edingc's Work In Progress

[edingc]

This offseason is lasting a lot longer than I wanted. Our weather has not been cooperative in the least bit between cold temperatures and a ton of rain. I finally played my first round last weekend, and just yesterday I was finally able to get on the range. It's going to be another week at least before my course opens, it's just too wet.

I took some face-on video of my 7 iron for the first time in a while yesterday:

Lots of good things here, especially compared to last season.

Setup

I still wouldn't mind seeing a little bit more tilt at setup. I think it would help me to make a better turn and get a little more behind the ball. Left hand grip is slightly stronger which helps a lot.

Takeaway

You can kind of see that I'm less "rigid" than last year. Trying to feel more loose or free flowing in my movements. Also do a better job of keeping the club in front of me starting back.

Top of Backswing

All of those takeaway feels lead to a more complete and athletic top of backswing position. This is where I've likely picked up speed with my 7 iron, which according to Mevo+ can top out around 98-100 MPH when fully warm and going at it.

Transition

Huge improvement here. Starting down without sliding forward. Probably the result of a better turn (less sway) and just the focus I've put on this area over the offseason. You can also tell based on my hands/wrists that the face is a bit stronger coming into impact.

Impact

Bingo! Because I'm not sliding forward I can post up and deliver a descending blow to the ball. No more scooping like in last year's frame.

Finish

[edingc]

I can finally provide my first tangible update for the 2022 golf season. The early part of my season is pretty much over as Memorial Day weekend marks the start of my "peak season" that runs until mid-August.

I've been able to get out and play 15 times so far this season and am seeing some encouraging results. I got off to a bit of a slow start but have posted six rounds at 81 or lower and played pretty well throughout those rounds. As a result, my unofficial handicap has dropped below 9 to 8.6 as of this post. My anti-cap (the other 12 differentials of my 20 most recent) is still above 15. I'd love to see that number drop closer to 12 as a sign of consistency.

The Good

• My game around the green has improved significantly. I spent a lot of time in the offseason chipping balls off my basement carpet and that has paid off. I am putting more balls closer to the hole when I am not on the green and that is leading to less strenuous par and bogey saves. 
• I have established a putting routine that is giving me better looks at the hole. My tendency is to aim right of my target, so I've done a better job lining up using the mark on the ball and the shaft of my putter. Additionally, I've been feeling slopes with my feet (a la Aimpoint) and my reads have been better than ever.
• My iron play has been OK. I'm striking the ball generally well.
• My distance across the bag is solid. I'm happy with that and can see the results of my continued efforts in this area.

The Bad

• I have been MISERABLE off of the tee, especially with the driver. Just way too many strokes lost to penalties or being well off the fairway for my second shot. My strokes gained statistics aren't awful due to my length, but I'm hurting myself so much with awful tee shots.
• My big miss this year has been an uncontrolled hook throughout the bag. Some of this I need to address with a lie angle change with my irons as I'm currently playing standard lies after being fit for closer to 2 degrees flat from stock Hogan specifications. But a lesson will probably be beneficial here, assuming I can get in for one in the near future.
• Wedges have been hit or miss. I've been trying to implement a clock system, but it's not working for me. I seem to compensate and hit different length swings all the same distance. I'm hoping by testing the Edel SMS wedges for the forum I will spend more time in this area and improve. Right now I'm flying too many balls well past the hole with the numbered wedges once I'm inside 130 yards.

I recently transitioned from Arccos to ShotScope. These statistics have eight full rounds on them. I don't do a great job of fixing the putting statistics, so I don't find the putting strokes gained to be all that accurate. These are in comparison to a five handicap:

[GolfSpy AFG]

20 minutes ago, edingc said:

I can finally provide my first tangible update for the 2022 golf season. The early part of my season is pretty much over as Memorial Day weekend marks the start of my "peak season" that runs until mid-August.

I've been able to get out and play 15 times so far this season and am seeing some encouraging results. I got off to a bit of a slow start but have posted six rounds at 81 or lower and played pretty well throughout those rounds. As a result my unofficial handicap has dropped below 9 to 8.6 as of this post. My anti-cap (the other 12 differentials of my 20 most recent) is still above 15. I'd love to see that number drop closer to 12 as a sign of consistency.

The Good

• My game around the green has improved significantly. I spent a lot of time in the offseason chipping balls off my basement carpet and that has paid off. I am putting more balls closer to the hole when I am not on the green and that is leading to less strenuous par and bogey saves. 
• I have established a putting routine that is giving me better looks at the hole. My tendency is to aim right of my target, so I've done a better job lining up using the mark on the ball and the shaft of my putter. Additionally, I've been feeling slopes with my feet (a la Aimpoint) and my reads have been better than ever.
• My iron play has been OK. I'm striking the ball generally well.
• My distance across the bag is solid. I'm happy with that and can see the results of my continued efforts in this area.

The Bad

• I have been MISERABLE off of the tee, especially with the driver. Just way too many strokes lost to penalties or being well off the fairway for my second shot. My strokes gained statistics aren't awful due to my length, but I'm hurting myself so much with awful tee shots.
• My big miss this year has been an uncontrolled hook throughout the bag. Some of this I need to address with a lie angle change with my irons as I'm currently playing standard lies after being fit for closer to 2 degrees flat from stock Hogan specifications. But a lesson will probably be beneficial here, assuming I can get in for one in the near future.
• Wedges have been hit or miss. I've been trying to implement a clock system, but it's not working for me. I seem to compensate and hit different length swings all the same distance. I'm hoping by testing the Edel SMS wedges for the forum I will spend more time in this area and improve. Right now I'm flying too many balls well past the hole with the numbered wedges once I'm inside 130 yards.

I recently transitioned from Arccos to ShotScope. These statistics have eight full rounds on them. I don't do a great job of fixing the putting statistics, so I don't find the putting strokes gained to be all that accurate. These are in comparison to a five handicap:

So 8 rounds in, how do you like Shotscope vs Arccos?  Don't want to hijack your thread into a review, but the distances you've posted for 8i-PW...as dedicated as you are I can't imagine those are actually your gaps with those clubs...

[edingc]

2 minutes ago, Getoffmylawn said:

So 8 rounds in, how do you like Shotscope vs Arccos?  Don't want to hijack your thread into a review, but the distances you've posted for 8i-PW...as dedicated as you are I can't imagine those are actually your gaps with those clubs...

Took a few rounds to get used to the tagging, but it's back to being second nature now. I've had ShotScope remap my course and while some holes seem better, the GPS on the H4 unit sometimes places me in the wrong spots. I don't think there is a perfect solution out there.

Distance-wise that's reflective of just a lack of data for some of the clubs. Playing the same short (relative to my distances) course most days I don't get a lot of variety in shots and only hit a handful of full irons, mostly from the tee. Otherwise I'm usually hitting partial wedge if I'm in the fairway or punchout, wedge, if I'm not. Of the 12 par 4s, there are only three that I would be hitting anything longer than a pitching wedge into given a "good" tee shot in the fairway. I would say the pitching wedge, 54 and 58 are "close to accurate" for a full, stock shot. The rest, not so much.

[edingc]

Finally got a lesson in today, indoors because of the heat wave we are experiencing. I've been pretty much plateaued in my full swing progress. My scoring average seems to have improved so far this season (minus a couple of clunkers at the beginning of the year), but realistically I'm going to attribute that to improved pitching/chipping and putting. I'm seeing a lot more one putts this year as a result, which is helping to offset the inevitable three-putts that also creep into my game.

My swing right now is functional but is a nightmare when my timing is off. My coach was honest and said I will need to make some bigger changes down the road if I want to get to the next level with my ball striking.

Basic overview of my issues:

• Too stacked on top of the ball at setup with open hips and shoulders.
• Backswing gets a little too inside with a closed face at the top. 
• My downswing is too timing-based because I bow my lead wrist to shallow the club while my shoulders rip open during the downswing. When I'm on I can control the face. When I'm off it leads to blocks and snap hooks. I attribute the amount of practice and play I have as the reason why this is even semi-functional.

For now, I'm working on a couple of easy victories to remedy some pieces of the above:

• More secondary tilt at setup with a slightly closed stance (dropping my right foot back).
• Feeling my wrists stay flatter throughout the swing (basically need to feel a cupping motion at this point).

We worked on a couple of other half swing drills, and I started to make some positive change by the end of the hour. After the lesson I hit a small bucket and saw some really positive results with my 8 iron. Driver remained a little suspect but I did end with 2-3 really good shots. 

I suspect the next couple of rounds will be a bit rough as I tend to play golf swing instead of golf following a lesson.

Pre-lesson swing on the left, post-lesson on the right. In the before image you can see how much I've bowed my left wrist and how much more open my shoulders are. In the post-lesson swing on the right the club is much more shallow (went from -7 something angle of attack to -4).

Tough to see, but I've drawn lines on the club face. In the pre-lesson swing my club face has rotated very shut. In the post-lesson swing the club face is much more stable through and after impact.

[rkj427]

"I suspect the next couple of rounds will be a bit rough as I tend to play golf swing instead of golf following a lesson."

 

The after lesson positions put you in a much better place all around.

For your next couple rounds, just go and play, even if you hit short irons for the full round to ingrain the swing lessons without worrying too much about score. That gives you the opportunity to incorporate it from various lies and positions around the course, and may lead to faster results.

Given the length (short) of the golf season we typically have here in Michigan, if you work on it now, get your goals accomplished, it will be easier to remember and incorporate it back after any downtime.

Still have to have fun, and enjoy yourself even if working on changes while playing

Best of luck going forward, the changes really do look good.

[edingc]

One-ish month check-in after my last lesson. I've been playing much more consistent golf since I've been working on tweaks from that lesson. Most notably, keeping my hands from rolling inside too much (that "cupping" feeling) has allowed me to pretty much eliminate the big left miss across the bag that was killing my early season scores.

My driver continues to cause problems at times, but it is coming along OK. I unfortunately do not get to hit driver at the range very often because if I'm hitting it well I'm putting balls over the fence (not meant to be a flex, but ). For example, today I hit the driver pretty well by my standards, including a 297-yarder right down the pipe that led to a birdie on the first par 5, but I also lost a ball waaaay right on two occassions. One led to bogey and and the second led to triple. Yuck.

I was on vacation last week and played a few different courses and that seems to have really messed with my putting confidence. My speed is all wrong, generally short, I just can't get my hands to commit to a putt right now.

Still, my scores have been solid since the lesson, with 18 hole rounds of: 72, 80, 76, 79, 74, 79, 74, 77, 92 (vacation - two bad holes killed me on a much longer and tougher course), 79 and 78. My unofficial handicap has dropped below 6.0 and most importantly my anti-cap has dropped below 11. Feeling really good about that.

ShotScope pegs me as losing just under 5 strokes to a scratch golfer at this point:

[edingc]

Probably the last lesson of the season today. Some potato quality videos of my swing below.

Irons are better than driver. My coach would like to see me hit more range balls with the ball off my back foot to encourage my shoulders to stay closed longer as I still have a tendency to spin them open (thanks, baseball...).

With the driver I need to strengthen up my right hand quite a bit, feel more tilt and left hip forward and more outstretched arms at setup. With the driver only I seem to be able to use the feel of keeping my back to the target, while with the irons I can feel my right arm underneath more. 

I'm going to need a lot of range balls before the driver grip feels less foreign.

[edingc]

Last update before the offseason as the days here are getting shorter and the weather will soon turn cooler.

After a brief stint of "lost golf swing" following my last lesson resulting in five-straight rounds at about 10 strokes worse than my handicap, things have settled back down and I've been playing some very good golf.

The biggest change that has led to strokes gained improvement is finally taming the penalties that plagued my driver all season up to late August. I may not be hitting the ball the furthest I ever have, but more shots are in play than before.

I listened to a podcast a few weeks back that I credit to a major change in how I've approached my rounds/swing. The guest was Kent Osborne, author of an e-book called Scratch Attitude. He talked about how being negative/frustrated can effect decision making, and for whatever reason it really resonated with me.

I've always wanted to play golf on "autopilot," meaning I'd just show up and have a decent swing and play well without a lot of thought. I don't know why that's been a goal, but what ended up happening this year is that I was ignoring the feedback from my shots and just getting frustrated when things were going poorly. I never actually stepped back and asked myself why a shot did what it did or how I could improve what I'm doing.

For this past stretch of good play I've just been taking shots as they come and being mostly neutral or positive in my reactions - and most importantly, evaluating what might have caused a shot to do whatever it did. This led me to finding out that all season I've been way too in my heels at setup, which caused my shoulders to spin out prematurely and led to the big hooks/penalties off the tee. With my changed focus I found that if I get more on my toes/balls of my feet (a big feel difference), I can make a better turn and stay more behind the ball. My swing has improved tremendously over the past few weeks as a result.

I'm hoping for another five or six weeks of sporadic play before the official end of the season for me.

[edingc]

It's that time of the year again, and a sad one at that. This post marks the end of my 2022 golf season. We're getting into true fall weather here in Michigan and my home course is closed for the year.

This is actually one of my favorite posts to write in this thread as it allows me to reflect on a lot of things. 2022 was a good year for playing golf:

• 85 times out to the course, consisting of:
  • 42 18-hole rounds
  • 38 9-hole rounds
  • 3 18-hole scramble events
  • 1 9-hole "wedge only" practice round
  • 1 practice outing

This was a much tougher season for me. I lost basically three weeks of prime season due to unexpected work commitments and then catching COVID in July. That resulted in a lot more nine-hole rounds as it took me a few weeks to recover fully.

The vast majority of my rounds were played solo at my home course, as has been the case for the past four years.

I'm finishing my year as an unofficial 6.7 handicap, which is basically a two stroke drop from 2021. I reached as low as a 5.8 this season, but I had a really rough stretch of rounds in August following a lesson that dropped out a bunch of low rounds.

My goal was to have fun and try to lower the handicap for the season and that's been a huge success. Some other statistics include:

• 18 hole average score of 80.5 ( down from 81.5 in 2021)
• 9 hole average score of 39.3 ( down from 41.4 in 2021)
• Averaged 9 greens in regulation ( up from 8.3 in 2021)
• Averaged 32.6 putts per round ( down from 32.7 in 2021)
• Averaged 32.5 percent fairways ( up from 29.9 percent in 2021)
• Recorded a new GPS-measured long drive of 327 yards and a new unoffically measured long drive of ~340 yards.

I'll keep this post focused on the positives, but thanks to ShotScope I have a good grasp of what I need to work on this offseason. More on that to come!

[edingc]

The offseason has started off on a good note. I won't spend much time discussing it, but I've done a pretty good job of hitting balls two or three times, lifting two or three times, speed training two or three times and putting a bit each week.

Maintaining and adding to my speed is obviously high on my list of things to accomplish this offseason. I've been contributing to both the unofficial Stack review thread and the MGS offseason speed challenge where you can read more. So far I haven't gained a ton of top-end speed but my floor has come up a bit. In my garage sessions I'm seeing more drivers at 114 MPH or more than I have in the past, and my 6 iron ball speeds occasionally touch 138-140 MPH. That's been a huge motivator.

Three areas I need to work on based on my 2022 strokes gained are driving, 50-100 yard wedge shots and putting (compared to scratch):

I've done a good job of working on driver so far this offseason, and I've been practicing putting on my EXPUTT quite frequently as well. I've made a few tweaks to my putting setup and I'm rolling it really well, probably the best I ever have. Excited to see if that carries to the course. I do need to get my wedges out more often and work on them.

I feel like my swing is in a really good place and I'm getting great results. My dispersion has come down significantly with my irons, shown below at the top is my shot pattern from last night's Mevo+ session with my 6 iron. Nice 20-ish yard pattern right around the 200-yard mark.

[edingc]

First lesson of the offseason today and not so unpredictable results. I've continued to make strides in my swing and my coach is impressed. That being said, I still fight the same things and today we worked a bit on cleaning up my path and face control. I frequently get too shallow on the downswing with a closed club face, which leads to an over draw/hook miss.

I did a Speed Priming session on The Stack prior to actually hitting balls and was happy to see the following on the Trackman during my first few swings with the six iron (speed training paying off!):

Speed comes at a slight cost, however, as for me to get to that level I make a very large shoulder turn with just a slight hint of a flying trail elbow (below left). He recommended I reign that in a bit for more control (below right) except when I need the gas, which did slow down my speed a bit overall. I think there is a happy medium to be had here as I could work to get a slight bit longer without overdoing it.

The bulk of my swings were spent working on getting me more "rounded." I was getting very vertical in my swing which resulted in the club and arms exiting very high. He wants to see my right arm exit left quicker and more across my chest. The feel for me is that my right arm gets as low as it can go and the right thumb stays pointing up through the ball. I have homework to mimic this feeling with my right arm only whenever I can.

Before (bottom left), after (bottom right), both full swings, club exiting lower and more across the chest on the right:

The weather will be frigid the next week or so, but I'm going to do my best to get out and work on this at least a few times in the garage over the next week. Hopefully it gets back to normal temperatures soon so that my garage sessions will be more comfortable.

[edingc]

Late February update, and hopefully the last before actual golf in the spring. 

This has been a successful winter. My lifts have gone up, my speed (more below) has gone up, and I'm feeling better about my swing. 

I only ended up taking a single lesson with my instructor over the winter. He gets really busy in the February-March timeframe, so I haven't bothered to try to find time to work with him again. My lesson in December was really helpful, and I've found some keys in my swing that seem to have jived with what we were working on.

I hopped outside last night with a camera and just took some smooth gap wedges following my Stack session. I'm happy about the backswing length here, and I like seeing the club face be a little less rotational past the ball.

Regarding Stack, I've four sessions into Neural Drive, which is the third program in the Stack for me since I got it. Results have been pretty good. My speed floor seems to have come up and my ceiling also, depending on how I'm feeling. Really happy with the percentiles below:

Got my membership letter yesterday. The season is getting nearer! Hoping for an early spring and perhaps some March golf.

[edingc]

Been a couple months! I'm off to a good start to my season. The last few years it has taken me a solid month or so to round into form, but it did not take me long to get through the "offseason swing" part of the year. I initially struggled with some low-lefts with my longer clubs, but I've figured that out.

I posted this over in another thread a few days ago, but I took some video for the first time in a while and was very happy with my swing:

Thanks in part to my new Callaway Paradym TD, I'm driving the ball much better. This has resulted in fewer penalties off the tee, which has hurt me dearly in the past. I'm now trying to play straight/slight fades off the tee, which results in my misses being blocks or slight slices. At my course that is generally fine. In over a month's worth of golf, I've only lost two balls, both of which were water hazards and not related to my driver.

I still haven't been able to string together a really strong 18 holes, but there have been several good nine holes stretches - including two rounds under par and one at even par.

Over my last 10, I've been playing pretty well versus a scratch handicap:

I'm still missing too many putts inside of 8 feet (although my putting has vastly improved this season), and my partial wedge game has not been great. I finally broke down and am making an actual effort at a wedge matrix, which I made up this week at the range and have refined after a few test rounds:

Distance-wise, my offseason Stack training continues to pay off. I'm much more consistent with my long shots, and I'm hitting the driver further with less effort. And, as I continue to gain trust in my fade off the tee, I expect to swing a little faster.

[edingc]

The "meat" of my season is over and we're on to the last 6-8 weeks or so of good golf weather. Time for another update.

Today's scorecard has been all too common this season:

This has been an extremely frustrating year. It's the first time since I joined the forums (and played/practiced more frequently) that I have not seen an improvement in my scores from the season before. My handicap has actually gone up 1.5 strokes or so. I don't know that it will come back down. This has not been helped by a golf swing that has completely left me multiple times since my last post, only to return in a worse state than before it went...

Today is a great example. I actually hit the ball pretty well today, but I have been unable to avoid the big numbers for an entire round for the most part. Just too many mistakes all over the place to score well.

[rkj427]

May be time for a "mental break" and just go and play a round or two without thinking about scoring, but rather hitting various shots from various spots during a round.

Sometimes we are too hard on ourselves, and have high expectations, and then compound the issue of putting too much pressure on ourselves when things may not be exactly what we wanted or planned them to be.

Even if you just go and practice, don't think results, work on your swing thoughts, or practice hitting longer clubs shorter distances.

RELAX and have fun, no pressure situations.

You have the tools and ability, you have posted great swings and scores, and may just need a "pause" to refresh or reset.

Try and make your next time or two out a fun time, just accepting that the game really is one shot at a time, and we get more than one chance to hit what we may perceive as a perfect or great shot. 

[srooch2]

Im sure your not looking for tips but here I go I’m a +10 hcp putter and I got there by changing the way I putt completely. I actually hit every putt like it is a tap in, I put one foot back. I line up like normal by picking a spot in front of the ball, but once I lineup it’s with the one foot back like a 10” tap in putt. I even added a waggle like my regular golf swing. This has freed me up on putting so much. I putted like this in a tournament too so it’s not a practice thing for me. It makes the putt more athletic and instinctual. It can be a temporary process though for someone just to feel looser when they putt. I’m also not sure but I may putt looking at the hole or at least part of stroke I do. I can’t remember the last 3 putt I had and in my tournament I would guess (I don’t track stats during) that this saved me 10 strokes. I was making a lot of putts from that 6-12’ range that I would never expect to make in the past. Anyways, I’d recommend trying this even for a temporary shock to your putting system.  

[edingc]

3 hours ago, srooch2 said:

Im sure your not looking for tips but here I go I’m a +10 hcp putter and I got there by changing the way I putt completely. I actually hit every putt like it is a tap in, I put one foot back. I line up like normal by picking a spot in front of the ball, but once I lineup it’s with the one foot back like a 10” tap in putt. I even added a waggle like my regular golf swing. This has freed me up on putting so much. I putted like this in a tournament too so it’s not a practice thing for me. It makes the putt more athletic and instinctual. It can be a temporary process though for someone just to feel looser when they putt. I’m also not sure but I may putt looking at the hole or at least part of stroke I do. I can’t remember the last 3 putt I had and in my tournament I would guess (I don’t track stats during) that this saved me 10 strokes. I was making a lot of putts from that 6-12’ range that I would never expect to make in the past. Anyways, I’d recommend trying this even for a temporary shock to your putting system.  

I went out yesterday with a different mindset and found some success. As I was reading my putts I would glance at the cup and pick a spot either on the back or bottom of the cup and visualize that as I was putting. Basically was only thinking about that one spot in the cup and then a spot on the ball and that stopped me from trying to guide the ball to the hole. It helped a lot, I sunk a couple of 10-15 footers and made all but one of my putts inside 5 feet (no three putts on the day, either). Ended up with four birdies during the round en route to a +2 74, 11 strokes better than what I posted on Tuesday above.

[srooch2]

On 8/4/2023 at 12:49 PM, edingc said:

I went out yesterday with a different mindset and found some success. As I was reading my putts I would glance at the cup and pick a spot either on the back or bottom of the cup and visualize that as I was putting. Basically was only thinking about that one spot in the cup and then a spot on the ball and that stopped me from trying to guide the ball to the hole. It helped a lot, I sunk a couple of 10-15 footers and made all but one of my putts inside 5 feet (no three putts on the day, either). Ended up with four birdies during the round en route to a +2 74, 11 strokes better than what I posted on Tuesday above.

Alright, great job. When I’m putting good I feel  like it resonates through the bag more than any other shot in golf. It relieves a lot of pressure through the rest of the bag.  

[edingc]

7 hours ago, srooch2 said:

Alright, great job. When I’m putting good I feel  like it resonates through the bag more than any other shot in golf. It relieves a lot of pressure through the rest of the bag.  

So true.

I've actually simplified even more as I no longer take practice strokes. In what has been an otherwise pretty frustrating season, my putting has been a highlight lately. It's held quite a few shaky ball striking rounds together.

[srooch2]

14 hours ago, edingc said:

So true.

I've actually simplified even more as I no longer take practice strokes. In what has been an otherwise pretty frustrating season, my putting has been a highlight lately. It's held quite a few shaky ball striking rounds together.

Absolutely! I think I’ve heard some science behind not taking a practice stroke and it’s benefits. I also do not take one, I don’t take one on full swing shots either unless I have an unusual big fade or draw shot. Which doesn’t happen a lot. 

[edingc]

My course officially closed for the year last weekend, though I had not been out to play since the beginning of October. 

I haven't spent as much time on the forums lately for many reasons. Both my work and personal lives have been busier than ever, which has not given me much time to spend on here. However, I will admit I also needed a break to work through my golf swing, which I lamented about several times throughout the season.

2023 ended up being the busiest golf season since I started playing:

• 115 total rounds of golf
  • 38 18-hole rounds, 36 at home
  • 3 18-hole scramble events
  • 74 9-hole rounds, 71 at home

Much of the year was spent treading water, for lack of a better phrase. I started the year hitting the ball really well, struggled from June to early September, and then started to turn a corner as the season came to its close.

• 18-hole average score: 80.7 ( +0.2 from 2022)
  • Best round: +1 73, twice
  • Worst round: +21 93 (away from home), +15 87 at home
• 9-hole average score: 39.8 ( +0.5 from 2022)
  • Best round: -1 35 at home, -1 36 away from home
  • Worst round: +11 47 (My last nine of the year!)
• 46.7% GIR ( 3.3% from 2022)
  • Best: 12/18
  • Worst: 3/18
• 32.7 putts per round ( +0.1 from 2022)
• 32.1% Fairway Accuracy ( 0.4% from 2022)
• Birdied 17/18 holes at home. No. 11 continues to elude me. I have not birdied it in five years as a member.
• Final Estimated Handicap: 7.5 ( +0.8 from end of 2022)

Overall, with exception to my driving accuracy (which is hampered by both my skill and the narrow fairways on my course), I played about even with what The Grint expects of my handicap:

My coach since 2019 unfortunately moved on to another university across the country, leaving me with no established relationship with an instructor right as I was needing a lesson the most in the middle of the year. I ended up taking a Skillest lesson with Dan Carraher which has gotten me going in the right direction again. I am the most optimistic I've been about my swing in a long while.

As the offseason begins here in Michigan, I'll likely focus on gaining back some speed that I lost throughout the year and also just general fitness this offseason. I plan to go little lighter on the actual number of balls I hit this winter, with more focus spent on nailing things I need to work on rather than just swinging. I also want to get back to being more active on here!

 

[edingc]

Still lurking around here and finally getting into a little bit of an offseason rhythm. I joked the other week with an old friend of mine that I have a pretty dependable cycle of really getting into speed training, practice and working out over the winter, and then golf season starts. From that point until I start the cycle over it's just a big downhill coast from spring to winter...

Sadly, I hadn't been prioritizing much of anything fitness or golf-related until recently. I am finally back into a small routine. I'm four sessions back into The Stack System and my speed is slowly coming back. I'm about four MPH slower than my top end at the start of this past season. In order to get that back fully (and to gain more... always a goal) I'm going to need to prioritize my fitness and diet for the remainder of the offseason.

I have a wide range of golf-related workouts to choose from now. I think I've settled on some warm up/stretching with my Stick Mobility sticks, followed by some 3x5/5x5 main lifts paired with accessory lifts from Wayland's Big Hitters Manual.

I have been doing some cardio on my lunch breaks and that should continue as well.

Swing-wise, I'm working on things I've been working on for years. But right now it boils down to making a good turn without sway, and then keeping my lead shoulder from ripping open at the start of the downswing. When I get that right, I've been hitting the ball pretty well.

[sirchunksalot]

33 minutes ago, edingc said:

Still lurking around here and finally getting into a little bit of an offseason rhythm. I joked the other week with an old friend of mine that I have a pretty dependable cycle of really getting into speed training, practice and working out over the winter, and then golf season starts. From that point until I start the cycle over it's just a big downhill coast from spring to winter...

Sadly, I hadn't been prioritizing much of anything fitness or golf-related until recently. I am finally back into a small routine. I'm four sessions back into The Stack System and my speed is slowly coming back. I'm about four MPH slower than my top end at the start of this past season. In order to get that back fully (and to gain more... always a goal) I'm going to need to prioritize my fitness and diet for the remainder of the offseason.

I have a wide range of golf-related workouts to choose from now. I think I've settled on some warm up/stretching with my Stick Mobility sticks, followed by some 3x5/5x5 main lifts paired with accessory lifts from Wayland's Big Hitters Manual.

I have been doing some cardio on my lunch breaks and that should continue as well.

Swing-wise, I'm working on things I've been working on for years. But right now it boils down to making a good turn without sway, and then keeping my lead shoulder from ripping open at the start of the downswing. When I get that right, I've been hitting the ball pretty well.

Cody, as you have in the title it's a work in progress. It's amazing to see the gains you've had since starting this thread and I'm the time you've been here. It's hard to make time for improvement during the season, especially since your season is so short and it's always more enjoyable to play than practice.

I have faith you'll do well this off-season and we'll see the improvements once your season starts up again.

[edingc]

Don't mind the couch - I've lost my hitting space at the moment (without moving a bunch of stuff), but can still hit wedges without a radar.

Swing is feeling good. I've found a few keys that have allowed me to be better in balance. That balance has translated into better contact and more speed. My lackluster attempt at getting into a Stack System routine is still positive as I've reached the speeds I was at last winter after coming into this offseason 4 MPH slow.

We've had a warm streak in Michigan here after a bunch of snow. Starting to get the itch! Really hoping for an early and dry spring this year.

I still need to do some minor club work and regrip a few clubs. I'll check my loft/lies also at that time. But otherwise no major change in the bag this offseason, which is a first for me!