Blogging Got Away From Me!

And here's why...


After finishing the bar exam I needed to find myself again and just get back to being happy.  It sounds kinda stupid, and I'll probably look back at this and laugh, but I really felt like I needed to take some time just to enjoy myself and reconnect with the people I neglected throughout law school and the bar exam.
It's been too long since I read a book for fun, played a game all the way through, or dedicated myself to training without always having something irking me in the back of my mind.  I played Dragon Age: Origins all the way through and it was glorious.  I read a bunch of books and they were all good, except for House of Leaves.  That book was horrible.  Don't understand why it got hyped up as much as it did, but I hated it.  Jiu Jitsu training is going really great too.  I'm having a lot of fun on the mat again and it's been too long since I felt happy and at peace while training.
I played a ton of golf over the last few months too.  Feels nice updating the blog's Courses Played page.  Looking forward to write about my adventures on those courses soon!  And about how the driver has been the absolute bane of my existence.

Preview: I Disagree! Respectfully, of course.

I read a really interesting article in Golf Magazine the other day. It was it was a group interview featuring Johnny Miller, Peter Kostis, and Dave Phillips. It was nice reading their perspectives on stuff like Tiger, Rory, and what regular golfers should try to emulate from the pros. Lots of good insights. Even if you don't agree with everything they say, it was an interesting read.

BUT, there was one bit in the group interview where the interviewer asks who the greatest pressure putter of all time is/was and this discussion led to the left-hand-low putting grip, or cross grip. The three interviewees immediately wrote off the technique as bogus. I thought this was really interesting considering the previous question about weekend hackers could learn from pros. This closed-minded view on cross-grip putting, in my opinion, was really wrong.

And I'm gonna elaborate more on that in my next post...

Stay tuned!

The Struggle is Real

So for the past four or five months I've had this problem. A really dumb problem that won't go away.

Last time I blogged about my swing I was talking about a persistent pull, that was about a year ago. Happy to announce that the pull is pretty much gone. I'm actually playing some of the best golf of my life right now. Well, for the three years since we started playing. I fixed the pull by changing my setup and being more conscious about keeping the club face square to the target at impact, or even slightly open if I'm going for a draw.
See, thing is, this whole time I thought I was pulling the ball because I was swinging from the outside. I was kinda right, but not really. I was so focused on swinging from the inside for so long and perplexed that it wasn't fixing the pull. In fact, it kinda made it worse at times and caused a duck hook. I watched a video on YouTube that changed my life. It's kinda silly, but the information helped me so much with my swing.

The YouTuber's name is Gabriel Writer. He's young guy from California with a beautiful swing and a really good attitude. Here's the video:


So yeah, that video really helped me get a grip on my swing. I'm talkin' improved my accuracy exponentially. I've also been working on my short game so my chipping and putting has never been better, BUUUUUUT... My game has a crucial, CRUCIAL, new flaw in it now. I am absolute garbage off the tee. My first shot on any par four or five will almost always result in a penalty stroke. It's a wonder that I'm recovering as well as I am, but if I could only get a hold of my driver, I'm confident that I could break 80 again. Did I write about that? I shot a 78 at Old Brickyard in Ferris, TX last summer. Most amazing day ever. I've gotten close lots of times after. Shooting 81s and 80s, but penalty strokes after botched drives is really wrecking my game. The problems vary between slices and hooks, but for the most part I can't stop topping the ball off the tee. I pure my irons consistently, hit my hybrid like a champ, but driver? Fah'geddaboutit. Super frustrating. Trying to fix it still, but can't seem to get a handle on it quite yet.

I'm gonna write up a round analysis next time I find a minute to sit down and type. Hopefully seeing some patterns will help me with what I need to work on. I mean, I know the problem is the topped shot off the tee, but I think it'd be nice to have it written down for me to look at in the future.

I'm Back!!!

Hey! After a loooooong break from blogging I'm excited to announce that I'm gonna be writing regularly about our swings and misses around DFW again.

A lot's happened and I'm really looking forward to writing about all the amazing experiences I've had since I took a break from writing. I was blogging for BigDGolf.com for a bit and I'm so incredibly grateful for the opportunity the company provided for me. It was an incredibly positive experience and I had the honor of meeting some of the most motivated and charismatic people I've ever had the pleasure of working with.  I didn't cut ties with them officially, but unfortunately during the first half of 2014 I had to focus primarily on all the huge steps I planned on taking this year. I graduated from law school, my wife and I decided to home-school our son, and I sat for the Texas bar exam this past July, to name a few. For the most part this year has been amazing. The bar exam however, was hands down, the most physically and mentally taxing experience of my life. I'm hoping the amount of dedication I put into to studying for that beast was enough to pass. At this point I honestly couldn't say whether I have it in me to take it again, much less study for it.  I don't want any medals or awards... Just please if there's a higher power listening to my thoughts or reading these words... PLEAAAASE let me pass on the first try.

But enough about that, back to writing for my blog! I know this site doesn't get a whole lot of hits, but it's never been about the number of people I reach.  It may sound a little selfish, but I've come to accept that (for now) it's nothing more than a great place for me to exercise my writing muscles and share my thoughts on the game.  Of course entertaining people in the process is always a plus.  I'm not quite sure which direction we're going in, but I do know that I truly feel happy right now at this very moment, typing these words for this post.

I'm playing Bear Creek, East tomorrow with some of my favorite people. It rained pretty good last night so I'm looking forward to some really nice course conditions. No more Texas-summer hard-pan lies hopefully. I could really use a break from those. Here's to hoping tomorrow's round goes well.

My goals for tomorrow's round:

Hit at least two GOOD drives.

Pure as many irons as possible.

Hit at least two GOOD shots with the 3h.

No more than two three putts.

Get up-and-down at least once.

That's five goals, if I complete at least two of them I'll call it a great day of golf! I was invited to a football-watching party afterwards as well. Tomorrow's gonna be awesome. As long as Kaepernick doesn't decide to start the season with an insanely good game. Need him to throw a couple picks, and let himself get sacked a couple times...

My Life Right Now

Finished law school. Studying for the bar exam. It's a nightmare.

I've been highlighting stuff in books during #barprep. I think I'm studying. But I learned today my highlighting is completely arbitrary.

— 5Robots (@5Robots) June 11, 2014