A thread about Kirke

[GolfSpy MPR]

Kirke was getting in some putting practice this morning, and was absolutely on fire:

I wish I would have started the camera at the very beginning. He had 13 makes in a row to begin. One day, he'll get 18 for 18. I gotta see if I can beat him to it.

[GolfSpy MPR]

Kirke and I got out to the garage this afternoon to hit balls for the first time in months. The garage isn't heated, so the deep subzero temperatures make SkyTrak virtually impossible in certain weeks and unpleasant in most of the rest. But today, we were up in the mid-to-upper 30s, which honestly felt warm since it represented a 70 degree increase in the past couple of weeks.

Anyway, Kirke is definitely longer than he was last year:

If you compare this to previous swings in this thread, you can see the influence of Kirke's SuperSpeed work this winter. The biggest tell is that he goes much further around on his backswing. Not worried about that: he'll figure out quickly whether it works for him on the course. Kirke is pretty quick to determine what helps and what hurts his scoring, and he listens to that far more than he'd listen to me telling him to shorten it up.

I'm amazed, watching slo mo of his swing, what he does. In transition, it looks for all the world like he's about to pitch the shaft up really steep in the classic hacker move. But somehow, after it goes up, it shallows down and around him. He is so open at impact!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CLpyKJ9DDzB/

[JohnSmalls]

15 hours ago, GolfSpy MPR said:

since it represented a 70 degree increase

 

15 hours ago, GolfSpy MPR said:

Kirke and I got out to the garage this afternoon to hit balls for the first time in months. The garage isn't heated, so the deep subzero temperatures make SkyTrak virtually impossible in certain weeks and unpleasant in most of the rest. But today, we were up in the mid-to-upper 30s, which honestly felt warm since it represented a 70 degree increase in the past couple of weeks.

Anyway, Kirke is definitely longer than he was last year:

If you compare this to previous swings in this thread, you can see the influence of Kirke's SuperSpeed work this winter. The biggest tell is that he goes much further around on his backswing. Not worried about that: he'll figure out quickly whether it works for him on the course. Kirke is pretty quick to determine what helps and what hurts his scoring, and he listens to that far more than he'd listen to me telling him to shorten it up.

I'm amazed, watching slo mo of his swing, what he does. In transition, it looks for all the world like he's about to pitch the shaft up really steep in the classic hacker move. But somehow, after it goes up, it shallows down and around him. He is so open at impact!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CLpyKJ9DDzB/

It's so funny seeing how his game improves/changes, and which parts stay exactly the same (putting) .  He's like a machine.  Address ball, look at cup, putt, pick up ball, drop ball, address, look at cup, putt.  The best part of all is you analyzing his game and comparing it to your own.  Kirke is already a teaching pro and doesn't realize it . 

[GolfSpy MPR]

Kirke getting in some random practice on SkyTrak.

I've never ponied up the (big) dollars for any sim software for the SkyTrak. We just use the range software that comes with the device. But a few years back, they added the feature that you can give it a range of yardages (here for Kirke, 30–125) and a green size (here, medium difficulty), and it'll just keep spitting out new yardages until you tell it to stop. It tracks the percentage of times you hit the green.

At this range, Kirke tends to tee up some of the longer ones. He's maintaining about 80-85% of greens hit.

[Shapotomous]

hmmmm...... 80% GIR, all his shots piped right down the middle, putts lights out.....I think you mentioned he already has a hole in one....

 

Can you make him go shovel some snow to make me feel better??!!??

     

[GolfSpy MPR]

1 minute ago, Shapotomous said:

hmmmm...... 80% GIR, all his shots piped right down the middle, putts lights out.....I think you mentioned he already has a hole in one....

 

Can you make him go shovel some snow to make me feel better??!!??

     

If it makes you feel any better: he did catch a couple of shots in that video pretty fat. So he still has stuff to work on

[Shapotomous]

11 minutes ago, GolfSpy MPR said:

If it makes you feel any better: he did catch a couple of shots in that video pretty fat. So he still has stuff to work on

i thought about it and I don't feel any better.....

I think it's the hole in one that does it....please find an old snow pile for him to shovel!!  

[JohnSmalls]

4 hours ago, GolfSpy MPR said:

Kirke getting in some random practice on SkyTrak.

I've never ponied up the (big) dollars for any sim software for the SkyTrak. We just use the range software that comes with the device. But a few years back, they added the feature that you can give it a range of yardages (here for Kirke, 30–125) and a green size (here, medium difficulty), and it'll just keep spitting out new yardages until you tell it to stop. It tracks the percentage of times you hit the green.

At this range, Kirke tends to tee up some of the longer ones. He's maintaining about 80-85% of greens hit.

I can only dream of setting a ball down, grabbing the right club, and just stepping up and piping it down the middle.  That's unreal.

[sirchunksalot]

6 hours ago, GolfSpy MPR said:

Kirke getting in some random practice on SkyTrak.

I've never ponied up the (big) dollars for any sim software for the SkyTrak. We just use the range software that comes with the device. But a few years back, they added the feature that you can give it a range of yardages (here for Kirke, 30–125) and a green size (here, medium difficulty), and it'll just keep spitting out new yardages until you tell it to stop. It tracks the percentage of times you hit the green.

At this range, Kirke tends to tee up some of the longer ones. He's maintaining about 80-85% of greens hit.

His ability to hit line ball after line ball is amazing! Plus I give him kudos for teeing up driver that close to the back of the mat. I'd be scared of chunking the daylights out of it. 

[toehold57]

Such an easy game 

[GolfSpy MPR]

2 hours ago, JohnSmalls said:

I can only dream of setting a ball down, grabbing the right club, and just stepping up and piping it down the middle.  That's unreal.

 

20 minutes ago, sirchunksalot said:

His ability to hit line ball after line ball is amazing! Plus I give him kudos for teeing up driver that close to the back of the mat. I'd be scared of chunking the daylights out of it. 

 

11 minutes ago, toehold57 said:

Such an easy game 

The part of Kirke's game that bears absolutely no relation to mine is his virtually bulletproof sense of self-confidence. You see it in the speed that he plays (both in practice and on the course). Shots don't require thought--you just hit them. I've said multiple times that he putts with the full intention to make everything. He doesn't think about missing.

I suspect that golf eventually takes punctures even the most bulletproof-seeming confidence. But I'd like to delay that as long as I can with him, so that he plays fearlessly.

[JohnSmalls]

4 minutes ago, GolfSpy MPR said:

 

 

The part of Kirke's game that bears absolutely no relation to mine is his virtually bulletproof sense of self-confidence. You see it in the speed that he plays (both in practice and on the course). Shots don't require thought--you just hit them. I've said multiple times that he putts with the full intention to make everything. He doesn't think about missing.

I suspect that golf eventually takes punctures even the most bulletproof-seeming confidence. But I'd like to delay that as long as I can with him, so that he plays fearlessly.

I've seen you mention it before and it still amazes me today.  While watching your previous video, I was thinking he will never be accused of slow play if that is how he plays on the course.  I need to take a page out of the Kirke book for my own game!  Especially the carry on a conversation and mid-sentence swing away ability. 

[ncwoz]

2 hours ago, GolfSpy MPR said:

 

 

The part of Kirke's game that bears absolutely no relation to mine is his virtually bulletproof sense of self-confidence. You see it in the speed that he plays (both in practice and on the course). Shots don't require thought--you just hit them. I've said multiple times that he putts with the full intention to make everything. He doesn't think about missing.

I suspect that golf eventually takes punctures even the most bulletproof-seeming confidence. But I'd like to delay that as long as I can with him, so that he plays fearlessly.

I'm definitely impressed by his confidence! As someone who didn't grow up golfing but basically did every other sport, I felt (and still do feel) a lot of confidence at other sports I've been messing with since I was young, but golf has definitely been more robotic and mechanic for me (so far ). Hopefully he always keeps that ease and confidence as he gets older!

[GolfSpy MPR]

Really pumped that the Upper Peninsula Golf Association (which I just learned about at the end of last year) posted its junior tournament schedule:https://upga.org/junior-golf-tour/

Even more exciting (for us): they don't load the schedule with Sunday tournaments. All of these tournaments still represent at least a two hour drive—but hey, it's closer than Minneapolis!

[edingc]

22 minutes ago, GolfSpy MPR said:

Even more exciting (for us): they don't load the schedule with Sunday tournaments. All of these tournaments still represent at least a two hour drive—but hey, it's closer than Minneapolis!

What isn't a two hour drive for you? Thought that commute was just a requisite part of U.P. living. 

[GolfSpy_SHARK]

On 3/10/2021 at 7:14 PM, GolfSpy MPR said:

 

 

The part of Kirke's game that bears absolutely no relation to mine is his virtually bulletproof sense of self-confidence. You see it in the speed that he plays (both in practice and on the course). Shots don't require thought--you just hit them. I've said multiple times that he putts with the full intention to make everything. He doesn't think about missing.

I suspect that golf eventually takes punctures even the most bulletproof-seeming confidence. But I'd like to delay that as long as I can with him, so that he plays fearlessly.

That mentality is incredible and in my opinion cannot be taught. That’s God given mentality (like size “can’t teach size”). 
I hope he can hold on to that fully fearless thought process and attack every hole for as long as possible, it’s a talent in itself. 

[GolfSpy MPR]

18 minutes ago, edingc said:

What isn't a two hour drive for you? Thought that commute was just a requisite part of U.P. living. 

It's polar (in so many ways): our drives are either less than 20 minutes or well over two hours. Everything is either really close or a full on day trip.

[Tom the Golf Nut]

Welcome to the world of children and sports. High school was a nightmare in a good way. My two are only 18 months apart but two school years apart.

My son was on the Baseball and Golf team.

Daughter.. Volleyball, Basketball, and Track.  She's a senior now and we have track season left. 

Every day of the week we were going somewhere. I easily put 100k miles on a car. Thousands in admission tickets, concession food,, meals after games, and gas. Then when the team does well its on to state. That's 4 hours away and 3 days of hotels. 

In the end if they are good it will help pay for college.  My daughter was offered Basketball and Track scholarships. Went with track. She was ranked 8th in the state in jumps.  Private coaching over the winter shows she is blowing away her own records. She will be going to state for sure this season.

Looks like Kirke's definitely on a path to good golf opportunities in the future. Keep it fun for him.

For you Dad, find a way to make it all work out. Seems like yesterday they were little kids. Now one turns 20 and the other 18.

My wife cried at the end of each sport season in their senior years. I really think she cried because their getting close to leaving one way or the other and she will be stuck home alone with me.

[GolfSpy MPR]

9 hours ago, Tom the Golf Nut said:

Welcome to the world of children and sports. High school was a nightmare in a good way. My two are only 18 months apart but two school years apart.

My son was on the Baseball and Golf team.

Daughter.. Volleyball, Basketball, and Track.  She's a senior now and we have track season left. 

Every day of the week we were going somewhere. I easily put 100k miles on a car. Thousands in admission tickets, concession food,, meals after games, and gas. Then when the team does well its on to state. That's 4 hours away and 3 days of hotels. 

In the end if they are good it will help pay for college.  My daughter was offered Basketball and Track scholarships. Went with track. She was ranked 8th in the state in jumps.  Private coaching over the winter shows she is blowing away her own records. She will be going to state for sure this season.

Looks like Kirke's definitely on a path to good golf opportunities in the future. Keep it fun for him.

For you Dad, find a way to make it all work out. Seems like yesterday they were little kids. Now one turns 20 and the other 18.

My wife cried at the end of each sport season in their senior years. I really think she cried because their getting close to leaving one way or the other and she will be stuck home alone with me.

This is a helpful post.

I will say, while tournament play is obviously a necessary part of Kirke's development as a golfer (if he wants to play competitively), the best part of golf from a "sport parent" perspective is how flexible it is for ordinary scheduling. Golf is among the very, very few sports that can be practiced individually. Obviously, lots of sports have drills and such for individuals. But very few can be played alone.

In the near future, I expect that I'll drive Kirke to the course in the morning and pick him up in the afternoon and ask how he felt playing his 72 holes that day

[GolfSpy MPR]

The weather keeps cooperating. Kirke and I squeezed in another hour or so of garage practice yesterday. His swing is looking clean:

One of the games we've been playing recently is the SkyTrak long drive contest. Kirke hits his driver; I get my PW. I struggle to get my PW much further than 130, but that also means that Kirke needs to catch a pretty good one to beat me, so it's a pretty fair fight right now. He'll keep moving up through my bag, quickly in the next couple of years, I'm guessing.

[GolfSpy MPR]

We've had an incident:

I was actually in the garage when this happened and I heard the muffled crush of the rear window. Kirke was pitching a ball around the yard, and he said he caught this one thin. Given the angle (going from our front yard, which is behind and to the right of the perspective of this photo) to the grass to the left of the van, I'm assuming he actually shanked it, which would have given it the low-ish right flight needed to pop the window.

He looks pretty down here, but like most bad shots he hits, it really didn't seem to bother him long. He shakes off bad shots quicker than anyone I've seen.

I told my wife that this comes from Kirke's part of our stimulus check

[Shankster]

Tell him to leave the Shankerooskies to me... no one deserves to experience their nasty word.

[RollingGreens]

Priceless!

[MattF]

I know I've already commented elsewhere, but .

[Hook DeLoft]

Hosel fade!  One of my most effective shots.  BTW, great thread!

[tchat07]

O wow impressed you took it so well. Poor guys face says it all.

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[GolfSpy MPR]

35 minutes ago, tchat07 said:

O wow impressed you took it so well. Poor guys face says it all.

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I certainly wasn't thrilled, but he wasn't doing it on purpose, nor was he being extraordinarily reckless. He pitches balls around the yard all the time, and controls his ball really well. Eventually, one was going to get away, but it isn't something I can get mad at him for.

But if he does this much more, I'll start pressing him to turn pro sooner.

[Rickp]

Man, does he look guilty!!


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[00sportsman]

I love that you got him to pose for a picture with it. That looks like a senior yearbook picture if ever I saw one!

Not fun now, but you guys will laugh for a lifetime about it.


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[GolfSpy MPR]

1 hour ago, 00sportsman said:

I love that you got him to pose for a picture with it. That looks like a senior yearbook picture if ever I saw one!

Not fun now, but you guys will laugh for a lifetime about it.


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Literally, the picture is why he looks so down, not the window. He was in the backyard playing; I really don't think he was bothered about the window in the slightest. But I called him over and said, listen, this is going to be a memory, we need a picture. So that's the look I got.