Big Question
How realistic are your goals and expectations?
Feels
My feeling this week is one of realisation.
I have heard it many times from many different people and it is accepted in the golfing world; Making swing changes is difficult! Meaningful changes take a long time to become unconscious and ingrained. You may get worse before you get better. Feel and real are very different. Despite this knowledge, a part of me couldn’t let go of the fact that I wanted to be better on the course TODAY! Playing a practice round this week and recording some shots has hit home the facts above! My realisation is that I must focus on the work, the process and the feedback. Changes will happen when they’re ready!
Practice and Lessons
I have still been focusing on the wedges this week!
Here is my most recent lesson which includes some feedback on progress to date and a new drill. The drill is designed to encourage a more right path. This is because my set-up changes and tweaks so far have not moved the path far enough right.
The feedback is clear and more focus on the wrist and the path is required. I must accept that these is part of my habits and tendencies and incorporate the feeling into my pre-shot routine. Otherwise, it becomes challenging to know what issue is causing certain shots.
I find it amazing how quickly bad habits can creep back in but it’s great to have things checked. It is the first thing I will be checking along with ball flight when I practice and record swings.
Practice session
Theme: Draw the wedge
Technical
Banking the foot/knees kissing exaggerations
No ball
1/2 shots
3/4 shots
I have started to find this more comfortable to do and can feel the pressure shift to my lead side much better. It also helps after my warm-up to get the hips moving how I would like (or closer to how I would like).
Experimentation
Start the ball right (set up strategies)
Trail foot back
Weight on the lead side
Ball position back
While working through those three set-up tweaks, my ball flight changed slightly. To my eye, it was starting a little more right. Having reviewed the video and had feedback from Ryan it was clear that it was starting straight or with a ‘pull’ type motion. Much more experimentation is required. Combining the 3 set-up tweaks above with a more flexed lead wrist, may provide the start line I am looking for.
I found keeping my weight on the lead side to have the biggest impact on ball flight and start direction, but it is too soon to draw conclusions.
Game
Decade 50-90y Combination game (Last week 62.5 points)
20 shots to random distances in between 5p and 90 yards.
55.6 points (an improvement of 6.9)
After the session, I reflected on the misses and decided to put the data into a simple spreadsheet and check on the profile.
Almost 50% short and 25% right. Knowing this is helpful for several reasons;
I can adjust for this with my aim, set up and club selection to get more of the shots hitting the green
It clearly highlights the need to know my distances with each club and select the appropriate one
When completing this game next time, I can check in to see how my adjustments affected the ‘miss’ profile
Next week’s practice session will include more experimentation (strategies from the previous week’s lesson) and a repeat of the 50-90y combination game.
Play
Hard to give some specific insight into the round in my usual way, as I played a game with a partner similar to a Texas Scramble. I do have some thoughts, however……
My realisations this week have come from reviewing my round. I hit nothing off the planet. No penalty strokes. Hit solid iron shots all day. I went through my routine effectively. Yet, I still had to check in with my expectations and spend half an hour over a coffee, thinking about and rethinking, my thoughts.
I took some on-course videos to review and discuss with Ryan. I looked through them and was shocked and a little frustrated. I would almost call them Negative Automatic Thoughts (NAT’s). NAT’s are cognitive distortions linked to perfectionism and are self-defeating and destructive. Noticing these feelings as they’re happening can be useful and help me work through them in a way more conducive to development. My immediate negative thoughts included:
Nothing has even changed!
Maybe I’m just a slow learner!
Do I need to review my goals?
That’s not how I should be set up
Steep this, steep that!
A nice concoction of selectively picking myself apart. Anyway, I noticed myself drifting there and thought it through with some rationality and reality (and good coffee). My conclusions were:
Changes take lots of time
My range swing and course swing are vastly different, but they will be at this stage
Am I letting go of the outcome or trying to control it with old patterns?
I am very patient and need that ability here
I enjoy working hard it my game
I share this because it appears that few people discuss the negative thoughts they have in the moment. I have committed to a raw and honest journey that includes ups and downs. I hope sharing my help you ‘rethink’ or ‘notice’ some of your negative automatic thoughts before they alter your behaviours.
My lasting conclusion on review is that I was happy with how I hit the ball on the course. My low point was excellent and I had no heavy shots. I was very happy to keep the ball in play. For my second round (in a grassy bog) since starting coaching work, I feel I am heading in the right direction.
Speed
I finally got the PRGR loaner back, 2 weeks later than planned.
Its sole purpose in my current routine is to track and monitor club head speed with a series of all-out driver swings. I am not trying to make it ultra ‘functional’; I am trying to move my body and the club as fast as possible. I will track the data (low, average and max) and see how much I can move the needle around my strength training.
Data this week was:
Low: 104mph
Average: 110mph
Max: 113mph
I will attempt to track each day but may back off if my body is telling me to! This first session was before my gym training. I warmed up using the Daily Mobility/Warm Up routine from Fit For Golf, did 10 or so swings to get the body prepared and then tracked the next 15 swings. Once complete, I set off for the gym. Speed work first!!
Current Driver statistics from Shot Scop Data
Performance Average: 271y
Average: 245y
Monitoring some off-course club head speeds alongside some on-course averages will give me a balanced look at distance. It also ensures some of the gains are transferred to the place we need it; the course.
Reflective Questions
How different is your on-course swing from your range swing?
What Negative Automatic Thoughts do you have?
How do you work through them?