Familiar feelings

As we have less than one week until Sawgrass, the preparation and focus grows with each passing day. In our lifetimes we have reoccurring mental projections of situations past that remind us of emotions and mindsets both good and bad. Well, lately with all the practice and the addition of new lessons, I'm reminded of my emotions and mindset at the very beginning of the season. Late last fall I started my instructor search and at about October I thought I found the right coach. We were working on swing connection to the body and from October to March I was focused and worked very hard to implement this. I mentioned to a few of my friends that the tournament at Twin Oaks was going to be my true test. I would have had 4+months of work on that swing enhancement and should be more than ready to win. I predicted I would perform very well and indeed I did, shooting 77(with a triple bogey) and winning the tournament by 8 strokes. Well ladies and gentleman, that feeling has returned here at the most important time of the golf season........NATIONALS!! Although my scores lately have not been that great, the ball striking and short game being improved each day tells me I'm very, very, close. The same exact feeling of confidence and fearlessness has crept back into my psyche. As my swing plane and ball flight have become much more consistent I need to just fine tune some things, most notably my pre-shot routine. Making sure I do the same routine over each shot and make sure to stay consistent with my putting routine as well. Zen Golf, you will be my pocket book on this trip:)

Stay tuned folks, this is getting interesting!!

As always,

Fairways and greens!!

All work and play.

As I apply the gas here in the final few weeks before the nationals, I'm finding that the daily grind of chipping, putting and swing drills can become boring. I've begun to find ways to make the practice session a bit more fun by taking 5-8 shots every 20 min and trying "trick shots". Full swing 10yd flop shot, pitching with my 5 iron, chipping to a severe hill, and on the range, playing virtual rounds of golf with range balls. It seems to be working and keeping my drive for learning fresh. I can't remember a time when I looked forward to practice more than I do now. I'm proud to say I was the first person on the range this morning bright and early at 6:25AM!! I'm getting much closer to my short game goal of 85% of my pitches/chips are within 5 feet(my comfort zone for putting). My full swing is progressing nicely, final lesson was Tuesday and we worked on fixing a bit of a sway issue I had developed while working on taking the club back more to the outside. I'm starting to really feel the swing coming under control and being able to better understand what my ball flight will be doing and when mistakes are made, being able to correct them on the fly.

As always,

Fairways and Greens!