very existance of the American way. Each side argues passionately for their point of veiw and thinks the other sides perception is skewed or wrong. This ends up with neither side  coming close to convincing the other side to change their mind. I can tell you that that there are two areas where our perceptions are definitely skewed or wrong. This is in the area of time and speed. Time is a constant. A second is a second, a minute is a minute, an hour is an hour and so on and so on. But in your feeble little mind 5 minutes can seem like an eternity, if you are waiting for someone or standing in line. On the other hand if you are engrossed in a book or a video game, an hour can fly by in the blink of an eye. We look up from the game or book and say, “Oh my God where did the time go, I’m going to be late for work”.  The same thing can be said about speed. Most of us have to drive a little way through congested streets and neighborhoods to get to the freeway or interstate. When you first get on the interstate and get into the flow of traffic and hit the 55- 65 mph speed you really get that feeling that you are hip hopping right along. Before long however, as the traffic keeps moving you accelerate up to 75 and 80 mph and don’t even know it, because now that feels the same as when you were going 65. Then when you get off the interstate, maybe on a two lane highway, where the speed limit is 55, that will feel like you are just crawling. Even though the speed can be pretty much the same if will feel different depending on when and where you are doing that particular speed.

Now what does this have to do with golf. Your golf swing has these two components, time and speed. There is a certain amount of time you will have to take to make a golf swing. Your swing, and I am not talking about the amount of clubhead speed you can generate, will also have a certain speed. It will be your perception of the time and speed of your golf swing that will dictate how you make adjustments during a round of golf. My guess here, and I am dealing from my own experience, that these perceptions are wrong. I am not sure how they are wrong and they may not be wrong all time. I may have some conclusions on this in a later blog. Anyway, just food for thought, don’t let it give you indigestion. See you when I have something to write about again.

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The Goofy Game of Golf Searching for the Answer

Well this week was moving along quite nicely until today. It was a busy week with five rounds played. I shot 74 at Indian Run, 75 at Hartmans, 79 at Scenic Valley, 76 at Indian Run, and 86 at Highland Springs. Today was a complete mental meltdown. The bizzare thing I am doing is still working quite nicely as evident by the first four scores. The 79 at Scenic Valley was low lighted by 2 four putt greens.  My long game is doing well but my short game and my short irons today were horrible. In one respect I feel I have found the mind body connection with the long game. However I have not been able to apply this at least to the short game, and my scores have suffered.

Today was particularly bad, because on every shot from the fairway I felt that I had the wrong club in my hand. Needless to say the results of the shots were not good. The chip yips were back in full force and my putting was yippy and mediocre at best. This is where it gets, in my view, somewhat interesting. Even though my mind body connection is at its best right now on executing the swing, the other parts of my mental game are so bad that my scores were not as good as they should have been. Let’s go back to my statement that I felt like on every shot I had the wrong club in my hand. Most of the time I felt that I had too much club in my hand. Now, why didn’t I go back to my bag and get less club. I don’t know why. I am not about do go into what I am doing with my golf swing right now, but that does contribute to this problem. I could have easily corrected this, if I had gone back to my bag, and got less club. Right now I do not have an explanation. I must solve the chip yip problem and get better focused. It is amazing that you can score this badly and strike the ball this well. The week coming up the grand kids are coming to town so golf will be on the back burner this week with only one or two rounds being played at the most. I will have plenty of time to contemplate the problem and come up with some kind of a solution. The long game though is simply still exhilerating and I found the answer. Now we have to get it once we get close to the green.

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The Goofy Game of Golf Searching for the Answer

Well, this may be the most interesting week I have had since I started the blog, almost 4 years ago. Only time will tell if I have found the true mind body connection, but if this is it, then this game is goofier than even I thought it was. Played four rounds this week and began with an 82 at the easy Fort Cherry and was headed for an even worst round the next day at Scenic Valley until the 15th hole. From that point on I began to do something that I continued  for the rest of the week. I finished the final 4 holes 1 under par, but still only managed to shoot 81. Then at South Park, I shot 77 and at Buffalo shot a 75, and I can say all my drop shots were do to a lack of concentration. This lack of concentration was brought about by the fact, that what I have been doing the last 40 holes is so bizarre, that it is throwing me for a loop. I usually give things a longer trial period before I reveal what I am doing, but this week coming up will be it. I should be able to get in 5 rounds this week with the holiday, and if the weather co-operates.  If I continue to play  well this week, then I will discuss this in next Sunday’s blog.

One of the things that has happened is that I have all new distances for my irons now, and that has been difficult getting use to. Plus my mind was wandering everywhere on certain shots today, which caused me to make some very bad shots. Despite this I still managed to shoot one of my better rounds of the year a 4 over 75. One of the big pluses is that the game has become more fun. The thing that I am doing now has had a positive effect on all aspects of my game and has improved my chipping immensely. Now, 40 holes is still way to little of a sample to say this will become the permanent way I will play golf, but it has been exhilerating non the less. It goes against all good teaching and advice but at least for now it has given me new hope. Like I wrote before, this game is even goofier than I have ever imagined. It will be most interesting to see what this week brings. Happy golfing, skip to the lou my darling.

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The Goofy Game of Golf Searching for the Answer

Its been a busy 2 weeks with lots of golf. Not very good golf but its good to play a lot. Here are the scores of the last 2 weeks, 78,82,77, 85, 88, 78, 81 and 78. Obviously I have not find the key to the mind body connection. I thought I was on to something many times, but each time I was just whistling in the wind. I will admit some of the high scores have been because of this search for the mind body connection, which have failed, or had some brief success only to  fail miserably. I have been putting pretty well during this stretch, with the exception of the 85 round where I had 5 three putt greens in a row.

Now I would like to discuss a couple of things about the recent U. S. Open. Now this is not to take anything away from the dominant victory of Martin Kaymer. It was a truly great performance. But missing the fairway in this Open was a lot different than in previous Opens. There was more of an element of luck involved. Lets say the Open would have been much closer and two players came to the 72ond hole tied for the lead. With Open pressure being what it is both players miss the fairway. One player winds up with a sandy lie where he can hit a pretty much normal shot. The other player only a few feet away end in a clump of whatever and can barely move the ball. With normal Open rough both players would have each had to punch out. I hope we don’t see any more Opens with this sandy off fairway grounds.

The other thing is something I heard a lot during this broadcast of this Open which reinforced one my beliefs that you can not really see the difference between a good swing and a bad swing. Many times I would hear” There’s a nice balance swing” and the ball would go in the rough or some other place of trouble. Just like it is hard to really see a good putting stroke. The difference is the result is much quicker, so the announcer always makes a comment on the stroke after the result of the putt not before. If he misses the putt it was a bad stroke. If he makes the putt it was a good stroke. I maintain you can not really tell. On full shots where the results take longer the announcer says good swing or bad swing before the results, and many times the results are the opposite of what you would have thought you would have seen, based on the swing comment. This happened a lot at last weeks U. S. Open. Even when they slow down these swings, I would love to see if these experts could guess right what the result of that swing would be.

This week I played 128 holes of golf with some 9 and 11 holes played until dark. The golf muscles are really in prime shape right now and I am feeling good. Now if I can just let my brain know that, I may finally find the answer. The search continues.