Monthly Motivation: March

A few days late... but golf weather is finally approaching us in the midwest... As always this is a place to plan out improvement for yourself and help others.

I played my first 2 rounds of the season and they were... OK. Day 1 featured little control on my driver and Day 2 featured an inability to putt and losing focus on the back nine. Shot a 37 on the front nine of Cougar Point from the Cougar tees with 19 putts. 2 3 putts and one up and down... One three putt par... Ugh. Approach shots and putting were abysmal. I know my focus for this month.

Still pushing short game practice, lifting for golf (balance, flexibility as the core focuses)... I've added in Constructive Rest from another thread... basically just some time on the floor on my back with my legs on an exercise ball. It sounds silly, but it seems to be helping my hips open up a ton... We will see if that has any obvious impact on the course.

Planning on some lessons with my coach as soon as the weather turns. First focus is going to be drills to improve my game from 90-120 yards.

I'm excited about this season. I hit 8/9 greens on Friday on the front and did some decent scrambling from missed fairways... I think I can put together a low round and I'm now contemplating breaking 70 this season, which I have never done.

How's your ramp up to spring going?

We've had some awesome weather here in PA this week and it's really hitting me hard that I have nowhere to get out early and enjoy the early spring.

I've been continuing my indoor league and not having much success. I believe it's due to my horrible wedge game which is caused by currently only having 50 and 60 degree wedges. I am changing this year back to 52 58 and I have bought a new 58 degree wedge that should be here later this week.

I guess my goal for march will be to get out and play one time. Maybe take a trip down to Philadelphia where the courses arent all closed. That way I can get an actual gauge on where my game is and what I need to work on.

Longer term goal is still the US open qualifier on May 11th. I know the course extremely well and play their member guest every year with my uncle. I've also won a tournament there previously so I have confidence there as well. Will probably need to shoot 3 or 4 under to get through if the weather cooperates.

Good luck getting prepped for the qualifier!

im hoping to find some good drills to improve my wedge game. Hopefully getting fit for new wedges in April, assuming my schedule works. New clubs fix everything, right?

My plan is much like February, practice chipping. It's been an issue for me while playing. The weather has not been good the last month. We've gotten about 13 inches of rain since early last month, or so I have heard. March is starting out the same way, rain all week until Friday.

Anyhow, I'm just working on making contact using Monte's Using the Bounce video series. I'll chip a bunch of range balls on the practice green trying to get the swing down. I plan to work on actual aim and distance control afterwards using the ball I play with.

Exactly! My integration techniques are the best too so the fiance is ok with it. I make sure clubs are always going out the door too so im "not losing any money"

ive been working on my swing all winter on a skytrak. Now that MA is getting some warm weather I’m trying to get out on the course as much as possible. Of course, work is now full throttle and a tired body loves to fall into old habits (at least mine does). It will be a test this week. Still happy to get out and work on my long irons and driver. Can’t get discouraged after a day of very physical work, jumping on the course, and then things not going right.

Yeah, it's always a challenge to play golf when you aren't at your best physically... I'm not sure there is an easy solution. Probably just slowing down and taking more 3/4 swings? Fitting golf into real life is always a challenge!

Practice has been a nightmare here in Scotland the past few weeks. The winter weather seems to have finally arrived just when we were getting to the point of thinking that spring was on it’s way. As a result of that, the time to actually play on the course or practice of grass has been all but nil which has meant that I have been restricted to the driving range and mats but I have been trying to make the most of it. I had a great lesson from a trusted pro in December and we worked on my takeaway and making sure that I am not going inside way too early and that seems to be working nicely. With the practice I have been working on specific things for about a third of the balls that I hit, with the next third going moving to then picking targets and going through a full routine like I would on the course and then with the last third mixing it up with a combination of having fun and making sure that I am hitting the points that I want to with my swing. I had some really encouraging sessions this weekend past.

My hope for March is that I can start to get out onto the short game area. I have been doing some on the range but it is pretty limited what with having only a few targets and range balls, it is relatively pointless. Getting closer to the season, I have a practice bag full of Pro V1’s ready to roll so and my plan is to get out there and work on that significantly over the next few weeks.

Away from the course, having not played anywhere near as much as I would have liked to, I am looking forward to getting into the gym and actually building up some endurance. Towards the end of last season having not been in the gym very much, I found myself being noticeably more tired at the end of the round compared to the start. That never used to be the case and with a few 36 hole competitions already booked up for the year, I am not wanting there to be a repeat.

Nice! Hope you get some nice weather... I’ve found that physical fatigue contributes to mental fatigue... it’s hard for me to stay focused when I’m tired... definitely something I’m working on this season.

I really noticed it last year towards the end of 36 hole match play day. Played brilliantly for the first 30 odd holes but just started to lose steam near the end. I ended up halving the second match after being 4 up at the turn but I threw two of those holes away in honestly the most ridiculous circumstances. If I had not been fatigued and if I had been thinking properly, I would have easily closed the match out. Still bugs me that it happened. So determined that it doesn’t happen again this year.

Oh man... hit some new irons today (new to me... Adams CMB I bought here and got shafted)... they need some bending to get the gaps and angles right, but I'm really looking forward to golf this season... It feels like it's going to be a good year. Talked with my swing coach (he's younger than me, so it's weird calling him my coach), but we talked about on course strategy for both of us and he and I are going to spend time on the course improving strategy (his and mine... he's got an assistant pro tournament at our club that he needs to win). I'm actually really excited about this season... I THINK my bag is mostly set, though I don't have anything between a 6 iron and an 18 degree hybrid. Planning on new wedges in April at a Callaway fitting.

My plan is simple on course: Get comfortable with driver (or 3w when driver is too much), get close from 120 and in and start making putts... I'm already feeling better about my putter... so we will see if I can go low.

New goal is below 75 before the end of April... I really want to break 70 this season, and think I can do it.

Nice, I'm also going to get my lofts and lies checked when the guy that does it for me comes back from his summer home down south. One of the best things you can do for yourself. Also, I love how instead of range beating and swing coaching you're doing on course work. I've always believed that this is the best type of coaching and as long as he knows what hes doing, you should definitely see some benefits from this. To break 75 all you have to do is keep the drives reasonably in play and hit greens. Avoid the costly misses and dont shortside yourself. Aim for the center of greens if possible.Also, and most importantly, when you realize that you're gonna shoot the number, pretend that you've already done it 10 times and its just another round. Its easy!!

Well I've seem to have recovered enough from my back injury a few weeks ago. (Feb forum) Since I had had a slight lay off I went to my coach, hoping I can break some old habits a little easier. My biggest fault is being flippy/ using my hands to muscle the ball leading to heel strikes and the dreaded lateral ball. He had me make in interesting change to raise my hands up in address so the grip points just at the belly button line. He said this is slightly higher than normal but it will help get the feel. He also said because I'm 6'4 with a long torso (pant legs are only a 32) this might actually be my sweet spot. We were just talking half maybe a little more swings and my contact location was unbelievably improved. By the end I'd set up and he'd say left/right/straight and I could hit those shots pretty regularly, again only with a half swing.

Followed that up with a range session yesterday about 100 balls. I kept working on those half swings for about 80 of the balls. I think I can actually get around the course with these mini swings and do ok, while I really let those positions set in. Before moving to the next step.

Nice! I’m the same height and pant length... never really thought about having a long torso... I have oddly long forearms though! Keep up practicing and hope you stay healthy.

This is one of my issues in golf. At 56 I get tired more than I used to. I'm just not as sharp on a day to day basis as I used to be. I usually practice five days a week but I have started cutting it down to four. One of the days out of the five I just don't have it.

I have had a 3.4 or l;ower handicap since my early twenties but I get more tired than I used to. Yesterday my ball striking was really great, today it was average. Just fatique. Something I have to learn to except as normal.

Was able to get outside yesterday on a grass range for the first time this year!! Felt good to finally see the ball fly outside again. As for game improvement, the range had extremely old balls and a lot of them were messed up and caused my flight to do some weird things, so it was tough to really judge where my game is right now. Hopefully I can get out on the course this month and start getting back into playing shape for the us open qualifier in May.

Keep us updated! One of my biggest struggles with practice is a mediocre range.

Ya I may have to try out some other ranges in the area to see if they have usable balls and decent grass.

Ha! Well... morning practice routine for the month is now dead in the water... Kids are home from school for the next three weeks. My mornings of freedom are gone.

I'm going to need to figure out how to practice with no free time during the week... Wife is working from home, but she's WORKING... might be able to carve out some hours when Grandma is available. We shall see.

I'm hoping the local courses here thin out a little on the weekends.

I think when the inevitable work from home decision comes from my company there will be putting on conference calls in my house lol.

I've done conference calls on the golf course... Want me on the phone for 2 hours and not adding any input? I'll leave my phone on mute in the cart.

That's me as an engineer, letting dumba$$ sales talk talk talk, me say no you can't do that, that goes on for an hour usually.

Finally got out to play 9 holes after work yesterday. Was a good starting point and the greens were actually pretty nice for this time of year. Made my first birdie of the year on the last hole to shoot 1 over. Couple good shots, like the 175 yard 5 iron into the wind over the water to 5 feet, but I missed the putt. Negatives though were, my chipping is rusty, my green reading is terrible, I still have the miss right with my irons that I cant seem to quite figure out. If I cant come up with a fix in the next couple rounds a lesson may be in my near future. Positives are, I'm still hitting the driver well, there were definitely some good iron shots scattered in there, and I made a birdie first time out.

this no range time is really hurting my swing, I started hitting fades and slices on the field. Went to the range and realized I was rushing my back swing with tension and cupping my wrist at the top. 100 balls fixed me back to my normal flight. I could see a range session once or twice a week is a must to maintain the swing for the field, Ill experiment with range vs play for the rest of march.

Got out again twice this weekend and did pretty good. +1 over 27 holes with a couple missed short putts on slightly punched greens. First day was just 9 holes and I started very slow with 2 bogeys, but ended +1. Second time out I shot +3 on the front and felt terrible with my irons, luckily found a fix and shot a very nice -3 on the back while +1 on the 2 par 5's. Which will be my focus for improvement if I dont start to score on them.

As for improving, I need to work on my irons and controlling my big miss right. Once I fix that and get my irons/wedges lies and lofts adjusted, I will work on dialing everything in for us open qualifying.

Additionally, a bright star in my game right now has been my short game. I have had some amazing up and downs and usually this time of year it's very rusty.

Nice... i shot a mediocre 83 in the cold and wet. No roll, but my short game was decent at least.

probably need to tinker with my new irons... they feel way too long right now, especially the six and seven.

kept the ball in play and didn’t make any dumb mistakes. Need to work on getting into a zen state over the ball. I’m easily distracted.

Unfortunately all US Open local qualifiers have been cancelled... so a big chunk of my early season motivation is now gone ?

Ugh. Sorry to hear... Just think of it as more time to prepare as others slack off! I went ahead and ordered a putting mat for the basement to kill time while home with my girls...

The next few weeks and months are going to be weird... probably good to have something you are preparing for and looking forward to to keep your attention focused. Maybe that's just me...

I feel ya. Competition is my motivation as well and it looks like not much will be happening this year. Will be a struggle to continue to work on the game with no competition to look forward to.

Bummed for you both... I’m still chugging away at my goal of becoming the golfer I feel like I should be... just with different methods!