Went to the range yesterday with Salman, Soks, and Alisa.  I bought waaaaay too many balls and so did Salman.  I was exhausted at the end just trying to blast through the last fifty or so to get it done.  I really struggled with driver in the beginning.  Constant duck hooks and just couldn't get the ball going where I wanted it to.  Towards the end of the session I tried creating a new feel because the way I was swinging was really aggravating my right wrist and elbow.  I was rolling to club super hard and it was causing me a lot of pain so I tried narrowing my stance some and seeing if that would help me keep the "wide-wide" swing thought going.  The last couple dozen drives were perfect except for a couple pushes out straight to the left.  My ball flight 90% of the time now is a nice draw where I want it to go and I'm pretty happy about it.  So now the new swing thought is "Wide-Wide Don't stand too wide."  Feeling good about my swing.  Even hit my fairway wood pretty okay towards the end.  Need to play a course again soon.

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Riverside with Soks, Salman, and Norman

This was such a fun round.  The weather was perfect, but super super windy.  We definitely all struggled playing the front nine because a lot of the holes were into the wind.  My 4 iron barely reached 170 yards on one hole.  

I actually played driver this time and it went really well!  I tried a new swing thought I came up with on the range: "Wide-Wide" meaning stay wide on the takeaway and stay wide on the follow through when I release after the ball.  I noticed during warmups that my bad shots with driver happened because I was trying too hard to control the club after impact.  My hands were wrapped around me and the finish just felt ugly.  So I tried thinking "wide-wide" and the results were pretty much instant.  I was worried it wouldn't translate onto the course because these kinds of things never do.  Everyone knows that their driving range game is much better because there isn't any pressure to perform since you always have another chance.

I took driver out on hole 2, a big dogleg left that turned at almost 90 degrees around a tall hill with lots of bushes.  I knew that if I carry my ball about 240 I'd have a pretty good chance at reaching the green in two.  I aimed left at a giant tree behind the hill and thought to myself that the line I was choosing gave me enough room to hit a draw or a cut.  I always set up for a draw since that's become my natural shot shape.  The only thing to consider was hitting it flush and making sure it wasn't a gigantic slice out left.  I needed to carry and that's all.  "Wide-wide."  Pure.  Dead straight with a slight cut only because the wind pushed it slightly off line to the left.  One of those shots where I could pick up my tee while the ball was still in the air because I knew it was good.  Salman couldn't believe the line I took, but using the Hole19 app I was pretty confident in my strategy.  Relatively high risk but huge reward.  My ball ended up perfect on the short grass to the left of the big tree in the middle of the fairway.  I had 180 yards to the green and I hit a 5 iron flush but missed it just left.  Nice and easy chip onto the green, simple two putt for a par.  I had a ten footer for birdie but I'm okay with missing it.

What I wasn't okay with, was the next par 5 that I almost reached in two.  My ball was just short of the green so I had a simple chip towards a flag that was maybe 20 feet away from me.  My chip for eagle LIPPED OUT!  I had a six footer for birdie that I missed.  Tap in par.  Happy but wish I could've carded my first hole under par for the year.  So close!

Overall it was a really great round.  Hit some awesome shots.  Duffed a few chips.  But my driving was consistent the entire round.  My best drive of the day was on the back nine where I needed to carry 250 to clear a cluster of small fairway bunkers.  I hit it dead straight on my line and hit a downslope that left my ball nicely on the shortgrass.  Another easy 5 iron to get onto the green in two.  Missed it slightly right, but what matters is that I hit an awesome drive again.  

Best shot of the round for me was the 4 iron off the tee on hole 15.  I hit that club pretty well most of the time, but I hit one of the most perfect baby draws of my life off the tee box.  Excited to play again.  Happy with where my game is going.  My short game wasn't as sharp as it was at Watters Creek, but I'm happy I was able to get off the tee consistently the entire round. 

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Pecan Valley (Hills) with Soks & Salman

 Took me a bit to write about this round.  We played Pecan Valley two weeks ago but it's been pretty busy at work and I've had a lot of life stuff to sort out as well.  I wanted to get my thoughts down on this round before we play again on Sunday though, so here we are.  

The course is pretty great!  A really fun layout and I think next time I'm going to walk the course instead.  Especially if the weather holds up the way it has been in the last few weeks.  Beautiful fall golf weather is here!  The greens were okay, maybe a B-.  They were extremely slow at first and sped up a ton on the back nine.

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The round was great overall.  Salman played EXTREMELY well considering this was his first round in over a year, and Soks continues to make progress with his game every time we go play.  This year has been a nightmare.  Staying indoors for months, working from home, transitioning to a new job, and dealing with this new way of living has been pretty taxing on everyone's mental health.  I'm so glad we got back into golf which gives us an activity we can do together relatively safely and introduce a bit of normalcy back into our lives.  

Key takeaways from my round from what I recall: 

• Ball striking was super great.  Hit tons of shots pure but again my accuracy needs improvement.  Not mad at it though, because hitting good feeling shots is 99% of the reason why I play.
• Driving was great (on the range).  Absolutely abysmal on the course.  Still needs lots of work.  Understandable because my driver is about 5 years behind the rest of my clubs.
• Wedge play was really really great.  I didn't chunk or blade a single pitch or chip.
• Putting was... okay.  I felt good about it for the most part but there were tons of putts I think I should've holed.  Like the stroke was good, but this whole season I've been fighting hitting putts short and low.

Can't wait to play Sunday.  The course we're going to looks really tough, so I might not have too many chances to hit driver, but hopefully we can hit as many flush shots as I did at Pecan Valley.  

Oh, and despite being the cheaper of the two courses, I definitely like the Hills course better than the Rivers course.  Yelp review incoming.

Mansfield National with Soks

 MUCH BETTER.  It's amazing how for beginners like me, the right playing conditions can make such a huge difference.  I didn't get to warm up so I pushed my 6 iron off the first tee way out left and almost out of play, but it stayed up in the rough at the bottom of a hill.  I hit a short iron towards the green and missed it slightly right, chipped on and got an easy two putt for a bogey.  I was in a good mood and felt happy with how I played the hole.  My mood stayed pretty consistent throughout the round and it showed on my score card.  

Most important factor: It wasn't crazy hot or humid, and I was wearing shorts!  Not making excuses for how poorly I played at Coyote Ridge, but I was dying that round because I wore pants in 100 degree heat with maximum level humidity.  My glove was drenched with sweat and sliding all over the place too.  

Mansfield National is easily one of my favorite courses.  It's fair and fun to play as long as you're conservative off the tees.  I only felt comfortable hitting driver two or three times, and two of them went out of bounds lol.  I probably could've shot lower if I continued to keep my tee shots between 190 and 220 with my hybrid and long irons.  That's not what it's about tho.  I'm not competing, I'm trying to improve my game.  I always play off the front tees with my friends and hitting driver doesn't really make sense on most holes, especially if I'm looking at fairway bunkers about 20 yards short of my best-case-scenario carry distance with driver.

Soks played really well too.  He's blasting it dead straight down the fairway with his new Ping G400 SFT driver and we're all really happy for him.  Like me, Soks' tee box game was a source of frustration at times, but this new club has given him so much confidence.  I'm sure he'll be breaking 100 in no time.

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Played a really solid round of golf with Soks last week. Definitely my best round out of the three I’ve played in 2020. Not just because of the score but with how I felt over every shot. Soks played really well too! It was nice seeing him kicking ass and feeling good about his game. . . 🦖 . . (Blog link in bio) #golf #golflife #lordsofthelinks #juno #soks #golfswing #mansfield #texas #mansfieldnational #hot #summer #outdoors

A post shared by The Fellowship of the Swing (@lordsofthelinks) on Sep 12, 2020 at 6:25pm PDT

As for me, I'm not really too worried about my score right now.  I spend a lot of time thinking about my game and what I can do to build the kind of golfer I want to become.  Looking over my three rounds this year (without taking Coyote Ridge into account because I wasn't playing like myself that day), there are a few things I know I do well and lots of things I know I need to work on:

• If I'm playing a hybrid or long iron off the tee, I know I'm going to hit my distance and will hit the fairway more often than not. 
• My miss is usually a push to the left or I over-correct and hook the ball right.
• I miss too many fairways and I miss them equally to the left and right. 
• More often than not I strike my irons really well, but my accuracy is questionable.
• I miss too many greens in regulation, and it's the only reason why my putting numbers are so low.  I'm always chipping from around the greens.
• My chipping and pitching is pretty solid.
• But it's not solid enough to where I'm in one-putt range consistently.
• I two-putt from distances where I should be one-putting. 
• I can't hit driver to save my life.
• I can't hit 3 wood consistently enough to trust it off the tee.

That's my game in a nutshell right now.  It's easier said than done, but I think if I can get my driver under control and start using it more on the golf course, along with my 3 wood, I could give myself easier shots into the green.  I'd rather hit a 135 easy pitching wedge into a green than a hairy 8 iron.  So fairways in regulation with my longer clubs is going to be my primary focus for the next few rounds.

Coyote Ridge with Thomas

Played Coyote Ridge in Carrollton for the first time with Thomas last week and it was BRUTAL.  It was super super hot and very humid.  The temperature was lower than our round at Sugar Tree, but the humidity made it feel so much worse.  Especially because I was wearing pants.  Huge mistake.  That being said, the round was a mess.  I started off strong with two good pars, but it quickly collapsed after that.  The clubhouse by the way is AMAZING.  The course overall was really great too.  If I ever get my life on the level to where I can afford a membership to a golf club I think Coyote Ridge will be at the top of my list of choices.

Alignment is what killed me all day.  Every time I set up to the ball I just didn't feel confident that I was swinging down the right path.  Every time I set up my shot, stood over it, and looked I would make an adjustment and second-guess myself before my swing.  I was spraying it all over the course and missed fairways equally left and right.  I watched a video from Chris Ryan about alignment and completely reworked my whole pre-shot routine.

I ended up with a dishonest 105.  Probably closer to 115 considering all the mulligans I gave myself out of frustration.  I was drained, BUT, I still had a really good time.  Coyote Ridge was BEAUTIFUL, and totally lives up to its name.  On a par 3 a huge coyote snuck onto the green and passed between my ball and the hole.  It was terrifying.  I picked up and gave myself a two putt because I was about 12 feet away.

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New pre-shot routine: 

• Stand behind the ball and imagine a line from the ball to the target.
• Address the ball with my club only and very carefully aim the club face at an intermediate target on that imaginary line.  (IMPORTANT: keep stance and body open to the target while carefully aiming the club face)
• Keep the club face in place and set your feet up around the golf club.  Focus on not adjusting the club face anymore.  (Think: "Trust the line. Commit to the line.)
• While in a good golf setup turn your head to glance at the target so that you're looking at it from a tilted perspective.  DO NOT raise your head so that your eyes are parallel to the ground.  This will skew your perception of your aim.
• Initiate back swing and commit to the line.

20 Most Beautiful Golf Courses in the U.S.

 I tried embedding a tweet from Golf Digest, but the slideshow wasn't working.  Found the same list on Yahoo so I'm just posting a link to that instead: 20 most beautiful golf courses in the U.S.

Definitely need to hit some of these spots up with the crew.  I'll be updating the Bucket List page at some point or another with these 20 courses.  I know some of them are super exclusive and we probably will never get to see them outside of a video game, but you never know what the future will bring.  Who would've thought last year that I'd be in this new office, wearing an N95 mask, feeling thankful, after how trying this year has been for everyone.

Free Music for Videos!

 Found this cool website.  Saving it here for next video editing project!

Improving our Mobility

I found this video by the CalisthenicMovement YouTube channel last week and I'm making sure to do this at least five times a week.  I struggle a lot with shoulder mobility and overall tension in my upper body.  I want to improve my flexibility overall mostly for quality-of-life gains, but of course it can only benefit my athletic performance in golf and other sports.

The routine is really simple and only takes about 4-5 minutes so there's really no excuse not to do it.  There are three "flows" that you have to follow, and each flow is a sequence of movements that you're supposed to hold for only about 5 seconds.

Flow #1: Deep Squat - Pike Stand Reach - Cobra

Flow #2: Archer Squat - Shaolin Sit

Flow #3: Toe Touch - Easy Bridge

Ironically, Easy Bridge is by far the hardest movement for me.  I've dealt with chronic pain and stiffness in my right wrist for over 20 years after I blocked a kick at Taekwondo practice during my senior year of high school, so putting my hand flat on the ground and bridging is really painful.  Still gonna do it tho!  It's really only still stiff because I haven't been disciplined enough to rehab it properly.  Just this last week I've noticed significant improvement in my wrist flexibility so I'm going to keep working on it with this mobility routine.  Can't wait to see how I feel in 60 days.

Our First Round of 2020

What a beat down

Last week Alisa, Soks, Thomas, and I drove out to Lipan, Texas to play our first round of 2020 at the Sugar Tree Golf Club.

The course was pretty short in terms of yardage, but boy did it make up for it with narrow fairways, sharp dog legs, and lots of water.  Thankfully all the bunkers were filled in so that wasn't a factor, but it was definitely a huge challenge to stay out of the jungle. 

It was Alisa's first round ever too!  Really great that she got to come out with us and experience what it's like to play a full 18.  She played really well, and was shockingly good with the flat stick.  

Overall it was a super fun round.  The heat was really intense.  I think the high that day was maybe around 102 degrees.  Thankfully there was a bit of a breeze and I came decked out in solar sleeves, leg sleeves, and a neck gaiter that I could wear over my face, neck, and ears.  I probably looked pretty ridiculous, but I've suffered enough sun damage to last me a lifetime and I definitely don't want to make this ridiculous farmer's tan any worse!  We made sure to apply sunscreen before our round, and reapply every few holes with the sunblock spray that we brought with us.

Normally with rounds that hot I end up dealing with a headache after the turn and just try to power through it but this time I was really determined to hydrate well so that I could play my best.  I hydrated like crazy the night before, and I brought a gallon of water (that I stored at room temperature), a liter of Pedialyte, and a box of Pedialyte powders that you're supposed to mix into bottles of water.  By the end of our round on Sunday I consumed the entire gallon, the liter of Pedialyte, and drank two bottles of water with the powder mixed in.  Zero bathroom breaks.  That's how hot it was.  It worked though!  I left Sugar Tree feeling fine with only a mild headache that I think was mostly due to fatigue than dehydration.

Gonna draft and post a Yelp review here in a few. 

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How to Hit Driver Straight, by Danny Maude

I saw this video by Danny Maude, and it was like he made this video just for me.  I've been hitting driver pretty well in the last month but I still feel like it's one of my two most inconsistent clubs.  The other one being the new three hybrid I'm still getting used to.  This video addresses exactly what I've been feeling before impact.  I'm rolling my hands to try and steer the club face.  Watched this vid a few times and can't wait to work on it.  What's funny is the same day I saw this video I actually did what Danny says to on my last swing but completely by accident.  I remember trying to see what would happen if I swung at the ball 100%, and doing so made it impossible to roll the wrist and I just pulled the grip through the ball.  Ball went dead straight and super far.  

Probably not going to play driver when we play this weekend at Sugar Tree because the course is pretty short and the holes where I could play driver the risk is just too much.  I want to make my first round of 2020 a good one by focusing on course management and staying in play.

Me & My Golf Gives Swing Advice

Andy and Piers asked on twitter what we need help with the most in our game and this the vid they gave us:  

https://t.co/VHrpDNvNrz

— Me and My Golf (@Meandmygolf) August 4, 2020

New Logo!

Made a new logo that we'll be using for social media, etc.

Words of Wisdom by Moe Norman

“Golf is to have fun,” he told me toward the end of our conversation, repeating a theme he had brought up before. “What do you have to lose? A lousy ball, that’s all. If you lose yours, grab another one out of your bag and hit it. That is what the game’s about, and that is the first thing I was taught 55 years ago: Have fun. Most golfers don’t see the bright things. All they see is the bad.

“But if you see the bad things, that’s where your mind will take you. If you drive a car down the road and look at the sidewalk, where do you think you’re going to put the car? It’s the same thing on a golf course. People see only trees and water. But I don’t. To me, they are only there as an ornament. They are there to make the course look nicer. All I see is the tee, middle of the fairway, and middle of the green. That’s golf. I hit my 18 fairways and 18 greens, and go on to the next day.”

“Gee, Moe,” I said, “it must be boring for you.”

“Like heck it is,” Norman said. “That’s fun.”

From The Story of Moe Norman, golf's troubled genius.

Dead Bugs and Planks

No more excuses.  I got the heavy bag set up so I can train with my Muay Thai coach who's offering to teach me remotely on the weekends. I also got a really nice weight set with enough weight to keep me busy for a very long time, battle ropes, jump ropes, ab wheel, curling bar, kettle bell, and a jogging stroller for when it's not so hot outside.

This year's been bad for everyone.  Too many have lost their lives and loved ones.  Millions have lost their jobs and their future is uncertain.  Gyms and businesses are closing, people adjusting to what might be the new normal for the foreseeable future, and an overall feeling of helplessness living in America with so many people including government officials not doing their part to get us moving past this like so many other countries already have.  The whole situation led to a big decline in my overall well-being and my physique and fitness declined to a pretty extreme degree.  

But it's time to pick up the pieces and get back to work!  I survived, and I can't keep moping around feeling sorry for myself over things I can't control.  I've been working out pretty consistently since I got the weight bench set up last weekend and I'm feeling fantastic.  I'm working in some core strength exercises to speed up the process because sitting on the couch for over a third of the year has all but erased the foundation I need to pick up heavy stuff and move my body quickly.  Yesterday in-between sets I did one-minute planks.  Felt really good and got some great core activation.  I'm going to keep doing planks and plank variations till it isn't hard anymore before moving on to the harder core strength routines.

I found this great video yesterday by Jeremy Ethier and I'm excited to add this move to my daily routines:

Going to work on this move every day so I can get myself back on track.  Stretching every day in the office has helped a lot too with getting my mind right.

Overall, I'm feeling completely different from how I was feeling six weeks ago.  Six weeks ago I was at rock bottom, feeling like I wasn't getting anywhere in life, and just not knowing where to start.  Now I'm working a new job, golfing with my friends again, training regularly, getting things done around the house, and most importantly I'm feeling that nagging itch again of seeing how I'm unfinished and ready to launch myself to new heights.

No more excuses.  And when I do make excuses, I acknowledge what they are, give myself a few minutes to relax, then pick myself up and get back to work!

2020 won the 2nd and 3rd round, but I'm fully recharged and about to knock its ass out.

Range session last night with Juno & Thomas

Key things I worked on last night that I don't want to forget (besides that sweet drive I hit at the end of the session):

I need to remember the 10 words of the stack & tilt system BEFORE I set up to the ball.  Namely,

• Weight Forward
• Shoulder Down
• Hands In
• Arms Straight
• Tuck Hips (butt under torso)

At address, I need to trim it down to "Weight Forward" when I set up to aim, and my trigger to start my back swing is "Shoulder Down."  I've noticed that when I'm conscious of "Shoulder Down" I tend to make consistent impact with the ball first turf second. 

With driver and fairway wood I need to approach them with the same mentality as my 7-iron now that I switched to stack & tilt.  I'm fighting a push and a bit of a pushy cut (not quite a slice) with the driver, but that's because I'm still working on trusting the tee height since I haven't hit the club very much in the last six years.  "Shoulder down" needs to be my swing thought when I dip the front shoulder, but I also need to start working on making sure I don't shrug the trailing shoulder in the back swing because that might lead to me leaving the club face open at impact.

Overall, driver and fairway wood were pretty solid last night.  Definitely making better contact with the new Cobra F8 hybrid, which was very exciting!  It's not a very forgiving club, but I'm finding the center of the face way more than I was before.  I think I'm getting used to the heavier weight of the club compared to my old 3-hybrid. 

With pitching I need to remember to hinge the hands pretty early, and release the hands down into the ball but making sure I turn the body together with the hands and arms.  The swing thought that worked for me last night was "Hands Arms Body Together."  That was the trigger to initiate the takeaway and hinge the wrists.  Impact was pretty consistent.  Not perfect, but better than before.  Distance control is still really really bad but first things first.  "Hands Arms Body Together" was the trigger that pretty much eliminated the chance of me hitting leading edge first and had me moving confidently through the ball.  Problem I ran into a bit was thinning it from time to time, but that went away as soon as I focused a little more on the hinge at takeaway.

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Overall, great session.  Ended it with Thomas telling me which clubs to play next after every shot and that was a great mental toughness game to get me in the mindset to play the shot well without thinking I had multiple tries per club. 

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New Instagram and Golf Posture Article

We got ourselves an instagram account!  Can't wait to post golf pics from the crew.

Follow us at @LordsoftheLinks

Our newest golfer, Dr. T is just starting.  She's had a few range sessions and is progressing at breakneck speeds.  One of the biggest things she, and all of us, need to work on is better posture.

I found this really cool article that gives a nice description of how to get yourself setup like the pros.

Do this:                                Not this:

WE'RE BACK

It's been six years.

SIX... YEARS...

But we're back and better than--, we're back to playing golf!

I'll be posting soon about why we took a breather from blogging, why I took the driver out of the bag for five years, what happened with our golf experiences, but what I'm most thankful for is that the crew hasn't decreased in size.  No friendships ended and thankfully covid19 didn't claim any of our members. 

Great news is that we're adding our first female golfer to the crew as well!  Looking forward to some course footage and gear reviews in the near future!