When a Weakness Turns Into a Weapon
 

I had taken an 8 year layoff from the game before seeing YodasLuke in late February. Before that, even in my college playing days, the driver was usually something that gave me issues and the goal was mostly to keep it in play throughout the round and put myself in position to allow my short game to do the work.

For about the past 10 weeks I'm hitting 78% of my fairways. And I don't count fairways when I hit the ball poorly and luck into staying in the fairway. So I need to hit a pretty good shot off the tee and be in the fairway for me to count it.

Anyway, in the pat two rounds I hit 24 fairways in a row! And in the past 3 round, I've hit 38 out of 41 fairways. That's a 92.7% rate!




3JACK

Very impressive 3Jack, the magic of the right forearm is the real deal! :salut:

Kevin

What do you attribute it too? Single wrist action or?

Ted and I first fixed my grip (had a very strong grip) and worked on squaring the clubface in the backswing (had a very closed face at the top of the swing). Then we worked a bit on right forearm on plane at address and tracing the plane line. Then on the right forearm takeaway.

In our last lesson I was swinging so well that we really didn't change anything except for talking about making my irons a little more upright because the wear mark on the clubface was on the sweetspot, but angled at a direction towards the toe. We then worked on putting. But before that lesson I would get a couple of shots a round where I would get OTT and steer the crap out of it.

So after we got done with my putting we went back to the range and I asked to hit some drivers and I then started coming OTT and steer it. Ted pointed out that I was getting way too fast in the start down and that would throw my body out of place. So we worked with that, basically another way of learning feel from mechanics.

As a hitter, I focus a lot on my #1 pressure point on the way down. What I eventually noticed is that for me, pressure = speed. So I thought to myself 'maximum pressure in that #1 pressure point at impact.' If I get the maximum pressure on the startdown, then my startdown is too fast and I'll almost assuredly come OTT and steer it.

Once I stopped thinking about speed and started to think more about pressure, things really took off for me. In fact, if I need to hit one really long, I don't even think for one minute about swinging harder or trying to generate more speed. Just try to generate more pressure at impact.

As far as other parts of my game, reading thru Jeff Hull's Mental Management posts has helped a great deal as well.




3JACK

Nice post thanks

soft clay
 

Every potter needs soft clay, and Richie needed no hammer or chisle. Dude's got game.

Thanks Ted, you don't know how much that means to me.

One of the fabulous things about my improvements is my consistency. I still have some issues with sluggish starts, but in the past if I had a sluggish start I could count on a poor score, something in the high 70's to mid 80's.

Today I started off +5 after the sixth hole (raining and windy) and then was +7 after the tenth hole. But no real worries these days as I go -3 on the last 8 holes and shoot a respectable 75. Now I just need to curb those sluggish starts.



3JACK

do as I say, not as I do
 

When I get a chance to play outside of tournaments, I'm rushing to the tee and tying my shoes after the first drive. Are you using a consistent routine when preparing to play?

I'm trying to. I'm trying to figure out a routine I think would work for me. I usually do put some range time and practice green time in. I think part of it is that I am almost certain I suffer from sleep apnea. Usually the sluggish starts happen in the morning and I'm usually a much better player if I tee off in the afternoon.

I also think part of it is that I need to be a bit smarter out on the course and understand when I have my 'A' game and when I have my B or C or D game going. I've done some statistical work on my game and have figured that if I hit 14 GIR, I have an excellent chance of shooting under par and a decent shot at getting into the upper 60's. But I get way too greedy at times and instead of hitting the middle of the green and giving myself a shot at birdie with a 20 foot putt, I tend to short side myself. Getting out of this mentality has been a bit tougher than I thought.




3JACK

Richie,

The deeper you go with this stuff, the more exciting your ideas get for me. I can't begin to tell you how much fun it is to watch your journey with TGM Hitting, and how much satisfaction and confidence in the theories I get from what you are accomplishing. It's a very exciting journey, and you have been the icing on the cake for me. DOUBLE CHOCOLATE! :salut:

Keep it going 3Jack!

Kevin