KellyBo & Gray -- Diary of taking Lessons

Well KellyBo just left a little while ago. She is in Macon picking up some knowledge from the teaching guru (Golf Lesson) and I am at home picking weeds out of the garden :D.. I got my yard work to do before I can release myself to the golf course. I'm sure she will have a full report of the progress when she gets home. I can tell you that her game is looking really good now. She has a serious goal in mind and has bet one of the old geezers at our golf course she is gonna do it. I would not bet against her :beat-up:.. The senior player was bragging about how good he could play and KellyBo told him to bring it on. He said ok we will play from the Ladies tees. KellyBo said, oh no, we are going back to the senior tees. I going to beat you on your own tees so there. :starwars:
 
Well KellyBo just left a little while ago. She is in Macon picking up some knowledge from the teaching guru (Golf Lesson) and I am at home picking weeds out of the garden :D.. I got my yard work to do before I can release myself to the golf course. I'm sure she will have a full report of the progress when she gets home. I can tell you that her game is looking really good now. She has a serious goal in mind and has bet one of the old geezers at our golf course she is gonna do it. I would not bet against her :beat-up:.. The senior player was bragging about how good he could play and KellyBo told him to bring it on. He said ok we will play from the Ladies tees. KellyBo said, oh no, we are going back to the senior tees. I going to beat you on your own tees so there. :starwars:

What happened was the guy was looking at handicap cards that were just posted. He asked me how my lessons were going and I told him good considering I had dropped from a 24 at the beginning of the year to a 13.9 now. I told him I really want to one day have a single digit handicap and he just started laughing like it was a big joke. Then he very confidently said "I'll bet you a dollar that you can't do it within one year". Well that ticked me off! I told him it will probably cost me $2000 in lessons to prove him wrong but quickly shook his hand and the bet is on! He said he would play me from the ladies tees and I had to beat him. I told him the bet was that I would be a single digit handicap by next September and I would be glad to play him from the senior tees, not the ladies tees. This guy is the most arrogant member we have and is 75 years old. He can shoot in the 70's on occasion but usually scores around low 80's.
 
Go get him, KB!
 
Lesson #8

PITCH SHOTS
Coach had me hit about 10 pitch shots over the bunker onto the green to see my technique. I asked him why my balls were going slightly left and he told me I was using my wrists too much. I quickly remembered what he taught me a few weeks ago and started hitting nice shots. I told him my problem is judging distances on pitch shots out 20-30 yards.

He took me to the other side of the range and set buckets up in a line about 15 feet apart. He said I could vary the distances of the buckets (towels are good too) as much as I would like when I go back and practice. He emphasized the importance of having a pre-shot routine on these shots because they involve feel. He had me swing my arm as if I were throwing a ball to the first bucket. I was to stand upright and to the side and use only my throwing arm, not my body. Short pitches like this are straight back and all arms with no body turn. I was to turn my hand over and not upright. I was to pay attention to how far back my swing was and once I felt it was right, I could hit the ball but I had to commit to the same swing. We went through all distances and it really works well.

Later he had me hit longer pitch shots from about 45 yards out. This time I had to turn my shoulders but use the same swing. I needed the shoulder turn to get my ball that distance. I struggled a bit when he put the body in motion with it but finally started getting the hang of it. It's all about committing to the swing and keeping the rhythm all the way through.

DRIVER

I told him I have been struggling with occasional pulls. I was able to demonstrate many of these shots! I was also not hitting my driver solidly at first. He quickly noticed that I was turning my right shoulder too soon and he also asked me to shorten my back swing even more. He changed the setting on my R9 to right instead of neutral upright. By the time I left, I was hitting really nice drives right down the middle!

Driver setup - ball inside left heel, tilt spine slightly to the right, correct swing plane using proper shoulder turn, 3/4 back swing, proper turn and BINGO!!!!!

Coach told me I should have bet that guy $500! LOL He said he has seen a big difference in the last 4 weeks. I told him about the outing we are going to next week. He asked all about it and said we would really have a blast. I told him there were 16 water holes and 115 sand traps. He said that water is not part of the playing field so don't even think about it. Just aim for the green grass and hit the ball! What water? Yeah right!
 
KellyBo,
You may have read in one of my other threads that I have chronic back problems and slipped a disc in my lower back again a few weeks ago. Had not dinged that one in a few years but got it good this time. Anyway I am doing much better now having gone through the usual healing time period. I have a suggestion for you.

When I get to the point where my back is still tender from a slip disc (which is basically an inflammation issue) often when I get home from putting it through some strain I will put a lower back support on for a few hours. Last week was the week for me where I was still tender and needed to stabilize my back for a few hours after putting it through some stress as at that point it had been about three weeks since I had sustained the injury. You would be surprised at the amount of relief you get from just stabilizing the back for a few hours like that. Even if you are just intending to lay there and chill out, the support is a very effective tool.

I would not recommend using it right after an injury as depending on the type of injury it may not be the best thing to do. However once you are at the point when you are not dealing with every day every hour pain and trying to get back to more normal activity levels it can be very helpful.
 
Thanks for your advice Jnug. I do occasionally wear a back brace around the house when my back is bothering me. It really does take the pressure off my lower back. I did a lot of resting this past weekend and it helped. I've also been doing stretch exercises. I am feeling a lot better.
 
I was playing with one of my friends today who a few years ago shot 63 which is one off our course record. I have played many rounds with Frank. Today I was chunking my shots more than I cared for. He asked me, Bill which is your dominant eye. I said, well my eye doc said it was my left eye. He said that is what my dominant eye is. He then asked me if I wanted advice on how to stop the chunks or hitting slightly behind the ball? I said hell yea! He is not one to just coach you for the heck of it. I get ill when people that are non professional want to give you advice. I have seen this ol boy hit two hole in ones within two weeks on the same par three with a 51 degree Cleveland black finish wedge i traded him for Lord knows what. So to say the least he is one guy who I don't mind giving me advice other than my teaching pro and Andy on THP. Now for the good stuff. I put the ball more up towards the inside of my left heel and was hitting everything dead straight and with no chunkiness at all. It felt a little weird but man did it make my life easier. KellyBo said our coach instructed her on this during a putting lesson. Sooooooooo my tip for the day is to find your dominant eye and place the ball according. This stuff really works and your swing bottoms out exactly where it is supposed to be. Try it, what do you have to lose?
 
Last edited:
Had a great time at the THP Outing this past weekend. I've played way too much golf lately. Just can't seem to stop! Love this game so much.

Here's my scores for the past week:
Sat: PGA Champion Course 91
Sun: PGA Palmer Course 89
Mon & Tue: Rested
Wed: Heart of GA Ladies Scramble -9 (our team won 1st place)
Thu: Home Course 85
Fri: Home Course 78
Sat: Practiced

Today's practice late in day when course was almost empty:

1. Hit onto 3 different greens from 100 yards out. One green was uphill, one slightly downhill, and the third was a two-tiered green with a tough pin placement on top. I probably hit a total of 60 balls doing this. I figured out where I may need a SW all the way to an 8 iron on these different type shots and pin placements. It was fun figuring it all out.

2. Long uphill putts (about 20 putts from bottom of the hill to top tier)

3. Pitching from about 17 yards out (about 20 pitches)

Next Saturday I'm going on a bus trip with about 30 women to a golf course in North GA (The Frog). We're gonna have a ball! We'll be playing a points type tournament based on handicap. I also play two days in Oct at the GSWGA fall tournament in St. Simons. That will be one day best ball and one day scramble two person teams. Lots of fun ahead!

My next lesson is Wednesday morning. I hope I can show him good results from all my hard work.

Anyone ever get sore ribs from playing too much golf???? My left side ribcage has been pretty sore lately. My back is much better!
 
Lesson #9

Played 7 holes with coach today for a play lesson. As usual, I didn't play my best but I did play better than the last time. He was happy that I have shortened my back swing and was bragging on my putting stroke. I still struggled hitting shots out of their rough. I got in the sand twice and was able to get out fine both times...nothing great but saved bogey. The course he teaches on is rated much higher than mine and I struggle every time I play it. My drives were good and my trusty 7 wood was great. I tried to help my irons up on a couple shots which were really ugly... I know better! He gave me lots of tips while we were playing but I'm too tired to remember most right now. Maybe I will remember them and come back and edit later. :) The good news is I wasn't as frustrated when I left, had a good positive attitude regardless of the fact that I have a LONG ways to go, and didn't stop to get a Blizzard on the way back (my comfort food).
 
This is awesome KB, I missed some post so I had to back up a bit, which is cool since it reads like a book of "hey, I do that too." Those pitching/chipping drills with the buckets are one of my favorite things to go back to when I'm really struggling.

A note about the back, my doc gave me a simple workout for helping those pesky lower-middle back issues. If you have access to a barbell, even a dumbell will do (not ol gray...I kid!). Get into your hitting posistion and lean just slightly more over your toes and simply bring the weight back along a 45* angle from hand posistion to about your shoulder. Be careful to not use your forearm to pull the weight. If you want you can even incorporate a body turn to really mimic the swing. It really has helped me out alot recovering from a tumble a few years back.
 
Just remembered a couple tips from my lesson today:

1. Putting: I had a long downhill putt today that I didn't read correctly...nice stroke but wrong read which left me with a 5' putt pin high. Coach made me look at the hole and imagine the ball falling into it from the top. When I did that I could easily see that it was breaking the opposite direction of my putt although the slope was confusing from the top.

2. Awkward downhill stance on slope: I hit a drive slightly into the rough today and had a very awkward downhill stance. I was 109 out with an uphill shot to the green. The green had 3 bunkers in front of it. I hit an 8 iron which would usually be about 120 for me. I hit a very nice high shot that ended up right in the bunker. Coach told me that since I had that awkward stance, it was hard to get the proper shoulder turn and I had to hit the shot mostly with my arms. If I had this shot in the future, I should consider even more club.

He has a book called The 30-Second Golf Swing: How to Train Your Brain that he is going to loan me. He said it is really a great book. I guess he knows my mental game is really killing me, especially when I have a playing lesson with him.
 
Great read KB. I can't stay up with you as it is, you keep taking lessons and I'll need you to give me lessons. BTW, let me know what you think of the book and I'll look for it if it helps.
 
After playing in a ladies fun tournament (catfight) out of town last weekend and playing horribly because of a mental meltdown and later realizing I was swaying badly, I decided to spend a lot of time working this week on my weaknesses. I won't be able to take a lesson for a while so I have been focusing on a lot of practice.

I love Youtube for looking up golf tips. When I have a particular problem, I just go there and search for a good tip from a golf pro. Wow does it help and it is a lot cheaper than my lessons although I like having a coach giving me feedback very much. I've also had Ol' Gray videotape a few swings here and there and learned I was swaying pretty bad, not turning properly, and not releasing my hands properly. I have even posted on swingacademy.com and received advice from a pro on there even though it was embarrassing that he used my "huge" sway as an example of what not to do. Haha.

So this week my practices have included the following:

Driver: Got on range and worked on problem with swaying. Here's the video I posted on Swing Academy showing my huge sway. Almost embarrassed to post but hey, you might learn something from it! http://www.swingacademy.com/forums/yaf_postsm807_Swing-analysis-for-someone-with-upper-body-s.aspx#807

I am happy to report I have stopped swaying and am hitting my drives really good right now. I played the other day and shot 81 and my drives were strong. However, my irons were not crisp and my chipping was bad so the rest of the week has been concentrating on those problems.

Irons: Took advantage of late afternoon down time at course several days and played anywhere from 50 - 150 yards. I took a shag bag with about 15 balls in it and worked on drills I learned on Youtube on about 4 different holes.

One of the things that helped me most was taking a practice swing and seeing where my divot was. Since you want to hit the ball first and see your divot in front of the ball, I would take a practice swing and look at the divot. I would then set the ball up in my stance in the position of the back of that divot. Worked wonders!

Had to work on direction a bit but concentrated on aim, squaring body, and swinging towards target. Last night I had one shot from 100 yards out that was sitting on the edge of the cup. Felt so good!

Pitching contests! Since Ol' Gray is recovering from a scope of his knee, he can't play golf right now but he can do a little pitching and putting. Last night we went out to our practice hole and had pitching contests from about 15 yards or so off the green. It was a lot of fun and really made you concentrate. I have been practicing my pitching a lot on our 9th green when business is slow in the pro shop. I had an advantage. :beauty:

Leaving Sunday for the Georgia Senior Women's Golf Association fall tournament in St. Simons Island, GA. There will be over 220 women there. It is 2 person teams competing in best ball one day and a scramble the next. There are 8 of us renting a beautiful large house on the island. We will play practice rounds Sun & Mon and the tournament will be Tue & Wed. The weather is supposed to be perfect (low 80's for high and sunny every day). Can't wait!
 
BOOM BABY! Per KellyBo "I had one shot from 100 yards out that was sitting on the edge of the cup. Felt so good!" I was there and witness that beauty.

I am able to get back out and pitch and putt now and it feels soooooooo good to be outdoors in this beautiful weather. I will be back working on my short game and getting my touch back :good:
 
Lesson #10

Congrats to my instructor for winning Georgia PGA Teacher of the Year! I was so excited for him. He definitely deserves it.

Scoring Goals - Per Round for a scratch golfer are:

Greens in regulations - 14
Fairways Hit Per Round (out of 14) - 11
Greenside Up & Down - 85%
Sand Saves - 57%
Putts Per Round - 28.76

He just wants me to use these as a guide to help me improve my handicap, they are not an expectation!

He would like me to try to keep playing stat sheets that are very involved so he can identify my weakest areas. He gave me a sheet for putting stats, approach shots broken down by type/distance, and gave me some practice drills to keep stats on. He pulled out a couple circles he had made out of PVC pipe and suggested I have some made for our course and use them on the range as targets. Luckily my Superintendent said he would make some for our range next week out of spare pipe we have at the course. The practice sheet coach gave me calls for circles 4', 6', 8' and 9' wide. We will probably make 4' & 9' circles.

To have a chance for a birdie, he said you should drive 60-65% of the distance to the hole on a par 4. He talked to me about course management, choice of clubs, really thinking about the smartest way to play a hole depending on your strengths. He gave me several hole scenarios and really made me think about smart choices.

He also loaned me a book called "The 30 Second Golf Swing, How to train your brain to improve your game". Boy do I need brain training! That's the weakest part of my game.

Feeling a bit overwhelmed and low on confidence...off we went to the range. I have been struggling badly with the irons again so I pulled out the 7 iron and started hitting shots. It didn't take him long to tell me I was not squaring up properly to the ball and that was making me pull my shots and hit them thin.

He put down an alignment rod and then put down two boards in front of the rod to help me square my body better. He wanted me to square my body to the ball, not just the target, and to use these alignment aids to do it. He got behind me and tilted my body correctly and had me look at the ball from behind. Once I felt square, I had to look at the target over my shoulder to see if it felt aligned. Being square is so much more than squaring my feet and shoulder to the target. I had no idea how out of whack I was. OMG did I start hitting my irons so much better! It was like night and day. I grabbed my 6 iron and was amazed at how well I could hit it too. Slow back swing, start down slow and accelerate at the bottom of my swing before/after I hit the ball. He emphasized staying in the box with my swing because I sometimes would come down and around too quickly. He had my timing just right to hit the prettiest iron shots I've ever hit and with ease. I love the sound of a crisp iron shot!

Next he worked with me on my driver. I am notorious for pulling my driver and for sometimes pushing it right. It was the same problem with squaring so we worked on that for a while and I started drilling my drives straight to the target. I was amazed.

I was so excited when I left that I went straight to the course and played 9 holes with Ol' Gray. Overall I did very well and hit some beautiful drives right on target. I also hit some really nice iron shots. Chipping and putting were off.....of course you can't have it all at the same time. I didn't keep score...just focused on ball striking. I've been shanking chips/pitches a bit the last couple days so tonight I spent time in my backyard working that out. A phone call to coach for advice and an hour of practice has hopefully fixed that problem. Hit with the toe first! Nothing to it!

Setho is coming tomorrow to play golf with us. Can't wait to see him!!!!
 
Lesson #10

Congrats to my instructor for winning Georgia PGA Teacher of the Year! I was so excited for him. He definitely deserves it.

Scoring Goals - Per Round for a scratch golfer are:

Greens in regulations - 14
Fairways Hit Per Round (out of 14) - 11
Greenside Up & Down - 85%
Sand Saves - 57%
Putts Per Round - 28.76

He just wants me to use these as a guide to help me improve my handicap, they are not an expectation!

He would like me to try to keep playing stat sheets that are very involved so he can identify my weakest areas. He gave me a sheet for putting stats, approach shots broken down by type/distance, and gave me some practice drills to keep stats on. He pulled out a couple circles he had made out of PVC pipe and suggested I have some made for our course and use them on the range as targets. Luckily my Superintendent said he would make some for our range next week out of spare pipe we have at the course. The practice sheet coach gave me calls for circles 4', 6', 8' and 9' wide. We will probably make 4' & 9' circles.

To have a chance for a birdie, he said you should drive 60-65% of the distance to the hole on a par 4. He talked to me about course management, choice of clubs, really thinking about the smartest way to play a hole depending on your strengths. He gave me several hole scenarios and really made me think about smart choices.

He also loaned me a book called "The 30 Second Golf Swing, How to train your brain to improve your game". Boy do I need brain training! That's the weakest part of my game.

Feeling a bit overwhelmed and low on confidence...off we went to the range. I have been struggling badly with the irons again so I pulled out the 7 iron and started hitting shots. It didn't take him long to tell me I was not squaring up properly to the ball and that was making me pull my shots and hit them thin.

He put down an alignment rod and then put down two boards in front of the rod to help me square my body better. He wanted me to square my body to the ball, not just the target, and to use these alignment aids to do it. He got behind me and tilted my body correctly and had me look at the ball from behind. Once I felt square, I had to look at the target over my shoulder to see if it felt aligned. Being square is so much more than squaring my feet and shoulder to the target. I had no idea how out of whack I was. OMG did I start hitting my irons so much better! It was like night and day. I grabbed my 6 iron and was amazed at how well I could hit it too. Slow back swing, start down slow and accelerate at the bottom of my swing before/after I hit the ball. He emphasized staying in the box with my swing because I sometimes would come down and around too quickly. He had my timing just right to hit the prettiest iron shots I've ever hit and with ease. I love the sound of a crisp iron shot!

Next he worked with me on my driver. I am notorious for pulling my driver and for sometimes pushing it right. It was the same problem with squaring so we worked on that for a while and I started drilling my drives straight to the target. I was amazed.

I was so excited when I left that I went straight to the course and played 9 holes with Ol' Gray. Overall I did very well and hit some beautiful drives right on target. I also hit some really nice iron shots. Chipping and putting were off.....of course you can't have it all at the same time. I didn't keep score...just focused on ball striking. I've been shanking chips/pitches a bit the last couple days so tonight I spent time in my backyard working that out. A phone call to coach for advice and an hour of practice has hopefully fixed that problem. Hit with the toe first! Nothing to it!

Setho is coming tomorrow to play golf with us. Can't wait to see him!!!!

Wow Kelly! Sounds like a great lesson & you guys have fun with Seth!
 
Was struggling with irons yesterday. Our Asst Supt (scratch golfer) came out to the practice hole and helped me figure out what I was doing wrong. Started landing the ball nicely after he helped me out. Want to make note of what he said I was doing wrong.

1. Delofting and closing clubface
2. Not getting body square
3. Ball too far back in stance - needs to be in middle

Old habits keep coming back to haunt me. I read back over my lessons to refresh my brain. This game is tough.

Playing a tough course out of town today with a friend. The best I've ever shot there is an 87 (40,47). Just going to relax and have a great time. I was playing in a 2 day tournament this weekend but it has been canceled.

Taking another lesson tomorrow.

Loving this fall weather!
 
Good luck today, Kelly! I'm amazed at what you have accomplished with your game. Keep the updates coming :)
 
Lesson #11

I started hitting balls on the range with my 9 iron and coach told me I was using my arms instead of shoulders again. He kind of laughed at me but I knew he was a little frustrated that he has to say something to me about this everytime I see him. He said he wanted to get to the root of the problem. He told me to come up to the mat and position myself to hit my club. Then he obviously took a picture of my setup using his laptop camera. Then he started talking to me about posture. I have TERRIBLE posture and always have. He made me put my club along my spine and stand up as straight as possible with it aligned from my head to my butt. Then he made me lean forward without letting the club move out of position. This is harder than you think! At this point I was told to drop my hands and to set up with the club while staying in that position. He then took another picture and put it side to side with the first one. OMG what a difference. I looked so slouchy in the first pic and so much better in the second. I sure felt weird having my butt poked out! We spent a good bit of time working on posture and then he started working on my swing.

I have a tendency to pull my 9 iron and that I had put my ball back more in my stance to fix it and created an entire problem hitting my shots thin. He talked about putting bandaids on to fix a problem is not the answer. He worked with me on my swing and said i was opening my club face when I went back again. He demonstrated how he wanted me to make my takeback and once I got it and my posture down, I started hitting the ball really nice and high and straight. It wasn't pretty at first though! Felt weird as always when you make a change.

Anyway, Ol' Gray and I have been laughing about my new posture. He said I looked like Hanks in that picture from the first THP Outing.
 
Lesson #10

Congrats to my instructor for winning Georgia PGA Teacher of the Year! I was so excited for him. He definitely deserves it.

Scoring Goals - Per Round for a scratch golfer are:

Greens in regulations - 14
Fairways Hit Per Round (out of 14) - 11
Greenside Up & Down - 85%
Sand Saves - 57%
Putts Per Round - 28.76

These numbers are an excellent guide to what it takes to play scratch golf. I am currently at a 2, and I would put my average numbers this summer like this:

Greens in regulations - 11
Fairways Hit Per Round (out of 14) - 10
Greenside Up & Down - 65%
Sand Saves - 57%
Putts Per Round - 30

Looking at this makes it crystal clear to me where my weakness is - most of my numbers are pretty close to the scratch golfer, but my greenside up & down is waaaaay off. Back in the day when I was a scratch golfer, I would say those numbers were pretty close, except I never averaged 14 greens hit per round - I know I always used to think if I hit 12 I should shoot par. This is a great guide, but I wish that since you are at 13.4, he could give you an intermediate set of numbers as a goal, like what numbers you need to average to be a 10. Still, great stuff!
 
Golf20Poster.jpg

102910.jpg

downsize1.jpg


Practiced today at our old #17 practice hole that was kept just for practice. Hit about 165 balls with my 58* LW from about 40-45 yards out using a circle around the flag as a target. As usual, I put my shots left of the flag most of the time. The picture with the circle is taken from the side. This was such a good practice. I know in time I will get more to the flag. It's a work in progress and I'm gonna be patient. :D
 
I agree that it would be good to have a more realistic goal but I think it was just something he already had for his really good players. I challenged him on 14 GIRs after looking at tour averages. I was ready for him on that one! I think tour average is in the mid 60% range. He just laughed and told me it is just a goal to work towards. He admits to being a true perfectionist and I believe him.

I ask myself regularly why I am taking these lessons. I am just so lucky to have free access to a golf course, range, and practice area and I love the game so much that taking lessons just makes sense to me. I don't care that I'll never be a great golfer but I want to be a solid golfer who can enjoy the game. It's been very frustrating to me to be a hacker all these years. Your numbers are terrific! I know you have really enjoyed the game shooting like that for years. What a gift.

These numbers are an excellent guide to what it takes to play scratch golf. I am currently at a 2, and I would put my average numbers this summer like this:

Greens in regulations - 11
Fairways Hit Per Round (out of 14) - 10
Greenside Up & Down - 65%
Sand Saves - 57%
Putts Per Round - 30

Looking at this makes it crystal clear to me where my weakness is - most of my numbers are pretty close to the scratch golfer, but my greenside up & down is waaaaay off. Back in the day when I was a scratch golfer, I would say those numbers were pretty close, except I never averaged 14 greens hit per round - I know I always used to think if I hit 12 I should shoot par. This is a great guide, but I wish that since you are at 13.4, he could give you an intermediate set of numbers as a goal, like what numbers you need to average to be a 10. Still, great stuff!
 
I set a handicap goal of 13.0 for Nov 1 2-3 months ago. Today I checked my handicap and it just changed to 12.9! I reached my goal! I really didn't think I was going to do it because I have had some really sorry rounds lately but I have also managed some decent ones in the mix. I'm recording it all. Wish I could play more consistently but patience is a virtue and I know I will get there one day if I keep working hard.

I like this video. Tom Watson's secret to the golf swing. Saving it to my diary for future reference. It has really helped me understand the swing.

 
Just wanted to say that while I was lurking, this thread more then anything else was what kept me out practicing and trying to get better after figuring out just how hard this game can be sometimes. Bravo to the both of you :clapp:
 
Back
Top