Played Abacoa Golf Club – Jupiter, Florida [92]

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The Course

Abacoa Golf Club was in great shape and had some really great holes. For a public course I’m really impressed. The only downside is that so many of the public courses in Florida are in awesome condition that I almost “expected” it. But great course, nice design and really fun to play.

My Round

This was the best round in recent memory. I shot a 92, which on the surface seems like just an OK score, but it was a 92 with 40 putts! If I shaved some of my many 3-putt holes, I’m shooting 85-87 on a course with a 126 slope.

I was so comfortable out there with my pre-shot routine, setup and swing that I felt I could pick my target, step to the ball and hit it. I was striking it so solidly, taking turf in the right places and really dialing in my drives. I hit 80%+ fairways on the back nine.

So what did I do? Had a consistent pre-shot routine all the way down to the final waggle. And when I was over the ball and going thru my swing I didn’t have a ton of thoughts in my head, I just let myself swing and trust the work I’ve put in would actually work. Chipping was on. Putting was off. I couldn’t read the super fast greens all that well. Bottom line: solidly hit irons, straight drives, consistent routine and setup with good flex and a connected turn and this round turned into my best yet.

 

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Played Jupiter Dunes Par 3 Course in Jupiter, Florida

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The Course

I learned about this course from Luke List, a golfer on the Nationwide Tour, while on the flight down to PBI. Only spent an hour chatting with him, but he’s a great guy and a great golfer. I’m sure he’s gonna have a killer year and we’ll see him tearing up the PGA Tour very soon.

Jupiter Dunes is the best Par 3 course I’ve ever played. They took a lot of time designing this course to feel like you’re hitting your approach shot into a green on any championship course and they got it right. The condition and maintenance of the course was better than any I’ve played in Georgia. Jeff Leishman has a great course here and I’m thankful he had us out for a round

My round

Knee Flex, connected. Those are the two words. Pre-shot, consistent routine. Those are a couple others. Started really hitting solid shots on the course… for a change. Felt great to actually hit some of the shots on the course that I’ve been hitting on the range. Started off a bit like old-Kane, but then got it together and started dialing things in. Looks like a 3/4 60 degree produces a 75 yard shot and I can fire off a 9-iron around 155. Really need to spend time getting my ranges in check with the “scoring clubs.” Fun round.

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Not consistent

Yeah there isn’t any reason to talk about this one.

Update: OK, that’s not going to be helpful to me at all.  I’m not sure what really happened today, it wasn’t good.  I did hit a couple decent shots. Oddly enough, they came when I took my right index finger and thumb off the club during the swing.  Hogan calls these the “pincer fingers” and suggests that they wreck swings.  Clearly thats the case for me.  When I tried what he suggested in his book, I was flushing beautiful 7-irons with a nice controlled draw, something I don’t normally do but want to.

What to work on: Not sure, same stuff as last time. Try taking the pincer fingers off and really figure out what’s happening (or not happening) during the swing when you actually have all fingers on the club.

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Most consistent practice session recently

Most consistent 165 ball practice session in recent memory. Solid shots with 7 iron predominately but also hit solid 60d wedge and 6 irons. Hit some crisp, smooth effortless 145-150 yr 9 irons consistently to within 20 ft radius of the pin. Nice putts, good distance control. Also good chipping, especially from 40-50 feet with a nice wrist hinge and follow thru to pop it in the air and land it softly.

I focused on a stable posture, good flex in the knees and keeping more natural spine angle. The setup was consistent due to a focus on a pre-shot routine. Also made an effort to focus on keeping my elbows pointing to the hipbones and trying to stay connected. Thx to Andrea looking at my setup and explaining what it looked like, I moved my hands away from my body and freed them up, also kept a natural back reducing strain.

Watch that you continue to come into the ball from the inside and not over the top and if you get a good shoulder turn this is almost automatic. Same note, initiate with the lower body and the arms and hands will follow.

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Stay connected, head still, good turn

Heading to the range tomorrow for a couple hours.

Work on:

  • Keep the arms and body connected and get the right arm tucked in on forward swing to bring the club from the inside, not outside
  • Need to keep head still and visualize rotating around an axis, don’t sway as much with hips
  • Good wrist hinge, maybe try setting it a bit earlier
  • Good flex in the legs, go more than you think cause you’re not really flexing. But setup is already better, maybe push the hands out a bit to give you more room
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It’s not Augusta National, but pretty good

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Legacy Golf Course Practice Range. This is the closest range and a pretty decent facility.

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Make a good turn with lower

Working on: initiating the swing with the lower body

DONT get a second bucket. First half of the session went well. Posture and setup was more athletic and stable, felt better anyway. Got a mini routine going which helped consistency. When I initiated w/ lower and lagged the club, the shots were pure and 7 iron was 165-175ish and straight to fade.

Be sure to hinge with the wrist and not the fingers, which resulted in a few weak hits.

Todo: keep working on nothing but the lower half. And don’t sway, rotate.

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Keeping track of progress

Given how analytical I am, not sure why its taken me so long to actually read about the golf swing. I finally picked up Ben Hogan’s Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf and I’ve already read it 3 times. Like millions of golfers before me, I wish I would have read this book before ever swinging a club.

One of the suggestions in his book is keeping notes on my progress as I practice. What am I working on, what’s working well, what isn’t and a general idea of how I feel about my swing after a practice session. This section of the site will serve as that little notebook. Thanks to the WordPress iOS and Android apps, I’ll be posting brief updates on progress, info on rounds I’m playing, and pics from the course and the range.

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