Swingin' in the rain, Part II

The saga continues ...

Another rainy, cold day in June in New England and we're out shooting nine in the golf league.

And, as usual, it was a disaster for me ... shot a 66. Damn.

Once again, I just couldn't get anything going. I just can't seem to stop lifting my head, which is killing my shots.

And the most frustrating thing is that I know exactly what I'm doing wrong and yet I keep doing it!

It got so bad that I actually threw a club ... well, I tossed it in the air. On the 15th hole, I had already taken five strokes and had only gone about 150 yards ... so I picked up the ball and took a snowman for the hole, which was double the par for the hole.

Just so, so, so, so frustrating.

What did I learn?

1. I have got to stop lifting my head. I think what has happened is that I was concentrating so much on other things that I got into the very bad habit of lifting my head. Now that I realized this, though, I can start working on correcting it.
   
2. I need to slow down in my swing, especially in my tee shots. My backswing is good, but I think I'm coming down too fast in my downswing. If I slow down more consistently, I think that will help.
   
3. Gotta work on my aiming. Too many times I'm really surprised at where the ball goes. Everything feels good as I line up, but then the ball goes in the totally wrong direction. My irons don't seem to be slicing or hooking, my aim seems to be off because the ball is going straight ... just not where I want it to go.

I have my work cut out for me at the driving range for sure.

Swingin' in the rain

Co-worker of mine and I made our way through the 35-par, nine holes that is the Groton Country Club in Groton, MA.

Overall, it's a nice course with short and long holes, but battling the elements was definitely less funner. For those who may be unfamiliar with the weather here in New England, June thus far has felt more like March or April ... cold and damp. We've had cloudy and/or rainy weather almost continuously for weeks. Truly the last nice weekend was Memorial Day weekend in May.

The first couple of holes were OK, weather-wise ... just overcast, low 60s and humid. But, showers kept moving through and it got dicey for a while.

Needless to say, this didn't really affect my game because I ended up with a 60 for the round ... well, I ended up picking up the ball on a couple of holes because I was double par and had reached my patience limit.

Speaking of which, I finally lost it on a golf course. You'd think being the mediocre golfer that I am that I would have fairly low expectations for myself.

You'd be wrong.

Turns out, I was wrong, too.

I just could not make solid contact consistently and as I've said in this space many times, if nothing else per round, I want to make consistent contact. Just wasn't happening last week (or lately, for that matter). And as much as I'd like to blame the weather, my buddy, Craig, shot a 45 (although he's been playing a lot longer than I have and is a much better golfer).

Still, shooting in the rain was kind of fun ... at least it wasn't thunder and lighting. The course is nice, but wow are there some serious hills. On the second hole, you can't even see the pin on the green because you have to shoot up and over a hill. And then once you get over the hill, you have to shoot straight up another hill to get to the green.

But like I said, I had had enough by the time I teed up on the 9th hole (303 yards, par 4). I "teed off" (and I use that term loosely) and only hit the ball about 20 yards. I took the penalty stroke and teed off again ... same result. At first I picked up the ball and announced I was done, but Craig encouraged me to drop the ball somewhere on the fairway and play through for practice ... so I did and it was still a disaster because I used too much club and cleared the green and then putted all over the place.

In the short time I've been playing this game I've never been so frustrated. I actually think about my game all the time and I think I've figured out that my address is messed up in that I'm standing too far away from the ball. Going to work on that at the range and see if that's what the problem is. If it's not, then I've got to figure this out soon because I'm really getting aggravated and that's not what I want when I head out onto the fairways.

I'm trying to have fun, but damn it's getting so tiring doing so poorly so consistently. If the weather would break, I could go to the range and get some work done ... here's hoping we see the sun soon.

So, what did I learn in Groton?

1. I need to pay closer attention to my mechanics if I'm going to try and figure out what's wrong. You can't diagnose and fix a problem if you're not paying attention.
   
2. Without a doubt, I've got to be more consistent in slowing down as I enter my backswing. Between too much speed and potential issues in my address, my contact is all off.
   
3. Once again I've got to work on lowering my expectations. I haven't been playing that long and this game takes quite a while to get at all good.
   
4. Despite my recent troubles, I can play this game. My first tee shot last week was spot on and beautiful ... just perfect. And I did make a few great shots. Like Craig said, that alone should tell me that I've got the basics to play this game ... it's a matter of playing and getting more experience and, like anything else, practice practice practice.

The Beatles on Rock Band

For all you gamers out there ... the Rock Band franchise is about to come out with its The Beatles video game and an absolutely brilliant trailer has been released.

Now, I don't have the Rock Band peripherals (not enough space at my house), but I'd get this game to play the guitar parts ... wow!

Four shy of complete disaster

Ye gods.

Despite the weather being picture perfect for golf last night (sunny, dry, low 70s, slight breeze), I shot the worst round of my life in a long time ... wait for it ... 68.

Yes, that's 68 over nine holes.

Again, for those blessedly devoid of golf knowledge, let me put this in perspective ... a typical 18-hole course has a par of 72, so that means the par for the front and back nine holes is 36 each. So, I shot 68 last night, which means that I only needed four more strokes and would have doubled the par for the nine holes! For those keep track at home, that's really not good.

I can't begin to figure out what was my problem. For some reason, I kept lifting my head on my downswing, which made me top the ball, which caused very poor shots, which means it took far too many shots just to get to the green because I couldn't get any loft or distance. For as much as I was confident that I had improved on my goal of making solid contact, I sure as hell did not do that last night. Amazing ... just amazing.

I don't know if the issue was that I was playing without my partner (who has a miserable head cold) and therefore was playing both of the guys on the other team or if I simply wasn't concentrating but didn't realize it.

I'm still just as frustrated now, 14 hours after playing, as I was last night walking off of the 9th hole. Speaking of which ...

If I had had any chance of redeeming myself last night, it was gone on the 9th (and last) hole. I hit a gorgeous tee shot to land right in the middle if the fairway and set myself up for a chip shot onto the green. The cup was at the front of the green which is protected by a bunker ... you can see where this is going. One chip shot later and I'm standing in the kitty litter.

OK, no big deal, I know how to hit out of a bunker, so if I take my time and ... three shots later and I'm finally on the green. Instead of a possible bogey for the hole (or even a par), I wound up with a seven. Ho-lee crap.

Here's my score card:

Hole/par/score

• #1 / 5 / 7
  
• #2 / 4 / 7
  
• #3 / 5 / 10
  
• #4 / 4 / 9
  
• #5 / 4 / 7
  
• #6 / 3 / 5
  
• #7 / 4 / 9
  
• #8 / 3 / 6
  
• #9 / 4 / 8
  

I'm trying to focus on the few good things that happened last night because the round was completely discouraging. So here's the good news:

1. On Hole 2 (275 yards par 4), I hit a perfect tee shot with my 3-wood ... straight, dead on. Then I shanked the PW shot to get to the green and four putted to drop the rock. Crap.
   
2. On Hole 5 (345 yards, par 4), I topped the tee shot and it flopped about 50 yards (at most) in front of the tee box. Hoo boy. But, with my 3-wood I hit a beautiful, dead-on shot to drop the ball less than a yard off of the green. It was all downhill from there (shot a 9 for the hole!) but at least I hit my 3-wood well, something I have trouble doing.
   
3. On Hole 3, I had to hit out of some very tall grass on the edge of the fairway using my PW. Was able to flop the ball right onto the middle of the fairway. So at least I had that going for me, which was nice.
   
4. On the par 3 holes, especially Hole 6 (172 yards) I teed off well and was hitting my irons fairly straight and with great loft, for the most part.

I'm trying to put this round behind me because I know it's going to affect me next week if I don't do so. But, damn, it's difficult to not roll this over and over in my head. I'm the type of person who falls asleep almost instantly when I get into bed. It took me a good half hour last night.

So, what did I learn this week?

1. That I really need to figure out how to recover from a bad hole. I didn't realize last night how much I carry poor playing from one hole to the next instead of letting things go and essentially "starting over" on the next hole.
   
2. A good tip from one of the guys I was playing against for teeing off. When placing the ball on the tee, put the words on the ball so that you can read them as you stand at address. That way, it forces you to look down at the ball and, hopefully, keep looking down so that you don't pick up your head.

Next week is another round ... gotta put this one behind me.

Grab the suntan lotion, kids, we're on the beach!

Shot 62 in the golf league last night and my partner and I lost the round, so we're 2-3-1 for the season. I just couldn't get anything working and only got four points for the night.

I'm trying not to focus on my score, but it still stinks when I shoot over 60 like that and look at the sheet from the league and see that my handicap is listed as 28 ... ye gods.

Having said that, though, I seem to have worked out the slicing issue in my drives (at least for last night I did). As I've mentioned before, for some reason this slice that has crept into my drive over the past few weeks. Well, after practicing and analyzing my swing, I realized the issue is that I'm cupping my hands at the top of my backswing which breaks my wrists and opens up the club face by the time I hit the ball.

So, I made a small adjustment in my backswing and that seems to have taken care of it because every drive was straight last night. Granted, some didn't go exactly where I wanted them because I mis-aimed and I topped a couple, but still, I met my goal of being able to diagnose the problem and find a solution and that's huge for me.

What's weird, though, (at least I think it is) is that the slice doesn't show up in my irons. I hit those straight on every time.

Moving on ...

Without a doubt, the biggest problem I ran into last night is when I hit into a bunker on the 13th hole, a 435-yarder with a slight dog-leg to the left. My third shot (I topped the tee shot, so I was screwed right from the beginning) landed in really tall stuff and I had to hack my way out with my PW. Sure enough, I couldn't clear the bunker and landed in the sand. It took me three shots to get out of the bunker and then I three-putted on the green. Not good ... really not good.

Despite hitting 62 for the back nine, there were a few good things that did happen last night:

1. For the second week in a row, I won the "closest to the pin" hole (last week it was eight feet, this week it was 11 feet, 11 inches). I also won the skin on the closest hole last week, so I won $25 (not sure how much I won this week). Every week the league has such a hole on a par 3 and it's the par 3 holes that I seem to excel at (my golf partner started calling me "Captain Par 3" last night).
   
2. Although I didn't birdie it, I did par the money hole last night, so at least I had that going for me ... which is nice.
   
3. Once again I was making solid contact, so now that I seem to have that down, I need to work on another part of my game. I've got a consistent address and solid contact, so I want to work on my aiming, which would help me immensely.
   
4. I only lost one ball last night, which was a huge improvement over last week when I lost four.
   
5. I didn't have any 10-stroke holes. It seems like every week I have at last one hole (usually a par 5) that I hit 10, but not last night. Um, I did have a few nines, but at least they weren't tens! < rolls eyes >

OK, so what did I learn this week?

1. I really need to work on my bunker shots. I'm not sure how I'm going to practice this because the only driving range in my area that I know of that has a practice bunker isn't very good ... it's literally like standing on beach sand because your feet sift through the sand and frankly, no sand trap is really like that. So I'm not sure how I'm going to practice this, but I definitely need to. I can't be taking three shots to get out of a trap. Of course, if I was a better golfer, I wouldn't end up in the kitty litter in the first place.
   
2. I should lower my expectations. I have to remember that this is only the second season I've been playing and I can't expect that I'm going to shoot around 50 over nine holes. I'd like to be able to do that, but I still have a lot to learn.
   
3. It's a cliche, but high risk, high reward ... I should every so often try to take more chances, especially with shots using my PW. Last night I was in some pretty tall stuff right on the edge of the fairway and normally I would've just taken a drop, but instead I decided to try hitting out of the grass and lo and behold, it worked! Flopped the ball right back onto the fairway and set myself up nicely for the next shot. Now, I may not want to do that every time, but making those kinds of shots will only add to my confidence.

Finally, I was wearing my desert camo boonie hat last night because it was in the low 60s, misty and very overcast. When I picked up Joey from daycare he said, "Dad, I love your hat! It's Star Wars awesome!" That's high praise from young Mr. Davis and it made me smile through all nine holes.

Look at the pretty birdie!

Had the golf league last night and shot a 59 on the front nine. For the points race, we split with the other team 18/18, so we're 2-2-1 for the season thus far.

I started off poorly on the par 5 first hole with a 10, but I regrouped and hit OK to fairly well at times after that. As usual, though, drops were killing me and I lost four balls last night ... not good.

But, the real highlight last night was that I birdied my first hole. Very, very cool feeling. It was on the 6th hole, par 3, 147 yards. Used my 7 iron to tee off and dropped the rock right on the green, eight feet from the hole. I know it was eight feet because we actually measured it as the 6th was the money hole for the night (whichever player gets closest to the hole for the night wins some money ... I think it's $10).

Anyway, it was such a great feeling. I knew I was set up for a birdie when I was lining up for the putt and I was trying to ignore that and just sink the shot. Frankly, I would've been happy with a par for the hole, but the birdie was mighty sweet.

As any golfer will say, it's a hole like that that keeps you coming back to play.

Of course, this hole was followed by the 7th, which is a dog-leg right with a huge water hazard at the bend. It's a par 5 and I picked up my ball on the green after hitting 10 and still not dropping in the cup. And just like that, you're humbled once again.

But like the past few weeks, I was absolutely crushing my drives ... I mean, not for nothing but, damn I can really tie into these things. I have no idea where this stroke came from, but that ball will sail if I hit it right, to which ... we were on the third hole, par 5, and it's a long, straight fairway with a hill in the middle that just cuts off your view of the green. Anyway, I teed off and the rock took off nice and straight for about 330 yards. Had a little trouble on the green so I parred the hole.

Also, as I've said before, I'm consistently making solid contact with my driver and irons, which is a good thing. Now that I'm getting that part of my game down, I need to work on consistent accuracy.

The only really disappointing thing from last night is that I went to the 9th hole with a 52 and could've shaved three strokes off my average if I had parred the hole. Alas, once again taking a drop killed me and I ended up with a triple bogey.

So what did I learn this week? Actually, three things:

1. I figured out why I tend to slice or fade my drives. As I was warming up with my driver, I swung through completely a couple of practice swings and for some reason on the third practice swing decided to stop as the club head was at the ball. Sure enough, the club face was open, hence the tendency for the ball to slice or fade. OK, so what's going on? Took a few more swings and realized I was rolling my wrists at the top of my backswing which changed my left wrist (I'm a right-handed player) and opened the club face. Once I started concentrating on not rolling my wrists, my drives straightened out.
   
2. Other golfers have told me that a "secret" to pitching is to swing the club with the same force as though you were standing with the ball in your hand and tossing it underhanded onto the green. Doing this, my pitches got a bit better.
   
3. Definitely need to practice hitting out of sand traps. I know what you're "supposed" to do, but knowing and executing are two different things. Problem is, I don't hit the beaches very often so it becomes a "use it or lose" kind of thing for me. Still, the driving range I go to has a practice sand trap and I should be practicing there as well.

Finally, I got some great advice from my league partner ... last night I found a dozen balls while looking for mine on several occasions and I said I didn't know what I was going to do with the every-increasing stash of these "range balls" I have at the house. Kell said she uses them for holes with water hazards, that way if you lose them in the woods or water, at least you're not loosing the balls you always play with and actually pay for. Good idea!