The Golfchick

That chick blabbing about anything golf related.

Category: Golfchick Performance And Progress (page 2 of 8)

Breaking 80 Progress – Golf Chick Update

July 7, 2011 / / 3 Comments

I played three rounds of golf over the long Independence Day weekend, taking my new swing out to the course after strictly range practice the past couple weeks and was excited to see how it would work. I looked at the rounds just like practice, but more fun than banging balls on the range.

On Friday, I just walked on at a local course I’m familiar with and was paired up with three other singles. All nice guys and we had a good time. In fact, I kinda fell a little in love with the nerdy married one because he had such a pretty swing. My swooning may have distracted my own game a bit but they all said they were impressed with my swing, new or not. My short game and putting really let me down. However, when I posted my score (96) – the system actually warned me “your score is lower than usual.” No bells, whistles or confetti… maybe that happens when you break 80. We will see.

The next day my hands and wrists were really hurting (I may need to figure out a good pain remedy for this new swing & my arthritis that hasn’t bothered me much since childhood) so I didn’t play or even practice my full swing. I did, however, hit the practice facility for a long overdue short game session of chipping and putting. It paid off the next day.

Making New Friends

Someone I have connected with on Twitter – Kent (a.k.a. @Voxjazz) came to town and we were able to hook up for a couple rounds the following two days. On Sunday, we met out at Ojai Valley Inn & Spa, where there is a gorgeous golf course I had previously only heard about – and heard great things. By the same designer as Riviera, the course did not let me down. It was amazing. If you go for the first time I recommend arranging ahead of time for the optional caddie service. We did not and were met with some difficult decisions.

Kent is a good golfer with aspirations of playing – and winning – on the Champions Tour and I think he will do it. He had mentioned before we met that he’d be happy to give me advice on my swing progress. He then saw a tweet of mine to my swing coach, Orange County golf instructor Jay Lim, that I would try not to let any other influences effect our progress, and Kent was completely respectful of that and didn’t make a single suggestion. In fact, he said he wouldn’t change a thing. As for my putting? He said my putting stroke reminded him of Steve Stricker! Umm… isn’t he one of the best putters on the PGA Tour? Hello, ninja!

That first day with Kent in Ojai, I actually shot an 86. Yes, 10 strokes better than the day before on an unfamiliar, more difficult course. The company you keep? I think so. Thanks, Kent. The system didn’t warn me about my score when I posted it that day. I think I’m going to start carrying my own confetti for when the day comes I post lower than 80. Maybe some noisemakers, too.

I have a lot of work to do yet on my swing. The third day my hands were in pain again and I proceeded to shoot a 99 – also on a difficult course. And yes, all three rounds were from the white tees. I can tell that I’m not executing my new swing every shot. It’s not ingrained in me enough yet and I will continue to practice practice practice to get it there so I don’t fall back on old habits when I don’t concentrate enough.

I think I should start a pool on when I’ll break 80. Place your bets. Anyone want to volunteer to run it? Not sure how to set it up on here… but I think it would be fun!

Meanwhile, here is a compilation of some swing videos and photos from over the weekend. I hope you enjoy it! May they all roll true!

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Swing Progress Report – Golf Chick Hub

June 27, 2011 / / 13 Comments

I still haven’t named my new swing but I am getting more familiar with it. After posting my swing video and getting feedback from my swing coach Jay in the comments and on the phone, I went ahead and started practicing with my driver rather than just my irons.

Here are some of the changes I’ve made that I worked on with my irons every day leading up to driver practice:

Posture/stance: stick out butt more, chin up, ball farther from feet

Swing: weight more on heels, weight shift before club passes, more descending blow, more rotation of wrists/arms, more extension at and after impact, flatter swing overall including finish.

Yes, I was pretty much doing everything wrong. And this was just with irons off the ground. Hadn’t even really discussed hybrids, woods, drivers and tees with coach yet.

Feeling It!

In my last progress update I mentioned feeling soreness in new and exciting places. Some aren’t as exciting as others. I have had arthritis since I was young, mostly in my wrists and shoulders but it’s been pretty manageable over the years. I knew the descending blow was going to be a blow in this area and I was not wrong. I mostly practice on mats, which hurts. I did take a few swings on the grass (against the rules – what a rebel) and found I was actually taking proper divots, which was exciting. It’s not so much painful while I’m doing it as it is later that night and especially the next morning, but I can handle it.

More fun and exciting are the places that I know will just get stronger and stop being sore once I work them out more. Like some of the muscles I’m using in the rotation that have been… shall we say – seldom used – until now. More on strengthening and fitness in upcoming blogs.

Another pain in the neither new nor exciting column is lower back. If you’ve read this blog for awhile, you’ll know I’ve had troubles in this area before. I haven’t had back pain in awhile and got complacent with my stretches. That’s going to change. I wasn’t playing much and when I did even when I’d score 100 or more, most of those strokes were short game or putts. When I practice, I hit at least 100 full swing, full effort shots with new technique. Every day. My back is feeling it.

Torque Hurts

After Jay saw my video and I started practicing driver, I really started to feel it. Why? Torque. He told me to keep my right leg bent, among other reasons, to better control my position at top of back swing. When I do that, I obviously twist more with my shoulder turn. My hips are more in charge of starting my swing and unwinding my body and there’s just a whole lot more activity in my lower back. Perhaps this is where I lost distance and control in the first place – maybe I tried to correct my swing to ease my back woes. Whatever. Sorry, back. We’re going to have to work this out with a better fitness routine for you because I’ll throw you out before my new swing if I have to.

I’m really trying to shorten my swing and keep my left arm straight. As you can see in my version of the Konica Minolta Biz Hub, which I’ll call GolfChick Hub or just ChickHub, I don’t do a good job of that yet. I am keeping my knee bent more now though. Perhaps that explains why I’m nearly hobbling around today, babying my tender back that keeps having mini spasms. More torque with the same Daly-esque turn cannot be good for it. And yes, a bit more rotation with a lower ball flight and flatter finish is evident. Of course I will keep working on it and keep you posted.

Setup through pre-impact

Chick Hub set 1

Impact, release & ball flight

Chick hub set 2

Follow through

chick hub set 3

Finish and hold pose

chick hub set 4

By the way, I welcome your suggestions for names for my new swing. My last swing was called Stella.

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Golf Improvement Update – My Swing on Video

June 22, 2011 / / 7 Comments

Here is my swing – filmed yesterday at Lakeside Country Club in Burbank. Time to judge and laugh! Keep in mind this is my driver, which I haven’t worked on at all yet with my new swing in practice. I’m kind of glad because I didn’t have any “before” footage of my swing and now I do. Chicken wing still prominent. By the way, judge all you want but remember… I have a coach. Thanks. (c:

This was supposed to be a half swing, as were all my shots yesterday. However, somewhere between the waggle and the swing, that idea vanished. Could have been as I was giggling internally as Peacha was filming and commenting as though she thought I couldn’t hear her there. My response to her after the shot is a half-truth. I said “that felt good.” Well, the result and the impact felt decent but I knew I had executed poorly. However, we were only on the 10th hole and I wasn’t going to go vocalizing something negative. Not how ninjas roll. Plus, I just wanted to respond and get off camera as quickly as possible. The shot went up over the top of the hill about 220 yards. Not much roll as the ground was soft and damp.

I’m not sure how many of my drives I thought were half swings weren’t, but I hit 14 out of 16 fairways with them. Once I start working on that club I suspect that stat may go down like my GIRs yesterday. I made some really good iron shots and lots and lots of poor ones (which I rather expected) so I only had 3 GIR. The course only had nine holes open (which explains why there were potential 16 fwys… we played the same 9 twice which only had one par 3). The rest are under construction for irrigation but the holes that we played were beautiful. I can’t wait to go back when it’s all finished.

Jimmy Youngs and The Golf ChickHuge thanks to Peacha for hosting me at Lakeside yesterday. What a sweetheart.  I also really enjoyed playing with a caddy. Ours was Jimmy Youngs, a fun guy and a great caddy. He knew when to stir me up and when to ease my mind. I loved hitting a drive up the middle and walking down the fairway with my driver or nothing at all. Strutting almost. One of the three greens I hit was a great shot from the rough on a par 5. Jimmy said “it’s 115 but play a soft 125 just left of the pin.” I did just that and told him I wanted to take him everywhere with me. He handed me my putter and said “see you on the green with the gallery.” It was a great day.

Side note: Jimmy is also a 3 handicap golfer. He used to be an actor (this is Lala land, after all). You may have seen him in the original Footloose as Chuck Cranston, slapping around Ariel (the Lori Singer character), and getting his ass kicked by Kevin Bacon. For me, isn’t that one degree of separation? I did it. If you know me, you’re now at 2 degrees.

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Golf Goal – Breaking 80 Update – Demons and Angels

June 20, 2011 / / 3 Comments

I first met my new swing coach, Jay Lim, a week ago yesterday. I have have been practicing my new swing dutifully since then, with mixed results. I was told it will get worse before it gets better and that certainly has proven true so far. However, yesterday I tweeted this to him from the range: “Hey coach! Last week my 7iron was my 135 club. Now it seems to be my 155! (c: This is so fun! @jaylimgolf” Yes, it seems I have picked up an extra 20 yards with my new swing. That is, when I hit it.  It’s not all puppy dogs and rainbows, unicorns and glitter.

So far I have had one beautiful day when something clicked and I was executing every shot well, striking the ball like never before and drove home with tears of joy in my eyes. It was magical. That was two days ago. Yesterday I had some of that and noticed the gain in yardage but then something unraveled and I could no longer make good contact.

My practice sessions have been quite up and down like that. I have had terribly frustrating days when I think I’m never going to get it and just feel like crying. Those are the times I really have to be mentally strong in this process. I have to stick with the commitment to this swing and not give in to the temptation of reverting to my old one just to make some decent contact and assure myself (and anyone watching) that I can.

Jay and I are still working out how best to approach this long distance method. Well, he knows how he wants me to do it – he’s a professional. I’m making things difficult – I’m somewhat professional at that. His process and manual takes 13 weeks. Granted, not starting completely from scratch so that can probably be accelerated a bit, but when I called Jay in my frustrated misery he said I shouldn’t even really be swinging yet and told me to stop. Of course I hadn’t been following his instructions because I wanted my swing to be at least somewhat course-ready by Monday – yes, tomorrow. My friend Peacha (you may remember me mentioning her in Mesquite) belongs to a country club in Burbank and invited me out to play there and I couldn’t say no. I may literally tear up the course with my swing the way it is but I will definitely be out there. And my old swing – Stella – will NOT be making an appearance no matter how ugly it gets.

It just may end up with us like this… again.

Anyway, after tomorrow I’ll be able to crack down and do things more the “proper” way according to Jay. Not exactly, I’m sure, because I’m a rebel like that, but I do trust him and want to succeed so I won’t be foolish about it.

Also, people are asking what I am changing – specifically – and of course I will get into that. Plenty of information to come! Meanwhile, just know I’m already sore in new and exciting places, and the hard work has only just begun. And now that the US Open is over and I have been extremely inspired by Rory McIlroy, I’m off to the range for tonight’s practice session. Hoping it’s a good tune up for tomorrow’s round!

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there, especially the best one I know – my daddy. (c:

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Golf Goal Update: Meet My New Swing Coach

June 17, 2011 / / 1 Comment

I need to get better at golf. It’s not just a desire anymore. Now that I have really set my mind on breaking 80, it’s not just something I want. Failure is not only not an option, it is not a possibility.

With my swing the way it was, I could probably do it in about… 40 years. Like my new swing coach says – “you see all those old people just hitting it up the middle with their steady, reliable swings? It took them that long to get that way.” I am not that patient. Therefore, I am re-developing my swing from the ground up… and this time, I have enlisted some help.

Jay Lim golf swing

Introducing my new swing coach: Jay Lim. That’s his sweet swing finish pose pictured above taken when I first met with him this past Saturday. Why did I choose Jay? Well, as some of you may know, I am also a firearms enthusiast (my alter ego is The Gun Chick). I first “discovered” Jay when I saw him a couple months ago on the television show “Top Shot” on the History Channel, and that is not a reference to golf shots. Jay was one of the contestants on the show and I was intrigued when they said he was a golf instructor so I had to look him up. Jay’s bio caught my attention even more: “I’m not just a shooter, I’m an athlete. I’m a thinker. I’m all that. Whatever I think–I can get my body to do.” Those words spoke to me because I share a version of that mentality. The power of the brain is awesome and if we harness it, we can do anything. I am going to break 80. Soon. With Jay’s help. He is not your traditional teaching pro and I am not your traditional golf learner. Jay is not just giving me a new swing – he is teaching me his guaranteed METHOD. An actual system. His book is a manual – a process. I love that. Hell, I WRITE manuals. That’s how I think. Boil it down, brother. It’s all about repeatability.

Jay is a golf instructor in Orange County and I’m in Ventura County, so it’s not a perfect match and we’re still working out how we are going to get this done. It will be different than what he’s used to not just because of the distance and remote factor, but because of who I am and how I’ll apply the system. I will share what I learn with you – what works for me and what doesn’t, and definitely keep you informed on my progress. I intend to share lots of photos and videos along the way.

So I hope you’ll stay tuned. More to come. Much more to come.

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Get a Grip, Woman. A Golf Grip!

May 27, 2011 / / 9 Comments

My game needs some fixing and I’m working on that, as you will read more about if you keep coming back.

However, I think I figured something out that may be correctable with equipment which excites me more than it probably should. A couple weeks ago I shared the following picture of myself on facebook and twitter from a round I played that day which showed an embarrassing look at my swing and grip. (Side note: I also realized how enlightening it is to look at my swing! Video is the logical next step to this analytical process, but that’s for another post and another time.)

My question at the time of posting this totally ignored the chicken wing, which I addressed with another pic and instead focused on my insane hands. What the hell are they doing?

Last week I lost my 56 degree wedge and was trying to figure out whether I should replace it with my old, dinged up wedge or the brand new off-brand wedge I had sitting around. I took both to the range to decide. The brand new club’s brand new grip was sharp and it made me realize how worn all the grips are on the rest of my clubs. Then I started realizing how my hands were slipping when I used them, especially the hand without the glove! Then I remembered this pic and took a closer look:

My left hand seems to have slipped a bit, but my right hand has totally lost its hold. No, that is not how I grip the club! After I realized how slick my grips were I started paying more attention to where my hands ended up in the finish pose and it was not pretty. My driver is relatively new and has a sharper, tackier grip and the same does not happen with it, nor with the new wedge.  Conclusion: I need new grips.

Now, my next competitive event is next week in Mesquite as you may know. Obviously I’m running out of time to get things done before I leave for that trip. I’d like to shop around for awhile and re-grip my clubs myself and blog all about it for you but I’d rather have them done in time for the event just in case it makes a difference. So I may just take the recommendations I got and have my local shop do it for me all lickety-split like.  **Mitochondrial DNA. No, there is no good reason for me to type “mitochondrial DNA” right now but the phrase popped into my head and out of my mouth and if you were here right now you would have heard me say it so I thought I’d share.  Gary Busey moment. Now where was I?**

You can definitely see the difference in wear in the photos of the two grips below. If I end up not being able to get this done in time, maybe I’ll have to try the Tommy “Two-Glove” Gainey technique for the interim!  Don’t worry, you know I’ll let you know. (c: Have a great weekend everyone!

Update!: I went down to the local club shack and cashed in a gift certificate and got all my irons and my hybrid re-gripped with Golf Pride Tour Velvet grips (pics on Facebook). They look and feel awesome and I hope to test them out tomorrow morning.  My 5-wood and 3-wood grips had to be ordered in so they’re going to Mesquite as they are. The clubs are so old nobody stocks the grips around here. Really wish I could have at least gotten my 3 wood done since we play the forward tees in the women’s division at the Am, but I’ll just have to hold on tighter!

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A Renewed Golf Mission and Goals

May 18, 2011 / / 7 Comments

When I first started this blog back in June 2005, about 10 months after I first picked up a golf club, Bush was in the first year of his second term, it had been two years since he declared “Mission Accomplished” in Iraq, I was blissfully immersed in my new golf obsession, and I already had my two holes-in-one under my belt. I was working as a sales trainer, traveling the country delivering lessons in between golf rounds wherever I could squeeze them in. I took my clubs everywhere and played whenever, wherever I could. I didn’t really practice because I just wouldn’t make the time.

I had already joined my club – I’m still a member – which calls itself coed  (we finally added our second female member this year) and plays a different golf course one Saturday a month. In between work trips, there wasn’t time to do much besides laundry, re-pack and spend some time with my then dog and then boyfriend before heading back to the airport. Somehow I managed to improve my golf game at a rate sufficient to keep ahead of my handicap index and keep winning our club events. Much to the chagrin of all the seasoned male players, I even won our club championship my first year out and went on to represent our club at the SCGA Tournament of Club Champions and – much to their delight – won that, too.  My handicap improved a bit more but the lowest it ever got was 14.2.

While all that was going on, I managed to get more blogging done in a week than I do in a month now… sometimes longer. Six years later, I’m back up over 20 and can’t win anything but a gambling match between friends.  Life has a way of getting in the way. I’ve poured my bi-polar heart out on here in more than one inappropriate and off-topic post so my excuses are available if you care to dig them up. But now… I’m going to declare myself officially BACK -on track and on golf topics primarily.

I’m so amazed and humbled by the readers who have stuck around all this time and I’d love for you all to be involved in holding me to this. So I’m going to state some goals so that you can follow along and keep me accountable if you’d be so kind.

Golf Performance Goal

First, my record round is 82, and I have only had a few rounds in the 80s at all, but, like so many golfers, my next score-related goal is to break 80. Along the way I’ll need to break 90 a lot more, of course. I plan to accomplish this with a lot more practice. Yes, practice. I still chomp at the bit to get out on the course whenever possible but I’ve also come to appreciate practice a lot more. I also have some specific plans for that practice and some coaching help which I will tell you all about in a post coming to your screen very soon. One specific goal is to fix the chicken wing you see in my swing in the photo below.

Blogging & Sharing Goals – I need your help

If you’re already familiar with this blog and my writing style, I hope you’ll expect that my documentation of this process will be anything but dry and strictly technical. I’m still me. I will share any tips I think are helping that may help people in similar situations but we all know I’m no pro. My goal is to deliver such a post at least once a week. In addition to that I intend to write another post about some other golf topic once a week.  Martini blogging can never be ruled out so if you think I’ve strayed too far off topic, let me know and I’ll owe you another post. Please feel free to participate in the comments with your thoughts, encouragement, tips, etc. And if I don’t live up to my two post a week promise, crack the whip!

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There’s A Nap For That

October 16, 2009 / / 15 Comments

Failed to break 90 again (or 100 or 80 or par)? – There’s a nap for that.

Can’t get a job? – There’s a nap for that.

Can’t pay your mortgage? – There’s a nap for that.

Can’t maintain a relationship? – There’s a nap for that.

Home flooded by an accident or mother nature? – There’s a nap for that.

Can’t afford to play golf? – Yeah, there’s a nap for that, too.

Home subsequently flooded with raw sewage because of an aggressively freaky tree root? – There’s a nap for that.

Insurance companies getting you down? – There’s a nap for that.

Homeless? – There’s a nap for that.

Feeling depressed? – There’s a nap for that.

Accepting a charity round of golf from friends and still can’t break 90 (or 100 or 80 or par)? – There’s a nap for that.

IRS after your ass? – There’s a nap for that.

Realizing you’re a screw-up and letting everyone down including yourself? – Oh, there’s definitely a nap for that.

Still can’t maintain a relationship and now you know why? There’s a nap for that.

Feeling like a complete failure and not doing anything about it? – Oh boy is there a nap for that.

Knowing how “easy” it is to maintain a golf blog and not writing on it for months? – There’s a nap for that.

Drunken blogging and baring your pathetic soul? Hopefully … Priceless. (Hook me up, MasterCard.)

It’s a blog. I never claimed to be a professional (at this).

Times are tough – sweet dreams to all. And even sweeter awakenings.

I originally intended on ending this with a promise to be better about posting more frequently, but let’s be real – there may be a nap for that.

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Oasis Palmer at the Mesquite Amateur

June 9, 2009 / / 7 Comments

Of all the new courses I played golf at the Mesquite Amateur, I was most delightfully surprised with both courses at Oasis – Canyons and Palmer. Hardly unheralded especially with the name Palmer associated with one of them, but for some reason I was expecting their layout and terrain to be more akin to The Palms or Casablanca Golf Club. That wasn’t the case at all. The rocks, hills, canyons, and overall scenery were beautiful and the designs quite challenging. Not the picturesque beauty of Wolf Creek or even Falcon Ridge (the poor man’s Wolf Creek), but not the flat and wide city courses either. They’re a satisfying and gorgeous compromise between the two.

Palmer course at Oasis Golf Club

The Palmer at Oasis Golf Club was the last course on my rotation at the Mesquite Am. In my first round, I was driving the ball great and putting for crap. After bonding with my putter, we worked better together the next day but my approach shots weren’t working out. I had hoped it would all come together on the last day, and it did – nothing worked. Next time I play the Palmer course I’m switching tees. This course just doesn’t suit my eye or game from the forward tees. I found myself using mid-irons off the tee in most cases so when I finally got the chance to use my driver on a couple par 5s, it was cold and bitter. And my putter was… well, it’s not my putter’s fault. There were many evil pin placements and some vicious greens in general.

Palmer course at Oasis Golf Club

I don’t know if it was the heat making the greens so hard and unreceptive, but nothing would hold. Even after recalibrating my distance for the altitude, I found myself putting or chipping from behind the green every time I “landed” one. The photo above is an example of the many holes where you can’t exactly run your ball up onto the green, either. Plus, on many holes, the greens slope dramatically back to front and it’s near impossible to be below the hole, at least with the conditions like we had. And either this was the hottest day or I was just fatigued and the heat got to me more.

Palmer course at Oasis Golf Club

About a minute before I snapped this photo, my ears popped and started ringing and I felt dizzy and weak with heat. As you can see, this green is tucked away in a nook that was the hottest place on the golf course. It was stifling in there and I thought I was going to faint. I was so happy to be out of there but it was a good reminder to drink more water and start cooling off with a cold, wet towel around my neck, which did the trick. The white circle in the picture is just there to point out the blue flag tucked in the furthest corner of this heat trap.

Golf chick at Oasis Palmer

Here I am on one of the easiest holes on the course. But where am I aiming? Nope, I didn’t draw it. I simply landed pin-high between those bunkers. Yes, I have alignment issues as well. Yes, by the last day I had all my excuses lined up and ready. After all, I wasn’t going to let my own poor performance take away from the overall experience of the Mesquite Amateur, which was incredible. I hope to do it again and again – only with a better game.

For more information on this great event, check out the Golf Mesquite Nevada or The Mesquite Amateur websites. I hope to see you out there next year!

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Golf Bruises

March 3, 2009 / / 7 Comments

I get bruises on my thigh from my irons. You know, when you take a full iron shot and on the follow through the club comes around over your shoulder and back? It frequently bangs into the outside of my right thigh. It doesn’t really hurt at the time but I always end up with bruises there. The shots are good, but I must be doing something wrong. We can’t be meant to hurt ourselves like that, right? Am I the only one?

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