Renewing a sense of purpose

During my mini-break of 2010 here at the end, I'm filled with a sense of drive and impatience as I eagerly await the November 15th restart date for my practice and fitness training. On the one hand I want to kick start this thing tomorrow, hit the range for hours, start my fitness routine right away but I've come to learn over time that by having a proper plan with contingencies(as we all know, life throws obstacles out every day) you can better accommodate those changes. With this new season comes a new approach. Since my return from nationals I've made one tiny adjustment in my takeaway and have found a comfort zone for consistency or better explained, a "go to" swing that I previously have never had before. This off season is going to be focusing on ingraining that swing to muscle memory first and foremost. Just as important is to gain consistency from 100yds in. I believe that I can shave about 5-7 strokes off my hdcp this season with a combination of hard work and extreme focus! That would put me at a 2-4 hdcp by end of 2011 and keep my on pace with my original goals and time line. It is going to be a busy off season, filled with highs and lows but the best part is going to be the journey. I want to enjoy the great and learn from the bad and come out in 2012 with a new purpose! I will post another blog the day my journey into 2011 continues in two weeks, so stay tuned, this is going to get interesting!!

Fairways and Greens to all!

perception is not the exception but the reality

Hello everyone,

First and foremost i would like thank everyone who has supported me so far in this journey!
To my family and friends, thank you so much for your love and support. It is just the beginning and I would not be able to keep this going if not for you.!!

to my buddy Kev,
Huge congrats on your solid second place finish!

To Chris,
great season had, solid top 25 finish!!




If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter(Akrueger1479) then you are aware of my poor showing at the Golf Channel Am tour nationals. I felt coming into the tournament that my game and my ever developing swing were making significant progress. At first glance when the tournament was complete and I was on the 5hr flight home, I thought long and hard about everything. contemplated many things, quitting the game, taking a year off, trying to golf right handed(LOL)etc...After all that thought and misery I wound up coming to a simple conclusion based on an old memory that resurfaced, coming from my youthful days as a PBA caliber bowler. When I was about 11-12 years old(too much damage to the brain to remember the exact date), I had a moment when I knew I could play that game on a very high level. I had about a 155 average at the time to start the season, wound up getting to know the pro shop guy pretty well and became a knowledge sponge, soaking up any and all information bowling related that I could, I would bike to the bowling alley after school every day, work until 5:30 then practice what they were preaching until they kicked me off for leagues. By the end of the season I was averaging 198, shot my first 600 series followed by my first 700 series a year later. About the age of 16 I was averaging about 215, and have been told i was considered one of the top junior bowlers in the state at that time. This point was made clear by my consistant showings in the midwest scratch am scolarship tournament, 16th and 12th out of some 250+ bowlers two years in a row. then comes junior nationals, feeling very confident about my game, I was exposed as "not ready for prime time". I didn't finish poorly but I was no where near where I thought I should be. this corralation can be directly made to my golf game as well. Entering nationals I was filled with a tremendous sense of over confidence due to my swing changes. Fact is my swing was so bad, any change was going to be good. I had not developed the muscle memory or consistency to perform at a high enough level to compete for 4 days on some of the toughest courses in the country. It was not for a total lack of effort but I believe much more could have been done to properly prepare, both mentally and physically. Now, I am very happy and lucky to have had such a fantastic lesson taught to me by this experience. Each time we are faced with adversity in life and on the course, the easy thing to do is quit, walk away, take the easy path, well, in my humble opinion, true success in life as it is in golf, comes from determining what you want, and setting out to achieve that goal. Pushing through all the obsticles, working through the failures, enjoying the successes, or as one of my favorite quotes talks about difficulty and greatness:

"It's supposed to be hard. If it was easy everyone would do it. It's the hard, that makes it great!"

I know that I can get to where I want to be, i just have to make sure I don't detour from my course. This off season is going to be a very busy one for me. Many more hours honing the fundamentals of my golf swing, learning more about mental game, fitness will be a HUGE factor this off season as well as planning and preparation. I have a very good feeling about the upcoming off-season, I feel you play like you practice so I will begin to practice to play!

I feel the following quote sums up my current state of mind so I will end this entry with it:

“Life's real failure is when you do not realize how close you were to success when you gave up.”

Fairways and greens!

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!

practice quality, make it great!

I must start off by giving huge thanks to Mardell Wilkins at Tijeras Creek for getting my swing back in line and on plane! Everything has been much better since I've been working with her these past couple months!

Ok, onto this blogs topic, great practice. I've been at the range a little less than usual due to many variables(moving, travel for work, etc) but what I've done is make my practice sessions much more productive! I've been working on one single move each time I've been out. the first, a month ago when I started with Mardell was to get my swing to not come inside. SUCCESS!! Each session I start out now I hit the first 15 shots with one focus, outside takeaway. It is pretty close to being a standard part of my swing. The next move she worked on with me was my follow through. Due to my old swing coming so far inside, I developed a tremendous amount of inside pull to compensate for being so inside! I'm now solely focused on coming more straight through the shot and finishing high and around my ear instead of having my hands finish low by my arm pit. I'm finding the ball flight to be more true and my distance is consistent! My chipping has become much more controlled as well as I apply this same swing thought to that part of the game. I'm finding it easier to control the spin and speed of my chip shots!! Practice, practice, practice, only have a few more weeks until the moment of truth.

Stay tuned!!

Fairways and greens!!

The little things, ignore them at your own perile!

Along this journey that has just begun, I've learned a few things. Most notably the importance of attention to detail. The past 4 practice sessions, I've been solely focused on two swing thoughts, club head outside on the takeaway, and holding a stronger grip(seeing more of the glove label). the results each time have been improving dramatically. Of course it could not have gotten much worse than it was. I was coming so far inside on my takeaway that it looked move like a vertical baseball swing than a golf swing. I've noticed that now I have to think less and less about keeping the club head outside and the grip correct, it just seems to happen on it's own more than i thought it would(ingraining a swing thought to muscle memory). In focusing on those two details with each swing on the range I have been able to block out most other swing thoughts and create a more successful repeatable swing. All of this has brought me to a better mental game as well. Keeping focused on the shot at hand and not what I did or what is coming up. Just seeing the shot and hitting it. In my opinion, this is a game of repetition and focus, keeping it as simple as possible which leads back to fundamentals and making sure each piece of the swing puzzle is placed in the same spot each time. When one strays from this mentality you tend to become consumed by "new and improved" instead of "tried and true", and with each foray into the new breakthrough technique you fall further from your fundamentals which are the little things we take for granted most often!

Fairways and Greens!!

winds of change forever blow

Just a short update here. Working on some swing plane drills and adjusted my grip(Thanks Mardell!!) I have a revisit with my instructor on the 17th to see my progress. The new grip is making a huge difference. Instead of high, ballooning fades, I'm hitting low, hard draws. the distance has returned. The new grip is causing some minor soreness in my wrist due to different position on the grip. I can feel the difference however in getting through the ball, not as much flip. It is up to me how much work and effort goes into this change. I'm more focused than ever to gain more consistent ball striking!!