McLovin's Journey to Improve

[That post]

they work on the same drills 6 days a week for years. that can honestly be a little discouraging for us weekend warriors. when i look at my own journey, it's taken me almost 4 years to finally see some real progress that translates into better scoring. could i have done more? at first, i don't think so. for the first 2-3 years i grinded A LOT.

Yeah, you're not kidding that can be incredibly discouraging to us olds that have jobs, families and life commitments that can get in the way of grinding on drills 6 days a week. I'm coming into year 3 of my journey back into golf. It's incredibly frustrating knowing the kind of scoring I used to be capable of and what my game looks like now. I haven't had any professional instruction so my path will likely be longer but I am just now starting to see a little bit of promise from the things I've been working on for the past 2 off seasons. This will be my third offseason coming up and the first that I instead of trying to reinvent the wheel I'll just be doing a bit of maintenance type work.

Your growth and trajectory in this thread has been really fun to catch up on and read through.

 

[McLovin]

Yeah, you're not kidding that can be incredibly discouraging to us olds that have jobs, families and life commitments that can get in the way of grinding on drills 6 days a week. I'm coming into year 3 of my journey back into golf. It's incredibly frustrating knowing the kind of scoring I used to be capable of and what my game looks like now. I haven't had any professional instruction so my path will likely be longer but I am just now starting to see a little bit of promise from the things I've been working on for the past 2 off seasons. This will be my third offseason coming up and the first that I instead of trying to reinvent the wheel I'll just be doing a bit of maintenance type work.

Your growth and trajectory in this thread has been really fun to catch up on and read through.

if i told february 2020 me that it would take 4 years to see some real improvement, i'm not sure i would have bothered. i'm so glad i did, though. the game is getting to be really fun, and we're the closest we've ever been to achieving some scoring/handicap goals i had from the start.

 

[That post]

if i told february 2020 me that it would take 4 years to see some real improvement, i'm not sure i would have bothered. i'm so glad i did, though. the game is getting to be really fun, and we're the closest we've ever been to achieving some scoring/handicap goals i had from the start.

That's awesome man. I'm so geniunely happy for you. I know you've been putting in a ton of work.

 

[ryang13]

in one of the recent videos he talked about how long it can take for this stuff to finally settle in. an example he gave is when he works with elite juniors, they work on the same drills 6 days a week for years.

that can honestly be a little discouraging for us weekend warriors. when i look at my own journey, it's taken me almost 4 years to finally see some real progress that translates into better scoring.

You make some valid points, and this is a takeaway I got from reading through your thread. I've definitely had some success in my own journey, and a pile of setbacks along the way, and it's something I need to remind myself of often - this is not necessarily a linear progression, and that I am a weekend warrior. I don't have a bottomless war chest of time to focus on everything that I want to, but the fact that I've been able to get myself to a certain point on this road is worthy of celebrating.

 

[McLovin]

You make some valid points, and this is a takeaway I got from reading through your thread. I've definitely had some success in my own journey, and a pile of setbacks along the way, and it's something I need to remind myself of often - this is not necessarily a linear progression, and that I am a weekend warrior. I don't have a bottomless war chest of time to focus on everything that I want to, but the fact that I've been able to get myself to a certain point on this road is worthy of celebrating.

keep grinding!

 

[McLovin]

all i want for christmas is to be able to hit a basic f——— chip shot. my broken is brain. just can’t do the things im supposed to be doing.

 

[93civiccpe]

all i want for christmas is to be able to hit a basic f——— chip shot. my broken is brain. just can’t do the things im supposed to be doing.

You coming to Virginia any time soon?? I'm no instructor but the technique I use has been extremely reliable and I've helped several friends with their chipping

 

[McLovin]

You coming to Virginia any time soon?? I'm no instructor but the technique I use has been extremely reliable and I've helped several friends with their chipping

it’s warmer here. you’re invited.

 

[93civiccpe]

it’s warmer here. you’re invited.

Let me see if I can find a work reason to get down there.. would love to get some warm weather golf in with you! It has been too long!!

 

[McLovin]

i sent a video to ty when i was struggling with the chipping practice. he got back to me pretty quickly and said the club was working way too hard to the left (a very common flaw i've had for awhile). i've been back to the practice area two times. the setup for the practice is still to place a tee in the ground about a yard behind my ball, straight back down the target line, and try to get the club working over (even outside) that tee in the backswing, maintaining a straight right arm and no wrist hinge. the focus since he got back to me has been to exaggerate the draw feel on the follow through. i'm VERY encouraged by the results.

in a few weeks i'll hit 4 years down this journey. FOUR years. that's crazy to think about. i'm so glad i stuck with it, though. i think the swing is the best it's been in a very long time (if ever). the improvements we need to make don't feel near as difficult. i don't think this is the year to get to scratch, but i think a 1 or 2 is feasible.

 

[Styles]

That must be a nice feeling.

 

[Tenputt]

i sent a video to ty when i was struggling with the chipping practice. he got back to me pretty quickly and said the club was working way too hard to the left (a very common flaw i've had for awhile). i've been back to the practice area two times. the setup for the practice is still to place a tee in the ground about a yard behind my ball, straight back down the target line, and try to get the club working over (even outside) that tee in the backswing, maintaining a straight right arm and no wrist hinge. the focus since he got back to me has been to exaggerate the draw feel on the follow through. i'm VERY encouraged by the results.

in a few weeks i'll hit 4 years down this journey. FOUR years. that's crazy to think about. i'm so glad i stuck with it, though. i think the swing is the best it's been in a very long time (if ever). the improvements we need to make don't feel near as difficult. i don't think this is the year to get to scratch, but i think a 1 or 2 is feasible.

I would love to see you at a 1 or 2.

 

[DNice26]

I'm sure you have, but have you been fit for your wedges?

The right grind can be life changing around the greens. I can go from zero to hero with the right loft and grind around the greens.

 

[Tenputt]

I'm sure you have, but have you been fit for your wedges?

The right grind can be life changing around the greens. I can go from zero to hero with the right loft and grind around the greens.

Have you gone into a Club Champion or similar to be fit? I would love to do it, but it is hard for me to see how a fitting would be accurate off of mats, which is the only option that I seem to have available to me.

 

[McLovin]

I'm sure you have, but have you been fit for your wedges?

The right grind can be life changing around the greens. I can go from zero to hero with the right loft and grind around the greens.

i have but my technique was so bad the fitter sent me away (politely) at no charge. it was an outdoor fit.

 

[DNice26]

Have you gone into a Club Champion or similar to be fit? I would love to do it, but it is hard for me to see who a fitting would be accurate off of mats, which is the only option that I seem to have available to me.

I have not. Tbh, I’ve never formally been fit…I’ve figured out what works for me from buying/demoing so much gear. Low bounce and aggressive grinds are death for me. I tend to have a bad habit of pressing and the added bounce helps me get away with that.
I’d be curious to be “fit” for a wedge, but I don’t think in doors off a mat would interest me in the slightest for a wedge grind fitting.

 

[McLovin]

2024's commitment to short game has been fruitless, so ty asked for some videos. he said i'm taking the club back too low and i'm losing attack. but i know i NEED attack, so i'm kind of pushing my hands down in the downswing to lower the club. he wants me to put a second ball about a yard behind the ball i'm trying to hit to incentivize me to get the club up earlier. he also wants me to put a little more pressure into my lead foot, and take some "hit" out of the strike by slowing down the club prior to impact. this is going to be the death of me...

 

[McLovin]

golf is a real jerk. i ended 2023 with some really good golf. i've started 2024 with a dumpster fire. ty wanted to get together for short game, and even though full swing has been horrible we agreed to keep sticking with short game for now, and tackle full swing later if it hasn't gotten any better.

we just worked on one basic shot for the full hour. a short chip on a fast green that runs away. it required some elevation/carry, and spin. things started ok, but by the third or fourth warmup shot it had already fallen apart. we tried a bunch of things, but nothing was clicking until he stood next to me, grabbed the club and hit some shots so i could feel what the club was supposed to be doing.

first, he made me shift my weight way more to my lead side than i was originally. like, to the point i was almost falling over. but the biggest thing he noticed is that as he moved the club for me, he felt how much i was trying to shut the face through impact. like, rolling over pretty hard, whereas he was keeping the loft through impact mostly to engage the bounce.

the feel we tried was for the right hand to stay "under" through impact. he said danny willett describes it like he's trying to smack the ground with the knuckles of his trail hand. ty also set up a couple alignment sticks to help keep takeaway from going too inside. the feel is so foreign, but it was working really well during the lesson, and for the 30 minutes or so i worked on it after.

i've been back to the short game area once to keep working on it. it's nowhere near automatic, but when i do it i really like what i'm seeing.

 

[McLovin]

i haven't played as much as i usually do, but i've tried to practice short game a few times a week. the encouraging thing is that it's been much better than in the past, though still very far off where i was hoping to be.

i played last weekend, and wow the short game didn't show much improvement at all. but the full swing was good, much better than i expected. i'm still committed to only focus on short game during our lessons. ty reached out wanting to get together, but i don't have the time. we'll get back at it when my busy season lets up next month.

 

[Styles]

I got very sick first week of November at ficpa and lost weight/didn’t work out/etc and didn’t play for two months. my swing has been a dumpster fire since And I completely lost my short game. I think I had a 90-something in there. Saturday, I shot 79 again.

hang in there until may!

 

[Styles]

No updates? Racing to the finish line?

 

[McLovin]

No updates? Racing to the finish line?

i haven't touched a club in 30 days...

but tuesday april 16th i plan to fix that! to be perfectly honest, my interest in the game is at an all time low. hoping the spark reignites.

 

[Tenputt]

my interest in the game is at an all time low.

Do you think it is the tax season blues?

 

[McLovin]

Do you think it is the tax season blues?

if it is, that would be a first in my 20-year career. usually i'm FEENIN for some golf during the season. in the past i'd go practice during lunch. some years i would find the first tee time of the day at a course on saturday morning so i could still get in before lunch. this time last year i had played 9 times; this year, only 3. maybe it's prioritizing time in the gym. maybe it's the reality that after this hella long journey to improve, i'm nowhere near where i hoped i'd be and the reality of plateauing kinda sucks? i'm not sure. when i played last month, i did enjoy it quite a bit. we'll see what happens when tax season ends. ty has messaged me a few times wanting to get together, so he's definitely still committed.

 

[McLovin]

i hate this ******* game