adamw238
New member
- Joined
- Dec 21, 2012
- Messages
- 4,316
- Reaction score
- 0
- Handicap
- 9.1
I was inspired by Hawk's video yesterday and decided to start documenting my #journeytobetter. I didn't want to do the same thing as Hawk because frankly, any attempt by me to do anything remotely as amazing as that would be an insult that masterpiece. So, I'm taking a different approach and will let everyone join in my daily effort to become the best golfer I can.
A little background:
My #jouirneytobetter started well before I was an active THPer. I have been golfing for 24 years and love the game. For the last 2 years I have been trying to develop a golf swing that creates desirable results. A swing I could control....something that was mine. This all came about after a second back surgery that resulted in the fusion of L4-L5 and L5-S1. A lot of things happened after that surgery. I lost a lot of articulation in my back and hips. I was now and inch and a half taller. Most of all, my body could not tolerate the swing I had. There was a lot of coiling and unloading that wasn't possible because of the hardware in my back. I played one round after my surgery and it was like I had never swung a club.
A full fall, winter, and spring of rehab had me back in shape and the summer of 2012 I started taking lessons for the first time in 20 years. That year I went from an 18 down to a 12.4. It wasn't pretty, but I was able to knock it around and minimize my misses. The winter of 2012-2013 I decided I would continue my work and play simulator golf. I took lessons here and there, but nothing consistent. What happened was the worst possible thing. My swing went from something passable to a sin against mankind. My backswing was flatter than Kuchar's and my release started at my armpits. I had a 5 way miss; fat, thin, left, right and a shank. Things were bleak...
Spring 2013 had me back taking lessons and playing every week. I practiced about 5 hours week and was hoping for improvements. Only the opposite happened. I had a golf swing that was a mix of ugly and improving that resulted in bad scores on the course. I could go to the range and hit every shot I wanted, but on the course I didn't trust my swing at all. It didn't help that it was competitive golf. Albeit, with friends but still competitive. All summer I fought my swing (as you'll see in my Youtube videos).
Finally in August I said enough was enough. I went to my instructor and told him that I wanted to tear my swing down and build it from scratch. We were trying to patch a boat that had no sense being on the water. And that is exactly what we set about doing. He and I sat down and laid out a game plan that would have me playing good golf in April and better golf June through November. So a journey began.
September and October saw great improvements. On the course I stopped caring about my scores and focused on getting better. I lost a lot of money to my friends, but that wasn't my focus. In November I had my, "A-HA" moment and started generating lag and getting my lower body really involved. The ball sounded 100% better at impact and my LM numbers showed an increase in distance and tighter dispersion. What happened next would turn my golfing world upside down.
In November I started becoming an active member on this site. I kept seeing contests for this thing called The Morgan Cup. I watched the videos and thought, "Wow! This would be something that I could really see myself getting involved in." But I didn't see that happening this year. There were still spots open but I still wasn't sure about entering for a spot. Then a perfect contest showed up. Tweet to @cobragolf about why you should represent them in the Morgan Cup. I saw what everyone was posting and took a chance and entered with, "I've got more passion than Poulter and more swagger than Fowler. Strike like a Cobra, pounce like a Puma." Honestly I felt like I didn't stand a chance. There were some FANTASTIC submissions. A couple of days after Christmas I was in a pub with a friend of mine I only see once a year watching Liverpool lose to Chelsea. The game had just ended and my phone buzzed with a message from JB. I had been picked?! Words can't describe how I felt. I texted my instructor and he replied, "We've got a lot of work to do then." Since then our goal of being good by April and better the rest of the year became, great in April and unbelievable by July. I became more motivated than ever to improve.
What now?
So, here we are just under 4 months to the Morgan Cup and I'm happy to say that everyday my swing gets better and better. More importantly, I've got a great team that support one another every step of the way. We never have to question dedication because we all want IT. As I stated in the beginning I've posted all of my lessons in the past year to let the community enjoy and see what hard work and total dedication can get you.
In my last lesson my instructor and I worked in eliminating the reverse lag in my backswing (something we did to loosen up my wrists and allowed me to learn lag). We also focused on keeping my hands inside of the club head. On Friday I finally hit balls outside and was blown away. So was one of my regular playing partners. What used to be a crap shoot when my ball left the club had now become a beautiful natural high push draw. Last night I played an indoor round and saw even more distance (about 5 yards). For those of you who followed me in the Apex thread.....there were no 188 9i :bulgy-eyes: My handicap is currently a 16 but I was able to get my indoor handicap down to a 3.1 . My first test on the course will be this weekend with Donne and Jeremiah of THE Team Hackers.
All of my lessons are dated so you can see how I got to where I am. Everyday I will post what I worked on and how things continue to progress.
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy watching as much as 've enjoyed doing it.
Youtube Link
A little background:
My #jouirneytobetter started well before I was an active THPer. I have been golfing for 24 years and love the game. For the last 2 years I have been trying to develop a golf swing that creates desirable results. A swing I could control....something that was mine. This all came about after a second back surgery that resulted in the fusion of L4-L5 and L5-S1. A lot of things happened after that surgery. I lost a lot of articulation in my back and hips. I was now and inch and a half taller. Most of all, my body could not tolerate the swing I had. There was a lot of coiling and unloading that wasn't possible because of the hardware in my back. I played one round after my surgery and it was like I had never swung a club.
A full fall, winter, and spring of rehab had me back in shape and the summer of 2012 I started taking lessons for the first time in 20 years. That year I went from an 18 down to a 12.4. It wasn't pretty, but I was able to knock it around and minimize my misses. The winter of 2012-2013 I decided I would continue my work and play simulator golf. I took lessons here and there, but nothing consistent. What happened was the worst possible thing. My swing went from something passable to a sin against mankind. My backswing was flatter than Kuchar's and my release started at my armpits. I had a 5 way miss; fat, thin, left, right and a shank. Things were bleak...
Spring 2013 had me back taking lessons and playing every week. I practiced about 5 hours week and was hoping for improvements. Only the opposite happened. I had a golf swing that was a mix of ugly and improving that resulted in bad scores on the course. I could go to the range and hit every shot I wanted, but on the course I didn't trust my swing at all. It didn't help that it was competitive golf. Albeit, with friends but still competitive. All summer I fought my swing (as you'll see in my Youtube videos).
Finally in August I said enough was enough. I went to my instructor and told him that I wanted to tear my swing down and build it from scratch. We were trying to patch a boat that had no sense being on the water. And that is exactly what we set about doing. He and I sat down and laid out a game plan that would have me playing good golf in April and better golf June through November. So a journey began.
September and October saw great improvements. On the course I stopped caring about my scores and focused on getting better. I lost a lot of money to my friends, but that wasn't my focus. In November I had my, "A-HA" moment and started generating lag and getting my lower body really involved. The ball sounded 100% better at impact and my LM numbers showed an increase in distance and tighter dispersion. What happened next would turn my golfing world upside down.
In November I started becoming an active member on this site. I kept seeing contests for this thing called The Morgan Cup. I watched the videos and thought, "Wow! This would be something that I could really see myself getting involved in." But I didn't see that happening this year. There were still spots open but I still wasn't sure about entering for a spot. Then a perfect contest showed up. Tweet to @cobragolf about why you should represent them in the Morgan Cup. I saw what everyone was posting and took a chance and entered with, "I've got more passion than Poulter and more swagger than Fowler. Strike like a Cobra, pounce like a Puma." Honestly I felt like I didn't stand a chance. There were some FANTASTIC submissions. A couple of days after Christmas I was in a pub with a friend of mine I only see once a year watching Liverpool lose to Chelsea. The game had just ended and my phone buzzed with a message from JB. I had been picked?! Words can't describe how I felt. I texted my instructor and he replied, "We've got a lot of work to do then." Since then our goal of being good by April and better the rest of the year became, great in April and unbelievable by July. I became more motivated than ever to improve.
What now?
So, here we are just under 4 months to the Morgan Cup and I'm happy to say that everyday my swing gets better and better. More importantly, I've got a great team that support one another every step of the way. We never have to question dedication because we all want IT. As I stated in the beginning I've posted all of my lessons in the past year to let the community enjoy and see what hard work and total dedication can get you.
In my last lesson my instructor and I worked in eliminating the reverse lag in my backswing (something we did to loosen up my wrists and allowed me to learn lag). We also focused on keeping my hands inside of the club head. On Friday I finally hit balls outside and was blown away. So was one of my regular playing partners. What used to be a crap shoot when my ball left the club had now become a beautiful natural high push draw. Last night I played an indoor round and saw even more distance (about 5 yards). For those of you who followed me in the Apex thread.....there were no 188 9i :bulgy-eyes: My handicap is currently a 16 but I was able to get my indoor handicap down to a 3.1 . My first test on the course will be this weekend with Donne and Jeremiah of THE Team Hackers.
All of my lessons are dated so you can see how I got to where I am. Everyday I will post what I worked on and how things continue to progress.
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy watching as much as 've enjoyed doing it.
Youtube Link
