COMMUNITY

Right now I am working on my accuracy with my driver and irons. I have pretty good control of my distances throughout the bag but I need to tighten my shot pattern left and right to get my game to the next level.

Two things that I'm working on.. the two-T'S
Tempo and Touch.
Without one of them you can not improve.
This year I, have been working on my Putting. It's a Long road and with a little help from my friends, Jerry, Jay, Mark ,and others. I, will be a Better Putter.

Being consistent. For the longest time now it seems like I've had a 2-3 week stretch of really good play, and I'll think I'll have turned a corner, and then I regress and look like a 20 handicapper or worse. I want my worst rounds to be between 80 and 85, with average rounds between 76 and 79, and career rounds of 75 or better. I don't need to be shooting in the 70's and backing it up with a round in the 90's.

On the course, I'm working on relaxing hands and arms and letting them release more naturally. I've trained them with years of tension at the top of the backswing where I just want to pummel the ball. Amazing how that tension creeps back in on the course, even if I have solid range sessions. I need a reminder system to pester me every few holes. Relax.... let the club release, don't cast from the top.

You are pretty close to being there. Try playing "simulated" golf on the range and you will hone your ball striking a lot. Our college coach had us pick 3 target flags on the range... 1 at 175, 1 at 150, and 1 at 100. We alternated shots and tried to get as many close as we could. Not a bunch in a row to the same flag, we would alternate. That will help you with both ball striking and distance control. Sometimes we used the club from the 175 range and used it for all 3 flags. They were cool drills.

Jay's range tips on working on proximity are good ones.

My goal during the off season was all about getting the ball closer to the pin on approach shots. For me that meant working on a few things. I gained yardage with all clubs due to fitness and technique improvements, so I needed to redial in all my distances, especially from the scoring zone. I also needed to work on several things to reduce dispersion. For me a lot of that was related to dialing in the distances on 1/2 and 3/4 shots, because those shots inherently have a lot less dispersion. I also needed to be more precise in my setup and more consistent with specific elements of my swing mechanics.

It's definitely made a difference.

During league and tournament play I don't fool around much with my game. So right now the only thing recently I've worked on is adding a couple of specialty shots. The latest is a hooded low running bump and run from 80 yards in that has paid dividends. I holed out twice this week with that shot--once from 30 yards and another from 50 yards. I don't expect that to happen often, but it is a measure of how accurate I've gotten with that shot.