The Journey To The USGA Mid-Amateur–Episode 1

This wasn’t actually supposed to go live until October 1st, but I just couldn’t wait to share my plans for 2019 with you and start this incredible journey off. Anyways, there’s a ton of changes coming to the blog which I will highlight over the next few weeks, but as you can see, video may be a big part of them. For now, enjoy the updates!

Why Wiffleballs Are The Perfect Practice Tool For Wedges In Winter

We’ve all seen them in the stores, and honestly, I see more people laugh about them than actually use them. Still, those little plastic wiffleballs that come in neon orange, bright yellow or plain old white, have way more to offer than you might think. First, I’m not condoning the fact that you should go grab a couple dozen of them and fire them off at your neighbor’s place with a driver, but I am saying that there are some solid off season drills that you can do with these little guys that will really help you sharpen your skills for next year. Let’s break down the amazing sub $10 balls and how you can use them to make yourself a better player almost immediately.

Playing The Bump And Run (indoors)

Some may have a living room the size of Cleveland, but if you’re on a budget, chances are you may have a bit of carpet to chip off of and that’s about it. Even if you only have a floormat, working on your bump and run technique is something that you, a seven iron and a few plastic balls can do very easily all winter long. Just set up the ball on the carpet square take your stance and work on contacting the ball just before the carpet. This should produce a nice soft shot that never leaves the ground by more than a few inches and taps against the wall at the far end of the room. Working on this contact will help your short game consistency enormously and lower you putts by being closer to the hole when bumping the ball onto the green.

Pitching Practice (indoors or outdoors)

The key to playing a good pitch shot is keeping consistent contact with the ball and not hitting in front of or behind the ball. If your contact point is in front of the ball, you will find yourself thinning shots and skulling the ball over the green. If your contact point falls behind the ball, you’ll chunk the shot and leave it far short of your target. While the plastic practice balls aren’t great for getting a feel of flight and distance, they are remarkably good at learning your contact point. That’s the part of your swing that happens just slightly before you hit the ground on your normal swing. The best part about pitching practice is that you can use any wedge you want in virtually any room with these balls and not risk damaging much. Just remember to watch the wall behind you on your back swing.

Catch The Ball (outdoors or a really big room)

So this is actually one that my kiddo loves to play with me. The setup is very easy and the game is even easier. She stands about 15 feet away from me and tries to catch the pitch shots that I hit to her. Now, there are varying levels of difficulty to this game, so if you start mastering level one, try moving onward to a harder version. Level one, as we call it, starts off with her being able to move as far as she needs to to catch the ball. My pitching is still tested as I have to get the ball high enough for her to catch every time, but accuracy isn’t very important. Level two, we change to “no travelling” or two steps maximum. I have to hit every shot as close to her as possible as she only gets two steps from when I hit the ball to grab it. Finally, level three, or the don’t move level. At this point, I have to be deadly accurate with my pitching as she is not allowed to move to get to the ball at all. This one is the best for dialing in consistency of swings and making solid contact every time. If you want to add some fun to it, count out ten balls and score them in multiple sessions. The more catches the better your score. Now, if you don’t have a catcher around, grab a 5 gallon bucket to use. It goes straight to level 3, but it’s worth it in the long run.

Hop The Fence (indoors or outdoors)

If you have a fence, or a door, or anything that you can set up as a “barrier” (even a shower curtain,) you can play this practice game with practice balls. The point of the game is rather simple, but mastering it can be very difficult. The trick is to get as close as you can to the barrier you have, but still have a shot to get the ball over it. The lesson learned in this game is one of the most useful trouble shots you can possess on the course, the flop shot. With just a wedge and a few practice balls, you can entertain yourself for hours trying to beat your personal best. For even more fun, measure you best shot every session and track to see if you are getting better and better.

Jump The Pencil (indoors)

When you’re trapped inside and want to work on something a bit different, try this one out. You’ll need a putter and a few of the plastic practice balls – Whiffle style or solid – and a pencil or similar sized item to ‘bump’ over. What you will do is place the pencil on the ground (preferably on a carpeted surface) and place a practice ball directly behind it – usually within a half an inch or so. This drill will keep your putts rolling true by encouraging you to strike slightly (and I do mean slightly) upward on your putts instead of punching downward at them. By popping the ball over the pencil, you will see more true rolls during the warmer months of the year. Careful not to “drive” the ball though, it only takes a very short, controlled swing to master this drill. Remember, plastic balls work better than real ones or foam ones as this is a contact/loft drill, not a power control drill.

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Paragon Golf Accessories Practice Ball Combo 36 Pieces ($12.95) - https://amzn.to/2NrpyYh

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Golf Fitness–The Journey To 100–The Reboot–Week 8

So, a bit of honesty here… Below is the original paragraph and post that I had written based on my weekly progress for week #8 of the reboot. It didn’t start out being a great week and honestly, I thought it was going to be one of those times where maybe, just maybe, I squeaked in with a 1 pound loss. The scale was locked in the 285.x’s this week and I was all prepared with my “Non-Scale Victories” this week. What I didn’t expect was what I ended up with. I began the week at 286.8, just like it says below, but this morning at weigh-in, I came in at an amazing 284.0. I’m really hoping this wasn’t one of those “fake weights” like I have gotten on two days during this 50+ days in, but we will see tomorrow. That brings the loss for this week in at 2.8 pounds and takes me to 34.6 pounds total since The Reboot started. As good as that is, I had set myself up for a very disappointing week, but here is what the progress looks like so far.

I began the week just passing the 30% mark on the way to my 100 pound goal. I wrote quite a bit about what many refer to as “Non-Scale Victories” and the timing couldn’t have been better. This has been one rough week over all. I came in at 286.8 after a pretty good loss last week, but this week started off just wonky as all get out. The scale was all over the place depending on the time of day and what I was doing. Finally, after everything settled, my weigh-in weight was ____, or a loss of just ____ pounds for the week. Now, that right there is something that I need to change my mindset on. There is no such thing as a “minimal loss” in this journey. I need to start thinking of everything as a step in the correct direction, not in the, “it wasn’t as good as last week,” style format that I normally do about this point in time. Instead of worrying about what others have lost, or what I didn’t lose, let’s look at a few key numbers that are really amazing.

33 POUNDS

Head over to your local grocery store. Walk into the produce section and grab 3 ten pound bags of potatoes and carry them around for 5 minutes. That is the amount of weight I have dropped in just 2 short months of dieting. It’s not a life changing amount yet and I still have a ways to go, but three big bags of potatoes are gone from my body. That’s a pretty amazing start.

8 PANT SIZES

As I mentioned in last week’s post, I was wearing a size 46 pant when all this started a few months back. I am now comfortable in the new size 38 pants that I just purchased. I also had to replace my underwear as it became a bit too loose in too many places. Again, not a huge thing, but WOW, it’s nice to be out of the “big” section at stores.

2 SHIRT SIZES

Moving from a 4XL or a 3XLT to a 2XL is pretty amazing. I’m not 100% of the way there yet, but my old 3XL shirts are starting to fit again and the 2XLT’s they have in the store are a solid yet as well. Even some of the 2XL’s that I held on to from the past are starting to fit a bit better and are even wearable.

These types of things are what this is all about. Feeling better, feeling stronger, feeling like doing more every day. As the month of September comes to a close and the end of month number two on this reboot ends with it, I have nothing but the best thoughts of going into the holidays and enjoying as much golf as I can with my Winter Pass this season. I’ll be making that effort to hit the course to walk 9 holes much more often this winter and I have ever intention of spending as much of my Christmas week break at the course as well. Hopefully this will keep my eye on the prize and keep me moving towards my goal of losing 100 pounds before next season.

So, that was the original post, once again, where I was all set up for a bad week. I was originally going to redraft this whole thing, but honestly, I think it’s just as important to share what I thought was going to be justification of bad news as I did sharing the great news. Lifestyle changes aren’t just about simple results, they are all about the progress of accomplishing something bigger. It sounds stupid to admit this out loud, by at my range session yesterday, I sat down on the back of the van to get my shoes on, just like I had done over and over again over the past few years and I was able to bend down to the ground to tie my shoes instead of lifting my leg up to meet my body half way. People take things like that for granted, but for me, it was such a strange feeling of accomplishment. For the record, my practice session was simply amazing yesterday with even my long irons flying beautifully with a perfect draw…

Yesterday was a good day. As I approach 35 pounds now, I see the half way point in sight. With any luck, I’ll be celebrating my 50 pounds lost on Halloween!

The Tiger Woods Effect…

It wasn’t very long ago that golf had a hero. In fact, he was more than a hero, he was a gladiator, a beast-slayer, a knight in shining armor. He was Tiger. For 10 years, this man dismantled golf courses around the world in record breaking fashion. He won one out of ever four starts that he made. He made charges from the back of the pack late on Saturday’s and held on to almost every lead he had on Sunday afternoon. He didn’t lose. Then, on a fateful day November 2009, golf’s hero fell. Though the man returned for some good seasons, however brief they were, the hero was not there, not any more. People weren’t afraid of t his new Tiger, not like they were of the old one, but all of that is about to change. Almost 10 years removed from his prime, and 4 back surgeries, plus a few knee procedures, Tiger produced a year full of “what if’s” and “could have been’s.” He was a bubble qualifier for the FedEx Cup Playoffs, but sometimes a hero only comes out when the challenge is at its greatest. At East Lake, this weekend, the challenge was there, and the hero did more than appear.

To show the true dominance of Tiger, one only has to look at the official PGA Tour money list from 1997 to 2009. He never finished outside the top 5 earners on tour. In fact, during his full seasons on tour, he only finished outside the top 10 three times when starting more than 10 tournaments. He compiled 79 wins, 14 of which were majors. Golf flourished under his destruction of courses. Brands were built around his drives and swagger. He was golf. He was a hero. After two full years off from golf and 5 years removed from his last victory, Tiger had is opportunities this season, but couldn’t close like Tiger used to. He flittered away shots on courses that he didn’t need to and he just didn’t have the attack that he did even 5 years ago. Again, sometimes that challenge is what is needed to bring out the best in the best, and that was this weekend.

After barely scraping in to the Tour Championship, Tiger Woods did not have a great start to his week at East Lake Golf Club. He started off with a bogey 5 on the first hole, and proceeded to carry that 1 over score to the 5th. After a birdie on five, he never saw a plus in front of his score again for the rest of the tournament. A bird on the par 5 sixth took him to one under and he followed that with birdies on 12 and 14. He continued to grind away at the course, in a vintage style – fairways and greens – until the par 5, eighteenth, where he broke out the eagle dance. He finished the day at 5 under par. He continued building momentum on Friday with an even front side and a 2 under back side, and that was even with a double bogey 6 on sixteen. Seven under after two days had him right in the thick of things before the weekend began, and then, Tiger roared.

Woods virtually destroyed the front nine at East Lake on Saturday. He recorded 6 birdies in his first 7 holes before finally surrendering a shot on the ninth. His 5 under par front side had the 29 best golfers on tour looking back over their shoulders. He played the back side at even par, putting him in the final group on Sunday with Rory McIlroy. It was a match the world couldn’t wait to see play out, but in the end, it was a one man show. Watching the first drive of the day, everyone knew that something was different about this Tiger than what we’ve seen in the recent past. He was hitting the ball solid and finding fairways. He played exactly how he needed to on the front side – fairways and greens – and didn’t have a single slip until the tenth. Even then, by the point he had shown that he wasn’t in complete control of the course, just about every opponent that he faced had fallen away. As the holes ticked by, even with 2 straight bogeys – though 15 could have been far worse! – it was Tiger’s tournament to do with as he pleased. As he hit is approach to the eighteenth green, it wasn’t the dramatic pin shot that we all hoped for, but a green side bunker. From there, he didn’t make the 15 foot putt, but he did make a par.

It was a stunning moment. It was almost a “Tiger-esque” win. The score didn’t reflect it quite as much as it should have, but for the thousands that watched it happen live and the millions more that saw that moment on TV or online, it really solidified that Mr. Woods, now just a handful of years away from Champions Tour eligibility, is ready to dismantle the golf universe once again. No one can put a price on what Woods brings to the game, but for starters, courses around the world were packed on Sunday, no just with golfers, but also with people flooding their restaurants and bars to watch golf. The driving ranges were all a bit busier and getting a walk on time at the local course was a bit tougher than usual on Sunday morning. Even the local golf shops got involved in Tiger-madness with Nike Polo sales and TaylorMade M3 deals. It’s all part of the Tiger Woods Effect. Hopefully, this is the start to greater things, maybe even a few more majors to put him that much closer to Jack’s record. Remember though, in an industry that is losing courses to housing developments and manufacturers that ruled 20 years ago going bankrupt, this game needs a hero, and it just so happens that this hero knows how to win and make it look easy doing so.

Welcome back Mr. Woods.

Top Five: Off-Season Tools For Practice And Play

SKLZ Smash Bag – $24.99

These little guys are amazing to just take out some frustration on as the cold and wet weather settles in. The bag itself is designed to teach proper impact position, which should help you eliminate fat and thin hits in the season to come. The best part about the impact bag is you can use it indoors or outdoors, just remember to check your ceiling height before you start swinging away in the living room.  - SKLZ Smash Bag – $24.99

World Of Golf – Compact Aqua Brush – $9.99

Wet weather play is tough, but if you head to the course, you should be prepared for just about anything. While a towel can take care of most of the issues that a wet winter course doles out, a clean club face is paramount to making good contact. The Compact Aqua Brush from WOG, is a great solution as it offers a softer nylon brush head and the ability to put some clean water on the face of the club to help rise it off before you hit it with your towel. It’s a small price pay for a good clean clubhead. - World Of Golf – Compact Aqua Brush – $9.99

Warm Up Swing Weight – $6.99

These little donuts have been around forever and they are still one of the best tools to getting loose and staying that way. While you can swing an unweighted club all winter long and keep your swing in shape, this 4 ounce weight will help you train your muscles while you do it for just a couple bucks. - Warm Up Swing Weight – $6.99

Collapsible Chipping Net – $34.99

Just because the weather turns nasty, it doesn’t mean your short game has to as well. Whether you are able to chip indoors or outdoors during the offseason, a small chipping net will provide you with hours of practice time a week with real or practice balls. This model features 3 target areas (colors may vary) which means you can have even more fun practicing by playing games and trying to beat your best score all year long. - Collapsible Chipping Net – $34.99

GolfPadGPS App With GolfTags – $99

There is literally no better time to figure out you carry distances than on a wet course. While there are plenty of other tagging systems on the market today, the value of GolfPad’s system is second to none. For $99 you get the GolfTag system and a year of their premium service. The Premium part of the GolfPad system allows for advanced stat tracking and wearable compatibility. club recommendations and my personal reason, an Ad-Free display. Overall, the $20 a year is easily worth the feature set and when you compare it to competitive products in the industry, the $99 down and $20 a year will go out 5 plus years before you get anywhere close to the price of something comparable. - GolfPadGPS App With GolfTags – $99

Golf Fitness - The Journey To 100 - The Reboot - Week 7

Well, there it is, 50 days in (roughly) and I'm still doing pretty well. I came into the week at 289.2 pounds, which was down 25.8 total since the reboot began. As of today, I am down to 286.8 or, as I like to look at it, 2.4 for the week. I couldn’t be happier with the progress so far, but that led me down the path of something a bit different. I weigh myself daily to keep tabs on my progress, but this isn’t something many people should do. In fact, I know that many weight loss programs really try to get people to start looking at NSV's or non-scale victories, so that's what I want to focus on this week.

Non Scale Victories: These are the points that you will hit during a diet that don't count on the scale. A NSV could be something as small as getting your original wedding band on your finger or something as large as replacing a wardrobe. It might be an accomplishment like walking a mile a day or playing a round of golf without needing a cart. NSV's are not part of a diet, they are part of the goal of dieting. From looking better to shopping a normal clothes rack, NSV's set the tone for your life.

The Scale Lies: One of the most common NSV's that I see in most people is definition that wasn't there before. As fat comes off, the weight begins to drop. As muscle builds, our weight can go back up. This is what many would coin "Fake News" and is something that could be detrimental to just about any dieter's psyche. Imagine losing 10 pounds, then walking more, hitting the gym and playing more golf. The next week, you weigh in and you're up 5 pounds. Building muscle mass slows weight loss, but in the long run, you're far better off.

Clothes Speak The Truth: When I started this journey, I was wearing a size 44-46 pant and 3XLT shirts. Most of the time, I would cram into a smaller size just to avoid having to go to the big and tall stores to find something to wear. During my first run down, I made it back down to a 40-42 pant, but kept my somewhat baggy t-shirts around. Well, just 50 days into the reboot, I'm actually back in a size 38 jeans and I'm down to a 2XLT shirt. Again, my journey is just starting really, but for those struggling with numbers on a scale, remember, it's not about what the scale says if all the clothes are getting loose.

My personal journey will be longer than others, but that's OK. I understand that I won't drop my 100 pounds overnight, nor will every week tally up a loss like this week. It may take me 6 months to reach a goal or maybe even 6 years. Either way, I'm taking each day one by one and each drop with a smile. I know there will be days when drops don't come, but that doesn't mean my pants won't fit a bit looser than they did the week before. Non Scale Victories are just as important as the actual number on the scale, and that's the important thing to remember.

My $5 Goodwill Find Is An Offseason Training Treasure

With the wrapping still on it and a $4.99 price tag attached to it, I had to stop and do a double take. Either this was broken and it was going to fall apart when I picked it up or the good folks at Goodwill had no idea what they had put on the shelf. What looked like a child’s iron was none- other than an original, super-heavyweight, “Momentus Swing Trainer” from back in the 1990’s. While it really isn’t anything more than a heavy iron head on a weighted shaft, this $5 find is a killer off season training tool.

Starting out, the club has a very simple look and honestly looks like a child’s iron to the untrained eye. My bet is that this was in a bag that was traded in at my local store and they put it on the shelf without looking anything up. The street price on the “new model” which is the same as the older model is $79.99, so for 84% off, I felt dumb for considering not to get it at first. That moment of doubt faded quickly as this was the perfect solution for swinging indoors when then weather got nasty outside. The only thing missing was the three step DVD, which thanks to YouTube, was no issue at all. From starting out with the basics, the almost 7 minute video highlights how to use the Momentus to work your swing all off season, and even warm up with the club prior to a round. I’m not sure I’m quite ready to add this to my pre-round routine yet, but it’s an interesting idea to say the least.

The Momentus is actually pretty easy to use once you understand the principles behind it. The heavy weight club trains your muscles to engage at the right times of the swing to keep the path and speed correct. You start the swing by pushing the club forward (to a post impact position) about 18” and then begin the backswing process. This “throws” the club back in the correct path and causes your muscles to fire in sequence to hold that path on the way to the top of the backswing. A quick pause at the top of the swing will let your lower body begin the downswing and allow the club to pull your arms back through the downswing, again on the correct path. There’s nothing to crazy about the science involved here, but a weighted club certainly drives the point home.

The last piece of the Momentus is the formed grip. For someone that has spent years on the “strong” side of the fence, going back to neutral over the years has been really difficult. This crazy thing that is lashed to the end of the trainer is something that many would see as a pain, but I see it as a nice reminder of where I could be headed. As my hands take a more natural or standard grip on the trainer, I feel it being less awkward when I try and hold a regular club without my stronger grip. Overall, I’m really thinking that this could be the answer to my needs over the winter months.

Now, not every Goodwill is going to have one of these bad boys on the shelf so if this is something that interests you, here are a few options for you.

• Remove the grip from an older club, fill the shaft with sand and regrip it. This will add the stabilizing weight to the club but be far cheaper than the $70 list price. You can even land the training grip for $8.99 .
• Take an older iron and add a Donut Weight to it for under $10. This will give you the same “feel” as well, but the donut weights can shift. You may find yourself wanting to tape it on there or maybe trying an industrial zip tie to hold it in place. Again you can grab the training grip for $8.99 to complete this setup as well.
• There’s also the grab the old 1 pound ankle weights that someone bought for Yoga class years ago and lash that to the shaft.
• If you are still thinking that the original is worth the investment, you can grab a Momentus on Amazon for about $80 with the training grip or $70 with a standard grip.

Remember to keep the club short (wedge length is best) and watch the video on YouTube to see the proper sequencing for swinging the weighted club. Doing things wrong at the weights of these clubs can seriously mess with your body. It would be the equivalent of heading to the gym and maxing out your bench press on your first lift of the day without warming up. It’s just not a good thing to do. Still, weighted clubs have been used to warm up for a long time, in fact, the Momentus dates back to when I started playing. Back then we used it to fend off the dinosaurs, but as age has set in, it has given me a whole new perspective on how good a weighted club can be. If you haven’t tried one yet, grab a Donut Weight and give it a try. You might find that the benefits are equal to all those speed sticks and multi-$100 training aids that are out on the market today.