April motivation

Go nuts! Not literally. Hope everyone is finding ways to practice... I’ve been home with kids or working.

last month... not sure who else is struggling now, but keep your head up everywhere but the course...

my home club got national news attention for not social distancing...

trying to find motivation but currently just grinding life.

Goals for April: Single handily find the cure to the virus just so I can play golf again. Jk... maybe... My actual goal will be to continue putting and recording videos of myself putting. I have noticed if I dont pay attention I can start to take the putter back a little outside of my intended line. While it will still result in good contact and roll, if it gets worse I will have problems later in the year.

Some good news I dont think I mentioned before, I was able to acquire a membership at a club about 30 minutes away through a company deal. I will pay $650 for the year here instead of the $325 per month at my old club. Obviously this course isnt as nice and most of the play it sees is public, but the greens are in nice shape/quick, I enjoy the layout, it has a range, and it's still 6700 yards from the tips. Stonehedge Golf Course in Tunkhannock, PA if anyone wants to take a look. (This is also where I am getting married in September)

So once they reopen and I'm allowed to play again I will be out there grinding after work. Now I just need to rework my tournament schedule and figure out what I'm playing for this year.

March was not a good month for practice. A lot of rain and I spent my free time playing instead. The range also closed for a week or so but looks like it reopened yesterday. Hopefully I actually make some time to go use it at some point.

The Manuel de le Torre swing pattern caught my eye recently with a couple of the posts here. I ordered the book this morning and am looking forward to giving it a try. So that's my goal for this month, along with my normal ones of chipping practice and bunker practice.

Practice is going to be something that I will need to get inventive with this month. Everything is on lockdown at my Club and all the other facilities anywhere near where I am. Beyond a ridiculous amount of putting in the evenings, my practice this week and over this weekend will be restricted to hitting into a net in the back garden and then some chipping. I own my own business so I have been heading into the office to work, I am the only one in there, so I have been driving past my Club every day on way to and from work, it is surreal seeing the car park completely empty every time I do.

Beyond that, I am looking at this as the chance to get some more physical work in. I had done some, but not enough in January through March and I had been worried about lifting too heavily and then having to play golf but that option is not completely gone. I have been able to source a barbell from a local gym that is shut meantime and I am going to get myself busy with that at home whilst the gyms here are shut as well.

We got 30cms of snow yesterday :( so depressing. Just working on the big moss putting mat.

Wife is a certified Yoga instructor and have asked her to show me a couple of stretches since I am unable to go to the gym right now.

Glad April’s up!

I’ve been plowing through my back yard with my 8 and 4i since the lock down started in LA.

It’s so weird since everything is closed. I’m used to being at work 11 hours a day, but now only able to do internal prepping for my work at home. I became a teacher for my 3 and 5 year old, Family cook, dishwasher, cleaner, and builder of what ever comes via amazon for my wife. I also became a punching bag for my 2 girls and wife, I come from a family of 4 boys, this is crazy!! Females play emotional chess to win, I’m not use to this- all while trying to improve my game.

Rant over, for April I’m seeking more feed back. I want to work on full swing, short game, and putting.

full swing- I will work on ingraining a flat wrist at the top.. this is something that always gets away from me. I was really close to buying a mevo a few months back but didn’t pull the trigger and saved my money since ball flight at the range was my feedback. Now, since all these changes, I’m half glad and half sad but it’s ok.. it’s just feelings, but I still seek feed back. Since I don’t have ball flight(hitting into a net) or a mevo, I saw on another thread about foot spray... awesome! I’ll focus on quality of contact(no thin of fat shots) with center face contact(foot spray) while working on form.

short game- I can’t really see the roll and I only have 15 yards so I’m going to tie a high, mid, and low hula hoop to the net(since it’s pretty tall) and practice hitting it into the “windows” with a low/mid/ high chip/ pitch shot.

putting- I gotta invest in a Matt which i plan on doing. My swing coach recently put up a putting drill during the time of quarantine I’m planning on working on. I never worked on grip posture alignment with my putter, it’s time to work.

really looking forward to see everyone’s updates and improvements during these crazy times.

Ha! Yeah... I'm an "essential employee" (I work as a shift supervisor for Ryder) so I'm in the office 8-10 hours a day... my wife is "working from home" with our 4 and 6 year old girls... thus when I'm home, it's Daddy time. Just grinding out life right now. Need to bring a putter back down to the basement to roll putts while my daughter watches TV. That's about all I get to do, other than when I take them to the course.

I played 9 on Sunday, but no warm up and all the time spent on the mats + new, longer clubs + mud = lots of fat shots... I was driving and putting decently, but just couldn't hit an iron. Still adjusting to new clubs. Need time on real grass.

I'm working on a positive mental attitude and convincing my 6 year old to go to the course with me... it's not much an opportunity to practice, as I have to monitor her, but it's better than nothing.

Please be extra careful out there bro.

Ah the good ol “work all day then get home and it’s dads turn routine”- good times!

That’s awesome you take your kid out with you. Since I’ve been home lol- I’ve noticed doing anything while monitoring a kid (or 2) is equal to a only being half present or less during a task.... Maybee this will help your mental game :)

Im now numb to people talking in my backswing... pulled the trigger on clubs for the six year old. $125 for an eight piece callaway set that is slightly too big for her.

she’s been really upset by all this stuff and is tired of being in the house... planning on using golf as an escape for both of us.

if I had the cash on hand, I’d buy a cart.

I got some chipping practice in yesterday afternoon. If nothing else, it looks like I was giving the little man some inspiration.

Nice! I took my six year old to the range yesterday.... she took driver swings while I hit pitch shots at a towel. It was lovely. We ended up using a grass growing area behind the pool as the regular range was full.

The only positive I am taking from the Open been cancelled is that my goal has been to get down to scratch and have the chance to apply for local qualifying for the 150th Open. There is no danger that I would be in with any hope of going in there and shooting a horrendous qualifying score but to just be able to say that I tried for the 150th Open is something I want to be able to say.

I like this goal. Might steal it.

at a 5.5 now and finally dedicating time to my short game.

i am an essential as I work in a power plant. I also live on a closed course. This allows for lots of chipping/putting. I’m also getting very acquainted with Planemate so 8m hoping for good things in another month or so.

Stay safe!

I thought that it was something to at least have on the horizon to work towards. It might be possible but it’s something to at least try and work towards. My thinking is that the worst case scenario (I hope) is that I get at least a little bit better.

I just found out they moved the US Open to my honeymoon week. So even if they do host local qualifying sometime this year, I won't be able to do it. But they have rescheduled some local events that I will now be playing in, so hopefully I can get my game in shape and try to win the spring stroke play on June 1st.

As for putting inside, I am lost and have no idea what putter I want to use this season. I think my new putter has too much toe hang for me, which is sad because I kinda liked it. Good news is I have a month of putting inside to figure it out.

quick update:

short game- the hula hoop thing was a total fail lol. I kept flopping it over the net and fence(next door was not happy). Ended up hitting 10 yarders into a Home Depot bucket.

thought about buying a putting Matt but remembered this:

Ben Crane touts Toyota Camry trunk carpet as the best indoor putting surface. Seriously - Golf Digest

And tried this:

its a win.

Full Swing- my coach sent feed back(Online lesson) and it’s amazing! The way he keeps finding new feels/ new ways to show me how to perform a move I don’t get, its pretty awesome! I feel I’ll be able to pick up some speed before this lock down is over! time to grind it in.

That setup is pretty innovative lol.

What website and coach do you use for online lessons? and do you currently just send him videos of you hitting into the net?

lol thanks! - must admit, felt good to roll some putts.

my swing coach is Mark Odenthal, he’s an assistant of George Gankas. Dudes knowledge and understanding of the swing and Communication skills are awesome.

I posted a thread about him some time ago on how I reached him:

a few wrxers PM’d me and took in-person/ online lessons from him and had some awesome experiences as well.

I take a “down the line“ and a “face on” video hitting into the net with a mid iron. I text him the videos and he sends back a voice over of my swing video I sent and points out the issues. He sends additional videos of him with explanations, fixes, and feels to work on like "hey Tim, I want you to try this movement and the feel is this(demonstrating the move)"..

His online lessons are really effective for me.

currently I stall my rotation and slide so I’m working on rotating through. I’ll post a before and after video as soon I get it down.

Chasing Scratch, one of the motivators for this post, is coming back on April 22nd... As a 38 year old man with 2 kids and no time... the podcast resonates with me... anyway, to steal another part of the podcast.

Honesty Hour:

I'm not going to productively improve my golf game right now. I don't have the time or access to the things I need to do it. Kids are out of school, wife is working from home... Today was the first day I've gotten on the course to practice or play in over a week. Got some putting in on Monday while the girls terrorized the course, but it wasn't conducive to actual practicing...

Today, I played a quick six but forgot my putter :-) Since I play one course 90% of the time, I'm still thinking about strategy on the course and trying to get out, get exercise and relax.

So my April motivations are as follows: Stretch and lift when I can... make sure I'm staying loose. Get in range time (we are still on mats, not conducive to working on my swing) when I can. Sneak in golf when I can but not worry about score right now... Just focus on making good shots and rolling putts. Keep focusing on strategy and working out my mental game so I have a plan on every hole.

Received an email yesterday from my new club stating that they would be open and adhering to social distancing regulations. Got very excited and was ready to go after work, but less than an hour later they sent another email saying they were actually closed. Not sure when everything will open again, but I cant wait to get outside to putt. I think I may have found something, but I will have no clue if it works until I get outside

I'm trying to catch up. How's it going with your daughter? I have seen a few parents on the course with their younger kids. It's a private club and has some slow time. Last evening I watch a father playing and his daughter was running down the fairway having a good ole time.

I guess I'm one of the 'luckier' ones in that our course remains open.

I have made it to the range I think three times so far this month, not counting range time before playing. I'm working on a 'new' swing but it's really a simplification. The early results are semi positive. I have moved impact with my irons from the toe of the club to the heel. It was fun when i started to shank and had to fix it. Luckily that was easy. My ball striking has gotten worse overall but I think it's the cost of getting to a better place. I'm not to worried about it. My good swings are very good.

My sand game is falling off hard and it's directly related to me not practicing it. I must get back into my routine to hit a few sand shots each time I go to the range.

hope everyone In the wrx community is safe and well.

oh wow! That is foul playing with your emotions like that. I feel you with the grinding at home, it's just not 100% real until tested and transferred to the course.

awesome you have access, please keep us updated on the progress.

California extended the “stay at home” till 5/15. I painted one room successfully and now my wife wants me to remodel the whole house starting with new floors.. I replied “this isn’t a movie”, but she wasn’t having it so here we go.

Itching to play! Making some progress with the swing, I’m reinforcing the transition to impact and will clean up me BS after I get this locked.

the golf swing is crazy, something I was taught 7 months ago just kicked in now. Thousands upon thousands of balls later I feel a move and it unlocks a memory like a old Kung fu Martial arts movie where a student flashes back to a master telling him to wax his car or something.

Good news is my wife mentioned why I don’t get a “video game thing like they have at the golf shops” to see where my ball is going.. but, its just too expensive to spend that amount of cash right now so I'll wait, just felt good to hear some support.

Kids are going stir crazy.... our course is still open, but just inaccessible for me since I'm in dad mode at home and work mode at work... We ended up renting a cart from the club that's now parked in the garage... I'm hoping I can get the kids out of the house in the morning and up to the range... It's not super productive time for me, but it's better than watching them watch cartoons.

Probably need to start motivating to get up earlier and work out and stretch in the AMs.

Well the practice may have helped. I went to the range a couple times last week and was hacking the ball all over the place when I played Friday and Saturday. Spent some time on the range Sunday. Nothing Monday or Tuesday. Went out for 9 today and shot a PR 41. I'm currently a 28.1 index.... My previous best ever 9 hole round was a 42 when i was closer to a 19 index. It could be a flash in the pan though, lol.
@Myherobobhope Those days are long behind me. You might be able to play 9 with the 6 yo riding along with you. It's hard to say but I've seen some families with younger kids on the course. The kids tend to run around a bit but if it's not busy and they don't run off on ya....

Nice work on the 41! Breaking 85 soon is definitely doable. Just keep at it...

Yeah, the 6 year old might ride with me for 9... I tend to take her up and we play one hole when it's slow... I'll probably buy some glow in the dark balls soon.

To an extent I've been able to set up an indoor chipping area - A cupboard in my spare room has three shelves which I've filled out with towels and what not, it's been quite fun chipping in to it and varying ball flights.

I've also dug out a couple of training aids

First an old Yes! golf putting arc board so I'm determined to come out of isolation with a better putting stroke than I went in to it with!

Secondly, does anyone remember the old leader board training aid Stuart Appleby used to advertise? That was still in the loft so I may have a little play with it again!

Stay safe everyone!