Can Your Pre-Shot Routine Hurt You? Na!

I normally don’t like to weigh in too much on tour pros and their games because let’s be honest, they are 100 times better at golf than I will ever be.  What insight can a guy like me possibly have on someone like Kevin Na and his absurd pre-shot routine?

In this case I feel like I can actually add something to the conversation.  Watching Kevin Na over the ball it was hard not to feel his pain.  You could just see how badly he was struggling to feel any type of confidence in his ability to hit the shot he wanted.  It is crazy to think that a guy who had taken the 54 hole lead at the Players wasn’t confident in his ability to pull the trigger, but that was exactly what happened.  It works for guys like Jason Duffner who uses his waggle to calm himself down.  He is a bit of an anomaly since he doesn’t have a set number of waggles, but once he is comfortable he pulls the trigger and strikes the ball.  Na just never looks comfortable.

Some of the articles that have come out are ripping on Na for his slow play, but the poor guy doesn’t have the confidence to hit shots out on the PGA Tour and just handed over the Players Championship.  Don’t you think that is punishment enough?  I do.  He will either figure out his mental block or he probably won’t be on tour much longer.  I think the former.

As I have been working towards improving my own game, I can speak to the importance of a pre-shot routine you can trust.  I used to not have a pre-shot routine and I often wondered if my ball was going to go right, left or even get off the ground.  I decided to put a routine in place to try to build some confidence and consistency in my swing.  Needless to say it really helps.  I can feel myself using the pre-shot routine to channel positive thoughts regarding good shots I have hit in the past.  Before I had the routine I would often have thoughts of bad shots I had hit instead of good thoughts.  By sticking to the routine I know that I have hit good shots in the past and using the same routine makes me feel more confident that I can do it again.

Nowhere do I see this being more important than in putting.  I believe a large part of putting is being able to let go and trust your line, speed and stroke.  If you are worried about what is going to happen (aka the ball going in the hole) most of the time you won’t find the back of the hole.  The rounds where I have putted my best were the rounds that I picked out lines I trusted and focused on hitting solid putts at the right speed.  If I focus on those three things chances are a few putts are going to go down.  This is the mentality I have tried to bring to my full swing and so far I have seen some good results.  This isn’t the case with Na.  You can just see how worried he is over the ball of where he is going to hit it.  By worrying so much over the ball, especially in the last round, you could see the effect it took.

My point with all of this is, that if you don’t have a pre-shot routine you are comfortable with, spend some time and develop one.  Once you have one you like, stick with it.  Learn to trust it.  Find comfort in it and once you go through it pull the trigger and move on to your next shot.

My Winter Swing Tune Up – Part 5

Since my last meeting with mike I took 4,000 reps across three of the drills I mentioned last time.  The one drill I didn’t track was the drag the club down the line drill.  The reason for this is because this drill can be very effective without massive amounts of repetitions.  I did it a few times every night just to get the feeling and I really feel that this was sufficient.  I focused mainly on the set up to impact drill, the handle to impact drill and the rope swings.  I really enjoy the rope swing drill even though it is tough to get just right.

When I got to the meeting Mike and I discussed how he recently went to a chiropractic office and got a full physical evaluation.  He was having trouble clearing his left hip with his longer clubs and the guy at the chiropractic office told him that his left hip was definitely weak and considered a power leak.  He suggested that I go for an evaluation and I think he is right.  I am going to try and look into it this week.

After we were done talking I hit a few chips and they were pretty good.  Each time I go my impact position is getting better and better.  My chips are starting to feel better, sound better and look better.  The anxiety I used to have around chipping the ball is quickly dissipating as I am working through all of these drills.  I am much more comfortable and confident standing over the ball now as opposed to five weeks ago.

After I hit a few chips Mike told me that I was going to have my “aha” moment at this lesson.  When he said that I thought he was full of it, because how could he predict when it would all click for me?  Strangely enough, he was right.

He had me hold a golf ball in my right index finger and my thumb and take my back swing and try to throw the ball at a ball set up where I would normally have a ball I was trying to hit.  On my first throw, I threw the ball a good two feet behind the ball.  The next few got closer but they were going way off to the right.  The reason this was happening was that I was flipping my hands and not pushing my hands (the handle) through the ball.

Next, he moved the ball about five feet out in front of me and told me to throw the ball at that ball.  This was much easier for me to do and when I released the ball it was going straight and not off to the right.  Mike was trying to show me that my visual needs to be throwing my hands, and in particular my right index knuckle, out in front of the ball instead of directly down at the ball.  The reason this clicks for me is because I tend to bring the club back a bit from the inside, which isn’t a bad thing necessarily.

The next thing we did was take a golf ball and put it in between my index finger and thumb and then grip the club and hit chip shots.  I was visualizing throwing the ball in my fingers out in front of me at an imaginary ball.  This is when my chips really started to sound, look and feel really good.  I was having my “aha” moment.  I dropped the ball and hit a few shots without it and still trying to visualize throwing the ball.  I was able to do it fairly consistently and I was getting excited.

Next time I am bringing my 9 iron and we are going to start trying to take some of these fundamentals to more or a full swing.  Until then I am working on throwing the ball at a ball in front of me as well as swinging a club with a ball in my fingers and against the shaft.  The other drill I am working on is taking a shaft and holding it almost like a javelin on the handle between my index finger and thumb and taking my back swing and pointing it at a ball in front of me.  I am working on extending my right arm and keeping the angle of my right wrist in this drill.  I am going to do as many concentrated reps of each as I can over the next week, but I am not going to set a numeric goal this time around.

I am also going to add another piece to my workouts this week.  I went and got a chiropractic assessment this past week.  I wanted to see my range of motion and physical limitations and determine where I can work on my strength and flexibility in my swing.  I was pleased to find out that I am not that terrible in my range of motion and flexibility in my swing areas.

The doctor pointed out two key areas that he saw room for immediate improvement.  The first was in my hip flexors.  He said they were noticeably tight and probably restricting my hip release in the swing.  He gave me a few stretches to really open them up and I have been doing them every day at least twice a day.

The second area he mentioned to me was my upper shoulders and the muscles under my shoulder blades.  He said that my upper shoulder muscles were really tight and the muscles under my shoulder blades are weak.  This causes my shoulders to almost give out when they come down from being extended.

Both of these problems are largely caused from sitting at a desk all day so I am working on my posture as well as a few rehab exercises and stretches.

My Winter Swing Tune Up – Part 3

Since last Tuesday I was able to make 5,000 total practice swings with a yardstick and hitting an impact bag.  My main focus during those swings was to keep my head and body quite, fanning my right hand on the take away, taking the club to parallel and no further and then swinging the club through to the impact position and hitting the impact bag while leading with my hands in front of the club.

When I got to the lesson, I hit a few chip shots and with a small adjustment from Mike I was hitting much better chips.  It felt natural and I wasn’t thinking about anything technical other than where my hands should finish.  I can tell that I am starting to lose some of the anxiety and uncertainty that I have had for so long around short game shots.  I attribute this relaxed feeling to the focus Mike has placed on understanding the fundamentals of the swing.  Now that I have a better idea of what I am trying to do it isn’t such a daunting task.

I am very pleased with the step-by-step approach Mike is having me go through right now.  At first, I thought I was going to get frustrated with not being able to hit golf balls and make full swings, but I understand what he is doing.  By getting me to focus on the fundamentals of my right and left arm first then adding in both hands and a focus on the impact position he is allowing me to piece it together on my own.  I am able to take one piece away from each meeting and work on it for a full week, then when I get to the next meeting we tie it together, talk about it and add another layer.  It feels like I am learning and not just replicating a desired swing fix.  When I miss hit chips I can feel what I did wrong.  I am starting to understand a lot more.

The approach is also keeping me excited about the practice and anticipating what he will add at the next meeting.  It feels like the material is fresh every time we talk.  I have fully committed myself to following this approach and will not waver from it.  I am not going ahead of his plan by going to the driving range and hitting balls, just yet.  I am taking this step-by-step.  No promises once the weather clears up in Chicago though!

The focus of this latest meeting was getting me to work on my shoulder and hip turn on the back swing.  I have taken a few lessons in the past and most of the teachers have pointed out that my back swing needs improvement, but none have given me a plan for making that happen.  This wasn’t the case with Mike.  He saw what I was doing wrong with my turn during our first lesson together, but hasn’t brought it up until now.  He allowed me to focus on the other fundamentals first so now that I am ready to work on back swing my fundamentals of the take away and impact position are much improved and ready to work in conjunction with the added layer.

The basic message he was giving me was that I put my weight on the outside of my right foot on the turn and this makes me move my head and straighten my right leg.  These moves are not good and add to inconsistency in my shots.  As soon as he explained it and I took a back swing I could see what he meant.  I wasn’t even aware that my weight was on the wrong side and as soon as I made an adjustment it felt much different.  Just like the other changes, it felt awkward at first, but I know that after a week of practice it will feel much better.

The drill I am working on this week is to take a shaft and put it across my chest and cross my arms over it and make a back swing.  My focus is on the visual of having my right pocket move directly back and turning my right butt cheek to the target all while keeping my weight on the inside of my right foot, not letting it straighten all while not moving my head.  I am dropping my right pocket directly back and not swaying forward.

This might sound like a lot initially, but it really isn’t.  As soon as I started focusing on just keeping my right knee bent with my weight on the inside of my foot and turning my right butt cheek to the target the rest fell into place.  Those are the keys I am going to really focus on this week while I am practicing.  I am also not forgetting to focus on keeping my head still!

The last thing I will be working on this week is my flexibility.  I am committing myself to 30 minutes of stretching every day to improve the flexibility of my hamstrings, lower back and my legs in general.  Right now, I can’t even touch my toes and that is just embarrassing.  This won’t be the case come next week.

My goal for next week is to be more flexible than I am today (touch the ground in front of me with flat hands).  I am also going to make 1,000 back swing turns a day to get it engrained in my muscle memory.  The 1,000 a day seems to be helping so I don’t see any reason to change it.

My Winter Swing Tune Up – Part 2

Since my last meeting with Mike I made 2,000 practice swings with my right arm only working on fanning my right hand and letting the handle lead the club head through the ball as well as 2,000 practice swings with just my left hand working on rotating my left forearm and releasing the club properly.

When I got to the second meeting I hit a few chips like I did in the first time and I had improved by a good amount.  I was able to lead with the handle much more than before.  As a reminder, at the first meeting I was trying to hit the ball too much and I was flipping the club head in front of my hands.  I still hit a few where I flipped my hands, but I wasn’t expecting to have fixed all my bad habits in one week of practice.

I was pleased with my progress and I was very much ready to take the next step and build on that progress.

Mike seemed reasonably pleased with the progress I had made and was ready to get me to start focusing more on my impact position as the next step.  He had me use a gadget that tried to get me to piece together leading with the handle (creating lag) and rotating my forearm in an abbreviated fashion.  By abbreviated I mean that it was not a full swing.  It consisted of taking the club back to less than parallel to the target line and pushing the right hand against the handle and through the impact position and then rotating the left forearm to simulate the release.

Mike was trying to get me to realize that pushing the right hand forward and creating a bit of a bow in it as it pushed against the handle the left hand flattens out and brings the club head to square at impact.  If the right hand is bent the left has to be straight.  If the left is bent the right has to be straight and if the left is bent it equals death in golf.  The whole point of this was to feel how the club should feel when it is square and impact.  A square club creates a straighter ball flight and that is what I am trying to accomplish.

Next we worked a bit with a yardstick and an impact bag.  The yardstick served a few purposes that I found interesting.  It helped me with my grip.  It is clear when gripping the yardstick that it should rest in your left index fingers joint and under the pad of your hand.  This allows it to rest more in your fingers and give you free motion of the club.  The left thumb should be slightly over the yardstick and it creates a nice little fit for the right hand to just slide right in to.  I was pleased with how the grip adjustments felt.

This wasn’t the focus of the drill though.  Mike wasn’t giving me a lot of instruction on my grip.  He gave me a quick suggestion and moved back to the focus of the drill.  I know he was doing this on purpose because he was trying to teach me the fundamentals of the swing from the ground up.  One step at a time.

Next we worked on taking the yardstick back to parallel of the target line so that none of the front or underside of the ruler was showing.  Again, this was really an extension of what I was working on in the past week.  It took the principles of the right and left hand swings and put them together with the yardstick in my hand.

After taking the yardstick back to parallel with my right hand fanned out I was trying to hit an impact bag by pushing my right hand into the bag and against my left thumb while keeping my head and body quite.  Naturally, my hip started to clear but I was really just trying to focus on keeping my body as quite as possibly while striking the impact bag with the yardstick completely square to the target after taking it back with a fanned right hand to parallel to the target line.

This brought up an interesting point about ball position that I was not fully aware of.  I will talk more about this later on as Mike and I fully dive into it, but I don’t want forget that it came up.

My homework after this meeting was to work with the yardstick and an impact bag like I mentioned above.  I am going to make 5,000 swings in the next week in order to engrain it into my muscle memory and make it become second nature.

The Average Golfer is Insane!

When I say that the average golfer is insane I mean that literally.  The definition of insanity is repeating and action over and over again and expecting a different result.  I include myself in this category, at least I used to.  I, like most average golfers, went to the driving range all the time to “work” on my swing.  I didn’t work on fundamentals, short game or putting that much.  I just wanted to hit the ball and I thought that if I hit enough balls I would figure it out and get better.  There are very few people who can go to the driving range and “figure it out” and become a good golfer.

Since I never took lessons growing up I was spending my time at the driving range hammering in bad habits and bad fundamentals into my swing.  This off-season I have put an end to that.  I took the time to find a swing coach that has gotten me to think about the fundamentals of the game and begin to understand the golf swing.  The funniest part about this is that it is the middle of the winter in Chicago, there isn’t an open golf course anywhere to be found, I am not hitting a ton of golf balls and I know that I am getting better every week.  It is possible to get much better over the off-season in golf by focusing on the fundamentals of your game and your physical fitness.

I will share more about my off-season regiment of drills and work outs later in more detail, but I wanted to share that it is possible to make positive progress in the winter time.  I used to think that winter was just a time to wish I was somewhere warmer so I could be out playing golf.  Not anymore.  It is an opportunity to really solidify the fundamentals of my game so when the snow melts my game won’t have any rust on it.  It will be ready to go and hopefully better than ever.

If you are like I used to be and love pounding balls at the range but have struggled to dip your handicap take a second to think about how you practice and prepare your game.  Are you working on things that actually help your game?  When was the last time you changed your practice habits if ever?  Are you repeating the same habits over and over again and expecting a different result?  If you are, STOP!  You are insane and need to make a change!  Don’t let an offseason, winter weather or old habits hold you back from seizing an opportunity to actually get better.  It is 100% possible to get better at golf, we all just need to stop being insane and start being more realistic with how we intend to get better.  I, for one, am doing it with fundamentals.  How are you planning to make your game better?

Playing to MY Par

As the snow rolls into Chicago and my season officially wraps up, I have been looking back on how I approached this past season and the goals I set for myself.  One of my co-workers is getting her Master’s degree in sports psychology and has agreed to take me on as a bit of a project.  I have sat down with her a few times already and discussed how I approach practice, playing, setting my goals and how I deal with stress and my bad shots on the course.  It has been interesting to say the least and I am very excited to continue working with her on my mental game throughout the winter and into next season.

The very first thing we discussed was how I measure my game on the course.  She gave me a book that her advisor wrote called “Smart Golf” by Dede Owens and Dan Kirschenbaum and one of the very first concepts they discuss is playing to your own personal par.  I have been very caught up in the idea of breaking 80 and getting myself to a single digit handicap.  Every time I go out and play and I don’t break 80 I consider it a failure.  Since I have yet to break 80 you can imagine how many times I have walked off the course feeling like I didn’t accomplish anything even if I played decent.

When I go back to San Diego this week I am going to try this new technique.  I am going to approach each round with the mindset of simply trying to break my own personal par.  For me that means I get a stroke on the 14 toughest holes on the course.  If I go out each round and try to shoot below my handicap, eventually I will start to drop my handicap and break 80.  I really need a new metric of success on the course because the fact that I still have not broken 80 is getting very frustrating.  I am hoping this new approach will let me enjoy the game a bit more and allow me to start seeing small victories as progress on the road to my larger goals.

 

One Last Shot to Break 80 this Season

This past season I set out to accomplish a full list of goals.  I accomplished a few and have fallen short on the rest, but felt I made progress throughout the year.  I will be re-evaluating my goals for this winter off season as well as my goals heading in to 2012 in the next few weeks.

Before I do that, I wanted to take a look at the goals I was able to accomplish and the ones I wasn’t.  The reason is, I am going to San Diego in the next two weeks and plan on playing a few more rounds.  This will be my last real chance to break 80 before I am stuck in a Chicago winter.  In order to give myself a shot I need to see where I am coming up short.

The goals I accomplished are the following:

• Hit more than 50% of Greens in Regulation in a round – Encinitas Ranch (55%)
• Hit more than 50% of fairways in a round – Cougar Point (64%), Encinitas Ranch (71%)
• Beat my previous low score of 85: Shot an 83 at Encinitas Ranch in San Diego
• Beat my Brother in Law – Cougar Point: Brother in Law (88) Me (87)

The goals I did not accomplish are the following:

• Break 80 – Closest so far 83
• Lower my handicap to single digits: Currently 14
• Play a round with no 3 putts
• Get up and down more than 30% of the time.  This includes sand saves.
• Break 100 at the Ocean Course  110
• Break 90 at the Ocean Course?  110
• Play a Course that has hosted a Major Championship.  Don’t care which one.

I accomplished 4 and missed 7.  Not that great.  The two goals that stick out to me the most are “Play a round with no 3 putts” and “Get up and down more than 30% of the time.”  I truly and honestly believe that if I can get closer and closer to these two goals consistently I will break 80 and drop my handicap to single digits.

I am very excited for one more opportunity to try and accomplish my season long goal and plan to give it my absolute best.  Regardless of the outcome I will be resetting my goals for the upcoming winter season as well as a full new set of goals for 2012.  This project will keep going as long as I can get better golf, so a LONG time.  I have some exciting changes to share regarding my new goals and plans for achieving those goals, but I want to share them after the holidays and after they are final.  Stay tuned!

My thoughts on the Belly Putter after my fitting

I was able to go through a Belly Putter fitting this past Saturday at Club Champion Golf and I wanted to take a few minutes and share my experience.  I will start by saying that going into the fitting I was very skeptical towards belly putters.  As far as I was concerned it was just the next fad in golf.  More than that I was expecting the belly putter to be awkward and not for me at all.  I love my current traditional putter, but my curiosity towards the recent trend and towards wanting to putt better led me back to Club Champion to check them out.

The fitting started by me hitting a handful of putts with my current putter on the SAM machine.  My stats really weren’t bad other than my path swings a bit to the inside on my follow through.  Next I used an adjustable putter to find what length felt best for me.  I landed right around 40 inches and started hitting some putts.  At first it was definitely awkward.  I wasn’t really sure why this would be an advantage since it seemed so foreign.

Once I got a few tips on how to properly use the belly putter it started to make more sense.  The biggest thing about the belly putter for me was how easy it was to replicate the set up.  All I had to do was put the butt end right above my belly button and get my hands in the right spot and I was ready to go.  I felt extremely comfortable that my set up was the exact same over and over again and this is not a feeling I get all the time with the conventional putter.  Once the set up was right it was all down to getting the ball position correct and swinging the putter.

I was surprised at how much I had to break my wrists down on the back swing and follow through to properly release the putter and hit good putts.  Once I got the hang of the new feeling it was surprisingly simple and comfortable.  It takes a lot of the mechanical thoughts out of putting which is a big advantage for a lot of players.  As I expected I hit certain putts much better and more confidentially, but not ALL putts.

It really came down to preference for me.  I am planning to stick with my conventional putter for now, but my interest in the belly putter fad definitely increased after using one.  If I were to go down the belly putter road I would get fully fit for one that fits me best and I would commit to using it for an extended period of time and practicing with it a ton.  It is very different from conventional putting and I assume it would take a lot of work to become really good with one.

I do, however, think that if you are a weekend warrior golfer and don’t have a ton of time to practice your putting it could help you out.  Like I said earlier, I think it takes a lot of the mechanical thinking out of putting which can be incredibly helpful.  I could easily see using the belly putter as an advantage simply because the set up is so repeatable and once you get your aim right it is a simple hinge swing.  I think truly great putters would shy away from the belly putter, but for the majority of golfers who are not great putters there is something to it.  I would suggest checking them out if you are the least bit interested.  I know I was surprised by them even though I wasn’t totally sold on them.

Good Golfers Have Good Days – Everyday

I once had a friend tell me that leaders have great days every day.  My initial reaction to his comment was pure skepticism.  How can someone have a great day every single day?  There is just no way.  People get upset about little things in their day all the time.  They get pissed off about traffic, politics, expenses, fights with family or loved ones and a plethora of other things.  This is true in life and even more out on the golf course.

How many times have you played a round with someone who gets overly frustrated by bad shots in their round?  They might throw clubs, swear or declare the game idiotic and renounce playing it ever again.  I have seen people break clubs, walk off the course and simply give up on their round before.  Since this is most common among amateur golfers and weekend warriors, I started to think more about what characteristics I see among average golfers and good golfers.

Average golfers let the little things get to them.  They are unable to move onto the next shot and fight back to salvage their round after a bad shot or a bad score on a hole.  There seems to be a point where the average golfer lets outside factors get to him more than the pros do.  Don’t get me wrong, we have all seen Tiger throw his clubs, curse and WD from tournaments.  For the most part professional golfers don’t show their negative emotions even if they are feeling them.  They are able to give off the appearance of a calm demeanor even when they hit balls in the water or double bogey holes.  They simply move on.

It is unrealistic to think that the pros don’t get pissed off and angry when they are playing poorly and a lot of their post round interviews reflect that.  They are never satisfied with their swing, putting stroke or score.  They are constantly thinking they could have done better, but they don’t show their negative emotions on the course like most amateurs do.  Why is this?  Because being able to control their emotions is a large reason they are in fact professional golfers.  It is the mark of a good golfer.  All of us could take a page out of KJ Choi’s book on golf course behavior and demeanor.  The guy doesn’t get rattled.

Think back on your past few rounds.  How many times did you blurt out a negative comment about the course or your game?  Did it help you play better?  Probably not and I include myself in this category.  The next time I go out and play I am going to set the goal to not say one single negative comment.  This doesn’t mean I won’t think it, but I simply won’t say them out loud to my playing partners.  Give it a shot and see how it helps your focus and ability to move on to the next shot.  I think you will be surprised.

Video from my Iron Fitting

A few weeks ago I did a full iron fitting with the guys over at Club Champion.  I wasn’t sure how a fitting would really help my game because I wasn’t sure my swing was repeating enough to require a certain club, shaft, etc.  During my fitting I was surprised to find that my swing speed, angle of attack and path were pretty consistent.  Once I saw this I began to see how different combinations of shaft length and weight could get my ball contact more towards the sweet spot.  I didn’t change a single thing to my swing during my fitting and I started hitting the sweet spot more often.

In the video Michael Thornburg (@mthorn316) explains in greater detail exactly what he did during my fitting to get me hitting the sweet spot.  If you have ever considered getting fit for clubs I highly suggest it and you will see why in the video.

Here is the video from my fitting…check it out!