91... hopefully the first of many.

My brother-in-law and i used the first of our Christmas Tee Times at Fields Ferry Golf Course in Calhoun last Friday and I shot a 91. Granted, the course was a little shorter than usual due to the fact they were redoing the green and had us putting on shaved down fairways, but we figured it out and made the best of it. Lessons are paying off already. Next step, back-to-back 90s.

Today my lessons begin...

Today I began the rest of my golfing life. I began lessons at Sugar Hill Golf Club. He doesn't want to change my grip or my stance and he liked my swing tempo. Seems like all need is to get better at not letting my hands outpace my turn and it's on to the tour from here.
See you on the leader board....

My Par 5 Shortener

Having grown tired of being at least 50 yards behind my playing partners (because I was using a 5-Wood out of the tee box), I took matters to the used driver bin. So today on the advice of my in-laws and friends I picked up an R7 Quad HT with a loft of 10.5 degrees. Wish me luck, and my playing partners, if I ever learn to hit the thing.

APRIL12 Charity Tournament

I got invited to play in a charity tourney in Travelers' Rest, SC. I know, with my game? It was a good friend of mine who invited me. The tournament was a Four-man team, Best-ball format. Fortunately, everyone on my team was better than me, but we still stunk over all. We finished at 1 under. I think the winners finished at about 15 under. I didn't play particularly well. I made a few putts, but that was about it. The drives I did put in the fairway were shorter than the bombers I was playing with. We did use one of my drives out of 18, yep, just one. Had several that were in the fairway, but just shorter than the rest. That's what happens when you hit a 5-wood off a tee. Really need to learn to hit my driver. The tournament was great and definitely something I could get use to. Free golf + free food + gift bag for the wife = great experience.

March 14, Collins Hill

I went out on Sunday Morning in the drizzle and 45 degree chill to see how my first round of 2010 would go. Equipped with my new-to-me Titleist DCIs and a bag full of new Top Flights, I got a 9:20 tee at Collins Hill. My father-in-law and a friend of his (both of whom play in the low 80s) went out with me. I haven't even been to the range this year so breaking the seal with a cold and soggy round made me a little nervous to start, especially playing with guys who can get into the 70s. I began the day with a drive in the fairway on No. 1 (my first 4 drives were in the fairway) and nearly escaped triple bogeys all day. The greens were swamps and every putt I attempted on the front side came up a foot short. But over all, I made good contact all day with. I ended up shooting a 49 on the front and came into the turn with high hopes of playing a better back side and finishing under 100 for the round. A nice round for me, especially since it was the first round of the year and in less than optimal conditions. Alas, it was not meant to be. My wife had her first tennis match of the year at 1:45 and had to get home by 12:45 to watch the kids. I played holes 10-14 at +6. After looking at the clock, and the 6-some playing in front of us, we decided that we needed to skip a couple of holes in the hopes of moving faster and finishing. We skipped 15 and 16, and played 17, which I bogeyed, to finish the round.

Throughout the round I continued to hit long, slow slices.I would line them up so they would begin on the left of center of the fairways and they would end up on the right side of the fairway and often in the rough. Scotty Powell, the friend of my Father-in-Law, Ron Finley, showed me that I was pulling my head off the ball a split-second too quickly causing me to open up too soon and therefore open up my club face at contact. He told me to stay down just a split-second longer. I tried it and it worked. the ball stayed straighter. I still need to work on keeping my front foot down, though. They also recommended I get a leg weight and practice with it to keep my foot still. But overall, I felt good about the round and would have liked to seen how it would have ended which the greens drying up on the backside and scores for all 18 holes.

My mission resumes

With the Winter and the weather (I know both poor excuses for the committed golfer) and now my new twin baby girls, my time for golf has shriveled up to nil. But with the few and far between sunny days starting to show up here lately I am beginning to get the itch again. I have been riding around with my clubs (a set of Titleist DCI's my brother -in-law, Burt, handed me down) in my trunk since the end of January. While at this year's super bowl party I received a gift from my good friend Luke. Among others books, Luke gave me a copy of How to Break 90. I am ecstatic. A) because books are among my favorite gifts to receive and B) it should have been named the official textbook of Project 90 a while ago. So armed with a bevy of wisdom bestowed by Luke I am ready to take up the Project again where I left off.

This is instruction!

I met up with my pals Doug, Luke and Jaime on Friday afternoon and after some discussion they wanted to take a look at my grip. They had me hold a 3-iron and decided that my grip was entirely off. My right hand was laying open on while my left hand was entirely too weak on the club. So they showed me how my left hand was supposed to form a "V" on the flat of the grip and cupped my right hand against my left to form a stronger hold. My pal Doug made this illustration for me from my video. I can't wait to get out there and try this now that it seems the monsoon season may have finally passed.

Foot still, Foot still, Foot still... chunk

I went off again this weekend with my trusty Tommy Armour Silver Scott 7-iron to try to tame my swinging demon. My mission was to keep my front foot still and in turn try to keep my club head from moving in and out at impact. The result was I felt awkward the entire time and had trouble putting the ball in play in a respectable if not an ugly fashion. I put a button inside my sock under the ball of my big toe so that every time I put pressure on it it would remind me to keep it still. The button worked (in the fact that i remembered to remember my foot) but then my weight distribution got all mixed up during my swing and it still moved slightly. If you see anything that may help let me know.

7-iron 3.7.09

I have been told on more than one occasion that I would benefit from professional help. But with today's economy being what it is and the imminent growth of my family playing huge roles I have decided to take matters into my own hands, literally. I am asking you my friends and family (or friends of family or family of friends) for help.

My golf swing is a wreck.

This is your opportunity to let your inner Butch Harmon out. I am fortunate to have both friends and family that play a good bit of golf and are seemingly pretty good at it. Some of you have given advice and some of you will recognize my problems immediately. What I'm looking for are tips that people have heard along the way that may help get this swing on track and keep my game out of the trees and water hazards it is so often surrounded by.

I will gladly take into practice any seemingly helpful ideas. I want to thank you for your help in advance as well as thank you for my playing partners who are constantly bogged down by my inefficient play.

So this is how i see this working. Every so often I will post a video of my swing in progress. I'll check for tips and advice and put them into action. I'll update with improvements and hopefully you will all see my swing improve right before you eyes.

Thank you again for helping with my self-improvement project. project90.

I'll begin by saying (as will be apparently obvious in the video) my grip has never been comfortable. i can't keep my feet still, I look like The Lord of the Dance) and i feel more comfortable standing closer to the ball than I probably should.

Having said that, please, please feel free to break down my swing.

- Josh