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Aaron's Journey to the Land of Single Digits!

I figure Ill update this so you guys have something to do while im playing golf tomorrow! I went out and played today first serious time on the course after practice and shot 85. That is only 1 stroke above my personal best of last year with only 2 weeks of work. Short game, short game short game... I spend 30 min a day putting and averaged 1.61 per hole today, now if I could just get the GIRs! Ball striking was better on average, still sweeping some and the main miss is left but I was scrambling like a pro. I never had a putt outside 10 feet after a chip and most were inside 6 so it made the 1 putts easier. I still have absolutely no confidence with my driver but I love my 3w so Im ok for now. I have another round scheduled tomorrow and a lesson on Tuesday. Im excited to see what Shane has to say regarding the scores ( I will break 90 tomorrow for sure!) and the new swing.

PS... Nate only 2 "6s" today my usual is soon to be a 5 bro!
 
Way to go Aaron!
 
Awesome Aaron, glad to hear the practice is paying off. Keep it up!
 
Sounds like some good work has been happening in your back yard. Great job Aaron.
 
Fight through the hurt, fight through the pain... Very nice Aaron, hope you feel better, and play better
 
Another day in paradise! Shot 89 today... Ball striking with my irons was great today. The wind was blowing hard and it made it hard to judge some things and the course, which I have never played before, was like a converted goat ranch! I believe the entire course could be played with a putter so I would hit the front of the green and run 10yds off the back. Thank goodness I have been working on my wedges because they really saved me today. My Seemore was acting up so at the turn I took it out back and paddled it good then it shaped up(read as "pulled my head out of my @$$). 22 putts on the front, 14 on the back. The better ball striking really is a curse at times. On the first hole im sitting in the center of the FW and the bushnell reads 129 to a front pin. My 9i goes 128-132...i hit easily the best shot of my life and flew the green and left with a 30yd chip. Today had 82 written all over it but my putting and distances made that not happen. I am playing a 9 hole par 3 in the morning to work on these distances and have a lesson with Shane on Tuesday. I really like the direction this is all headed!

Side note: I love these Mizuno MP53s!
 
Good stuff Aaron, glad you are getting some things figured out!

Pretty chilly out there this week, showing the dedication man.
 
Had my 2nd lesson today. I will post more about it tomorrow as I have a midterm to study for but know this: The ballon below is my ego going in after this weekend's rounds and the pin is Shane!!

balloon-pin_300.jpg
 
Study up for that exam then get back to tell us how it went. I am anxious to hear about it.
 
Good Stuff Aaron....I am working with GolfTec on my swing too....it's a long process and sometimes it gets better before it gets worse.

Look forward to meeting you in a few weeks in Dallas.
 
Great update Aaron. Now stop reading this and STUDY!
 
Have not seen in updates here Aaron. Have you found a new instructor yet?
 
I've been wondering about this thread. How's it going? Where you at with the quest?
 
I know at this moment he is at Golf Galaxy where Pat O'Brien is doing a clinic. Hopefully getting some great info for his quest to single digits!
 
I got to GG a little after he left. The sales people that I know there remember him being there, because he was s excited to meet Pat O'brien. That was definitely part of his journey to single digits.
 
afwcardinal said:
I got to GG a little after he left. The sales people that I know there remember him being there, because he was s excited to meet Pat O'brien. That was definitely part of his journey to single digits.
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Man you make me sound like a kid in a candy store... Or maybe it was just how I acted!! I was really looking forward to this as I have 2 SeeMore putters (SB1 and FGP) and have been trying to decide which one I wanted/needed to use.
 
It was fun, right. I sat in there talking with one of the sales guys that I have been dealing with for the last few weeks and he knew who I was talking about when I described a guy who was probably as giddy as a school girl to meet Pat. I told him, Yep that was him.
Did you get any good info from THE Man?
niteowl03 said:
Man you make me sound like a kid in a candy store... Or maybe it was just how I acted!! I was really looking forward to this as I have 2 SeeMore putters (SB1 and FGP) and have been trying to decide which one I wanted/needed to use.
Click to expand...
 
I don't mean to offend with the question, but are you sure your friend giving free lessons is qualified?

Even if he is, is he the best option? There's a lot of golf instructors out there. Not all are natural teachers. Finding a great teacher is incredibly important and a great teacher can often teach more in one lesson than a so-so teacher can in three.

Just food for thought from one who has been through a few teachers until he found one that fit.

If you're comfortable with him though, by all means, proceed and have fun!
 
mcook77 said:
I know at this moment he is at Golf Galaxy where Pat O'Brien is doing a clinic. Hopefully getting some great info for his quest to single digits!
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Thanks cookie!

When I first showed up they told me that Pat was running a bit late so I hung out putting with dad for a bit. I really expected there to be like 200 people there and was kinda upset when we were the only ones when he showed up. I guess we are just spoiled here with all the SeeMore knowledge and people dont know how good they really are. I had envisioned Pat doing some kinda presentation and then a little Q&A session. With no one there Pat walked over to us and just entered right into a mini putting lesson. Started with posture which I have been working on and he just wanted me standing up about 3in more. Then he changed my grip which I am pretty excited about and then we discussed address and alignment. I am hoping to steal some time away tomorrow to get out to Leonards and start practicing some of this. I have to admit I was a little nervous to meet him with all the build-up around here but he was a real down to earth guy. He would fit into the THP community real well! We chatted about THP, Johnson and all things SeeMore before other people started showing up. This was a great experience and one I hope will translate well to the course. I will probably try and schedule a followup with Pat in a month or so just to double check my progress.

In other places. of the game I havent found a definitive instructor yet. I will be searching a bit more over the next few weeks. There are 3 I plan to check out so far. Right now im going to focus on the putting instruction given above and my short game from about 100 in. Grad school is really whipping my butt right now and I havent even looked at my clubs before today since the Invitational. I started getting a little disheartened today on the LM in Golf Galaxy as my swing was a bit rusty but I remembered something my old coach told me, "Life happens and it is priority 1...until your a pro then you can focus on it more!" I felt pretty good after the Invitational where I shot 91 after seeing some of the other scores posted. I hit the ball rather well and putted great. I need to get my driver issues worked out as I just left it in the bag for fear or missing the fairway. The 3W is consistently in the fairway and like people say "This game is easier from the middle!" I plan to get refocused this next weekend after these term papers are finished.

Thanks guys for reminding me about this thread as I had let it get put to the wayside.
 
Good stuff brother, keep it up.
 
wadesworld said:
I don't mean to offend with the question, but are you sure your friend giving free lessons is qualified?

Even if he is, is he the best option? There's a lot of golf instructors out there. Not all are natural teachers. Finding a great teacher is incredibly important and a great teacher can often teach more in one lesson than a so-so teacher can in three.

Just food for thought from one who has been through a few teachers until he found one that fit.

If you're comfortable with him though, by all means, proceed and have fun!
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I totally missed this post, I apologize. I am not offended by your question at all and you pose some great questions.


My friend is not qualified beyond the fact that his dad is a PGA Teaching Pro (http://www.pga.com/professionals/garry-l-wolff-pga). He is a certified fitter at Edwin Watts and a +.04hdcp. I do not believe that he is a natural teacher. He only started coaching me after we started playing together weekly and he asked if I wanted some lessons. While I would consider them more tips while playing and some demos here and there it was a good basis and has helped my game alot. Most of what we focused on were the basics that he grew up hearing his dad teach (posture, grip ,alignment etc)

This is why I am seeking another more qualified teacher. I have given thought to talking to his dad but he doesnt use video and I see alot of benefit to the video feedback.
 
Thanks for the updates. Good perspective remembering those words of wisdom from the teacher about life being priority number one. When things settle down get back at I and keep us up to date. I look forward to sharing in your journey to lower numbers.
 
I have been in quite the predicament over the last week. When I went to Golf Galaxy with my dad for putting instruction/fitting from Pat O'Brien we were hanging out hitting irons when he mentioned that he was considering some new irons. Thanks to all the review threads etc here I went and grabbed the Ping G25s and the TM Rocketballz to start with in regular flex steel. He immediately turned the TMs away because of the look at address, so the Pings were on deck. After a few swings he asked what I thought. I have been really focused on peak height and launch angle lately in my own game as it appears that the peak heigh of 30yds is ideal for max distance. Then I went and got the G25 in the stiff flex CFS out of curiousity and made a few swing with it. Average numbers were launch angle 16*, peak height 28yds, and carry distance 170 with a 7i which is about 20yds further than my MP53s. The number that surprised me most was that the dispersion was incredible and the furthest ball offline was only 4yds.

I have been paying alot of attention to what the pros were playing lately because of this experience and some other threads around here and listening to JB talk about the Cleveland Altitudes while playing to a 4hdcp! The notion that good players play blades seems to be a thing of the past now and even still Im not a pro so why make the game harder on myself. This has caused me to consider going to a GI set of irons to add forgiveness and maybe some more consistency to my game.

This weekend I took a Callaway X-Hot 6i and a Ping G25 7i to the course with me to test (I also had the xhot 3w but thats not relevant here!) The first chance to hit one of these irons came on the 2nd hole. I hit a great drive and was left with 220 to carry a creek, and 247 to the pin into an elevated green. The 220 would be a decent shot for me with my 3w but had no real reward. So I lasered the distance to the edge of the creek at 179. I thought this would be a perfect place to try the XHot 6i as I hit my 6i about 160-165 so I would be left with a nice 70ish yd pitch to the green. I stepped to the ball and hit flushed it and flew into the creek. Upset by the penalty but amazed by the distance and excellent flight straight as an arrow. In disbelief I dropped another ball and hit almost the exact same shot.

The next chance came on the 5th hole which is a 163yd par 3 into a slight wind. I pulled the Ping G25 7i to test. WOW hit the green past the hole and backed up about 4 feet to leave me with a 2ft tap in birdie. Just for testing purposes I pulled my 7i and put a great swing on it. 12yds off the green and about 4yds right of the line. Another try landed within 3 feet of the first... Ok fine pulled the G25 again and landed just left of the hole and stuck about a foot forward of where it hit.

The rest of the day showed similar results with these 2 clubs. For those of you wondering about the Xhot 3w it was nice but the stock stiff PXv shaft is not for me so ill be testing it another day. I love the feeling of my Mizunos, in the words of Jman "God rubbed his testicles on every single iron" so whats not to love, but its hard to argue with results! I think I will be looking to trade my MP53s for a more GI style iron. There will be more testing going on over the next month or so of different clubs and the results will be posted here.
 
Don't you have a set of JPX 800s? I thought you told me that you had these at one time. If so, what happened to them?
 
afwcardinal said:
Don't you have a set of JPX 800s? I thought you told me that you had these at one time. If so, what happened to them?
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No i have an 800pro 4i but all my clubs have been forged.
 
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