Sharing my journey

flylear45

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Hey guys and gals. I'm new to the forum and got a chance to meet and play with some great guys from NE Ohio and Indiana yesterday.

I belong to a semi-rural golf course that hosts club events including a Ryder Cup every year, and was lucky enough to be selected as a (losing) Captain a few years ago.

I started last year playing to an 11 handicap but by the end of last year was able to drop that to 6.6, owing in part to the fact that I shot two of the best consecutive rounds of my life in the club championship in the handicap division, and won in a playoff after being two strokes back on the final day, shooting a PB of 69 on a par 70 and one over par gross for the tournament as an 8 handicap.

I then went on to play poorly in the Senior amateur events on my schedule and scored in the mid-80's due largely to poor putting and scoring iron play.


I want to start a thread to share my journey going forward.


I have set goals for myself to play in Senior golf tournaments this year and to place in the top 10. I want to drop my handicap into the 4-5 range so as to be a 1 man in the weekend game we play at Riverview.

My focus this winter was to work on my swing deficiencies with my coach to try to get my iron play up to a level of ball-striking that would allow me to compete within my area at my age. (I'm 57.)

I travelled to Austin to hook up with Matt Christian last month and took a lesson from him in person for the first time. Up till now all our work has been over Skype, email, and internet interaction. I began work with him the October prior to my handicap dropping and my club championship.

What I'm doing is going to sound really strange to a lot of you, and that's fine. I don't expect anyone else to agree or follow, but I do want to share my process in case it can help anyone else. I got a lot of PM's and thank you's on the site I came from thanking me for sharing, so I am working under the assumption that what I am going through can be of some help for others.

If nothing else, for the people who would like to try what I am trying to do but don't have the time, maybe they can get a vicarious view of what it's like as I struggle along. Because I do struggle. This isn't an easy game. That's exactly why I do it and why I want it so much.

For others, maybe I can help show that you don't have to be anything special to get decent at this game...... because I'm nothing special.

I do work hard, and I try to work smart, because I'm not getting younger or more athletic as my 60th birthday is the next 'big thing'.

Ok, then. As a background, here's the video that attracted me to Matt and his way of teaching. If you want a glossy production vid you will be disappointed. this is about the content not the production. This is what started me on the path from 11 to 6.6.

 
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Good luck on your journey Jim! It was great meeting you and anytime you can get together with us jump right in! I'll be following along with this thread
 
Welcome to Paradise. Great intro! Look forward to teeing it up with you.
 
Welcome to THP and good luck on your journey. I will be following along


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Good luck on your journey Jim! It was great meeting you and anytime you can get together with us jump right in! I'll be following along with this thread


Thanks, man. The first thing you will learn about me (hopefully!) is that I try to be brutally honest with myself and post up what I do whether it's good or bad. Learning to live with my bad stuff is part of getting better.

I was disappointed in how I scored yesterday, but I also was flighting my irons really well in a brutal wind. I just couldn't pick a club since I was hitting the ball so much lower naturally with less unwanted spin that a two-three club wind wasn't killing my shots as in the past.

To me that's a positive even though my score stunk. It's golf.

My motto is to Reflect, Adjust, and Improve.

As an older player every year now is super important. I know time is going to continue to take it's toll on my body and nerves. That doesn't mean I can't work on being better through fitness, diet and mental training, and I do work on all those things.

I have to tell you, when I saw all you young men coming in I was thinking "Oh crap! I am gonna be the only old guy here!"

But you guys took me in and we all had fun together.

Good stuff. Go OHIO!
 
That's the power of THP
 
Welcome to THP!
 
Welcome Jim!
 
OK, so what made a difference for me? I have played to a 10 for decades......literally. How did I break par for the first time and do it in competition last year?

Slowing down and building REAL awareness of what my body is doing. My swing today feels like a lazy pitch shot compared to a year ago. I still need to work on it more and am not there by any stretch, but it's almost that simple in concept.

The want/impulse to accelerate the club is the killer. I am learning to overcome that and instead harness the power I have in a way that produces real results for me.

Some people do this naturally but it is something I am still teaching myself how to do.

 
Welcome to THP! There's lots of us oldies all around the continent.
 
Welcome to THP. Good luck in your efforts to play better.
 
It's great to see the focus! Good luck to you.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Good luck on your journey and welcome to THP!
 
I have received several PM's about just what the heck is this all about??? Some have even questioned whether it was a joke. No, I just want to show what I'm doing. I might be a total flop and look silly for what I am doing in the end. I take that chance. That's a certain foreseeable outcome. I happen to doubt it very much.

This is just a different, and my personal viewpoint of what happens when we pick up a golf club, and what works for me.

To give some more boring history. I was hitting the ball really well two years ago. I was getting my scores down and feeling in control of what I was doing.
I had a major issue though. I was getting serious and lingering back pain from how I swung the club. It was a left upper thigh sciatic pain I was getting from how I was hitting the ball. It followed me all through the season.

For someone young or not hitting a lot of balls that's no big deal. But I had a real problem and it was presenting itself in making shots over the course of several days. I knew I wasn't 'doing it right'. I found someone who showed me how I could keep up to a degree with younger guys in distance without hurting myself one small bit.

The modern ideal is swing speed. It's a real metric, no doubt. However, pure contact trumps speed for delivery of the shot on a regular basis. That's why ugly swings can beat pretty ones. If you play for money, you already know it's a fact.

I went looking for how to hit the ball with power AND accuracy, and with less effort.

It can be done, but not just by this method. There are a bevy of great players who by example show that there isn't just one path to the prize. I am just one guy doing my thing. I don't stand to explain or defend any method. It's just me trying to beat some butt and get some trophies if I can.

I believe and am training to consider my spine as the first priority in all shots. I cannot give up my body to the golf swing because my body will resist or have pain if I mistreat it, and that will rule everything. My body owns ME in the end as far as sports are concerned. I try to get closer to a real understanding of it and with that understanding try to improve.

I know it's not a 'swing fix' or 'tip'. I don't come here offering to change anyone's golfing life. That choice is left to the individual, and no-one is just like me.

This is just me and how I am doing what I am doing. I will certainly try to explain to anyone interested, but won't argue with anyone who thinks I'm full of it.
 
Welcome to THP and good luck on your journey. Glad you are here with us.

JM
 
I now need to explain what the heck I am talking about with the spine stuff.

Whether you know it or not, your body is the master. You just make suggestions and hopefully it obeys. Your spine is non-negotiable. It will make you do it's bidding in order to not hurt itself.

So what does that mean?

Just listen to the message and really look at yourself. That's what i try to do.

 
Glad to be watching you continue your journey here. Your work with Matt is commendable and your effort definitely shows. Let's both work hard and post a new PB this year!

I had a nice breakthrough a few weeks ago relating to my release. I finally got the sequencing of the late hit down and am striking the ball at least 1 club farther with much better ball flight. I'll take some video tomorrow evening. If you wish I can post it here if I see something noticeable to describe.

Here's to great things for both of us. Cheers.
 
Also this is a better explanation.


 
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Glad to be watching you continue your journey here. Your work with Matt is commendable and your effort definitely shows. Let's both work hard and post a new PB this year!

I had a nice breakthrough a few weeks ago relating to my release. I finally got the sequencing of the late hit down and am striking the ball at least 1 club farther with much better ball flight. I'll take some video tomorrow evening. If you wish I can post it here if I see something noticeable to describe.

Here's to great things for both of us. Cheers.

It is really cool watching a guy with similar commitment take a different path and become a good player. You just do what you are doing, Les. I am in your corner.
 
You can certainly post anything you wish in my journey because in a way we are sharing it together. I would be proud. I've seen you play and know the respect you show the game.
 
There are two shots I really remember best playing with you, Les. One was how on 17 I ended up behind the cart barn off the tee and bouncing off the roof getting back in play. The other was my tee ball on 18 over the hill. A little anger in that swing. LOL

That was so much fun travelling to your course and meeting you. I hope to do that with a lot of guys here.
 
Lots of great THPers in your area. They get together to golf all of the time.
 
Lots of great THPers in your area. They get together to golf all of the time.


I see that and am already forming contacts for this summer. It's a long cold winter in Ohio, but spring will break soon and I am excited to make new golf friends.
 
Welcome and good luck with your journey. I'm a little younger than you at 50 but I know how much harder I have to work at my fitness and flexibility compared to even 5 or 6 years ago. I have had some lower back issues since I was in my late teens and a couple years ago I decided to increase my hip turn to lower the stress on my my back knowing that I wanted to play golf as close to my current level as I can for another 2 or 3 decades. After swinging for 30 years trying to restrict my hip turn(that whole X factor thing) it took me a couple months to get everything synced up but it has paid dividends. I can now go out for a long practice session hitting 300+ balls and have little to no pain or stiffness the next day. The more I play the stronger my body seems to get. Now I just need to get rid of this thing called work and I'd be set!
 
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