BigZ picked up a set of Taylor Made RAC MBs from eBay. Apparantly they were made for the Kenny Perry, one of the most consistent ball strikers for a long time now, and 9th ranked last year on PGA Tour. Were they really made for KP? Who knows. I saw that he was playing the LTs when he won Colonial (check here - .Winner's Bags) but who knows, it might be true. Anyhow, they came with X-stiff shafts and BigZ and I were waiting for them with great apprehension, maybe even a bit of fear.
Well, our fears were well founded. First 10 shots with short irons did not feel that drastically different from the MP 33 with Precision Riffle S300 shafts but always seemed to be starting right and drifting a bit right. The middle irons started showing this even more and ofcourse we understood that we are not loading the shaft enough and that therefore there is not enough kick for the clubface to square in the impact zone. So how do you load an extra shift shaft? I have no clue. I can tell it is not by swinging harder. Trying to swing harder and around (flatter) resulted in one of my most dreaded experiences of repeatable shanks. After 10 or 20 terrible shots I simply gave up and picked up the 33s where I had mixed success, after the loss of confidence from the X-stiff shafts. BigZ had more success - in our fitting session at golf town it was showing that he had more bend in the shaft then I did so this made sense. However, he too felt that he needed to try to swing extra hard with the body while keeping his arms relaxed in order to generate enough load and whip through the impact zone in order to square the clubhead and generate a slight draw.
The conclusion - don't ever play shafts that don't match your game. I have a lazy swing that picks up speed gradually, up to 110 mph on standard length driver - I can play regular flex but the fitting session has indicated that stiff flex is the right one for me and apparently that is so. Trying to play with stiffer shafts than what fits your game can result in long term swing screw up so please, don't do it.
There is a happy ending to the story. I picked up my LTs (recently obtained from eBay) with nice S-flex and went to the range and law and behold, the swing was back. Full shoulder turn, smooth transition, solid contact, straight or slight draw. Just the way I like it. KP, you can keep your clubs - they might fit your swing just fine but not the swing of this amateur.
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
The "New!!!" X-Factor
When you read a lot about golf (as I do - all the golf magazines, any book I can get my hand on) you certainly get a feeling that there is a lot of recycling of ideas and concepts. After all, golf is really a sport, something that requires physical implementation of ideas, concepts and visions that we have for what a golf swing is suppose to be, and believe it or not a lot of it has to do with physical ability to implement those ideas and less with what ideas are. Idea, as per Plato, is the silhouette of reality (or was it the other way around) so in the world of ideas there can be a perfect swing. The reality is that my body that lacks the required flexibility, speed and coordination can only pull of a mediocre swing at best. But still, I study the swings of the great hitters, looking for that illusive magic move that will turn my inept body into a birdie making machine. And I read the new "old" ideas.
One of those old ideas is featured in this months "Golf Magazine". The old X-factor was the concept, at least to my knowledge, coined by Jim McClean to describe the differential between the hips and the shoulders in the backswing which generates power in swing through the employment of elasticity of the big back muscles that snap the shoulders and arms with great acceleration in the downswing. The "new" X-factor is still the differential between the turn in hips and shoulders but not during the backswing but instead in the transition area and further into impact. Now, what really gets my gear grinding (yes I do watch Family Guy) is that this has been talked about just about forever - the hips leading the arms, two cheeks at impact with shoulders trailling and so on. So please, don't talk about the same old concepts by giving them new names. If there is no magic move then don't try to invent one.
BTW what do we know about the magic moves so far? We know that it is different for everyone. Here is what I recall from my readings:
Moe was simply magic!!!
Despite the general flakiness of the instructional videos there is one thing that I must admit I did find clearly explained and can possible consider the magic move: the rotation of the forearms and the palms in the impact area and acknowledgement that timing is crucial component of the swing. This also shows up quite a bit in Leadbetter teachings (L to L) where he talks about the swoosh generated through the release of the arms from one L on the downswing to the other L on the through swing.
One of those old ideas is featured in this months "Golf Magazine". The old X-factor was the concept, at least to my knowledge, coined by Jim McClean to describe the differential between the hips and the shoulders in the backswing which generates power in swing through the employment of elasticity of the big back muscles that snap the shoulders and arms with great acceleration in the downswing. The "new" X-factor is still the differential between the turn in hips and shoulders but not during the backswing but instead in the transition area and further into impact. Now, what really gets my gear grinding (yes I do watch Family Guy) is that this has been talked about just about forever - the hips leading the arms, two cheeks at impact with shoulders trailling and so on. So please, don't talk about the same old concepts by giving them new names. If there is no magic move then don't try to invent one.
BTW what do we know about the magic moves so far? We know that it is different for everyone. Here is what I recall from my readings:
Ben Hogan
Hogans magic move was the kick of the knee towards the ball during the transition period of the swing. This and his weak grip. By pushing his right knee towards the ball he essentially early triggered his hips with proper roll of this right foot creating a wonderfully stable base against which he was able to unleash his arms in widest possible circle that his body would allow. You can read more about this move in Hogan's Secret on Golf Digest site.
Harvey Pennick
Harvey's magic move from the little red book is the weight transfer during the transition coupled with bringing the right elbow (for right handed golfers) close to the body (not across or ahead) which promotes the inside-to-inside golf swing. Currently all the Leadbetter pupils have this move very visible such as Shawn O'Hair and Michelle Wie. This move is also known as dropping the club into the slot.
Moe Norman
Moe was simply magic!!!
AJ on Golf
Despite the general flakiness of the instructional videos there is one thing that I must admit I did find clearly explained and can possible consider the magic move: the rotation of the forearms and the palms in the impact area and acknowledgement that timing is crucial component of the swing. This also shows up quite a bit in Leadbetter teachings (L to L) where he talks about the swoosh generated through the release of the arms from one L on the downswing to the other L on the through swing.
Monday, January 02, 2006
Winter Golf - Camisle in Burlington
Golf in Canada on January 1st
Yes, it is possible and it happened to me. BigZ and I actually played 9 holes yesterday at Camisle Golf Club in Burlington, Ontario. It was fun, great weather but it was nae golf.
It was a rainy day (no, it is not a Pizzaville commercial) or so it seemed. Lots of fog, but what is more important warm - around 0C or 32F for our American friends. BigZ and I play Burlington area a lot, especially Indian Wells, where we have an open challenge with the Spikoman - whoever breaks 80 there gets a free round of his choice at one of the better courses in area - for me that is Osprey Valley, Heathlands, for Spikoman it is Willow Valley and for BigZ it is Lionhead. There are some rumours that Spikoman did it past year but until I see it with my own eyes I won't believe it - I mean I saw him shoot about a gazillion at Saw-whet. A very nice course to me in that area was Lowville where I shot 82 at the opening of the season last year - wouldn't you know it, Spikoman had missed his 3 foot putt for 79 on the 18th there on that day. A great value course on the same stretch of Guelph Line is Crosswinds Golf - it is lengthy, something like 7300 yards from the Blacks but it has generous fairways - bomber's delight.
Anyhow, it was a foggy day (there was no rain after all) and we got to Camisle in no time, most likely because it was January 1st and there was no one on the highway, duh. We took off on Dundas exit from 407 and then turned 300 m further down the road to Guelph Line North and got there, all in all, within 45 minutes from the centre of North York. The entrance seemed very interesting with Stonehenge like structures made out of some serious boulders (couple of meters tall at least) and some other Inukshuks. At first we went to the 18 hole pro shop but since it was a road less travelled, we quickly figured out that this was not where the golf is being played so we reversed to the main proshop and club house. There is a main clubhouse and many smaller, interesting huts that form a village type of environment with the frozen ponds and bridges around - quite nice. Within the proshop there was an open fire wood stove burning and I must admit the smell of the hardwood smoke and the warm reception have started to give me a cozy feeling about the place. We picked up the scorecard and headed to what we thought was the first tee (this was confirmed by golfers finishing of the 9th) full of anticipation.
The weather was soo balmy that my 4 layers of clothing were more than adequate without a winter coat. Double socks helped as well as the tuque - standard issue. So, off to the first tee, clubbag less the woods as we deemed that they would not be needed. The balls of choice for the day were freshly bought (Boxing week sale at Golf-town) Noodle Ice in their pink, orange, yellow and lime colour variety.
This is the first time that we played in the winter and we did not know what to expect. The first view of the first tee was, how shall I put it, somewhat of a disappointment. I mean, the pictures on the web site were obviously taken on a sunny day probably closer to March when there was not that much snow on the ground. The tee itself is a golf range mat - understandably. The fairway is probably a 10 yard wide track of cleared snow - you might see a blade of grass here and there. The green is a circular cleared section that has a quite a bit of ice on it - either on purpose or because the greens hold water differently - with a flag in the middle on a wooden box-like cross structure that allows the ball to go through the middle of it.
Anyhow, the first hole is a par 3 and despite the bulk from the layers I managed to hit it long and right - not my common miss. BigZ hit it short and right. From there we played our balls as they lay in snow - we figured it should play like sand and we were not mistaken. My sand/snow shot landed on the icey green and to my chagrin did not roll to the hole - the snow covering the ice simply kills any roll. So, the way to play the white greens is to hit the ball within 2 yards of your target, nothing less will do. Our simple chip from the icey green hit the flags box structure and we called out our pars knowing full well that we have no clue if we counted the shots right - which brings me to main issue with winter golf, scoring.
There is no purpose of keeping score in winter golf - you can hit the fairway and the ball can hit a patch of ice and jump into the incredibly penal snow rough. A perfectly struck shot can therefore disappear into the snow and what do you do now? Count lost ball? And if you find the ball what do you do? Play it where it lies? On at least 4 or 5 holes I had the dilemma but as any honest to goodness golfer would do I searched for the balls, found them in more cases than not, played the ball as it lies and made in my counting boggies. That is until the 7th when BigZ and I simply decided that this was not fun with by now 5 yard wide fairways and started doing lateral drops from where the ball was found. The scoring issue is very much evidenced also in the green area. Lets say that the winter rules apply - you hit the green and add two strokes under a generous assumption that you would have two putted the green if the conditions were better. You really don't have a way to save a par since it is nearly impossible to hole the putt - mainly because you can't putt so you have to wedge a shot so that it stays in the box which is not a small feat. So, forget about the scoring in winter golf - try to enjoy the fact that you are playing golf when you should not, where you should not.
The rest of the holes up to 8th and 9th were same combination of searching for balls in the snow, not finding what would normally be good shots, (for example I hit the green on par 3 6th but who knows where the ball bounced too) and not being sure what to do around and on the greens. 8th and 9th were even more desperate where we have hit pretty good tee shots that landed just outside the 5 yard fairway clearings and then we decided to just drop lateraly to hit again relatively good shots that were difficult to find around the greens and we simply gave up on trying to treat this as golf. Quoting a saying from the Bruce Edwards Story book - as they say in Scotland - if it is nae rain, and it is nae wind, it is nae golf. Well, if it nae green, and it is nae grass, it is nae golf as well.
Winter golf is not a good way to practice - you can't really practice driving, the hitting surface is not even similar to grass, you can't practice distance control and you for sure can't practice the short game or any finesse shots. One positive in the experience as far as golf is concerned is that you can see your divots clearly - I do this in my backyard as well. You can tell if you are coming properly from the inside.
So, it is nae golf but it does not mean that it is nae fun. It was a great balmy day with my bro on course - it would have been greater if the rest of our families were with us. I think that the kids would have more fun in winter golf than in the real thing.
To finish off the day we drove by Spikomans place to say hi and have him drool at the possibility of playing golf in the winter. Then we rolled off to the Oakville range to take out some rage on the range balls. The same problems persist in my swing as usual and it was not a great hitting day, with the usual pattern of 3-4 power fades followed by the double cross to extreme left and a weak push cut here and there. So what, it is more like golf and I like it. Yes, I like all those crappy shots that we hit on the range while overanalyzing the swings. And while we know that we are not golf pros it does not mean that we can't be serious about the game and try to be the best golfers that we can be. Even in the winter, even on the snow course, even if it is nae rrrreall golf we are the real golfers.
Yes, it is possible and it happened to me. BigZ and I actually played 9 holes yesterday at Camisle Golf Club in Burlington, Ontario. It was fun, great weather but it was nae golf.
It was a rainy day (no, it is not a Pizzaville commercial) or so it seemed. Lots of fog, but what is more important warm - around 0C or 32F for our American friends. BigZ and I play Burlington area a lot, especially Indian Wells, where we have an open challenge with the Spikoman - whoever breaks 80 there gets a free round of his choice at one of the better courses in area - for me that is Osprey Valley, Heathlands, for Spikoman it is Willow Valley and for BigZ it is Lionhead. There are some rumours that Spikoman did it past year but until I see it with my own eyes I won't believe it - I mean I saw him shoot about a gazillion at Saw-whet. A very nice course to me in that area was Lowville where I shot 82 at the opening of the season last year - wouldn't you know it, Spikoman had missed his 3 foot putt for 79 on the 18th there on that day. A great value course on the same stretch of Guelph Line is Crosswinds Golf - it is lengthy, something like 7300 yards from the Blacks but it has generous fairways - bomber's delight.
Anyhow, it was a foggy day (there was no rain after all) and we got to Camisle in no time, most likely because it was January 1st and there was no one on the highway, duh. We took off on Dundas exit from 407 and then turned 300 m further down the road to Guelph Line North and got there, all in all, within 45 minutes from the centre of North York. The entrance seemed very interesting with Stonehenge like structures made out of some serious boulders (couple of meters tall at least) and some other Inukshuks. At first we went to the 18 hole pro shop but since it was a road less travelled, we quickly figured out that this was not where the golf is being played so we reversed to the main proshop and club house. There is a main clubhouse and many smaller, interesting huts that form a village type of environment with the frozen ponds and bridges around - quite nice. Within the proshop there was an open fire wood stove burning and I must admit the smell of the hardwood smoke and the warm reception have started to give me a cozy feeling about the place. We picked up the scorecard and headed to what we thought was the first tee (this was confirmed by golfers finishing of the 9th) full of anticipation.
The weather was soo balmy that my 4 layers of clothing were more than adequate without a winter coat. Double socks helped as well as the tuque - standard issue. So, off to the first tee, clubbag less the woods as we deemed that they would not be needed. The balls of choice for the day were freshly bought (Boxing week sale at Golf-town) Noodle Ice in their pink, orange, yellow and lime colour variety.
This is the first time that we played in the winter and we did not know what to expect. The first view of the first tee was, how shall I put it, somewhat of a disappointment. I mean, the pictures on the web site were obviously taken on a sunny day probably closer to March when there was not that much snow on the ground. The tee itself is a golf range mat - understandably. The fairway is probably a 10 yard wide track of cleared snow - you might see a blade of grass here and there. The green is a circular cleared section that has a quite a bit of ice on it - either on purpose or because the greens hold water differently - with a flag in the middle on a wooden box-like cross structure that allows the ball to go through the middle of it.
Anyhow, the first hole is a par 3 and despite the bulk from the layers I managed to hit it long and right - not my common miss. BigZ hit it short and right. From there we played our balls as they lay in snow - we figured it should play like sand and we were not mistaken. My sand/snow shot landed on the icey green and to my chagrin did not roll to the hole - the snow covering the ice simply kills any roll. So, the way to play the white greens is to hit the ball within 2 yards of your target, nothing less will do. Our simple chip from the icey green hit the flags box structure and we called out our pars knowing full well that we have no clue if we counted the shots right - which brings me to main issue with winter golf, scoring.
There is no purpose of keeping score in winter golf - you can hit the fairway and the ball can hit a patch of ice and jump into the incredibly penal snow rough. A perfectly struck shot can therefore disappear into the snow and what do you do now? Count lost ball? And if you find the ball what do you do? Play it where it lies? On at least 4 or 5 holes I had the dilemma but as any honest to goodness golfer would do I searched for the balls, found them in more cases than not, played the ball as it lies and made in my counting boggies. That is until the 7th when BigZ and I simply decided that this was not fun with by now 5 yard wide fairways and started doing lateral drops from where the ball was found. The scoring issue is very much evidenced also in the green area. Lets say that the winter rules apply - you hit the green and add two strokes under a generous assumption that you would have two putted the green if the conditions were better. You really don't have a way to save a par since it is nearly impossible to hole the putt - mainly because you can't putt so you have to wedge a shot so that it stays in the box which is not a small feat. So, forget about the scoring in winter golf - try to enjoy the fact that you are playing golf when you should not, where you should not.
The rest of the holes up to 8th and 9th were same combination of searching for balls in the snow, not finding what would normally be good shots, (for example I hit the green on par 3 6th but who knows where the ball bounced too) and not being sure what to do around and on the greens. 8th and 9th were even more desperate where we have hit pretty good tee shots that landed just outside the 5 yard fairway clearings and then we decided to just drop lateraly to hit again relatively good shots that were difficult to find around the greens and we simply gave up on trying to treat this as golf. Quoting a saying from the Bruce Edwards Story book - as they say in Scotland - if it is nae rain, and it is nae wind, it is nae golf. Well, if it nae green, and it is nae grass, it is nae golf as well.
Winter golf is not a good way to practice - you can't really practice driving, the hitting surface is not even similar to grass, you can't practice distance control and you for sure can't practice the short game or any finesse shots. One positive in the experience as far as golf is concerned is that you can see your divots clearly - I do this in my backyard as well. You can tell if you are coming properly from the inside.
So, it is nae golf but it does not mean that it is nae fun. It was a great balmy day with my bro on course - it would have been greater if the rest of our families were with us. I think that the kids would have more fun in winter golf than in the real thing.
To finish off the day we drove by Spikomans place to say hi and have him drool at the possibility of playing golf in the winter. Then we rolled off to the Oakville range to take out some rage on the range balls. The same problems persist in my swing as usual and it was not a great hitting day, with the usual pattern of 3-4 power fades followed by the double cross to extreme left and a weak push cut here and there. So what, it is more like golf and I like it. Yes, I like all those crappy shots that we hit on the range while overanalyzing the swings. And while we know that we are not golf pros it does not mean that we can't be serious about the game and try to be the best golfers that we can be. Even in the winter, even on the snow course, even if it is nae rrrreall golf we are the real golfers.
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