Going Pro Golf Blog

I have never said I wasn’t lazy but this time it just plain slipped my mind.  Last month I took off to Michigan with a few buddies for a golf weekend and I was supposed to blog my scores so here we go.  Before I get to it let me just say that we played 5 rounds in 4 days and I birdied the first hole of the weekend.  I just wish that was a sign of things to come.
Day 1 – May 19^th 2006
We were waiting around to leave for Michigan when one of my friends gets stuck at work so I call up the John Cormier, the fine GM of Hidden Lake Golf Club and book a round while we wait to leave for Michigan.  I have never been on the course but he invited us over to check it out.  Hidden Lake has a driving range and two courses.  After hitting a few balls, we find ourselves on the new course.  As an aside Toronto Life wrote a fantastic review of the course and gave it 4 stars!  Read the review HERE.The first hole is a Par 5.  I have a decent drive followed by a nice 5 wood leaving me just a sand wedge out.  I don’t take the wind into account and hit it over the pin onto the back fringe leaving myself a 35 foot putt.Having Having   Having just had my putting lesson with Jon, I feel pretty good and calmly step up and drain the putt for a birdie!
The rest of the round is pretty decent.  I finish the front in 49.  Back 9 I struggled a bit and finished with a 55 for a total of 104.
Highlight of the Round: Hitting a moving truck!  I swear I did this and I have 3 witnesses!  I can’t remember which hole it was but the tee shot runs parallel to a road.  I smack my driver and it goes straight up and left.  The ball hangs in the air forever and we can see a truck driving towards us and you could tell it was going to be close.  After what seems like an eternity it comes down and smacks right on the cab of the truck.  The truck driver looks a little startled but then just keeps going.  It was well worth the penalty stroke!
Hidden Lake – New Course
Blue Tees – 6325
Final Score – 104

Thundering Waters Golf Club just might be Ontario’s best kept secret.  I managed to get out and play this fine course last Saturday and have been talking about it ever since.  What I can’t believe is how few people know about it.  Thundering Waters in John Daly’s first signature course and is located minutes from the Falls in Niagara.  The course just opened last season…you may remember John was in town trying to hit a golf ball across Niagara Falls to promote the grand opening.  Perhaps the event overshadowed the opening of the course but I really believe it won’t be long until people are traveling to Niagara just to see this track.Standing at the first tee, the starter walks over to the cart and proceeds to tell us all about the course.  There is a lot to cover so it takes a good 10 minutes.  The carts also come equipped with a great GPS system (we are also able to follow the UP Open results right on the GPS).  The most important point the starter has to make is that the course is not what we might expect.  He goes on to tell us that despite John being a grip it and rip it kind of a guy, this is not that type of a course.  Club selection and course management is vital to shoot well.  Many holes will tempt you but in all cases, the risk is way more than the reward…but being the idiot I am, I usually went for the glory and ended up in a ton of trouble.

The other important comment made by the starter is that you MUST be accurate.  Treacherous rough and long fescue are all over the course.  The course can also play long.  The best part is that there is a level behind the Black Tees which are aptly names the Daly Tees which play 7,208!!  This includes his signature hole, the number 2 - 637 par 5 (from the Daly Tees).  You don’t have to play his tees but I do suggest you stand at the tees just to see how long this hole is.

How did I do?  Not so well.  I got destroyed by the rough and I played with ZERO course management.

Last Wednesday I got out to Maples of Ballantrae for the first time this season.  General Manager Rob Schmidt is a fantastic guy and is a great partner of Golflogic.  I called him up and asked if I could come out for a twilight round.  He had a tournament going on but said I could be the first guy out around 6pm and would basically have the course to myself.  I tee’d off at 6:10 and finished all 18 holes by 8:30.  That is right, I played the entire round in John Daly like speed.  It was amazing!  I played by myself, had a cart and had no one else on the course.  It was the most enjoyable round I have ever had.  I notice that by playing alone I am able to get into a nice rhythm and play a lot more consistent.
I shot a 97 which was my best of the year.  Looking back at the round I was amazed that nothing really stood out.  My putting was average as was my chipping, irons and fairway woods.  And the good old driver was also hanging in there for me.  I was hitting pretty straight and getting it out around 220 yards.  So in all, it was a pretty plain round…but I loved it.
The course was in good shape and I was surprised how long it played.  From the Blue Tees it played almost 6,700 yards which is about as long as I can go these days.  The front 9 was very challenging with a lot of water and trouble on the course.  Course management is essential.  The back 9 is a lot more open and really makes you want to head out and hit the crap out of the ball…the problem with that is there is a lot more room for error with that mindset.  Anyway, check out the review I wrote last year.  I am looking forward to getting back out there soon!
FINAL SCORE: 97

I’m back at Lionhead this week.  Lionhead was the final round I played last season prior to my lessons and let’s just say it wasn’t pretty.  I ended up shooting 124 on a very tough course and was emotionally devastated once leaving the course.  I promised myself I was either going to get better or quit golf altogether.  Fortunately for me, and unfortunately for Jon, I chose to try and get better. 
Before I get to my score I need my usual excuse.  This past year Mr. Kaneff dumped over $1 million into upgrading the golf course.  The course looks amazing and was in pristine condition but somehow they managed to make it even harder.  This is a long course with really hard greens and to make it even tougher, they grew out the rough a few FEET!   That being said I ended up shooting a 108.  My driver was all over the place and I ended up losing numerous balls in the thick rough.  Nothing worse that losing a ball that only rolls a few feet into the rough. 
Once I can get the driver down, I will really start shooting some lower scores.  I was hitting it further than usual but still not far enough but this will come with more practice.  I have 2 rounds this upcoming week so I need to make sure I can hit the range and get some work in before hand.  Tonight I will be out at Maples of Ballantare and this weekend I will be visiting the new John Daly course Thundering Waters…which I am excited to check out.

Let the Big Dog Eat, Time to Grip it and Rip it, and whatever other crap cliché you can throw in there.  It is time to learn the driver…although my Big Dog is more of a Puppy and I might be able to Grip it but I more slip then I do rip.  Hopefully Jon can take care of that.

 For those of you who have been following my game, you know I have been patiently waiting for this lesson so here it goes.  You want to know how to hit a driver long?  Simple, just follow 2 rules:

1. Hit ‘Up’ on the ball
   
2. Swing as hard as you can
   

Hit ‘Up’ on the Ball
The key difference between hitting an iron and a driver is that with an iron, you are swinging down on the ball to get it in the air.  With a driver, we want to tee it up nice and high and catch it on our upswing which it why the ball is usually positioned ahead in our set-up.  I always knew this but for whatever reason I never really did it.  By actually aiming to get the ball in my upswing I was getting the ball out there about 200 yards, not straight, but it was at least getting out there.

 Swing as Hard as you Can
Obviously you need good form but we have already learned that so now we can just go at the ball remembering the keys: making square contact, hit the ball with as much force as possible while remaining in balance.  I was under the impression I could slow down the swing and hit it pretty far but that is just plain wrong.  As Jon points out, while long hitters like Ernie Else and Fred Couples may look like they have nice easy swings, they actually are swinging very hard with tremendous speed.

 I was lucky enough that while I was there, some of Jon’s students were training.  Jon introduced me to Matt Hoffman who plays for the University of Illinois and is one of the best drivers in Canada.  Jon asked him to hit a few while I watched and Jon hit some as well.  WOW and Holy Crap is all I have to say.  First of all, Jon hits the ball about 280 which is damn impressive to watch.  What was even more impressive is that Matt’s drives were well past Jon’s…WELL past!  Jon says Matt will hit as far as Tiger.

 Once my initial shock wore off I was able to see the tremendous amount of power they both generate as they are swinging.  They really load all the weight onto their back legs and unleash it with a ton of power and force.  I took a few swings and realized how slow I actually swing and how my swing is slowly regressing back to my original ways where I basically just swung with my arms.  BIG MISTAKE.

 Jon busted out this new training tool which looked similar to a hockey stick except with a flat sickle-like tool on the end.  Jon took me over to some taller grass and told me to mow the grass with the blade.  Take a golf swing and chop the grass.  I used my usual pussy like golf swing and did little damage.  “Harder” he kept saying until I was swinging as hard as I could and taking chunks of grass out.  This is how you should be swinging if you want to drive the ball! 

 I took my new found rage and power and was driving about 220.  Again, it wasn’t straight but that will come with time and a lot of practice (Jon wants me hitting 1000 balls before I see him next). 
 So let’s recap.  In a 45 minute lesson I added about 40 yards to my drive.  Not to shabby and with a lot of practice I will add even more length once I straighten out the slice.  Exciting times!

A few weeks back I wrote about my buddy killing me in a game of golf.  It was his first round of the year, he has very ancient golf clubs and usually hits around 100.  On that day he had the round of his life and destroyed me.  This week he told me why…THIS BLOG HELPED HIM!

He read the Every Shot Has a Purpose post and spent his entire morning at the range working on this.  Making sure each shot had a purpose and didn’t stop till he saw the result he wanted.

It sucked that he beat me but it was some nice feedback.  See Jon, maybe this thing is making a difference!

A few weeks back I wrote about my buddy killing me in a game of golf.  It was his first round of the year, he has very ancient golf clubs and usually hits around 100.  On that day he had the round of his life and destroyed me.  This week he told me why…THIS BLOG HELPED HIM! He read the Every Shot Has a Purpose post and spent his entire morning at the range working on this.  Making sure each shot had a purpose and didn’t stop till he saw the result he wanted. It sucked that he beat me but it was some nice feedback.  See Jon, maybe this thing is making a difference!