10th Excerpt From My Golf Diary

In this excerpt, I write while on an airplane with Belinda to Virginia (and later to New York) to visit Guy.  This was the trip we went up to the top of the World Trade Center the summer right before 9/11.  I discuss how much we feel guilty about being away from our kids, and then I switch quickly to golf.  Not guilty enough, I guess.  I also write about the lessons I had already had with Mike and the things I was learning about and working on including my full swing, my chipping, and my putting.  I even see a comment from June of 2002 about where my putting was at that time. 

7-1-00
We are on an airplane to New York right now.

  Guy found some excellent ticket prices through priceline.com for Belinda and me.  The kids are staying at Bev’s after just spending the week with their Grandma and “Boppa”.  We are excited, but we also feel guilty to be away from our children for such a long time.  It’s the first time we have been away from them for such an extended period.  At least we got to see them before we left Denver.

    Anyway, back to golf.  New developments in my game come from two more golf lessons with Mike.

    On the full swing, I have a weight problem. Okay, actually it’s a weight shift problem.  I get behind the ball now, but I need to do a complete weight shift onto my left side quickly.  If I do, I’ll get really solid contact with the ball.  I’ve worked on a new drill which I really like, and can see how beneficial it will be.  It’s called toe-up to toe-up.  This simple drill is the foundation of a full swing.  I still believe what Shoemaker says about becoming aware of my swing and not trying to fix it.  So, I really don’t have a weight shift problem.  I just really need to become aware of the correct weight shift feeling.  The toe-up drill helps me become aware of that.  I hit a whole large bucket of toe-up shots and I will use that drill over and over again to ingrain the proper feeling.  Included in that feeling is lifting my right heel off the ground at the correct time. 

    The third lesson with Mike included chipping and putting.  A real advantage is that I love the short game, and feel confident with the short game because of all my experience playing at Civitan.  If you can get “up and down” and putt well, you’ll get lower scores.  Any time I’ve played well, it’s because of my short game.  Tiger Woods just won the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach by a record margin largely because he made every par-saving putt, including ten footers!  A nice compliment from Mike was that I was so far “ahead of the game” because of all the reading I have done.  I know I still have so much to learn, though.

    On chipping, I knew hands ahead of the ball, but not how far.  Mike moved my hands about a foot ahead!  I like it because it starts the ball rolling sooner, so now it’s a safer shot for me.  Now, I am working on distance control. 

    On putting, we talked mostly about tempo.  I had tried what I called the rubber band putting method, slow back and fast through.  I saw someone doing that on the practice green at Painted Mountain.  I tried it, and was much more consistent for two reasons.  I was judging distance better because I could see how far the putter head was coming back, and I was always accelerating through the ball.  I asked Mike about it.  He said it was fine if I was making lots of putts.  He prefers an even tempo, fast or slow, but not both.  I’ll keep trying both methods, but will stick with one pretty quickly (I am now an even tempo putter.  No more rubber bands. 6-5-02).  What he says almost always makes sense.