Progress - Well Kinda

[HomerJSimpson]

As you all know I'm working on a new tempo. Today was the first competitive round since work began. I had played a few solo rounds recently and to be fair I was hacking it big time so there wasn't much confidence. Wasn't hitting it great on the practice ground before hand so was feeling pretty nervous.

Hit a ropey 5 wood off the first and didn't really swing through it with any conviction. It was short and right but playable and so a pitch on and 2 putts for a for nett 3 and 2 points. Wasn't hitting the ball badly and got to the 7th tee one under my handicap. Hit a huge hook which narrowed my options. The only shot open was to go for the green and carry the environmental area (OB). Hit my hybrid perfectly onto the green and sank a 15 footer for birdie and 4 points. Hit a great drive down 9 and everything was looking rosy. Tempo was much better. Out in 20 points - happy days

Hit a decent drive down 10 and only had 126 left into the wind. Walked off with a double bogey 6. Hit a crap tee shot on 11 but got 2 points and then started to hit total rubbish from nowhere. It was like a switch had been flicked and it went all out of kilter. On 14 I hit such a slice that it carried the 13th hole and was in the rough on the left hand side of the 12th. Must have been 50 yards right. Everything suddenly started going right. To cap it off I hit two tee shots on 18 and sliced both OB right for a no pointer.

Out in 20 and back in 13 for another 0.1 back. Went from God to Dog in nine holes. On the plus side when the new tempo works I have so much more time through the ball and hitting it longer but clearly when a bit of pressure is there its not going to hold up. I guess one step forward and one back again.

How did everyone else get on

 

[Imurg]

Well I played pretty solidly on friday scoring 37 points. A couple of doubles in there which annoyed me and a couple of silly putts, but 2 birdies and a host of good shots.
Feeling quite good about my game at the moment. The driver's working(ish) and with me it all starts from there.

20 points out means something must be going right Homer? Its the usual good 9/bad 9 that haunts us all.

 

[didsbury_duffer]

Stick with it, Homer. The winter is the best time to concentrate on a major swing change. Forget about the 0.1 back, if the swing change works, and judging by your front nine it will do over time, then your h/c will come tumbling down next year.

 

[Region3]

but clearly when a bit of pressure is there its not going to hold up

But you've not been working on it for very long.

The more you practice and ingrain it the better it will hold up under pressure. Practice imo isn't all about hitting the ball better, it's about grooving a repeatable swing that your body can recreate when the heat's on without you having to tell it what to do.

 

[Timh27]

I went round the local 9 hole twice on friday hoping to beat my last score of 96. My iron play was alot better than last time which was good as i had been working on it on the driving range and i only hit 2 bad iron shots all round and both were in bad lies. i was finding the green in 2 or 3 most times which isnt bad as most holes are 350/400 yards but my putting was terrible i 3 putted the first 7 holes and the 4 putted before finding my first 2 putt of the day.being a 9 hole course with no one else on it except me and a work mate we had a break before going out on the back 9 and when i did my putting somehow improved alot and i was 2 putting most holes and capped it of with a birdie on the 16th and par on the 17th and 18th. I checked my score at the end expecting it to be worse than my previous 96 and to my surprise i went round in 89.When i got home i entered my score on myonlinecaddie.com which i use to keep track of my scores and they reckon i went from a 28 to a 26 h/c which i know ia meaningless but it's still a nice confidence boost.I am still waiting to start lesson because not enough people have signed up to make it worth there while but if i havent heard anything in the next week i will just have 1 on 1 lesson as i want to get on with it. All in all i'm pretty impressed with my improvment and i'm taking the little one to her golf lesson in a min so i will have 1 hour on the putting green

 

[Tiger]

Hey homer great front nine. You read any bob rotella? Do you think it might have been psychological. You had such a great front nine maybe you tensed up on the way in and that affected your tempo?

 

[Pants]

Just protecting his handicap and trying to get it up before his next game against Smiffy.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I do read Rotella and ironically was using the "focus on a single leaf at the end of the fairway" on all my drives. Sadly my brain must have been looking to a different tree to my eyes as everything went right on the back nine.

I wasn't that worried about my score yesterday and so wasn't as competive mentally as normal. I'd been playing real rubbish on my own trying to get this tempo thing sorted and so wasn't expecting miracles. The double on 10 was a shock as it was a bad iron and then a short game horror. From there I just seemed to lose the ability to hit the ball at all, especially off the tee but with my irons too.

I've never protected my handicap and as long as Smiffy is playing with his G15 I know I'll have a chance. I've the next lesson next Saturday so we'll see how my pro thinks I'm progressing.

 

[evahakool]

Hi Homer
Had 36 points in our winter comp.today (20) h/c lying second on 144. We play best score for any 4rounds from end of season till xmas.But 14 points behind leader he is a 4h/c.Good luck with swing.

 

[mjsw13]

19 points at the turn, in horrendous weather. Match was then called off because of lightning - gutted!