Done for the season?????

Well, we are closing in on the end of the 2010 golfing season, and it appears that if I'm lucky, i'll get in one or two more rounds of Golf before the snow flies, and maybe not even that much with other obligations sneaking in.

So, the question is how have I done compared to my goals I set back in April, and what can I accomplish before the spring thaw in April?

Power Swing:

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.

I feel like I've made some improvement here, but I've still got a ways to go. The Stack and Tilt has been really good for me, but I still need to practice it a bunch, but I'm very happy with the progress i'm making so far. For all of the noise about the “revolutionary swing” that is “Stack and Tilt” (SnT), the real revolution is the teaching method, as well as the “new” ball flight laws. For instance, back in April I wrote:

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.

After studying tons of Trackman data, The guys that wrote the SnT book have shown us that the traditional way of describing the interaction between the club and ball is a load of garbage. My push was from the open clubface and the slice is from an out to in path. I have mostly fixed the open face at impact which has mostly fixed the push, but I still have a tendency to have an out to in path with my woods, particularly with the driver. Therefore, my slice is still alive and well and pops up several times through a round.

New Goal: Unchanged, but I feel that i'm halfway to my original goal.

Finesse Swing:

Goals: Apply principles of the "clock" method for wedge shots and chart the distances with each wedge.

Okay, I never quite got around to working on this much, but I still feel that this is still one of my stregnths.

New Goal: Unchanged from April.

Putting:

Goals: Get properly fit for a putter, develop a feel for the "speed" of my putts, and concentrate on 2-putting on most holes.

I didn't get fit, but I think I will do that before the spring rolls around. That great tip that I found about gauging speed of a put helped a ton, and I have found that my 3-puts have gone down considerably since the beginning of the season.

New Goal: Work on better reading greens and eliminate 3-putts

Overall Objective:

As the 2010 season comes to a close, I'm fairly happy with my progress this year, especially considering that from during that from the middle of May to the beginning of September I didn't manage to pick up my clubs even once to play or practice. Hopefully the momentum I have right now will not completely fade over the off-season and I will be able to pick up where I left off this year.

Stacked, Tilted, but still crooked.

I've got the basics of the stack and tilt swing down, and as far as that goes everything is pretty good.  I'm more consistent than I was before, but not as consistent as I'd like to be.  What I really need to do is to get to the practice range and really groove in the swing, specifically the downward shoulder turn and the inward path of the hands.

I have been playing a bunch, avoiding the range in favor of getting out on the links when the weather is good.  Those days are getting fewer and fewer as the New England weather turns to autumn.  There's been a bunch of rain recently which has limited the good golf days but has been good for the lawn that was destroyed by heat this past summer.

On the course my mis-hits are getting fewer, and when I get good contact the ball goes farther and straighter.  I remain completely sold on the stack and tilt method.  I may go out and pick up the DVD's too as I progress, but for now I'm sticking with the book.  I hope that a couple of good range sessions will get the S&T swing grooved in and more consistent.

Every struggling golfer hits at least one shot each time he or she plays that leaves you with an amazing "I can't believe I just hit that" shot that leaves you salivating for your next trip out to the course.  Before I started this, that shot would either be some sort of chip or pitch shot that would more or less come out of nowhere and leave me less than a three foot putt.  Recently those "I can't wait to get back" shots have been mid- and long-iron shots and even the occasional drive. As I stated earlier, I'm playing more than I usually do.  However, that means that I haven't been practicing at all.  Predictably that means that my short "finesse" shots have suffered.  I need to work on my touch, but that will have to wait until after I solidify my gains in my long game.

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.....