Going Pro Golf Blog

Earlier this week I wrote about wanting to develop a good pre-shot routine.  Sean over at Deep Rough left me a very long but informative comment on his routine and how it has helped his game.  After leaving the comment he thought he would further expand upon it and made a great post on his site as well.

He ended his post with a great link to the Titleist web site where they have awesome videos of their golfers demonstrating their pre-shot routines.  Make sure you have some time in your day because once you watch one of them, you will be hooked and stuck watching all of them.  Thanks for the heads up Sean!

I sat down with Jon a few weeks ago to review my progress for the year.  Needless to say, I was more than a little worried.  My scoring really hasn’t changed that much even though I am much more in control of my swing. 

In my mind I have failed miserably this year.  I was expecting after a few lessons to be consistantly scoring in the low to mid eighties.  This never happened.  I feel great but there are a hundred different things going on in my head at all times.  Perhaps I did too much too soon?  I think I also needed to heed Jon’s advice about a good pre-shot routine - Envisioning what I will do and how I will do it, then just stepping up to the ball and making it happen…clearing all thoughts out of my mind.  This will be something I work on this off-season.

On the other hand, Jon feels I did well.  He said my swing and approach to the game is night and day.  I understand the swing and fundmentals and it will eventually come together.  I can’t have possibly expected to shave 30 strokes off my game in a single season.  Basically he feels I should throw away scoring this year.  Just keep focusing on what we learned and keep practicing…next year will be about scoring.

With that, I am not ready to write the season off just yet…I am hoping to get in 1-2 more rounds and acheive my goal of breaking 90!

It might be over!  I am heading away this weekend, my 33rd birthday is on Sunday so it is time to celebrate…but unfortunatley it won’t involve golf clubs.  Hopfully the weather hangs on for another week!

Performance Review September 27th, 2006 We have all had the sick feeling in our stomachs from time to time…you know the one I am talking about!  Being called in to your boss’ office for a performance review or being summoned to the Principal’s office for something you did.  Well, it is my turn except this time is isn’t my boss or Principal, it is my golf coach. The season is just about over (as much as it pains you to read it, it pains me even more to write it),  and we are going to sit down and review the last year, look ahead to what training, if any, we will do over the fall and winter and perhaps even look forward to next summer.   I am looking forward to sitting down and getting more feedback from Jon on my progress.  I feel like this year was very tough because my scoring remained high but my understanding of golf and the swing in general grew at a tremendous rate.  I want to know from Jon the real areas I need to focus on and what he suggests I do in the ‘off-season’. The meeting is Thursday so I will keep you posted.

Time to hit the greenside bunker at the Eagles Nest practice facility for more short-game work.  I have found myself in more bunkers the last few weeks which Jon says is a sign that I am improving.  To date, my play in the bunkers has been less than stellar.  I have been duffing shots, sculling shots and making the occasional miraculous save, albeit those are few and far between.
To start, let’s debunk a common myth.  Professionals aren’t taking easy swings in the bunker.  Like any other club, they are swinging with tremendous force and accelerating through the downswing.  I think we have all spoken with a friend or ‘that guy’ on the range who claims Ernie Els’ swing is very slow and easy.  Well it isn’t, he is generating a lot of power but it just appears as if he isn’t swinging fast.  ‘That guy’ might also tell you that the pros also take easy swings in the bunkers because they play with an easier type of sand, or their clubs are made to cut through the sand better than ours.  Once again this is all crap. 
The biggest lesson from our first sand session is the need to drive the club through the sand.  The most important part of this lesson was actually done with my eyes closed.  We started by having me watch Jon hit 8-10 sand shots.  All come out nicely and nestled on the green near the pins he was aiming at.  I then took a turn and it was a mess.  My issue is that without realizing it, I am scooping the ball rather that cutting through the sand.  In a green-side bunker you don’t want to make any contact with the ball.  The sand will propel the ball out of the bunker.  To do so you need a certain amount of force.  Jon had me close my eyes and hit a shot (with no ball).  I heard a light smack.  Then I kept my eyes closed while he did it…I hear a loud THUD.  That was the difference.  The ‘thud’ was the product of force and a good follow through which shot the ball out of the bunker with ease.
Obviously Jon isn’t suggesting that we should be swinging like maniacs as hard as we can, but a good ‘controlled aggression’ is what we are striving for.  After focusing on making the proper swing, I saw the balls coming out of the bunker with relative ease.  It was great to see.  That being said, we never had a chance to get into the intricacies of short shots, long shot, etc.  That will probably take a few more lessons to cover…but at least now I have some idea of what needs to be done next time I am in the green-side bunker.

Last week I was fortunate enough to play in the John Daly Pro-Am at Thundering Waters. It was a hell of a day and I hope they do it again next year. First and foremost, it wasn’t an actual Pro-Am, it was just a scramble format golf tournament with no pros playing in the groups. Almost every hole had a pro, celebrity or professional athlete at the tee but that was about it. There were a lot of former Buffalo Sabres and Buffalo TV and Radio personalities in attendance but no pros playing with the players offering tips and advice. Either way, it was a really fun day. I was paired with 2 young guys I didn’t know, who turned out to be a lot of fun (I have to write that because they will be reading this). Both were decent golfers and I was playing some good golf (for a change). We ended up at 9 under, well back of first place who ended up at 17 under. First prize was a full set of new John Daly Clubs and professional golf bag for each of the 4 people – Not bad at all. The day started with a breakfast sponsored by McDonalds, then John showed up and gave a nice speech welcoming everyone and spoke about his charity, Kids R King, which helps under privileged children. We then headed out to the course for an 8:30 shot gun. The day finished up with an amazing dinner at Noir 17, a fancy restaurant located at the Fallsview Casino. So what about John? He was positioned at a joint tee-box. One direction was the Par 3 - 8th hole and the other the Par 5 - 16th. As groups came through, you either got to challenge John on the Par 3 or try to out-drive him from the 16th. To be fair, he drove from the “John Daly” tees while everyone else hit from the White Tees – a difference of 131 yards! First of all, I was shocked at his size. He isn’t as tall as I thought he was and he was probably the slimmest he has been in a while (which isn’t saying too much I guess) but he looks weathered as hell. You can see the lifestyle has taken its toll on him but he greeted us and everyone else with a handshake and a big smile. Now for the story…we teed up against Big John on the Par 3, although we did hang around to see his hit a drive…WOW, not only is it impressive how far he hits the dame thing, it is crazy how long his backswing is…I have no idea how me manages to return the club to square. When we arrived at the tee we heard his last few shots weren’t his best so we decided we would trash talk him. He took it for a few minutes then proceeded to grab his iron, put his cigarette down, smiled at us and proceeded to just miss a hole in one, leaving the ball 2 feet from the hole. It was funny as hell. I got the whole thing on video…the quality isn’t great but it is all I got.. Click HERE to check it out. For the record, I hit my tee shot to 10 feet and nailed the birdie putt.

I opened my eyes at 8am to the sound of rain pouring down on the roof on my house so I set the alarm for 9:30 and got some much needed sleep.  I eventually made my way to Hamilton Golf and Country Club and entered the gates at 11am.  There had been an hour rain delay so I hadn’t missed much.I walked into the gates and was bombarded by sponsors pushing everything from Authentic Canadian Open Flags to a golf comic book.  Once I push my way through the crowds and stock up on hundreds of free gum samples, I make my way to the VIP tent for some free VIP beer.  Turns out the VIP beer costs $5.25 but it is served by a great looking waitress so that takes some of the sting off the wallet.  As I drink my beer I check out the pairings for the day.  Due to the rain, the golfers are now playing in 3s.  The other great thing about the rain is that the place is relatively empty (and remains that way all day) so I can basically get as close to any green or tee box I choose. I start by watching the players at the driving range.  Vijay, Furyk, Camilo Villegas and Rory Sabatini are all hitting balls while a small crowd watches.  A lot has been said about Furyk’s swing but it is something to behold in person.  But no matter what people say, you can’t argue with results.  I also couldn’t believe what great shape Villegas is in.  He isn’t a big man but he is built and hits the ball a long way.  Other big observations were how they warmed up.  Vijay swung a weighted club for about 10 minutes then would swing it again in between practicing his irons.  I also watched as both Vijay and Villegas spent a long time working within their self-made training stations.  Jon has me using these all the time which made it so weird to see these pros doing the exact same thing.  They had their clubs on the ground helping with alignment and take-away, the exact same thing I do at the range.  I guess you always need to return to basic fundamentals. I won’t bore you with the hole by hole details but I basically ran around watching as many different groups as I could.  I spent time at tee-boxes, in fairways watching approach shots and around the greens watching short-game.   A couple of things really jumped out at me – While they all drive a long ball, I can’t believe how great they are with mid to long irons!  It blew me away watching the control they had.  I was also impressed with their chipping and pitching.  Regardless of lie or slope of the green, these guys are always within gimmie range.  What did shock me was how few putt they make.  The guys I was watching weren’t sinking very many 10-15 foot putts at all.I also loved watching how precise each player is with their shot selection and how involved some caddies are with their players.  Many players spend a long time talking with caddies before each shot.  Speaking of shot selection, I was standing beside Vijay on a Par 3.  The hole was slightly elevated and it had just finished raining.  After spending 2-3 minutes reviewing his yardage book, Vijay got ready to hit.  Just as he was over his ball, a slight gust of wind kicked up.  Vijay backed off, watched the wind the consulted his book once again.  He then switched clubs, tee’d the ball slightly higher and proceeded to stick it pin high leaving him a 10 ft look at birdie.  That was simply amazing. What did I learn from the Open?  Practice makes perfect.  I also learnt the need for a consistent and deliberate pre-shot routine.  Just as Jon talks about all the time…there is the Think Box and the Play Box.  All the pros do this and you can’t argue with their results!

It is getting darker very early these days and this September has been much cooler than it was the past few years.  All this signals the end of golf season.  I am hoping to squeeze in a bunch more rounds but I can feel the end coming fast.

I have a lesson with Jon next week to cover sand play.  This is something we haven’t covered yet.  Last week we met to go over short-game.  My chipping has been a disaster mainly due to my fear of using anything but a SW around the greens.  We worked on distance control and using different clubs when the situation calls for it.  In the end, this is all about putting in the proper time to improve.

I still haven’t reached my goal of a high 80s score yet but there is till time! 

I am going to the big time people!  My good friends at Thundering Waters called up and invited me to play in the John Day Pro-Am on September 12!  Sure, I might not be playing with John himself but it is promising to be a fun day of golf and John will be there as well.  I am trying to book 2 more lessons with John before I go so I don’t embarrass either of us!

I was looking forward to playing golf tomorrow morning but then I got an email from a friend last night saying she had a VIP pass to the Canadian Open for Saturday and I jumped all over it!  As much as I want to play, I also want to see what this is like as I have never been to a professional tournament…the free drinks also might have caught my attention.  I report back Sunday! I also have a lesson with Jon this afternoon where we will be working on my short-game.