Tag: golf

Posted on

The Goofy Game of Golf Trying to Execute the Answer

The blog is a day late, because of good old March Madness, and a busy golf week, where I played 3 1/2 rounds. It was a very productive and learning week, for one so early in the season, so lets get to it

On Tuesday, I walked 9 holes at the Mt. Lebanon , under some harsh conditions, with temperatures in the low 40’s, and some strong winds. The very first tee, gave the example of thinking just a little too much, and not following the open mind plan. The first hole is a 160 yard slightly downhill par 3, that on this day was playing into a stiff wind. The first part of my thought process was very good. With the cold temps, and the strong against wind I took out my 7 wood on a hole I can hit with an 8 iron on a nice warm summer evening. But then I thought just a little too much. Instead of aiming dead at the pin, I thought with the first swing of the day, that I would be a little stiff, which would make me hit a little more of a fade than I usually do. I aimed about 5 yards left of the green, swung and hit it dead straight, 5 yards left of the green. The rest of day was not bad, but due to the conditions and a bulky putter the day was a ho-hum 5  pars and 4 bogeys.

On Wednesday, I went to Scenic Valley, and even though the temps were only in the mid 40’s,  plenty of sunshine made this day almost pleasant to play. My ball striking that day just evolved into playing a little draw, especially with the irons. My shots were going just slightly right to left. Since this was not a major misdirection, I decided to play the draw, instead of what I would usually do for shots that go way left. In a previous blog, I wrote that I would aim left and my swing would make an automatic correction. Since this slight draw was acceptable I played for it and this worked quite nicely.  I made 3 birdies but followed each birdie up with a bogey on the next hole. The one thing that cost me this day was that the wind was in a unique direction for this course and I failed to allow for it.The perfect example of being asleep at the wheel. My short game and putting were ok and managed to shoot a 77

On Saturday I went to Village Green and with temps in the 50’s under overcast skies and gusty winds I managed to play a very good round. My ball striking was spot on and I sunk a long putt on the very first hole for a birdie and I made a lot of 3 to 6 foot putts and shot a very nice 3 over 74. I made some poor decisions down the stretch due to wind and maybe just a little fatigue. I hit some great approach shots and if I had been putting a little better I might have shot even or better.

Yesterday it was back to Scenic Valley, with temps barely in the 40’s but with plenty of sunshine and not all that bad wind wise. However I was out of sync all day, and with the combination of some bad breaks, bad thinking, mediocre putting, and losing the concept of executing the answer I shot a lackluster 82. What do I mean by losing the concept. For the first time since finding the answer, I got back into the problem of trying to make my body do something, instead of allowing it to do what was necessary to hit the shot.  For about 11 and a half holes I was striking the ball pretty well. Then I got into some very poor ball striking for 2 and a half of the next 4 holes. Most of this was due to playing the wrong type of shot and then making my body move to what I thought I had to do in order to execute the shot. I should have kept more target oriented and paid attention to what my body did to play the shot.

After this week, this is what I have discovered. The short game and putting are going to require more than just the grip to get some real improvement. The grip is still a flexible and important part of finding your best short game and putting method but there is going to be a little more than that involved for sure. The early season shows how rusty your golf thinking can really be. I will have to do better in avoiding the trap of trying to fall back on what I was doing the day before. That was another reason for the poor score  on Sunday. Even though I already knew this, it is really hard not to do, especially early in the season. I have a new way of handling uneven lies, which there are plenty in western Pa. If this continues to work well, I will reveal it in a future blog. Despite the Sunday glitch the season has gotten off to a very nice start. My Saturday round was highlighted by an eagle chip in on the par 5 13th hole. This week looks good for some more golf on Tuesday and Wednesday. The weather get’s a little iffy toward the end of the week but we will wait and see. Progress is being made, I think, I hope , I pray, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE! See you next week.

Posted on

The Goofy Game of Golf Trying to Execute the Answer

Well, it looks like the start of the  golf season may arrive this week.  The temperatures are headed for the 50’s and with some rain on Tuesday, the snow will hopefully wash away. This will be a golf season at the crossroads. I will prove the answer this year, or golf will take a much lower priority in the scheme of things in the coming years. In August the blog will mark its fifth anniversary. In July I will  mark my 40th anniversary of practicing veterinary medicine. In April I will “celebrate” my 65th birthday. With the exception of two years off this will mark my 58th season playing this goofy but wonderful game. I don’t do much but when I do  something I do it for a long time.

How long am I going to give trying to execute the answer. I figure by July I should have a pretty good idea, if this is really the answer to playing the best golf you can play, on the day that you play. I think the putting and short game are going to determine how much success I have. Speaking of putting and the short game, there is talk going around right now, that this may not be as important to scoring, as it once thought it was. This is being all brought about by a book called, Every shot counts or something like that. I am in the process of reading it right now. It is golf’s version of the book Moneyball. This is why you are seeing this new term “strokes gained” in various parts of the game. It’s a fairly complicated method of determining who is really  the best in each part of the game. I am in the middle of reading the book right now and even though telecasts are already using some of the terminology, I’m not too sure I buy into it at the moment. This could be just some way to tap into the success of the new way to evaluate baseball stats. When I finish the book I will give a much more in depth review with the exact title too. We will see how this golf season plays out very very shortly. See you next week.

Posted on

The Goofy Game of Golf Executing the Answer

Coming from San Diego this week, where I am missing some pretty brutal Pittsburgh weather but I will be going back on Tuesday. It does not look like golf in the Burgh anytime soon. The family is doing well and I am having a great time with the grandkids and the new addition is doing nothing but doing well. It’s great being a baby, eat and sleep, eat and sleep.

This week I thought I would write about some  things about the golf swing and clarify some things, on what it means to find your that day golf swing. The other way I like to put this is, how to play your best golf on the day that you play. How do we go about this?

The first thing is, you must go into each new round with an open mind. Now, most of the time this is going to mean that you can not fall back on what was working the day before. However, if you just can’t help yourself, because you just really liked this swing thought, go ahead and try it on the first tee. If it does not work then abandon it immediately. Pay attention to what your body did and remember the way to get back on track. If it went left, aim left on the next shot and if it went right aim right on the next shot. I went into this is in more detail in a previous blog.

Now some of you may be wondering, should you make some in round changes if you start out well and then start to hit some bad shots. The short answer is absolutely. It depends on what caused the bad shot. It may not be always a swing issue. Many pre shot circumstances can cause a poor shot. These can range from selecting the wrong club, the wrong type of shot or not paying attention to the lie of the ball. However, if you think your swing was bad, again make the above adjustments to get on track. The thing to remember is to be a results guy on the course. What I mean by that, is that during the round your swing may begin to do something that your not that pleased with. Its getting a little quick or you feel you are getting out of balanced at the finish. If the results are good,  do not let this bother you or try to correct it. This is the way your swing is behaving today  and let it happen. This again is where I think a preconceived swing thought gets you in trouble. You are trying to get your body to do something that it may have felt fine doing yesterday, or on the range but under the heat of the round does not want to do anymore.

As I wrote before, I am heading back to the Burgh and the miserable weather, with not much golf in the future. You have to play in order to execute the answer, so I don’t know when the next blog will be. I am working on some other projects, and if they inspire me I will be writing again. Each new round will be an adventure and hopefully I will be playing in the not to distance future. See you then.

Posted on

The Goofy Game of Golf Executing the Answer

Naturally it is winter in the Burgh and not much happening on the golf front. In order to execute the answer you have to play the game and that is not happening in the near future. I thought I would write about two subjects today. The first one is one of the things I tried this past year to connect the mind and the body that work for a least a few weeks and to discuss a little more about trying to execute the answer in the short game and why I think the grip is the ticket.

The thing I did about in the middle of the summer that worked pretty well for awhile, was to swing at the ball as hard as I could, while maintaining my balance. Now I didn’t do any Happy Gilmore swings, but I went after the ball pretty hard. Let’s face it I thought this was the ultimate mind body connection. The body is always wanting to swing hard, but it is the mind that is telling us to keep it smooth, and at less than full throttle. Sam Snead said he felt he swung at about 85% of his power. Well for about 4 weeks I went at it full throttle, and the results were not bad. What was amazing, was I didn’t notice a great deal of increase distance with my woods, but I was hitting my irons a lot further. I would hit my 8 iron about 170 yards, with accuracy. I was scoring pretty well and I felt the game was really becoming fun. I don’t remember all the reasons I quit doing it, but I do remember it became physically taxing, and it was getting hard to control distances and finesse anything. For awhile though, the mind and the body were really connected.

Here is the reason that I think the grip may be the key in finding your that day short game and putting method. Lets look at all the putting methods. Here are the basics: The long putter, the belly putter, left hand low, claw grip, split grip, and for a lack of a better term the conventional method. There have been probably other bizarre methods, but with the exception of possibly the belly putter, these methods have one thing in common. They all change the position of the hands on the putter. One thing that may be interesting would be to use a 36 inch long putter but grip in the same way the players grip the long putter. It would be like a reverse claw grip. You would take your left hand and grip the top of the putter with the elbow pointing at the target, and the right hand would be more or less in the standard grip. This could be a solution for these guys once the long putter is banned. In trying to find your that day putting or chipping method you would grip the club in the most comfortable position for that day and the grip would change from round to round. Only time will tell if I have lost my mind, but it did work for 27 holes. I will be in San Diego next week to meet the new grandchild and who knows might get a little golf in. See you next week.

Posted on

The Goofy Game of Golf Executing the Answer

The blog is back after a month, and a busy month it has been. Like all stories, lets start at the beginning. The last blog was when I had just arrived in San Diego, the Sunday before Christmas. The Christmas holiday was great and watching those grandkids opening their gifts was wonderful. Christmas is definitely for kids. On the Saturday after Christmas I got to play golf at the Bernardo Heights Country Club. What is wild is that I started the 2014 season there, and now I have ended it at the same golf course. Even stranger, I shot the same score, 76 both times. That however, is where the similarity of the rounds end. In my opening round of the year I hit the ball only fair at best but had a great day putting, making about 8  putts of 8 feet or more for par. The December 27th round I hit the ball beautifully but only putted so so, and missed some really good birdie looks, and shot the same score. I may have found the answer, but this does not make the game any less goofy.

I arrived back at the Burgh on December 28th, and got emerged  into the college football bowl season and watched all 39 bowl games. It was a wild and wooly bowl season with plenty of great plays and some pretty strange coaching decisions. The two toppers were the decision of the one coach in one of the lesser bowl games to ice the kicker on the extra point by wasting 2 timeouts with 50 seconds left in the game when a field goal would have won the game, when his team got the ball back. Needless to say the extra point was made. The team with only one time out could not get into field position to win the game, and then went on to lose the game in overtime. The other one, was where Baylor had a 41 to 27 lead over Michigan State with about 4 minutes left in the game. Instead of trying to milk some time off the clock, Baylor tried to get a “bigger win”, even going for it on 4th down on the MSU 45 yard line. This allowed MSU to come back and win the game 42-41. Of course, the big highlight, was my Ohio State Buckeyes winning the first college football play off and becoming national champions. I must admit, I didn’t think they would beat Wisconsin  in the Big Ten championship game, let alone go all the way. Even the third string quarterback didn’t bother me as much as the Buckeye defense. For whatever reason, that defense just came alive in those last three games. It was one great way to top off the bowl season. In the midst of all the football, I managed to play 9 holes of golf on January 4th in balmy 55 degree temperatures but with some very strong winds. Having my best putting day since finding the answer, I managed to shoot an even par 35.

And now for the big news. On January 16th 2015, Carson Michael Gloff, my third grand child came into this world kicking and screaming. After a brief visit to the neonatal ICU of 4 hours mom and grandson are doing great. I am truly blessed. As the blog will get back into the full swing, no pun intended,  I will discuss things I have done in trying to execute the answer. Some have been more tested than others, but I am going  to discuss them all.    I will discuss each facet of the game, the full swing, the short game, and putting. See you next week.

Posted on

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.

Posted on

The Goofy Game of Golf Searching for the Answer

This week I am going to discuss the mind-body connection. First lets look at one of the biggest mind-body disconnects in the history of golf. It happened in one of the most memorable majors of all time, the 1986 Masters. We are going to look at only two players, Jack Nicklaus and Seve Ballesteros, and one hole, the par 5 15th. So lets look at the timeline.

Nicklaus is on the 15th tee and Seve is on the 13th green with about an 8 foot eagle putt. At this moment Jack is -5 and Seve is -7.

Jack hits a great drive right down the middle and as he is walking down the fairway, Seve makes the eagle putt to go nine under par.

Jack is 204 from the pin and hits a 4 iron within 12 feet and makes the putt for an eagle to go to -7

Seve hits the drive of the day on 15 and is only 198 yards from the hole. Nicklaus has birdied 16 to go -8 and is trailing by 1 shot.

Seve also takes out a 4 iron and makes a horrible swing and pull hooks the ball right in the middle of the lake, not even close and goes on to make a bogey, which is a 3 shot swing on this one hole.

Jack Nicklaus goes on to win the Masters with a birdie on 17. Even though Seve and his caddie, who happened to be his brother, had plenty of time to make the decision on a club selection for the second shot into 15, there was enough doubt to cause the mind-body disconnect. The result was a very bad swing and an even worse result. Lets say that Seve was absoulutely sure that 4 iron was the right club. He was totally committed to the shot. His mind and body were perfectly in sync. What would have been the result. He would have smoked that 4 iron and quite possibly would have flown the green and maybe would have even put the ball in the back lake. But he would have hit a solid shot. That is the difference when the mind and body are connected and when they are not. The mind-body connection does not mean that you are never going to hit a bad shot or miss a putt. It does not mean that you are going to go out every time and be in the mythical zone. The Zone is another subject all together. What the mind-body connection does mean, is that it gives you the ability to execute the present shot or stroke to the best of your ability. How is this accomplished? I do not know. Over the next few weeks, I am going to give more examples of the mind-body disconnect, discusss if this mind-body connection even exists, and talk about a lot of theory.

 

 

Posted on

The Goofy Game of Golf Searching for the Answer

The blog is a day late as we had a big holiday family party with lots of food, and lots and lots of wine. By 8:30 last nite I didn’t even know I had a blog, let alone write a new post. But today after 10 aspirins and lots of water I am ready to type away a little after 2pm the next day. Before I get into the year in review, I am going to talk about the round of golf that I played last Wednesday, with one of my golf buddies, Andy. We played at Scenic Valley in less than ideal conditions, on a cloudy day, with temperatures barely getting into the low 40’s. Andy shot an impressive 1 under par 71 and I came in with an equally unimpressive 81. Look’s like I got whooped pretty good. But looking closer at the round we each hit 11 greens in regulation and I hit 9 fairways to Andy’s 8 and overall drove the ball better. These two rounds, bring up two points, that have been brought up in the past. Obviously, Andy putted way better than I did and did everything better than I did from 50 yards in. Short game, short game, short game. We all know this. This also goes to show you that even though these rounds look far apart there is not a big difference in shooting those scores. With very similar ball striking you can shoot 2 very different scores if your not putting and chipping well.

Now to the year in review. Overall this was a very good year for me with my handicap going down to 3.2 from 5.6. This is even more amazing, because most of the year I battled the chip yips, and at times was still doing some swing experiments. This swing thing that I have been doing for the past year is the main reason I peeled off a couple of strokes. I was not nearly as frustrated with my ball striking as I have been in the past and I knew how to fix things on the course. One of the things I was trying to do, was to apply what I was doing with the full swing to chipping and putting. Even though I had some success doing this, I now know that this was a mistake. For shots of about 50 yards and beyond my swing technique worked just fine, but chipping and putting are unique endeavors.  So the goals for 2013 is to refine the swing technique and improve the putting and chipping. The blog will be put to sleep for the remaining year as there is just too much college football for this junky to take time to write the blog. Beginning next year I will begin to discuss this swing technique that has rejuvenated my game. The first blog, is what I call a set up blog, and then we will really get into it. Have a great holiday and see you in 2013.

Posted on

The Goofy Game of Golf Searching for the Answer

Well, here we are December 2 and we were able to get in 18 holes of golf today. Went to Riverview today and broke the streak barely with a 79. In the beginning the putter was kicking ass again as I three putted the first 3 out of four greens. Then I settled down and even though I had only 2 one putts, did not three putt again and parred 11 out of the last 14 holes. It was a very good ball striking day as the weather did turn a little nasty with some wind and rain but for this time of year in the Burgh it was a very good golf day.  Now on to another subject that is really bothering me. In some other blogs and in general, the book Five Lessons The Modern Fundamentals of Golf, by Ben Hogan, is regarded as one of the best instructional ever written. Some great pros Nick Price and Larry Nelson, to name a few, have said that this is the book that they read when they first started to learn the game. I maintain that this is one of the worst books written on golf instruction. The main problem is with the title. If it had been titled, Golf My Way by Ben Hogan, then there would be no complaint. This is not to disparage the golfer Hogan in any way. There is no question he is one of the top 3 or 4 players to have ever played the game and arguably the best. He just wrote a bad book. Remember this is a book that is just about how to hit a golf ball. There is nothing in it related to the short game, putting, or playing the game. That is not a criticism of the book but just to make clear that this is a book strictly about the golf swing. So I am heading out to San Diego next week to do a little holiday celebrating with the grandkids. This will give me a little time to go through the book in more depth so I can really rip into it next week. As I said in an earlier blog if you are a duck hooker then this is the book for you.  However this book has about as much to do with the  “Modern Fundamentals of Golf” as horseshoes.

Posted on

The Goofy Game of Golf Searching for the Answer

Only got in one round this week, as the weather turned colder after Thanksgiving. Wednesday was a nice day in the 50’s, and for the fifth straight time I played Scenic Valley, and for the fifth straight time did not break 80 as the putter was bulky for an 83. The only good thing about this scoring stretch, is we are past the time we are supposed to post scores so I don’t have to look at these scores for the next fifteen rounds.  I thought I would have a little fun with this blog and go through the 10 worst experiences we have had on this 86 golf course trek so far. With fourteen courses to go I thought it would be unfair to rank the best 10 experiences because there might be better ones in future days. Hopefully, there won’t be any worse than these 10. Even some of these weren’t too bad because you can’t have a really bad day on the course. Some of these near the bottom came close. Here are the 10 worse experiences over the last 2 years.

10. Blackhawk July 20 2011 Not a bad course but after playing the front nine in 1 hour and 29 minutes they told us we would have to speed up so we wouldn’t hold up the women’s league. They also stopped us twice to tell us which nine to go to. They have 4 nines which they call, are you ready 1,2,3, and 4. This golf course should have a sign in front saying Keep Out.

9. Moon Township. May 12 2011 Just not in very good shape and maybe looked worse because we had played similiar smaller courses that were in very good shape.

8. Westwood.  November 3 2010 The greens were bad the price high no hot dog at the turn and an attitude.

7. Lindenwood September 17 2011. Real pricey, the greens were slow and no service at the snack area even though people were calling anybody back there. Unfriendly starter.

6. Hickory Heights September 15 2011 Not offered senior rate even though on their web site they said they had one. Poor designed course and sullen pro shop staff. Prozac anyone.

5. Strawberry Ridge July 11 2011 Crazy course only in fair shape Take used balls because you are going to lose some.

4. Roseridge July 2 2012. Even though this course made me think of playing in the 60’s the greens were slow not even a 4 on the stimp. Just in bad shape.

3. The Phoenix at Buffalo Valley. September 9 2012. Again just in bad shape and an overpriced hot dog at the turn.

2. Foxwood Acres August 31 2011. No sign, no hot dog, no nothing, terrible condition. Could crabgrass be the new po

1 Kennsington August 12 2010. By far and away the worse experience of the trek. Nine greens were completely burned out, and the fairways weren’t much better. We were not told this and the price was not discounted. No hot dog at the turn, even though we made the turn at 11am. WOW.

I gave the dates if you want to read in more gory details these wonderful experiences I had playing these courses. It looks like the golf will be few and far between now, but you never know. In the next few weeks I will start to discuss the new swing thing I have been doing the past year. See you next week.