Played this little par 3 course with my brother Casey. I think this now qualifies as a tradition. Can’t beat playing golf the day before Thanksgiving.
This 101 didn’t feel or look like a 101. I can say i successfully took the new, inside bumped and pumped swing to the course. The wind was howling, which honestly made it easier to not worry about the score and just focus on contact.
It was a blast to hit some shots today that I did. Hitting 6i with a little draw, 5i with a nice flight and long. 7i with great contact. I looked at a spot 160 yards out into the 20mph wind and knocked it exactly where I was aiming.
There were a couple fat and thin shots, but honestly, I’m completely happy with my round. Rally focused on staying grounded, new more upright posture, bumping the hip left to start the downswing and attacking from the inside. The contact, flight and distance was much better.
I took a Titleist 910D2 driver on the course to try out. What a club. We adjusted it in the pro shop back to neutral, with a slight draw, and took the loft from 8.5 to 9.25. That is quite a bit less loft and a stiffer shaft than my current driver. I hit some of the best drives ive ever hit on the back nine. Tracked shots were 20-25 yards longer.
Gotta keep hitting balls. Need more chipping and pitching practice and I just need time to build up distance and accuracy with the irons. Same with the driver. But wow, some amazing progress on the course today
For the last few months I’ve been working on a bunch of different swing things: hip turn, shoulder turn, more stability, wrist hinge and lag, etc, etc., etc. One area that I was really struggling with was dropping the club I the slot on the downswing. I was very steep, over the top and I really didn’t want that to be my swing. Obviously that made me slice it at worse and “fade” it at best, but let’s call it what it was, not a great move.
I tried a drill. A drill I’ve seen done before and a drill I know works. But tonight a tried it. Bump and pump. So I bump hips left, which drops the arms (pump the arms)’ this puts the club inside delivering the club in-straight-in. Guess what…. I’ve got a draw now.
Have to work on it this weekend and on the course but it’s a great sign. I’ve never had a more consistently powerful, accurate, and pure ball striking range day yet. Center contact, ball first, nice draw and just a great feeling. Driver is still a mess, but that’s ok, one thing at a time.
Keys today:
Shoulder turn without bending the shoulders backward. Keep everything tight and over the right leg.
At the top, bump the left hip forward, drop the club inside and hold onto the hinge.
Turn thru it with a full release.
The Course
By any other standard this course was excellent. However, we just played Cascata yesterday, which was the greatest course I’ve ever played, and there is no way Rio was going to stand up to it. I also had high expectations for the maintenance of the course because they hold the 3-Tour Challenge there in early November, so I assumed it would be tour quality condition. It wasn’t. The tee boxes were uneven and marked up. The grass needed a bit of a trim and the layout was just ho hum. Yes there were cool holes, like the par 3 over a ravine or the par 4 on the back with beautiful views of Las Vegas. But I expected more. Again, if we would have played Rio then Cascata I might feel different. It was still a great course and I’m lucky to have played it.
My Round
My round was not as solid as yesterday. I didn’t hit as many fairways or GIR. I fact my first few shots I must’ve said “polar opposite of yesterday” a hundred times. I also was trying not to swear and that streak ended on the first hole.
What happened? Hard to say. Expectations too high, maybe. Tired? Probably. But I was not driving the ball well or striking irons well. My nice controlled fade from yesterday was replaced with a slice. My nice iron play replaced by good contact but really low ball flight with a more aggressive fade. I got frustrated quickly and that didn’t help. It’s all about consistency. I need to play more and I need to practice more if I’m going to score well. My putting was OK, I’m starting to feel more confident with my putting after ready Stockton’s Unconscious Putting. I needed to get out of my head and that book laid it out perfectly. My bunker play was really good, which is a positive. I was confident and thumping the ball out even from deep bunkers or from the short side.
I need to spend more time on the range with my driver. That’s a club that has been neglected as I work on my swing. I also should get a new driver. I used Andy’s rental Diablo Octane again (first time in florida) and hit first shot with mine and the second with the DO. I got at least 25 yards more out of the DO, probably closer to 30. But I want to get properly fit when I do invest in a new driver.
Again it was an awesome day on an awesome course playing with good friends in the middle of the desert… What more could I want.
The Course
WOW. How many ways can I say WOW. Cascata is easily the best course I have ever played. The desert layout, literally cut into the side of Red Rocks, is something I’ve never seen before. The fairways, greens, tee boxes, and waterfalls were situated between a large expanse of nothing but desert floor, mountains, and wildlife. There wasnt a house in sight or other golfers for that matter. The greens were impeccable. From our Caddy, we learned things like how to read double breakers going up slope, but down grain. Or feeling like you’re putting downhill, but since we were at the base of a mountain, having to putt it firmer than expected. It was a truly unique course and a truly unique experience.
Thanks to Andy, I got to play an amazing course and have a truly memorable round.
My Round
I am right on the edge of playing good golf. Low 80’s consistently kind of good golf. I was pretty excited to play this course, some might call it obsessed. So I had a lot of expectations going into it. I knew the course would be beautiful so I had things in my head like “hitting firmly down on an iron in the middle of a fairway and watching the divot fly while the ball tracks toward the hole.” My focus for the day was consistent contact. Really striking my irons well, ball first, divot after, nice penetrating ball flight.
Well, I can say I hit some great, confident shots. My driver: the driver was mixed. I hit a few good drives early, but also some slicey disasters. Our caddie suggested I try the “Anthony Kim” which essentially means I grip down on the driver all the way to the steel. My first drive with the AK was beautiful. Solid contact, nice ball flight and straight. I didn’t really lose any distance because the contact was better. I used it thru out the rest of the round with great success. I know it’s a band aid, but it’s a good one. The irons: I had some really nice iron shots, with good contact and flight. I still hit fat shots and that’s due in large part to the lean left I still do. Have to stop that. Also have to hold the hinge. My distance control and accuracy isn’t there, but that’s just practice, I hit some nice approach shots and I had a confidence that I haven’t had before. In the past when faced with water or some other hazard, I was worried about it. Now, I’m thinking about the shot and not about the water I have to carry or the side of a mountain I need to go over. That’s awesome.
Still need to stay calm on the course and not rush my shots. Don’t be too eager to watch it fly. Stay solid with the legs and don’t lean forward.
Scorecard:
Here are some additional shots from the course.
All golfers hope to find a training aide that will magically help their game. I’m a bit skeptical and believe I can fix my swing through analysis using video (V1 Golf app for iOS) and just reading and watching and soaking it all in. But I know that some training aides will actually help. When I was in florida, Cory had me working with the Tour Striker, which is a golf club that helps teach you the proper feel for lag in the club and really hitting down on the ball. I love it, but I’ve heard that it doesn’t work on the Country Club Elite golf mat I have for indoor practice.
But I need more lag. More importantly, I need a proper hinge. I started noticing that my backswing looks long and around my body, but my arms and shoulders look good. I started looking at pro swings and realized that im not hinging correctly, I started practicing hinging before backswing, holding it and swinging through and hit solid shots. So I concluded that my hinge was wrong.
I had heard of the Swingyde a few months back, Jonathan Byrd, a swing I love to watch, uses one on the range. So I bought it. The moment I put it on the club I knew what I was doing, I was rolling and slightly bowing my wrist instead of hinging. N way I’d be consistent like that.
I started using the Swingyde 4 days before Vegas. I those 4 days, I probably hit 300 balls and got my hinge to a better place getting my club on plane earlier and setting me in a good spot at the top. I know I have many other issues in my swing, but damn, having this product in my hands months ago would make a huge difference now. I bet I’d be a 15 handicap instead of 18 by now.
I’m excited to keep working with it and believe it will help not only with the proper hinge but also a great tool to learn to lag the club a bit better.
My Round
This round was a tale of two games. Since I’ve been working hard on my iron game, I was really interested to see if I could take it to the course. I can say I did. I hit some very crisp irons, good distance and solid. My distance control and accuracy was off, but I’ve been focusing on solid center contact so I’ll forgive that. Now I can work on accuracy. Driver was still slicey, which was different than the way I was hitting on the range, which was straight and long. I was the longest off the tee, but i was 260-5
But I shot a 98. The problem was putting. 45 putts! The most I’ve ever had. Zero confidence standing over the ball. Time to work on putting.
Next time on the course I need to remember to think about my swing keys and don’t rush the setup. Take it back in one piece, nice and wide with a good hinge, start back with the hips, hold the hinge and done. But really, just go low and slow, hinge up, then start back with the hips and stay centered.
It felt really good to strike some solid irons on the course.
I guess I can’t workout one night and hit balls the next. Or maybe it was that + the 6 days last week. Doesn’t matter. After warmup with little 9i punch shots, everything else was off. Takeaway felt awkward, balance was off. It’s amazing how big a role the legs play. I hit for about 10 mins and stopped so I didn’t do damage.
The point… Don’t let this mess with your mind, you’re not regressing. But work on your damn legs and figure out a good schedule to workout and hit.
UPDATE: tried hitting the next day, same thing. A couple decent ones but legs still feel sluggish and I’m just hanging back. Fading and pushing a 7i which I haven’t done in the last 6 sessions.
Frustrated. But when you read this back in a couple days, just remember why things suck right now.
Great day at the range today. 220ish balls, almost 3 hours, and basically nobody around. MGC is an excellent range, with plenty of targets, wide hitting areas with plush grass. I pretty much set up shop. That ends a week where I hit balls 6 of 7 nights for at least 45 mins each night. Big impact on consistency. And no pain.
Worked on lagging the club even more than usual and trying to stay over the ball with no sway. When I did, the feeling was so crisp, great flight and good distance. Hard to say exact distances though, but 8i 155-160, 7i 170-175. I worked on short wedge shots to 65 yards with 60d, and 100 wth 54d, and an arm swing. Really focused on the lag.
The draw/hook was around when I released too soon (thx Corey for tip). But when I stayed centered, held the lag, the shots were pure. I’m hitting it solid in the center 75% of the time now. Strongest shots are when I lag and really compress.
New Driver setup resulted in a couple 260yrd drives. Moved closer, feel the arms hanging nicely, club slightly angled back. Then squared up hips, shoulders, turn back with shoulders, drop the elbow close with hip turn and lag it. First time I’ve really tried it with Driver, it’s a weird feeling but it works,
Next time: hold onto the lag from the beginning of the session and focus on downswing plane, dropping the club in the slot, staying centered, keep foot on the ground, and just keep moving through.
Hit the range at lunch and was really happy with the progress. The work I’ve been doing at home paid off at the range. Out of 100 balls, only 10 were obvious mishits (off the toe, heel, thin, fat). Contact was all around the sweet spot with 9i, 7i, 6i. 4i was not great, but I’ve hit that about 10 times.
I was surprised to see the ball flight. It was higher for sure, nice flight, then dropped out of the sky. But I have a draw now, which at times was a hook. Subtle with the 9i, more pronounced with the 6 and 7i. Not a single shot right today. Thats never happened. The draw was a subtle 1-5 yards to at most 30 yards (hook).
But the contact was solid, very solid, with nice balance and good divot in front of the ball. Focused on keeping my head still, good turn, good hinge. Even with the draw/hook, I’m continuing to hit balls without changing anything. I’m hitting it solid, thats step one. It will take smaller adjustments to limit the curve in the shots.
