So I thought I'd start with my last outing. I played a course named Painted Mountain in Mesa, AZ (which is just south of Scottsdale if you're not familiar with the area). www.PaintedMountainGolf.com We played while all of the wives were at my fiance's Bridal Shower. It was a nice time with all of the guys. My foursome included my friend Brent, my future brother-in-law Erik and some dude named Frank. Frank was really nice and he pointed out some thing I could do to improve.
Erik is pretty bad. Worse than me and that's saying something. But Brent has been playing for a long time and is quite a bit better than me. I've played with Brent before and we always have a good time.
This time out I shot a personal best - 107. My previous best was the last time I was out which was a 108. The course was a little short at around 6,000 yards. My long game wasn't horrible - I tried to stay away from my driver and I didn't quite hook the ball as much as I normally do. I tee'd the ball a little higher than normal and got a couple quite nice shots off the tee. My short game was my usual hot and cold. One shot will look great, the next will be a horror show. I was good as always out of the bunkers.
What kind of shocked me on this round was my putting. I missed quite a few relatively easy putts. That 107 could have been a 104 or even a 102 really easily if I had sunk a few more putts on the first try. If I miss a fairly easy putt, I almost always get mad and miss the next putt too. Its infuriating! I actually missed a 6 foot putt that would have given me my first ever birdie. It was a relatively short Par 4. I made it on in 2 and then I missed the putt. I finished the hole with a bogey (as is my way). Argh!
In the last couple weeks, I've been watching those videos from www.PurePointGolf.com and their pro Bobby Eldridge has pointed out a few things that I'm going to try right away in my short game and my putting.
For the short game, he advocates a shorter swing with more of a chopping motion at the ball with a short follow-through. I've always kind of used one club inside 100 yards and tried to vary my back swing to accomodate the different distances. Bobby's got a simple little pitching method that I found really useful. I could explain it, but its easier to just suggest you watch the video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1YV-8ThI4M I'm definitely going to try this out next time.
Alright, I'm going to play again this weekend. I'll put up another post after I've played. Thanks for reading!
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Welcome to my first blog posting!
I put up this blog to track how my golf game has improved since I moved to Arizona in February of 2005. If you play golf, or would like to play more often, I doubt there's a better place in the world than Arizona - and namely the Scottsdale/Phoenix area.
I've heard good things about North Carolina and how beautiful the courses are, but I've found that most of the courses in the Valley are well kept, relatively inexpensive and play well. Yes, in the summer you have to play early as the temp crests 100 degrees by noon, but that's also the time of year when its cheapest to play golf here.
When I lived in New York, I'd get to play golf from around April to September. If you really pushed it, you could play in March or October, but few courses were open. Most of the courses were either public and poorly kept or private and inaccessible. The average course I've played out here is definitely nicer than the average course back in NY and here I can play year round.
So anyway, the point of this blog is going to be how I improve my game from round to round in the great state of Arizona. When I left New York, an average round for me was about 126. That's pretty high by anyone's standards. As I said, I'd only get to play 3 or 4 times a year in NY. My average since I've lived in Arizona has gone down to 115 and it keeps decreasing.
I've been reading over tips and hints on www.PurePointGolf.com and I've liked a lot of things I've read. If you've never checked them out, feel free to run over there. The pointers that they give are very easy to remember and I've been able to implement quite a few right away. They have a DVD set that they sell or you can check out some video samples. They also have a group on YouTube where you can see some of their free tips - www.youtube.com/group/golfswingsecrets.
So the point of this blog is to track my progress as I improve my game. I'll post any pointers I find interesting and let you know what my scores are every time I play.
Thanks for stopping by.
Joe
I've heard good things about North Carolina and how beautiful the courses are, but I've found that most of the courses in the Valley are well kept, relatively inexpensive and play well. Yes, in the summer you have to play early as the temp crests 100 degrees by noon, but that's also the time of year when its cheapest to play golf here.
When I lived in New York, I'd get to play golf from around April to September. If you really pushed it, you could play in March or October, but few courses were open. Most of the courses were either public and poorly kept or private and inaccessible. The average course I've played out here is definitely nicer than the average course back in NY and here I can play year round.
So anyway, the point of this blog is going to be how I improve my game from round to round in the great state of Arizona. When I left New York, an average round for me was about 126. That's pretty high by anyone's standards. As I said, I'd only get to play 3 or 4 times a year in NY. My average since I've lived in Arizona has gone down to 115 and it keeps decreasing.
I've been reading over tips and hints on www.PurePointGolf.com and I've liked a lot of things I've read. If you've never checked them out, feel free to run over there. The pointers that they give are very easy to remember and I've been able to implement quite a few right away. They have a DVD set that they sell or you can check out some video samples. They also have a group on YouTube where you can see some of their free tips - www.youtube.com/group/golfswingsecrets.
So the point of this blog is to track my progress as I improve my game. I'll post any pointers I find interesting and let you know what my scores are every time I play.
Thanks for stopping by.
Joe
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