Golf lessons

I finally got golf lessons as a Christmas present! For each of the golf lessons we have been going through various clubs learning the proper technique and swing. Up to now I had avoided using the driver, as I really couldn’t hit a decent shot with it, but after having the teacher watch me and give feedback and from practicing with the driver in the lessons, I can now hit a more consistent and decent shot up to about 200 metres. I found that previously I had been bending my left arm quite a lot with the driver, but now my left arm is staying pretty straight and so I can strike the ball with more power and more on the sweet spot.

Also I was really having troubles with chipping the ball. When I would try and chip it, I would strike the ball half way up and it would shoot across the green. In the lesson for chipping I learnt about keeping my weight forward and also not having any movement in my wrist, as well as not trying to lift the ball up into the air but hit more down on it. Another key was going the same distance back and through and just being more smooth in the swing. I would sometimes try to go through the motions too quickly and this would cause me to top the ball or misthit it. By practicing every week so far and alternating different clubs for each shot when I go to the driving range, I have increased my consistency with different clubs.

This week we learned how to use the hybrid club. So far I had hit the hybrid maybe a couple of times at the range and I couldn’t get the club head to line up and so the ball would always go far to the right. After practicing for 30 minutes, I was hitting the ball consistently and actually enjoying using the hybrid.

Next round that I play I’m going to use the driver, hybrid and be more confident in my chipping. I did play a round a few weeks ago and from using the 7 iron in my lessons, I was hitting that pretty straight and getting a consistent distance. But my chipping and putting was causing me trouble and is an area that I need to keep working on. But I’m happy to not be topping the ball that much any more.

Key improvements that I have been working on recently in the golf lessons

  • My head was moving up when I was on my down swing. This was causing me to miss or top the ball. To try and fix this I focused on keeping my chin level and imaging that my chin is resting on a table, and that I can’t move it.
  • My left arm was bending on my back swing. By working on keeping my arm straighter my shots have been more consistent.
  • My swing plane was pretty flat. I was swinging the club far behind me. To fix this I worked on bringing my club back and up higher. Imagining that I’m against a wall and need to swing up to avoid hitting the club against the wall.
  • Keeping my grip on the club light and being more smooth through the swing.

Swing analysis at GolfTec

About a month ago I bought a voucher on Cudo to get my swing analysed at Golf Tec. When I arrived there I had to fill out a form so they could get an idea of my experience and ability. Of course I’m just starting out so I didn’t rate myself highly and I also have no idea of my handicap, other than using a free app to enter a score which tells me that the estimated handicap is about 36.

I met the coach and he got me to start out hitting some balls while he watched and recorded me from the down the line view. I was standing on a regular putting mat and in front of me was the large screen projector, displaying a virtual driving range. Surrounding the sides were dividers and walls which enclosed me in and stopped the ball flying away if I hit it badly. Above me was netting to stop the ball hitting the roof.

The good thing about this place was although it’s a simulator, you still have to hit the ball into the screen which then records and calculates your shot, showing how far the ball would go on the virtual driving range. It then gave you the distance and various stats, including your angle of strike and club head speed. Overall I felt that I was doing ok, even though I was only making small swings.

After hitting a few shots the coach got me to sit down and then showed me footage on an Ipad of Adam Scott hitting a shot from down the line. Then he showed me footage of my swing and asked me to spot what the differences were. I said that straight away my back looked very curved. He said yeah that’s exactly right, your back being curved is causing alot of issues with your swing. Also during my swing, the club was going very far behind me away from my back. He showed me the side by side with my swing and Adam Scott’s swing. Looking at them showed the massive difference in the posture of our swings. My back was very arched and hunched over, with little to no bend in my knees. This was causing my swing plane to be very flat. But there was some positives also, my follow through was pretty good and didn’t have any issues there.

What he got me to then do was to assume my normal stance, and then stick my butt out and straighten my back. I could immediately feel the muscles pulling in my thighs and how weird it felt to be in this stance. Next the coach got me to adjust where my swing was so that when my hands were at eye height, the butt of the club was pointing to be inline with the ball. When I brought the club up to the top of my swing, the club head was much closer to my head and it felt like a much steeper swing compared to before.

The coach then got me to practice hitting shots in this stance with the swing. I had done some practice swings, but when I tried to hit the ball I was mostly topping it. He said not to worry as this will take a lot of practice to get used to, as I’m trying to unlearn my old swing and fix my bad habits.

A drill for practicing bringing up the club in the backswing was to assume the posture with my butt sticking out leaning against a wall. Then make backswings and the ensure the club doesn’t hit the wall. He got me to try this for a few minutes and I pretty much kept hitting the wall and thinking this was really tough. I didn’t manage to do one backswing without it touching the wall and so I will have to continue practicing this at home.

The 30 minute lesson was over pretty quickly and we did a a recap of what to practice. Then I had an hour to have a free hit or play a course, so I just kept hitting on the driving range for almost half an hour and practicing what the coach had shown me in the lesson. During that time my best shots were between 150 to 160 metres with the 6 iron. I kept hitting balls to try and ingrain some consistency and to keep going over what I’d learnt. Once I got tired of hitting the shots on the driving range, I moved to playing a golf course in Dubai. Of the 15 holes I played, I could barely hit a decent shot at all. Most of the holes I was scoring double par, which was disappointing. From this experience I feel that in practice I’m not concerned about the shot and so I’m more relaxed and hit it better. But when I’m on the course and it counts for score, then I’m more tense and care about the result. This causes me to hit poor shots and lose consistency.

At the end my back was pretty sore and I was exhausted, as I was hitting for an hour and a half. Overall it was a great experience and to have a lesson and then one hour on the simulator for $20 was amazing value.

Improving putting with around the world drill

Short putts have been hurting me lately on the course. My average amount of putts per hole is above 3 at the moment which is pretty terrible. To improve this, I’ve starting practicing the around the world drill. This is where you use one ball and you make putts from 3 to 4 feet. After you make each putt you keep moving around the hole in a circle, so that you’re making a different putt each time. The aim is to get confident in sinking 3 to 4 foot putts, by getting in as many in a row as you can. Using one ball forces you to keep focus because you can’t just keep hitting putts over and over if you’re missing them.

After some warm ups and getting a few in a row then missing, I managed to string together 22 putts in a row, which I’m pretty proud of. I was in a good grove the whole time and I kept my eyes over the ball, not looking up until I heard the sound of the ball going into the cup.

Once I had practiced the around the world drill for about 30 minutes, I moved on to 20 – 50 feet putts. The goal was to get the ball within a 4 foot circle, so that I would only take 2 putts from any distance. I managed 14 in a row without any restarts. I also tried some medium distance putts and even nailed a couple from about 12 feet! Now the challenge is to keep practicing the around the world drill and to take my confidence in putting to the course, to shave some strokes off my score.

Having a free hit at the driving range

From a work raffle last month I won a $100 driving range gift card. So last weekend I turned up to the driving range and although it was undercover, the rain started coming in sideways forcing me to stand back further on the mat for most of the session.

My plan was to focus on making solid contact with the ball, instead of trying to go for distance. The reason for this is because lately I have been continually struggling with thinning the ball, or hitting about the middle of the ball.

Starting out with the Sand wedge and working my way down the clubs I took my time and made short easy swings, just focusing on trying to get my hands in front of the club head and making solid contact with the ball.

As a result I hit some pretty decent pitch and chip shots with the sand wedge and pitching wedge achieving my intended goals, but I struggled to replicate this same success in getting good contact with the irons. With the irons I’m also mostly hitting between a draw and a hook, which I think is probably the result of my swing plane.

Later on I spent some time with the driver. For almost every session, it take me about 5 practice shots to be able to start hitting some straight shots with the driver. I managed to hook some balls right into one of the 44 gallon drums they put out on the driving range and also right into the 100 metre sign. I had a great time, which was even better because it was free.

Next time when the weather is better, I want to go out and have a practice on the grass tees. I need to work on being able to make a divot, and be able to see if I am hitting the ball before the ground.

Driving Range

Putting practice at Albert Park

After playing at Melbourne Airport Golf course, I’ve been regularly going to Albert Park golf driving range, which is a good quality practice range with multi level driving range bays and also putting and chipping greens.

At the putting greens I first practiced putting the ball from about 10 – 20 feet, trying to get the ball to within a 3ft circle around the hole. I found that it took about 3-4 shots to dial the distance in (I was hitting them too short) and also learn which way the putt was going to break.

I also found a different technique for putting, which I’ve adopted with alot of success. Basically instead of looking at the ball as you putt, you look at the hole. The idea is that because you are visualing the hole as you putt the ball, you are focusing much less on trying to hit the ball and making adjustments, but rather roll the ball into the hole. This technique has been proven to get the ball closer to the hole from long putts as well.

Putting that technique into practice, my feel for distance started to improve as I felt that I wasn’t guessing anymore how hard to putt the ball. At the end of the session I was able to get a great feel and putt from 30 feet out and get it within 3 feet of the hole and then make those putts. My goal from 30 feet, was being able to 2 putt it 5 times in a a row (which I achieved!)

I’ve also been watching heaps of MeAndMyGolf video’s on youtube. Overall I feel their videos are the best in terms of helping you easily understand a technique and how to execute it. Make sure you check them out, if you’re starting out or looking to improve.

Check out Me And My Golf

Find out more about Albert Park driving range

Golf day at Melbourne Airport Golf Club

On the 11th of May I went out to the Melbourne Airport Golf Club to play a round of 18, with a good mate Foz. This is the first time I had played 18 holes and I was really excited to get out there and play and also get some help with my game.

Melbourne Airport Golf Club

As the name suggests, this course is right behind Melbourne Airport with bush land surrounding. This course doesn’t have much undergrowth, making it much easier to find a stray ball. My favourite hole has a challenging hill dropping away from left to right with a big gully in the middle. As you’re hitting you can see the planes taking off almost right over you head the sound booming around the whole area.

The weather wasn’t great that day with consistent rain in the morning, combined with fairly heavy winds. The weather did improve as we played on though and warmed up later in the afternoon. There was hardly anyone around and this helped as we could just take our time with no pressure.

I was still struggling with topping the ball on the first hole, however as Foz was watching he was able to give me feedback. I was tending to rise up a bit with my body on the down swing and that was causing me to top the ball almost every shot. I was also looking down directly at the centre of the ball instead of behind hit. I practiced keeping the height of my stance consistent as I swung down and also looking at the back of the ball, and I started to hit the ball much more consistently almost right away.

This led to me playing much better than I had ever played so far. I managed to even hit my first green in regulation on a par 3, with some draw on the ball.

I also started using the driver and on the Par 5’s I was able to keep my score from ballooning and get my first bogey on a Par 5.

My chipping was pretty good that day using a sand wedge I bought for $3. I was able to chip onto the green consistently and even stuck within a foot of the hole from about 20 metres out.

I had gotten a nice Taylor made putter as a present, but hadn’t actually practiced with it until I got to the course. This putter was much faster than my previous putter and so I struggled with having a feel for the distance of my putts, which did hurt my score.

From that I’m going to head to the putting greens more to work on getting my feel for distance better as I was 3 putting almost all of the holes, which was a bit disappointing.

Overall though I’m really happy with the progress I made and how differently I was playing on the last 9 holes compared to the start of the round. I broke 120 for 18 holes, which I’m very happy with and continuing to work towards breaking 100. I’m excited to get back to Melbourne Airport Golf club again and would recommend it as a great course for all types of golfers.

Melbourne Airport Golf Club

Achievements unlocked

Break 120 ✔

Play 18 holes ✔

Make a bogey on a Par 5 ✔

Shoot a green in regulation ✔

Chip to within 1 foot of the hole ✔

Hit a draw ✔

Find out more about Melbourne Airport Golf Club

Golf day at Eastern Freeway Golf Club

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Every 2 months I get an RDO from work, which means it’s time to hit the golf course and play some golf! So far I’ve been playing 9 holes and because I just started out my current goal is to break 60 over 9 holes, with the eventual goal being to break 100 for 18 holes.

Over the last few weeks, I haven’t practiced much so I struggled with the first 5 – 6 holes off the tee and only played how I would like to for the last 3 holes.

My best was the 8th hole which was 165 Metre par 3, I made it onto the green in 2 shots and then had a 10 metre putt for par. The putt got me about 1.5 metres from the hole and so I was able to get a bogey which I was happy with. I also bogeyed the 9th hole to finish off well.

I decided that day to only bring 5 clubs with me the 7 – PW and the putter, to avoid the temptation to hit every tee with a driver, because I had so many issues with the driver last time. It also makes the decision of club selection a lot more straight forward.

Golfclubs

I’m still excited to go out and practice and continue to work on improving my game and reaching my goals.

Find out more about Eastern Freeway Golf Club