Whatsup in the world of Golf!

Last year when I decided to take my golf game more seriously, I joined a men's club at a fairly chaallenging privately owned but public play course called San Loius Rey Downs (slrd.com), and set some goals for 2005. One was to get my handicap down to a single digit, and another was to break 80. I actually took a couple of lessons to get me going on the right track. While I had been scoring in the high 80's and low 90's with regularity and had my index at about 13, my first lesson with the "pro" indicated to me that my grip was wrong, my posture was poor, my swing plane was way inside, and my alignment was askew! It was not that I was a poor golfer, it was just that I had developed some very bad moves over the years which limited my ability to improve. He showed me my swing on video, and compared it to Tiger's on the split screen.
I immediately knew why I was not on the pro tour!

No wonder I was so inconsistant and hitting balls right and left of my target so often. So, I changed my grip, stood up more erect, worked on my "takeaway", and developed a pre-shot routine to help me with alignment.

The first time I played with my new grip, I failed to break 100 for the first time I could remember. I hit all my shots dead right. By the third week of play I was back in the mid 90s, and with some extra work on the range finally got back to my normal scoring range in the high 80s most of the time.

But that would not do! Improving from a 13 index to a 9 index is alot more difficult than moving from a 25 index to a 15 index. The lower one's index, that harder it is to trim strokes. Since I turned in some high scores following the two lessons I took, my index actually went up a bit to about 13.5.

It is hard to make an index move downword playing only once a week, with an occassional practice bucket of balls at the range. However, I have seen some improvement the last few weeks.

There were other things I did to improve, as well.

Three weeks ago I played with someone who marked his ball with a line to assist him in lining up his putts. He showed me the little plastic gadget that was 1/2 a sphere with a slot in it that fit on the ball and made it easy to make a straight line with a marker pen about half way around the ball.! I marked my ball, and found it was a big help in aligning not only putts but also tee shots. Since getting one of those ball "line" gadgets and starting to mark my balls, I think that I have saved 2-3 shots a round. That is substantial! I note that Tiger also marks his ball the same way--must be something to it!

In addition, I recently upgraded my driver to a 460cc model which is a big as they can legally make these days. I thought a bigger "sweet spot" would provide better results on "misses" with the driver. I have played with it once, and had pretty good results. So that may be a plus. If that helps with a couple strokes, I am getting close.

Two weeks ago I posted an 82, and this week I posted an 83. I see light at the end of the tunnel!

This week I was playing with someone who was using a "belly" putter, and still missing a lot of very shot putts. He was pulling and pushing them and lipping out. I had him mark his ball with my gadget, and on the back nine he was holing out every putt within 5-6 ft and couldn't believe the difference. The first thing he did after the round was to head for the pro shop to buy one of the gadgets to mark his ball. That's good reinforcement!

I played golf for many years when I was younger and usually shot in the low to mid 80's consistantly. I think I remember breaking 80 only once in my life and that was at Torrey Pines North when I played there once a week in my 30's. Wouldn't it be great to play my best golf in my 60's.

On the other hand, this week I read an article that said that the average golfer's scores had not improved during the last 10-20 years. That, despite all the improvements in balls and equipment. The article stated that the golf manufacturers do not go out of their way to publicize that bit of information. But I also remember that even when woods were really made out of wood, and all the shafts were made of steel, every golfer out there was still a sucker for anything new that he thought might improve his game. Even if all the new technology in equipment hasn't helped the average golfer as much as might be expected, the quest for that bit of an "edge" would still drive the market to come up with new gadgets and clubs. Look at me with my new 460cc titanium driver with a composite graphite top, a titanium alloy face, and a lightweight Fujikura "stiff" graphite shaft for maximum accuracy and distance, my new Calloway X-18 Irons with cavity back design and low center of gravity for more forgiveness, my Calloway Steelhead 3 and 7 woods with "regular flex"graphite shaft for accuracy, and my Titlelist ProV1 ball at $40 a doz.

Wow! I am right up to date on equipment, but still playing at about the same level as I did when I was 30 yrs old, when I was swinging my old Wilson Staff woods and irons and hitting a cheap Top Flite ball with a BF Goodrich logo on it that I could buy 3 for $1 at the local tire store.

One thing about golfers, they always hope to hit it further and score better!

MW

4 haiku for a 3 day weekend

mountain calls echo
down narrow canyons
cascading water


melodies fill the sky
feathers ruffle
spring's ritual dance


palm fronds shade
hot desert sands
dust devils in summer


tent poles uplift
temporary shelters
three day weekend