The Putting Green is Here!

Written on 4-1-21.

        I give up.  I am going to go back to my normal or regular swing, or whatever it’s called.  I played yesterday with Eric, and it was the first day of the season, and I had another high score.  This single plane swing thing just isn’t working for me, so I quit...

April Fools!

Truthfully, I am super determined to figure this out.  Now, it is true that I had another high score yesterday, but so did Eric, and it was the first round with Eric’s new membership.  It was really only the second fair weather day of this season so far, too, so we have a lot of playing days coming up.  It’s going to be fun!

I stayed and used the new range pass that Eric and I are sharing to work on my swing after the round.  I didn’t score the way I wanted, but I did have some smooth swings.  The best shot was the second drive on hole #16, and this one had that cracking sound that you only hear with pinpoint contact.  Miles (a gymnastics coach who played with us) and Eric snapped their heads to watch where it went, and their swiveling heads made a snapping sound, too.  It landed and rolled to a spot 130 yards from the hole and on the fairway.  

I had four pars and two bogeys, and the rest were forgettable blow-up holes or double bogeys, but I am feeling more confident, and that is a priceless feeling to have when playing golf.

I am watching a video on the SPA, and it is about the most important position in the swing, and it would be position #5, or the release position.  

Here are the checkpoints.  Both feet are on the ground.  Moe said all the pressure is on the front leg, the front thigh.  Lead knee is flexed.  The head is right in the middle of the feet, and the nose is right above the trail knee.  The trail arm is straight, and it should be pulling the flagstick out of the hole.  The lead arm is folded.  The club is in a toe over position similar to shaking hands with somebody.  It is not a conscious rolling of the hands.  The arm extends due to proper rotation.  No flying elbow, which is an effect of not enough rotation.  It’s a little half-swing.  Gosh, if I can master that, I could get the full swing down better.

I believe I am rotating around a braced trail leg better now, but I still have my lead knee going towards the target on my back swing (down and out).  I need to close the gap between my legs in my back swing better.    

Written on 4-5-21.

This is soooo fun!  Our new putting green is getting installed as I type this.  The putting green and the pitching area up above, too.  It worked out that Southwest Greens could come the day right after Easter, and they are going to take two days to get it all done.  I am thrilled!  This has been a dream of mine for over twenty years now.  They have put down the base for both, and they just started on the putting surface.  Hooray!  

It’s 8:55 PM now, and the guys have gone to their hotel for the night.  They got a lot done today, and it will be all done tomorrow night.  So cool.

I went out and gave it a go, but it is not ready yet, so it wasn’t working the way it should.  The green doesn’t even have the sand on it yet, and it hasn’t been stretched and rolled out.  The cups aren’t tamped down yet either, but it is so fun to just walk on it and try some putts.  John came over to check it out, too, and he lamented that he thought those guys would never leave.  He came out on the back deck at first and pretended to announce with a radio type voice, “Here is Patrick Swope on the 18th fairway.  He has about 180 yards to the green.”

He is so funny.  What incredible neighbors we have, and, of course, I told him that he has a lifetime membership to our new putting green.  

We had chat tonight, and I brought out the computer to show my family.  They were equally impressed.  Bev wanted to know the price, but I kept mum.  I know it is worth the money to me, and that is all that really matters.  No buyer’s remorse here, and it isn’t even done yet.  It’s also a quality job with people who know what they are doing.  They have built so many greens before this one.  The leader is Steve, and he brought Andrew, Isiah, and Santiago to help out.  I took a final picture of the crew on the finished product.

I shared many pictures and videos with Guy, Eric, C.J., Shawn, Bruce, and Kyle, too.  It has been an amazing and fun day for me, and I look forward to tomorrow when it will be complete, and I can really give it a go.

Until next time…