My Golf Blog

Swing/Ball Position Adjustment

2011-07-02T13:34:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that my left arm bended too much at the top of backswing. So I tried to keep it a little bit more straight. I made this adjustment on the golf course during a round, but it did not work well. I could not hit the ball solidly. Towards the end of the round, I realized I also need to adjust ball position, from observation of the divots I made.

In the following week, I went to the driving range twice, move the ball a little more forward. Suddenly everything worked out. This combination of swing/ball position adjustments changed my ball flight higher, and also increased carry distance. The overall distance does not change much, because the ball does not roll as much as before. I think this is a big improvement for me.

Now the ball position is a little forward than the center between my feet for mid-irons (5~7 irons), and at the center for short irons (8~P). Before the change, it was at the center even for 5-iron.

Mid-Season Score Summary

So far in 2011 I have played for about 15 rounds, about 6 rounds below 90, 4 rounds between 90~92, and 3 rounds between 93~95, and 2 between 96~99.
Broke 90 (88) for the second round played at Walden Ponds.

My First Eagle

2011-07-02T13:23:00.000-07:00

I got my first eagle (2 shots, no putting) on Hole 6 (Par 4) at Glenview West on April 23, 2011. From the first cut on the right side of fairway, with a good downhill lie, about 105 to 110 yard to the pin, I hit a perfect 9-iron. The ball bounced twice on the green, and then rolled straight into the hole.

Score Summary (September to November 2010)

2011-03-27T21:02:00.000-07:00

Nov. 27, 89 (44/45, West/East)
Nov. 20, 89 (45/44, South/East)
Nov. 13, 92, Beckett Ridge
Nov. 11, 89, Crooked Tree
Nov. 6, 93 (46/47, South/East)
Oct. 30, 88 (46/42, South/East)
Oct. 16, 95 (44/51, West/South)
Oct. 9, 94 (42/52, West/South)
Oct. 7, 87 (41/46, West/East)
Oct. 2, 48 (West)
Sep. 30, 44, Crooked Tree (Front 9)
Sep. 25, 91 (46/45, South/East)
Sep. 18, 85 (45/40, East/West)
Sep. 15, 41, Crooked Tree (Front 9)
Sep. 11, 85 (44/41, West/South)
Sep. 6, 40, Crooked Tree (Back 9)
Sep. 4, 88 (45/43, South/West)

South/West/East are Glenview.

2011 Golf Season Started

2011-03-27T11:48:00.000-07:00

Before I write about my 2011 golf season, I would like to add a few words to conclude the second half of last season. Year 2010 was a great year with my golf handicap dropping down to 15.0. I felt that it was easier to break 90 at Glenview, and I think I played more rounds in 80s than in 90s between August and November 2010.

A note for equipment update: in addition to switching to Mizuno MX-23 irons, I also switched to Taylormade R9-460 driver (10.5 loft) from Cobra SZ-460 (12.0 loft). In my early golf years, I had trouble to hit a decent trajectory with a 10.5 loft driver, so I had played a 12.0 driver for many years. It was in 2010 that I realized my driver trajectory tends to be too high. So I tried several 10.5 loft drivers, and finally selected the R9. This R9 driver is adjustable for the face angle, and I set it to Left.

Now fast forward to the 2011 season, which started on March 12 with my first round at Glenview. So far I have played three rounds, 2 at Glenview and 1 at Walden Ponds. The weather was great for the first 2 rounds, with temperature in 60s, and my scores were not bad either: 90 and 87. But it was very cold yesterday at Walden Ponds (in 30s), and my arms felt cold and stiff, especially during the first 2 holes. Also, this was my first time that I played Walden Ponds. After a shaky start with a quadruple bogie and a triple bogie, I settled down quickly and followed up with 3 consecutive pars. The rest of the round was ok, and I ended up with 94.

Walden Ponds is a very nice course with residence hourses and some country roads along its fairways. It has creeks and ponds into play at some holes, and many bunkers around the greens and fairways. The course is well maintained. The fairways are relatively wide, and I could hit the fairway more often than not, almost at every par 4 or 5 hole. The green is in great condition too, and I like it because I sunk all putts with 6 feet yesterday. But I need to improve my chipping and bunker shots. Without those chipping and bunker mishits, I could have broken 90 easily at Walden Ponds.

Now I look forward to going back there again.

2010 Golf Season

2010-08-19T10:43:00.000-07:00

As I am writing this post, I realize that it has passed the half point of the 2010 season.

The first couple of rounds back in late March and early April were not good, with some scores over 100. I kind of expected it since I did not practice at all during the whole winter, not even swinging a club at home. On top of that, the weather was not good in early Spring, windy, rainy, muddy...

Later on, my scores went down little by little, and settled down in 90s in May. And then starting in June, I think I broke 90 again, with my short game coming back again.

One thing worthy to be noted: I upgraded my irons to a used set of Mizuno MX-23, and sold Ben Hogan Apex Plus and BH-5 on e-Bay. I had been looking for a better set of irons for a while. I like the looks of forged irons with thin top lines, like Apex Plus. But it was more than 10 years since its debut. So I want a set with newer technologies, better performance and equal looks. I checked some models from Titelist, Cobra, and Callaway, and I set my eyes on Mizuno MX-23. Then I compared the specifications (loft, lie, length) of MX-23 with Apex Plus, and figured that I could gain some distance with Mizuno MX-23 too.

So far I have been happy with my choice of the Mizuno irons, and I did hit longer with these clubs. A good hit of 6-iron would carry 135 yard, and roll close to 150 yard...

Here are the scores recorded since July:
July 17: 84 (41/43), a great round
July 24: 94 (2 balls into water at 2 par-3 holes)
July 31: 92 (46/46), an ok round
August 7: 88 (45/43), a good round
August 14: 83 (42/41), a great round, GIR more than 50%.

Shot 83 on Sept. 19 - personal best

2009-09-24T20:35:00.000-07:00

On Sept. 19 I shot an 83 at Glenview Golf Course (South-West: 40-43), which is my personal best score so far. Finally broke 85, two years after reaching 85.

Some statistics for this round:
1 birdie, 7 pars, 8 bogies, 2 double bogies.
7 out of 14 fairway hit (another 2 just rolled out of fairway a little bit)
4 GIR (with another 3 very close to green)
32 total putts with 5 1-putt, and just one 3-putt.
4 up-and-down par saves

Since this summer, I scored mid to high 80s in all 4 rounds during July, low to mid-90s during August, and 80s to low 90s during September. It feels good to realize I increased my yardage for iron shots since this season, and now I can hit 6 iron around 145 yard.

Goal: need to keep up the short game, avoid 3 putts, and try to stay in 80s.

2009 Golf Season Started

2009-04-05T18:28:00.000-07:00

This golf blog has not been updated for almost two years now, since nothing really exciting happened during the last season. Hope 2009 will be different.

Well, my 2009 golf season just started last month, and I have played 3 rounds so far. The first round was terrible in every aspects, score, driving, iron shots, chipping and putting. If I had counted it correctly, the socre would have been beyond 110, and close to 120. But after certain point, I just lost the interest in counting how many shots I hit.

I posted a much better score, 98, at the second round. The problem was obviously in my iron shots, since all four tee shots dropped into water at the only four Par 3 holes. Without the 4 penalty shots, the score could be even better, with a chance to break 90.

The third round score was 97, and the number of my penalty shots was dramatically reduced to just 1, thanks to much improved iron shots. However, it seems I was rusty in chipping and especially escaping from bunkers. Otherwise, the socre should be lower than 97. But 97 and 98 are already within my normal range, and I should feel good about it considering that I had not practiced for almost 5 months.

The Masters Tournament begins next week, and the golf season officially starts with it to many US golfers. Looking forward to a great 2009 season.

Another cause to left palm slipping

2007-07-28T20:06:00.000-07:00

I found it might be off-center (closer to toe) hit that caused my left palm slipping with iron shots. If it is driver or faiway wood, then the impact is not so strong to cause any palm slip feeling.

The same old story continued in July: driver slices, or push-slices.
Two factors: open face and/or off-center hit.
Three adjustments:
1. stronger grip
2. closed stance
3. driver face closed at address

Tried these 3 combined at today's round, and managed to avoid slices most of the time. 2 tee shots were adjusted a little too much and went to left of faiway. But distance is not as long as before (would be satisfied with a drive over 190 yard now).

92: 3 par, 10 bogie, 5 double-bogie at West and East of Glenview.
33 putts, no 3-putting. Missed a couple of short putts and chip/pitch, could have broken 90.

Left hand slipping with iron shots --> gripping problem

2007-07-07T20:28:00.000-07:00

I had this problem intermittently this year that my left hand sometimes slips with iron shots. Last week, I thought it might be I need to change my glove. Today with my new glove, after Hole #4, it still slipped with almost every iron shot. What the heck is that? I got to fix this problem.

When I got back home, I checked out my golf instruction books and now I think I figured it out. It should be a gripping problem. My left hand gripped clubs with too much fingers. I just need to use more palm to hold the club firmly, but not too much pressure though. I will try out this new grip in the driving range next week.

My pitching pratice last week paid off in today's round. I pitched to about 5~6 feet to the hole at least 3 times, but they were all wasted with my terrible putting. Today my chipping was also ok, but I missed 5+ short putts (5~7 feet) and had 37 total putts toward a 95.

My driving today was good, 9 out of 14 fairway. The misses were not bad either. 3 GIR, 2 other shots were very close to the green.

Got a birdie at Glenview South Hole #2, and that was the only putt I made longer than 10 feet today.

Fixed driver slices, but putting not so good.

2007-07-04T19:41:00.000-07:00

Went to Crooked Tree course's driving range on Sunday (July 1) evening and hit a big bucket of balls, mostly with driver. With the club face a little closed, my stance square or a little closed, and an easy swing, I managed to avoid slices for most driver hits.

Went to Crooked Tree on July 4th after some heavy rain and played 18 holes in less than 4 hours. Hit 10 out of 12 fairways, most of them are quite straight, right in the middle of faiway.
There are a couple of slices/fades though, but only one went far away from fairway, the other fairway miss was due to an unlucky bounce.

However, my putting was not good on the back 9. I needed only 15 putts for the front 9, including a 0-putt at a par 3 (yes, made a chip-in birdie). But I had 22 putts for the back 9, including four 3-putts.

The total score is 93 (front 9: 43, back 9: 50). Although Crooked Tree is a par-70 course, I think it is more difficult to break 90 on this course than Glenview. I would have broken 90, if I had played the back 9 a little better.

Now I need to focus on approach shots (fairway woods, irons, and more importantly: pitching shots) at the driving range.

Driver slices; 30 putts in a round

2007-06-30T20:19:00.000-07:00

My driver somehow slices again in today's round. I hit only one fairway on front 9 at Glenview West. After adjusting to a stronger grip, I managed to hit 4 out of 7 fairways on back 9 (East course). However it hurt a lot in distance. I feel like I need to work on my driving on the range next week.

But I only needed 30 putts for the whole round, which must be my personal best.

I broke 90 with an 89 today. Just imagine if I could fix slices and keep total putts at 30 ...

Added 4-iron (Ben Hogan Apex Plus) into my bag

2007-06-23T21:14:00.000-07:00

Tend to pull my Knight Fastrax #4 hybrid offset, so added my 4-iron back into the bag.

Played two shots using 4-iron in today's round, one off tee (about 155 yards), the other from fairway, both are ok. Will then keep this iron in the bag.

Another birdie and 33 putts

2007-06-23T20:57:00.000-07:00

Got a birdie on Glenview West hole #2, hit 7-iron from fairway to about 2 feet to hole.

Although scored a 90 and failed to break 90 by one, had only 33 putts, probably my personal best.

9/14 fairway, 5 GIR (another 2 very close to green).

1 birdie, 3 par, 10 bogie, 3 double bogie, 1 triple bogie.

What's good: driving, putting, chipping.

What's bad: some iron hits seem to lose strength at contact.

What's ugly: played East #6 thru #9 with Triple bogie (par 4, pulled 7-wood and shanked 8-iron), double bogie (par 5, 3 putting), double bogie (par 3, chipped into bunker), and par (par 5).

US open Father's day

2007-06-17T20:23:00.000-07:00

Watched US open. Tiger Woods started his final US open round with 2 shots back, but again failed to come back from behind and ended up with a T2 (with Jim Furyk), 1 shot behind Angel Cabrera, who was from Argentina, started the Sunday round with 2 shots behind Tiger and had never won a major before.

Got a self-made card from Allan for Father's day.

Made 2 birdies in a round on June 16

2007-06-17T20:03:00.000-07:00

This is the first time I made 2 birdies in a round of 18 holes, actually in 9 holes on East course of Glenview.

hole #2 par 4, drive in the middle of fairway, 7 iron to about 8~10 feet and made the uphill break to left putt.
hole #7 par 5, drive to the right rough, 5 wood to fairway, 5 iron (downhill) escaped bunker to rough about 15 feet to hole, with a good lie, chipped in for birdie.

Other than these 2 holes, the whole round was just ok, with 4 pars, 6 bogies and 6 double bogies, but no tripple bogies, amounts to 88.

Other statistics of the round: 9/14 firway, 3/18 GIR, 34 putts.
I was hitting driver very well except for the first hole on West course. Other fairway misses were close to fairway. However, the score could be a lot worse if I didn't make those short putts.

Shot 85 at Glenview -- My Personal Best

2007-06-02T21:22:00.000-07:00

Today I shot an 85 at Glenview Golf Course (West-East), which is my personal best score.
1 birdie, 6 pars, 9 bogies, 1 double bogie, 1 tripple bogie.
8 out of 14 fairway hit
5 GIR
34 total putts
2 up-and-down par saves

What I did right today:
Keep the ball in play and avoid trying to pull off a heroic shot through trees, etc.

Lessons learned today:
On a par-3 hole, I should have used one club less trying to land the ball below the hole
to have an uphill putt. Instead 8-iron, I used 7-iron and pulled it to left, and I had to
suffer a double-bogie.

Next goal is to further improve short game and break 85, hopefully this golf season.

What's in my bag as of June 2007

2007-06-02T21:16:00.000-07:00

Cobra SZ 460 Driver, 12 deg loft
Cobra SZ 5-wood
Cobra SZ 7-wood
Knight Fastrax Hybrid 4-iron
Ben Hogan Apex Plus 5-irons thru E (pitching) wedge
Carbite Gap Wedge, 52 deg
Cleveland TourActoin 588 Sand Wedge, 56 deg
Knight Black Velvet 330 Putter