Half My Handicap in 12 Months

[dAS0]

Step/lesson two tonight. The new coach is definitely a ‘get the basics right’ and one step at a time. Only 15 minutes, first to confirm last lesson established, wider stance and maintain flex in right knee, check.

Contact was heavy, but the next step was to focus on weight shift. Took a few minutes to get the feel of “stepping “ onto the left foot. Tell tale sign of not doing so is finishing on the base of the right toes and not the end of the toe. Struggled to get the feel of this and really had to concentrate on being aware of the left foot. This also helped with completing the swing without consciously trying.

Finished on 1/2 dozen good 7is.

Tried a couple of drives out of interest before the lesson just to see what happened and one absolutely flew, no idea how far as it was getting dark and we don’t have floodlights or ball tracking on the range, but I know from the feel and sound it was further and straighter than I have ever hit a driver so this is showing some promise.

Note to self - stick with the practice to ingrain the weight shift and don’t tinker!!!

A

It sounds like your new coach is a good one. Having too much thrown at you can be troublesome. Get the basics down and work on it for a bit, then on to step 2.

Love that you are seeing better shots, no matter how often or how few. Seeing and feeling that good shot makes it worth it. Happy grinding!

 

[hackitup]

Step/lesson two tonight. The new coach is definitely a ‘get the basics right’ and one step at a time. Only 15 minutes, first to confirm last lesson established, wider stance and maintain flex in right knee, check.

Contact was heavy, but the next step was to focus on weight shift. Took a few minutes to get the feel of “stepping “ onto the left foot. Tell tale sign of not doing so is finishing on the base of the right toes and not the end of the toe. Struggled to get the feel of this and really had to concentrate on being aware of the left foot. This also helped with completing the swing without consciously trying.

Finished on 1/2 dozen good 7is.

Tried a couple of drives out of interest before the lesson just to see what happened and one absolutely flew, no idea how far as it was getting dark and we don’t have floodlights or ball tracking on the range, but I know from the feel and sound it was further and straighter than I have ever hit a driver so this is showing some promise.

Note to self - stick with the practice to ingrain the weight shift and don’t tinker!!!

A

I like this approach. I don’t schedule another lesson until the previous steps are solid. Once something new is introduced I go right back to the old way unless it’s ingrained. Slow and steady, you got this.

 

[alistaird]

It sounds like your new coach is a good one. Having too much thrown at you can be troublesome. Get the basics down and work on it for a bit, then on to step 2.

Love that you are seeing better shots, no matter how often or how few. Seeing and feeling that good shot makes it worth it. Happy grinding!

I like this approach. I don’t schedule another lesson until the previous steps are solid. Once something new is introduced I go right back to the old way unless it’s ingrained. Slow and steady, you got this.

Thanks guys…. i have a feeling this will take time ad effort to ingrain each small change but I think the results will be worth it.

A

 

[alistaird]

9 holes this afternoon, first time on the course since the 2 short lessons and on the 2nd time this year…

Scored really well without striking it particularly well. Good shots were good but not great, bad shots were straight. First hole set the tone, tee shot was a bit out of the toe and was short on the right edge of the fairway, then severely uphill 2nd to the middle of the green, 2 putt par.

40 (+4) with 6 pars, 2 bogeys and one double. 5 GIRs, a couple of nice up and downs, pared both Par 3s, considering there was zero roll on the fairways I’ll take that, nett -5. The tricky bit will be trying to start the next round with zero expectation as I did today.

A

 

[alistaird]

Another lesson... Long game is definitely coming together. Hit a few 7is and he said that's great keep on working at the fundamentals and let's look at the short game.

A few tweaks to move the shoulders more and the pitching really started to make sense and the chipping was solid.

Definitely the best I have hit the ball since returning to play.

Finished up hitting some HWs which I felt I could shape in a draw or straight and a few Drives which had a nice draw. For someone who has struggled to close the club face for the past 2 years it was a revelation. I stopped before it went to sh°t....


A

Sent from my XQ-AT51 using Tapatalk

 

[alistaird]

Fourth lesson, quick check of short game lesson and all good ..

Moved into Woods and Driver and the fundamentals are starting to work at the top of the bag.


Not as consistent as it needs to be, but he gave a great tip.... If I lose my sequencing with the full swing go back to a 1/2 swing at 70% and hit a few to get tempo and sequence back

That seems to work...

Progress continues now to take it to the course.

A

Sent from my XQ-AT51 using Tapatalk

 

[Knot Right]

All,

Just got my handicap back after 25 years.... And it's a nice round number of 20.

I'm on a quest to half it in 12 months but don't want to post how my lessons go etc as my main area of focus is going to be on better choices which I'm hoping will be of interest to people. My aim is to take 1 approach to the course to improve the score whilst focusing practice on one aspect of the game.

First up - and I know this is a weakness of mine, is to choose the right club off the tee. I normally start out all right but as the round progresses, I decide to 'have a go' at holes where I shouldn't. My home course is hilly and tree lined so there are very few holes where you can just take the driver and go and find your ball. It will be in the trees one or other side of the fairway if you're not very straight and given the slopes on the course, you can easily hit the fairway and still be in the trees.

So before my next round - I will decide which club to use of every tee (maybe not the par 3s as wind direction will play a part). Even when I play new courses, do a bit of research first and make a plan from the tee anyway. I'm going to try this for a couple of months and see what the impact is (at least on my Garmin App which tracks the handicap for all rounds even when I'm on my own).

Practice wise - focus is on 30-50 yards which I can do at home.....

I welcome thoughts on this approach as well as what to look at next (I'm thinking about taking my practice focus to the course- to see if I can land the ball more intelligently around the green to get a bit closer to the pin.). Then practice will focus on putting distance control to reduce 3 putts.

I'm thinking this approach should know 2-3 shorts off my handicap in 2-3 months - but we will see....

Thanks all for listening to me.


A

Intriguing thread. I used to set challenges for myself every year before I quit then game back in 2008.

Come to think of it, I haven't set a single goal since coming back 3 1/2 years ago. Wrist injuries limited me for a while but that's not an excuse anymore.

Thanks pards.......you just lit rekindled some old fires.