This weekend I’m in Arizona for a little spring training baseball and golf, and I haven’t touched my clubs since returning from CA. I never even took them out of my travel bag.

So it was no particular surprise to me that I played poorly today, however what was a surprise was how well I played early in the round.

It seems that the more I loosen up, the worse I swing. I think my swing gets longer and longer as the round goes on - I manage to keep my good range habits with me for a time, then fade.

Today’s issue was letting my arms get behind my body - my tempo was off. In the round in CA, I was able to keep hitting fairways all day, even thought I stopped being able to score on the back nine. Today I was just spraying the ball into the desert and racking up big numbers.

I find the way that my rust has manifested itself in these last two rounds very interesting. So many things to think about and work on - golf is such a great game.

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In the last two weeks, things fell apart a little bit. I starting cutting my shoulder turn too short, standing too close to the ball and stopped releasing my hands aggressively and ended up playing a weak fade that ended up a good club or two short. My round on Saturday was dreadful, shooting 100 (admittedly on an unforgiving course) for the first time in a long while.

Today I moved the ball a little further away (though I kept the ball position forward) and made sure to release my hands through the swing. It wasn’t all perfect - adjusting back produced a few foul balls as well. However I turned in a solid 81 with a couple of strokes wasted on balls I hit OB².

Trying to improve my swing is a good thing, but it’s important not to go too far in either direction. I’m never going to be a tour player - as much as I’m playing right now (1.5 times a week with no range time), sticking with what works is probably the best recipe for success. I’ll be much more confident for my next round - maybe I’ll get a round in the 70s this season after all.

1. Mainly due to ball position too far back and a tendency to hang back on my right side when trying to protect against overswinging. [back]
2. A frustrating one trying to get home in 2 on the 17th hole when I overdid it and hooked my 3-wood just OB left. I ended up with a 7 instead of an easy 5 on the hole. [back]

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Next time, a separate bag will be used for clothes and shoes (and probably a hard case for the clubs).

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It was a bummer to bogey a bunch of the par 5’s and find the water on 16 and 18, but it felt good to get the ball in play properly off the tee and make a few putts. I feel like I’m making some progress with the swing changes (less lunge/sway, shorter backswing). I’ll bring the camera out next time to check on my progress.

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• 4 pars
• 4 bogeys
• 1 double bogey - I should have taken relief from casual water and didn’t, it cost me a penalty stroke when I splashed into a hazard.

My chipping was solid on pitch and runs, but not good on flops. Putting was pretty decent. I hit the fairway with my first tee shot and only missed 2 fairways. The wind was kicking pretty strong - about 2 clubs worth. I hit a straight tee shot into a left to right cross-wind and it moved about 60 yards from left to right. Good thing I played for it; aiming OB left and letting the wind bring it back (though I didn’t expect quite that much).

The main thing I was encouraged about though was the progress I’m making keeping my swing under control. The long lay-off doesn’t seem to have hurt me much in terms of the swing changes I made last summer (that finally kicked in at the end of the year). I was ending up in a nice balanced position - something that I fought hard to attain in the past.

I’m encouraged for the rest of 2007.

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I’ve got 2 weekend trips to Phoenix coming up, need to get the rust off my swing.

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1. Bring my average putts per round down to 30.
2. Bring my handicap down to 7.

My guess is that by meeting the first, I’ll also meet the second.

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Some great spring and early summer rounds brought it down to 8, but mid-season swing changes caused some inconsistency and it went back up to 11 in the fall. I thought I’d missed my mark, but a few good rounds (81, 80, 82) right at the end of the year ended up bringing it back down to 9.

I feel good about the swing changes and short game improvements I made in 2006 - hopefully the snow will melt soon and I can get a few winter rounds in before I get too rusty.

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UPDATE: the Mizuno was found under the car seats - wonder how it worked its way under there - whoohoo!

Now I’m on the lookout for a new putter, and the Ping Craz-E One caught my eye (the Craz-E sets up great for me, but I don’t care for the insert or the blue all over the place). I called Ping to find out when they planned to ship, and I got through to a real person who put me on hold, found out, and told me why. Apparently the initial Craz-E One putters that came back from manufacturing didn’t meet the approval of John Solheim, so they are going back to fix it.

Kudos to PING for caring enough about quality to delay the ship date.

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My main problem was a hook I’d developed with my long irons and driver. I just couldn’t keep the ball in play reliably and was missing long par 3’s left. On the par 3 fourth hole at the heritage I was pin-high left, with a 70 yard second shot. Over the last couple weeks, I’ve made a major change in my swing that seems to be helping.

In the video I made of my swing earlier this summer, you can see my left foot start open and re-plant as I start my downswing. This allowed my hips to clear too early and I’d get out of sync.

I’ve closed that up that left foot and cemented my heel to the ground, and I’m keeping everything inline a lot better. My swing is a touch more vertical and I stay “down the line” longer, instead of rolling the club over. I also finish in balance better.

My left hip has been a little sore as I get used to this move, but the results have been great. Yesterday I shot 42-39 to break 40 for the first time in a long while. Being able to hit greens again feels really good.

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I can make a bad swing with a fairway wood, hybrid or iron just as easily as I can with my driver.

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I actually limped home with bogeys on 3 of the last 4 holes, and had a horrible putting day with 34 putts (could not read those greens at all). But I drove the green on 14 to get one of my 4 birdies on the day which offset the 6 bogeys and 1 double bogey.

It felt really good to get another sub-80 round under my belt so quickly.

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I shot 39 on the front with a birdie and two penalty strokes, and a 40 on the back with a bogey on 18 after a bad drive and some tree trouble. I had only a single double-bogey on the round and lost only one ball.
My previous best was shooting 80 at Park Hill last weekend, and Legacy Ridge is a much tougher course than Park Hill. It’s also a par 72, where Park Hill is a par 70.

When I shot 80 at Park Hill, I did so by bogeying the 18th hole after making a stupid decision to try to reach the green with a 3-wood over some trees. I hadn’t checked my score and thought I was way over 80 at that point. It wasn’t until I reached the green that I did the math and realized I needed to get up and down for 79 - which I failed to do. At Legacy Ridge, I had learned my lesson and I did the math on the 18th tee and realized bogey would be good enough for 79. I hooked my driver left, pitched out under a tree, pitched out further just behind a tree, then hit it over the tree onto the green for a shot at par and 78. I then two putted for bogey and 79.

Breaking 80 was my goal last year, and I wasn’t quite good enough to do it. However, my last three rounds have been 82 at Indian Tree, 80 at Park Hill and now 79 at Legacy Ridge - maybe I’m finally getting there!

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I didn’t play as much as I’d have liked in 2005, but hopefully I’ll find more time to swing the sticks in ‘06.

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