Sunday, January 25, 2009
Thursday, December 18, 2008
A new beginning!
Year 2009 is just around the corner, and it is time to start thinking about our golf games again! I am ready to get back to my weight and fitness training as I have blossomed back to 195 lbs. I reached 180 lbs last May, but found it difficult to follow my conditioning routine through my busy schedule at work, kid's baseball, and finding time to play golf.
I also had a relapse of knee problems at the end of August which cut my workouts all together. Something broke loose in my knee (cartilage, bone, calcium) and was floating around in my knee. Occasionally, it would lodge in a position that would cause great pain and limit my ability to walk. I saw my orthopaedic surgeon who drained my knee and gave me a cortisone shot for the swelling. We decided not to have immediate sugery as I have in the past, but I was ready because the floating material was causing me great discomfort!
We went on vacation to Florida in early October, and during theat week, the material seemed to disappear, or it found a good place to hide as it has given me little trouble since that time. Hopefully my return to physical activity won't cause it to break loose again.
I talked a lot last year about stack and tilt theory, and even experimented with the swing. As I evaluated my swing this Fall, I found that it caused fundamental problems with what works naturally for me. My legs (lower body) has always been the source of power for my golf swing, and all other sports I participated in. The stack and tilt for me would cause my lower body to out race my upper body which resulted in an open-face and less than optimum swing path.Keeping my arms in front of my chest was almost impossible, and no amount of upper body strength was going to help this problem.
I love the word stacked and its result for hitting square, solid golf shots. Stacked is keeping your torso positioned over your knees throughout your swing. For me, stacked could only happen at impact when I made a wide, behind the golf ball, turn to the top of my backswing.
I also had a relapse of knee problems at the end of August which cut my workouts all together. Something broke loose in my knee (cartilage, bone, calcium) and was floating around in my knee. Occasionally, it would lodge in a position that would cause great pain and limit my ability to walk. I saw my orthopaedic surgeon who drained my knee and gave me a cortisone shot for the swelling. We decided not to have immediate sugery as I have in the past, but I was ready because the floating material was causing me great discomfort!
We went on vacation to Florida in early October, and during theat week, the material seemed to disappear, or it found a good place to hide as it has given me little trouble since that time. Hopefully my return to physical activity won't cause it to break loose again.
I talked a lot last year about stack and tilt theory, and even experimented with the swing. As I evaluated my swing this Fall, I found that it caused fundamental problems with what works naturally for me. My legs (lower body) has always been the source of power for my golf swing, and all other sports I participated in. The stack and tilt for me would cause my lower body to out race my upper body which resulted in an open-face and less than optimum swing path.Keeping my arms in front of my chest was almost impossible, and no amount of upper body strength was going to help this problem.
I love the word stacked and its result for hitting square, solid golf shots. Stacked is keeping your torso positioned over your knees throughout your swing. For me, stacked could only happen at impact when I made a wide, behind the golf ball, turn to the top of my backswing.
Like the photo shown above...stacked is best shown in the big picture, hanging back is shown in the inset picture.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
The highs and low of golf...
Golf is certainly one of the most frustrating games I have ever played. It always seems to keep you guessing about your play and adjusting to the small bits of information it gives you.
I played golf on Sunday (45 holes) with some college buddies in Louisville, and hit the ball about a well as I have in several years. I think the extreme amount of play hurt me as I played in a tournament on Monday as poorly as I think I ever have. It wasn't my old mistake of under the swing plane, but a low-left smother hook which left me puzzled and doubting my swing the entire day.
I have chalked the poor play on Monday to my excessive play on Sunday and will move on like it never happened. I hit about 10 balls today just to make sure I was still making quality swings...and everything went fine. I will most likely hit more balls this weekend and play at some point next week to make it sure it just a fluky day.
My weight is down to 183 lbs. and I have not been able to get in much exercise due to a busy schedule at work and Jackson starting baseball. I know I can make it to the 170 lb range as the 183lbs has been easy to maintain so far.
The golf course is in great condition and I hope to see everyone soon!!!
I played golf on Sunday (45 holes) with some college buddies in Louisville, and hit the ball about a well as I have in several years. I think the extreme amount of play hurt me as I played in a tournament on Monday as poorly as I think I ever have. It wasn't my old mistake of under the swing plane, but a low-left smother hook which left me puzzled and doubting my swing the entire day.
I have chalked the poor play on Monday to my excessive play on Sunday and will move on like it never happened. I hit about 10 balls today just to make sure I was still making quality swings...and everything went fine. I will most likely hit more balls this weekend and play at some point next week to make it sure it just a fluky day.
My weight is down to 183 lbs. and I have not been able to get in much exercise due to a busy schedule at work and Jackson starting baseball. I know I can make it to the 170 lb range as the 183lbs has been easy to maintain so far.
The golf course is in great condition and I hope to see everyone soon!!!
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Tournament debut
I played in my first competitive round in about a year and had modest success with my performance. The conditions were not favorable as we teed off at 9:00am with the temperature around 39 degrees. It was cloudy all day and probably warmed to 45 degrees by 1:00pm. The wind was not awful, but seemed to have a greater effect with the cold, wet conditions. The combined roll yardage of all my drives, as well as everyone in the field was probably less than 5 yards.
The tournament was the KPGA Pro-Senior held at Harmony Landing CC near Louisville. The club was replacing irrigation lines, as we did 2 years ago, so hole #14 was closed for the event. The result was a 17 hole score for all teams and players. I finished with a 75 which placed around the low 25 scores out of 50+ golf professionals.
My driver was the best part of my game as I hit the ball in play all day except for the last hole, when I tried to do too much with my driver. The driver being the best part of my game is huge change from the past where it easily could be considered the worst. Hopefully my swing changes combined with weight training is going to be positive for my golf game in the future.
I did hit one awful iron shot making my old mistake, but I made bogey as did most of the field on this 215 yd. par-3. My biggest problem of the day was club selection, as I fell into a common amateur problem of underclubbing myself all day. Not so much from the fact that I thought I should hit my irons further, but I didn't want to put the ball into a position above the hole. After a few times of coming up short, I should have been able to make an adjustment giving myself a better opportunity to score.
Most of my iron shots were right in front of the green or on the front of the green, giving me easy opportunities to make par, but little chance to make birdies. I had borrowed a SkyCaddie GPS unit and it worked perfectly, but I made little adjustment for yardage due to the cold, wet conditions. Into the wind, I was always short, but downwind my club selection was better.
I would encourage everyone to invest in a SkyCaddie or some type of handheld GPS unit for golf, as it is a great training device for determining your yardage for each club. 90% of all golfers believe they hit the ball further than they actually can usually will cost them several strokes especially when playing new golf courses.
I have ordered a selection of Skycaddie GPS units which should arrive in the next week. Bring in a copy of this blog and I will give you a 10% discount towards the purchase of a Skycaddie.
My weight moved back up to 188 lbs. and I hope to get in some good cardio work over the next few days and really watch what I eat. Maybe I can make it to 185 by next Monday.
The tournament was the KPGA Pro-Senior held at Harmony Landing CC near Louisville. The club was replacing irrigation lines, as we did 2 years ago, so hole #14 was closed for the event. The result was a 17 hole score for all teams and players. I finished with a 75 which placed around the low 25 scores out of 50+ golf professionals.
My driver was the best part of my game as I hit the ball in play all day except for the last hole, when I tried to do too much with my driver. The driver being the best part of my game is huge change from the past where it easily could be considered the worst. Hopefully my swing changes combined with weight training is going to be positive for my golf game in the future.
I did hit one awful iron shot making my old mistake, but I made bogey as did most of the field on this 215 yd. par-3. My biggest problem of the day was club selection, as I fell into a common amateur problem of underclubbing myself all day. Not so much from the fact that I thought I should hit my irons further, but I didn't want to put the ball into a position above the hole. After a few times of coming up short, I should have been able to make an adjustment giving myself a better opportunity to score.
Most of my iron shots were right in front of the green or on the front of the green, giving me easy opportunities to make par, but little chance to make birdies. I had borrowed a SkyCaddie GPS unit and it worked perfectly, but I made little adjustment for yardage due to the cold, wet conditions. Into the wind, I was always short, but downwind my club selection was better.
I would encourage everyone to invest in a SkyCaddie or some type of handheld GPS unit for golf, as it is a great training device for determining your yardage for each club. 90% of all golfers believe they hit the ball further than they actually can usually will cost them several strokes especially when playing new golf courses.
I have ordered a selection of Skycaddie GPS units which should arrive in the next week. Bring in a copy of this blog and I will give you a 10% discount towards the purchase of a Skycaddie.
My weight moved back up to 188 lbs. and I hope to get in some good cardio work over the next few days and really watch what I eat. Maybe I can make it to 185 by next Monday.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
St Patrick's Day success!
Even though the playing conditions were very bad, the event turned out to be a great success as 22 teams played on Saturday's event. Everyone enjoyed the new format with two pinlocations on each green and using a modified stableford point system. We also used forecaddies with each group to help with the extra walking due to carts restricted to the paths.
Here are the results:
Flight 1
1st - Mike Pittman, Bruce Carter - +53
2nd - Michael Hall, Craig SMith - +46
3rd - Greg SOuder, Nick Dedman - +46
Flight 2
1st - Dave Cheese, Ian Eckert - +40
2nd - Bruce Springate, Bryan Sterne - +39
3rd - Steve Buchanan, Tim McCoy - +38
Thanks to all that played!
I am down to 186lbs. with 23 days left to reach my goal of 175...It may be out my reach now but I will try to to stay on task if I don't make it by May 1.
Here are the results:
Flight 1
1st - Mike Pittman, Bruce Carter - +53
2nd - Michael Hall, Craig SMith - +46
3rd - Greg SOuder, Nick Dedman - +46
Flight 2
1st - Dave Cheese, Ian Eckert - +40
2nd - Bruce Springate, Bryan Sterne - +39
3rd - Steve Buchanan, Tim McCoy - +38
Thanks to all that played!
I am down to 186lbs. with 23 days left to reach my goal of 175...It may be out my reach now but I will try to to stay on task if I don't make it by May 1.
Friday, April 4, 2008
Down to 187...
My weight is down to 187lbs. and my knees are doing very well as a result...I look forward to our first event of the season tomorrow, the re-scheduled St. Patrick's Day Scramble. We have 23 teams registered with a few possibilities that may register in the morning.
Please call the Golf Shop if you are interested in playing at 12:30 Saturday. The rain will make things a bit of a mess, but I think most of us are ready to have a great time playing some golf!
See you tomorrow!
"PRO"
Please call the Golf Shop if you are interested in playing at 12:30 Saturday. The rain will make things a bit of a mess, but I think most of us are ready to have a great time playing some golf!
See you tomorrow!
"PRO"
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