Where I am and Goals for 2010

I did a little review of my golfing skills last time, and there isn't much more to tell, really. That's not enough reason for me to keep from plowing on anyway.

The short version is that I'm your average beginning high handicapper with a soul-crushing slice off the tee. Add to that a pretty severe push with my irons and you have a pretty good idea how my average round of golf is. I'm going to separate my goals into the three physical aspects of this sport we call Golf: Power Swing, Finesse Swing, and Putting.
Power Swing:
This is, of course the "full swing", and golf shots that are, as Dave Pelz defines it, more than 100 yards from the pin. As I am left-handed, my push and slice are sending these shots WAAAYYY left. I've hit the driver as much as 100 yards left of my target. I know enough about golf to know that the slice comes from an open clubface and the push comes from the head of the club moving on an inside-out path when it strikes the ball. I knew this even before I asked some of my golfing friends for advice, but that's all they could tell me. What I need to figure out is how to fix those swing faults so that I can begin to play and not get discouraged by shooting double par on every hole. As i am at the end of my rope in dealing with my swing, I will soon be calling in the cavalry (which is to say that I'll be searching for a teaching pro, signing up for lessons, and begging for help.
Goals: Get rid of my current swing faults, develop a controllable shot shape which I can hit consistently, and chart how far I hit each club.
Finesse Swing:
Shots from inside 100 yards. I'm actually somewhat satisfied with my current abilities here. No need for a crash course in the short game. That isn't to say that I don't need to do a lot of work in the short game. I do. However, the issue with the short game is distance control and the path to figuring that out is fairly well documented by Dave Pelz and others. Hopefully I'll be able to work out my short game for 60 cents in overdue charges at the library instead of paying $100 an hour for lessons.
Goals: Apply principles of the "clock" method for wedge shots and chart the distances with each wedge.
Putting:
As with the other two phases of Golf, there is significant work here, too. My putting is erratic, to say the least. I need to work on speed and reading greens. My feeling is that reading greens will come with time and paying attention to my putts as I play. This might be wishful thinking, but if I'm not fuming about how it took me 5 shots to get the ball onto the green I might be in a calmer mental state as I'm putting. It should follow that I can concentrate more on the speed and trajectory of my putts.
Goals: Get properly fit for a putter, develop a feel for the "speed" of my putts, and concentrate on 2-putting on most holes.
Overall Objective: Have a handicap (besides golf itself), consistently score less than 100 during a round of 18 holes.
As I review what I've listed as goals for this year I might have bit off more than I can chew, but I believe that most of these goals are attainable. Possibly even all of them. Realistically, I hope to at least see some improvement in each aspect of the game and a measurable drop in score.
Coming soon: The quest for a teacher begins.....

Who am I and why am I doing this?

The purpose of this blog is to find the answers to those questions. Of course, I know who I am. I think, anyway.

I am, at the very least a novice golfer. That is, a new golfer who sends every damn ball way to the left. Way, way to the left. Not content to handicap me with a simple slice, I also push the ball. It's so bad that the friends from work that were good enough and kind enough to let me play with them when I was first starting out two years ago started to call me "Bear" as I was always playing out of the woods.

Yes, I started two years ago. Sort of. I got some clubs and some lessons and was making progress towards actually playing. That is to say, I was on the cusp of not completely embarrassing myself every time I swung a club. Of course, halfway through that first summer what existed of my golf game deserted me.

Last summer I was destined to not pick up my golf bag for the purpose of playing golf at all. This is because last spring I bought a new house. Instead of working on my swing and practicing putting and chipping and the like I was working on my yard and painting the house.

Thankfully, the list of renovations needed for the house has shrunk to a manageable level and I shall go back to trying not to embarrass myself any more than necessary on the golf course.

I hope to record my progress here. I will also record any lack of progress here as well. I don't know if anyone will read this blog, although I hope they will. This blog is primarily for me, of course. With some luck, and a little hard work, this endeavor will by the end of this golfing season become more than just a handful of cathartic rants. Also, I hope to find some measure of consistency with my golf swing.

I welcome you, dear reader to come along for the ride.