Break until breakthrough

I am tired of writing about mediocre scores over and over, so, I am going to just keep focusing on my game and will post if anything funny or interesting happens, but for now, it's just time to play in order to achieve consistency. I've been having a ton of fun, enjoying the beautiful weather all the while improving. It's just slow right now as I dial in my second attempts while erasing pesky errant shots. I start working tomorrow at Mellow Mushroom in downtown Raleigh, should be really cool as it's arguably my favorite restaurant in Raleigh, and certainly the most recommended. My second favorite pizza to my own, it's going to be awesome.

Getting there

91
Felt good from the blue tees today, had better fairway accuracy and some good and bad putting. Still haven't been able to shake my massive divot making ability (Tony used "strip-mining" for one shot on 7, it was arguably the worst I have ever hit, just wanted to go hide in a bush in shame). Birdied the hardest hole on the course, so I know it's possible to do it on any here, just need to put the right shots together. Can't wait to have a round with more than one. Also had a couple pars, so not bad for today. Just wish I could take back a handful of shots and man it would really help the overall score! The consistency I crave is close, I can feel it. Back at it again tomorrow, slowly but surely, slowly but surely.

Just another scoreless Monday (da de da)

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Man I love my new driver! I changed to a tour stiff shaft 9.5 degree Cleveland Hibore Monster from a regular shaft 10.5 of the same club. It has been very "whippy" for my swing speed and has plagued me with that damn slice. Finally! Was hitting straight, long bombs all day (best was a 320 yard missle!). Definitely have needed it this whole time, fairway accuracy is going to go up for sure. Shot allright overall, had some flubs and such, but met a cool guy named James so we had a nice relaxed round learning from missed shots, etc. I had 3 pars and birdied hole 18  with a solid 10' putt though (it's a pretty tough hole to par in case you're wondering). Well, looking forward to this week and am hoping I play well tomorrow. Also, I banked pretty good money tonight at work, in fact the best night I've had so far which is nice after such a negative slow week last week.

I could taste a 39 on front 9

88
Started on back 9 today, went pretty rough but towards the end I started to hit a little more controlled and not so hard, letting the swing and club work a bit and started putting some pars together for 17 & 18. Feeling confident and warmed up, I shot another 3 pars in a row. I shot 7 pars for the day, by far my best (only 11 more in a round and bingo!) and I am really happy because I shot a 40 on the front 9 and almost died on 9 because the ball literally defied gravity from my 7' par putt because half of it was hanging over the edge, was totally robbed. I wanted to get down by it and start yelling "Why don't you just go to your home? Are you too good for your home, ball? Answer ME!" at it like in Happy Gilmore. Oh well, the control is definitely there today, hope it carrys over to monday because I am shooting below an 80 next week if it does! Have a great weekend!

Not a cloud in the sky

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What a beautiful day it was today! No clouds, very little wind and even the birds were chirping catchy little tunes. The sounds coming out of my mouth were not so nice or clean, hence the lack of score today. Why waste such a beautiful setting with keeping track of something as embarrassing as starting out 6 6 7? Well, I figured I could let a bad round ruin my day or not worry about it and keep trying to piece everything together and learn, a practice round if you will. After ditching the scorecard around 7 and taking some deep breaths, the back 9 went significantly better. I finally calmed down and tried to get the good mood back by eating a couple extra Toast Chees. Hit some pars and had at least one great shot each hole for the rest of the round, just need for those shots to attract more nice shots, get married, then have kids and I'll be set! For the day I'll say the driving did go pretty well overall. The irons were either great or terrible and the putting was the same. On the whole, the control of my game still feels like it's moving in the right direction, even if my score doesn't seem to be. I am definitely targeting the green much better from 100-200 yards out, so back at it tomorrow, hope I shoot better though because being tortured like today isn't so fun. Oh well, could always be worse... could have happened during the final round at the Masters on tv.

I am no longer white

92
Met up with a couple guys playing from the blue tees today and figured what the hell, might as well try them out. It actually went very well today despite my score being crap. I hit the ball solidly throughout the round, just putted very poorly. Had 3 birdie attempts become bogeys (AAAAAAUUUUGGGHHH!!) and not even long second putts, like a foot or so, just bad and rushing through. Was driving solid 300's which sometimes had a slight fade but mainly were straight bombs. Good to see the drive coming along nicely. Also, my ironplay has been improving as well in the sense that my 130-180 yard range is getting more consistent in pinpointing where I am trying to hit the ball. So, not a bad or great first showing on the blues, but now the cherry is popped and there's no going back to the whites now. Blues from here on. Something very cool happened on hole 15. I was standing amidst some hardwoods about to shoot when I heard a commotion right above my head about 15' away. As I looked up 2 hawks and a robin all crashed to the ground in a melee. The hawks battled briefly over the dying robin before one grabbed it in it's talon while the other flew off. Then he just turned and looked at me standing there and he was like, "What?" while the poor robin had a few more pathetic struggles within those talons. Then he just flew up in the tree and glared at me while I walked by for my next shot. Pretty cool.

Beautiful day to be outside!

91
First 9 went pretty badly today (48), was hitting putts short and just felt off all around. Second 9 went much much better (43) with a few pars, birdie attempts and overall much better hitting even if score was only 5 strokes lower. Have to keep remembering to take a full swing everytime (get so caught up in the new techniques I am not hitting to my full potential and it's a bad habit that needs to end). Slowly but surely dialing in these shots. Might rain tomorrow but we'll see. Otherwise, the rest of the week looks perfect in the mid 70's! The Masters was one of the best I've seen with such a close final round, what a great time. Have a loooooooong way to go before even coming close to doing what they were doing on tv, just awesome!

Finally time to rest

I went to the driving range today, went well but I am sore and need to rest so that's it for the weekend. I also discovered that those stupid MacGregor balls are discontinued, duh, hence the cheap deal. So, back to Callaway Tour(z). It's all good, kind of my favorite ball anyway. Hope everyone has a good weekend, got a $12 tip tonight at my last delivery at midnight which was pretty cool.

Fun day to be out, not for keeping score

99
Bryan and Tony and I hacked our way through the course today. Each having some decent shots but mainly bad ones. I had multiple 3 putts, horrible chipping and pretty much everything else was bad too. It was a great time on hole 16 where I kept hitting the pines trying to get back to the fairway, like 4 times in a row, and it kept bouncing back 10' furtherthan where I first shot from. It was pretty comical, about all that was missing was the final shot where it bounces off the tree and tags me in the nuts, where I fall on the ground while my buddy films on his iphone laughing so hard the camera falls and the clip goes to static. We all kept our attitudes up and enjoyed the day anyway. Not proud of my score, but am proud of myself for actually keeping it through the pain and anguish. I told myself that if I am going to do this blog I have to post scores no matter what. On the plus side I am, however, getting much more confident in the 5-10 foot putt range and felt pretty consistent (at the truly very, very least) in sinking them. Time to let the aching muscles finally rest this weekend and wait to attack it again Monday. I mean it! Absolutely NOT going to swing a club until then... really... hopefully... maybe... well, we'll see.

Here is the link to my sky caddie profile. It lists each score, date & fairway % and is much better for tracking my opposite of progress. Putting in the living room  while watching the Masters is going to be fun. Going to kill some shots after getting more ideas from the pros.

http://clubsg.skygolf.com/golfers/scores.php?id=581144

Great score for basketball

92
Well, certainly not in the score I had hoped for after yesterday went well. I feel like I have a 10 point swing zone right now and today it was definitely towards the wrong end. Oh well. On the plus side, I was buried behind a bunch of pines on hole 10 and shaped a fade out and over the pond to drop it right in front of the green from about 150 yards out. The first slice I've hit on purpose, but with opening the face of the club with my grip rather than breaking my wrists. I also had a few solid 300 yard wallops on holes 3,5 and 9 which I am quite proud of. Being patient while my game improves is certainly going to be a lesson in patience. Har har, that was so lame. Both Bryan and Tony are coming out to enjoy the day with me tomorrow so it should be a lot of fun!

MacGregor Tourney Golf Ball

I found one of these during my rain round and all I can say is, "Damn, that is some sick-a** s#*t!" I hit it the entire round. I liked it much better than any other ball I'd found on the course. I originally had decided on the Callaway Tour(z) over the Pro V1 but was waiting until I felt good enough to justify spending $40 on a dozen of them. Enter the Tourney. Man it just has the great feel which is apparent from the driver down to the putter. By far my favorite all-around ball I've hit yet. Best part about it? Very affordable so I finally get to play with one specific ball. Booyeah.

Fairway accuracy way up!!

86
For those who are local in Raleigh, you know that starting to play today around 9:30 has officially placed me in the insane realm. It was very windy and raining buckets, but Cheryl had already dropped me off and I had nothing better to do and a course entirely to myself. The driving range has significantly helped in addition to the new swing, I only missed the fairway/green while driving 4 times today, with just 1 slice for the round. Just have to keep plugging away to chase down the consistency in my game, but getting there for sure. I sincerely believe I will fall below 80 in the coming weeks.

Swing swing swing

Okay, so I got out to hit some more balls at the range yesterday and was supposed to play today, but it was too early to catch a ride with Tony and I was just planning on getting dropped off by Cheryl on her way to work, but Wildwood was having an event, so just practice again today. The swing felt good, but I still have a ways to go before it becomes more natural feeling. I am excited but a bit nervous for the first full round playing with it as old habits definitely try to creep in when they can. Might have to cancel tomorrow's round due to rain, but the rest of the week looks great so at the worst I'll get 3 rounds in this week, but tomorrow still might be okay to play. Pollen everywhere right now!

Time to Swing like a Pro

So Friday I figured that since my swing has been shifting a bit, might as well break down and start switching to a pro swing. I have always had a more self-taught bent arm backswing while standing pretty straight. I figured it would take about a month to start getting the hang of because trying to rotate and bend while maintaining a straight arm backswing like they do it on tv is a little awkward. However, after watching super slo-mo videos of swings like Tiger's on youtube and having Cheryl tell me when I looked about right as far as angle of back to legs I was ready to tackle it. Plus, anything would be better than the current slice disaster going on. Amazing. It felt much easier and comfortable than I had pictured and tried inside. And... The flights were much more controlled and straight and the distance was solid (was hitting consistent 250-270 and a few hit 300 so I felt happy having tried it out for the first time, can only get further from here). No wonder they all do it like this. I am excited to head over to the range tomorrow to get ready for a round with the new swing Monday. Should be nice, calling for 82!!