Couple of things I’ve learned are the amount of yardage you have to add on a certain level of uphill. I’ve mainly guessed most of the time based on if I felt like it was 10 ft above my ball level, I used to just club up about 3Y-5Y, but Cyril proved to me that it is a little more than that… the exact calculation I’m not sure but I’ll have to Google it up later about the percentage. Wind also is another factor that I used to just guess and pray that I was right. Today, we probably did the same thing, but we had the experience of two golfers guessing

I came in 3rd place, full scoring of the entire field here: http://www.gtaamateurtour.com/Statistics/TournamentResults/32/260

And here was my scorecard: http://golfshot.com/Rounds/Detail/129-10121109-10121250

I will go over some highlights..

Overall, with Cyril’s help, I didn’t always hit driver off the deck and get it as far as possible, he helped me put it into positions where I had a better chance at the green and better lie (if executed properly). Only thing that really ruined my round was the execution and my putting. The greens were fast, and then slow, then fast, then slow again. As you can tell, I had 5 x 3 putts, which I think is quite unacceptable.

Hole 2: Opted for a 3W off the tee because at 250-260Y there were bunkers on both side, so something just short of that would be ideal since it was a short hole. We ended up with about 110Y in or so, two putt for par.

Hole 5: The hardest hole on the course.  Measuring at 437Y against the wind Par 4.  I knew I had to poke it out there in order to be able to reach in two.  Silly me, while trying to use everything I got to hit it, I topped the ball and it went about 130Y to the left deep rough.  From there, I was in no position to even attempt to bend the ball left towards the pin (300Y away).  So Cyril and I decided that we would just pitch it low with a 7i to the fairway and leave ourselves with about 140Y or so to the pin.  Unfortunately, with the thick lie, and pretty much stepping in soggy water grass, I chunked the ball a little.  The ball did end up in the fairway, but we were 160Y away.  Wind is in our faces, hairs blown back, Cyril handed me a 6i and said, smooth swing (usually 180Y club).  I hit the ball pure, straight at the pin, and landed it pin high, rolled to the right about 6 feet from the pin.  The putt was slight right to left putt (about one cup right of the hole), good speed, drained it for a par.

Hole 9: 5i put me on a flat level (about 195Y) with only 75Y left to the hole. I caught my LW a little heavy leaving myself off the green short. One chip to about 3 feet, two putted.

Hole 12: The placement of this hole wasn’t really at the 461Y marker. Drove the ball to about the 140Y, with the massive uphill, we hit an 8i into the green pin high, but a little right so ended up near the rough mound. One chip, one putt for birde.

Hole 13: 429Y against the wind was probably one of the toughest hole that day. Teed off with a driver, leaving myself about 180Y left to the pin. We had to play it like about 195-200Y, so with a 5i, I flushed and it went straight at the pin leaving me about a 12 ft putt for birdie. 3 putted.

Hole 14: I mis-hit my tee shot and it went 30Y left and about 20Y forward into an unplayable lie. So I declared unplayable, and then I hit 3 off the tee. Then pretty straight forward after for a double bogey (par if not for the penalty)

Full press release from the GTA Amateur Tour here. 

Someone sent me this diagram illustrating the majority of the brands that are on your local supermarket shelves. What’s more amazing than the fact that only about 10 corporations run probably 95% of the products you buy, is how they create brand competition within their own market/organization to create higher brand loyalty for certain products.

These are just some quick examples, but I am sure you can conclude to more:
Dreyer’s vs Movenpick vs Nestle Ice Cream = $$$ to Nestle
Tide vs Gain Detergent = $$$ to P&G
Lay’s vs Ruffles Chips = $$$ to Pepsico
Juicy Fruit vs Hubba Bubba Gum = $$$ to Mars

The list goes on. Of course, there are some competiting brands between the 10 corporations, but whatever decision you make, you essentially support one or the other. For fun, spend a few minutes and take a close look at all the brands you buy, and see which corporation you are supporting.

The GTNAS events are always shotgun events, so I started on hole 8 (group B). Meaning, there are two groups of 3 per hole at the start (mix of Pro/Am, Champ, A, B, C flights). The good thing is, once you finish the round, it takes less than an hour to know if you have won, and the score updates live on the website so you see a lot of people refreshing their smart phones Although slow at times, it was a nice day out. If you ever decide to play at one of the GTNAS events, be sure to arrive early as you will not likely get a spot on the driving range (line ups) with 18 x 2 groups x 3 people per group = 108 people at the range within that 1 hour slot when the range is open. I wish I took a picture, it was quite funny because the sheer amount of people almost made it impossible to putt on the putting green (advice: bring some tees, use those as holes)

But all in all, the event was well organized, I really do like their prizing structure where $40 of each player gets put into a pot (so the prize pool is based on how many players per flight) and of course, lunch and cart included always sweetens the deal.

Anyhow, here is my score card: http://golfshot.com/Rounds/Detail/122-9958943-9959078

I will go over some highlights. Remember, I started on the 8th hole.

Hole 8: Hit the fairway with a 270Y drive with only 125Y left to the pin. PW it to about 12 feet. 3 putted, since I wasn’t familiar with the green speed (didn’t have space nor time to hit the greens to practice putting). But, these 3 putts taught me a lesson and got me accustomed to the speed.. somewhat.

Hole 13: I bombed my drive out there with only 201Y left to the pin. It was a front pin, with only about 5 feet from the front of the green to the pin. The green (from far) was a 2 or 3 tier downwards towards the pin, so I know if I went long, it would be a really challenging putt downwards. However, if I went short, I would probably roll back into the waters. So I decided to go Wedge Wedge layup (in hindsight, I should not have been scared of 200Y, that would have been a comfortable 4i in situations without water). Wedging it to the 80Y marker, which is perfect distance for my LW. I chunked my second shot, and it rolled to the edge just before the water. Here the ball sits at the edge and I had no stance. I was able to climb down a little bit, but the ball was about knee level (so I’m swinging like a baseball bat). Two thoughts came into my mind, I could take an unplayable, bring it back to have a nice chip wedge (3) strokes, or I could attempt hitting it out since my swing wasn’t interrupted. It felt and looked like it could be a easy chip out.. however, I was wrong. It landed into the water. If something like that occurs again, I would be sure to just take an unplayable. Anyhow, so I dropped, chipped it, hit the side of the green then rolled to the right off the green into the heavy stuff. Chipped it out of there to about 5 inches to the cup, and tapped it in for an 8.

After a bad hole, it’s best you forget and just move on to the next focusing one shot after another. As you can see, I par the next 5 holes.

In summary, hitting only 6 fairways, and 5 GIRs, I know I’ve done better and can do a lot better. My irons were listening for majority of the time, just sometimes going just a little longer than expected and these greens didn’t bite as much as I’d want them to.

Fun times, had a blast!

Today, I had great company with me at the GTA AM Tour Event @ Coppinwood. If you haven’t played this course before, it is beautiful and it probably has one of the best practice facility I’ve been to.

Unfortunately mother nature didn’t favour us today as it was cold, rainy, and windy. 3 things you probably don’t want to have together. I did not win this event, but that doesn’t matter. I was just overall not thrilled with my performance. I know I could of done better, and I will do better next time.

Here is my score card: http://golfshot.com/Rounds/Detail/121-9939552-9939686

I started off pretty well with back to back pars, but I will go over some highlights.

Hole 3: When I got to the green side bunker, I went from one to the other, which got me a triple bogey. I skulled the first bunker shot, wasn’t confident enough to just blast it, held back so my body probably came up.

Hole 5: Tee shot, hit the rough near the bunker than rolled it’s way back into the water on the left. Dropped, chipped it (skull again, trying to get fancy with a flop shot since I had to go over the bunker with only about 6 feet of green to the pin). I usually have this shot down, but I guess during tournament conditions, I probably let fear take the best of me. So lesson learned, when you decide the club and shot, commit and just do it.

Hole 13: With the wind, I hit a pretty solid drive leaving me only 147Y left to the pin. With the bunker in the middle protecting a front pin, I aimed it a little right with an 8i (normally without the bunker, I would do a 9i, but I rather be a little longer than shorter and end up in the bunker if I mis-hit). Good choice as I put it onto the green in 2, with an eagle chance. The putt was just an ½ an inch off on the high side, and about 3 inches pass the hole for a tap in birdie. Love those!

Hole 14: This was an interesting hole, as the next two holes were the ones I got filmed (so you’ll be seeing these poor performances on video when Capture Snatch is done editing them for the tour.) The wind was so strong, my driver went about 200Y, with only about 92Y left to the pin in not the greatest lie, I chunked my wedge. I chipped it from one rough to another, and 3 putted for a beautiful 7. The next hole wasn’t a lot better, but it was standard mistakes.

So all in all, I know I can and will do better at the next event. I never got mad at any shot — I always try to stay calm and forget about the last shot… it’s the past.

From the last lesson, Nick gave me homework of:

HOMEWORK: #1 Practice the lateral shift on my back foot.
RESULTS: IN PROGRESS. There are times where I feel like I am pushing off from the ball/toe of my feet, so I have to continue make more of a conscious effort to push sideways with the inside of my foot.

This forth lesson, Nick and I worked on my path. I was essentially coming way to inside-out so the workability of the ball is quite limited. He is setting me on drills to make it so that my path is more straight. Or at least, very minimal inside out (no greater than 4 degree).

The video below is the last video of the lesson where he has me focusing on trying to do an outside-in swing on purpose.

HOMEWORK:
#1 Feel more outside-in, get the feeling.
#2 Limit back swing to not pass parallel.

From the last lesson, Nick gave me homework of:

HOMEWORK: #1 Practice the 3 things in the last lesson.
RESULTS: I haven’t been able to practice as much, but I am starting to feel more comfortable with the swing. So I would say, I didn’t do this, but will continue to.

HOMEWORK: #2 Keep on increasing the ball speed.
RESULTS: SUCCESS. Nick was so surprised when I was pounding 120mph+ ball speed with an 8i on the flightscope/trackman. I even doubted myself. Nick went to verify all the settings, and asked me to hit a couple of more balls, I got to at the highest 128mph. (laugh) — that was probably a fluke. I averaged out about 118mph ball speed after about 12-15 balls. On the flightscope/trackman, my 8i was getting distances from 165Y to ~190Y (the fluke one). This is a result of my confidence in doing the moves Nick is asking me to do so I can swing a lot faster + working out those legs.. swinging in balance is key.

To really understand what these numbers mean, I’ve attached the Trackman official PGA Tour averages below. As you can tell, the average 8i on the PGA Tour is 115mph ball speed at a 18.1 degree launch. I’m hovering around the 19-20 degree right now. Also to keep in mind, the ball speed has a lot to do with how you contact with the ball, sometimes perfect, and most of the times… off.

This third lesson, Nick was happy with 90% of my back swing except for the occasional taking it back too far and letting my hands loose (I’m trying trying to work on that). We worked on the downswing this session to tie it all together. Here are the things I’m working on:

1. My hands staying on the plane line on the way down. (Imagine a line drawn on the same path as my club at address all the way past my body)
2. Lateral shift on my back foot.

See video below for my latest swings (before with slow motion, and more of a natural speed)

HOMEWORK:
#1 Practice the lateral shift on my back foot.

HOMEWORK: #1 Practice to take away, get used to it. Video tape myself, and make what’s uncomfortable, comfortable because it is right.
RESULTS: Success.

HOMEWORK: #2 Use an 8 iron, and get my ball speed up above 110mph+. Ideally, he wants me at 115. Not club head speed, but ball speed, that’s the only thing he cares about… for now.
RESULTS: Success. I was able to average about 112mph. And this is without using too much effort as I am not used to the swing yet.

The second lesson, is a continuation of the takeaway plus a few more. The things Nick asked me to work on are:

1. Don’t overswing, keep it above parallel.
2. Hinge the hands in only one direction
3. Don’t let go of the club

See video below of my latest swing:

HOMEWORK:
#1 Practice the 3 things above.
#2 Keep on increasing the ball speed.

1. Off-season strength training at Laylor Performance Systems
2. Eat better, yes, that means try not to kill myself at all the Christmas dinners.
3. Lessons. I’ve signed up with Nick Starchuk.
4. Dedicated practicing – drills, putting, etc.

So I’ve decided to take lessons with Nick after much persuasion by a few TGNers (you know who you are).

Before starting my first lesson, Nick analyzed what my strong/weak points of my game were, and asked if I have held previous coaching (who doesn’t read this thread? jk), and where I want to be. So, I said, my strongest game during the season was my iron game, my weakest was my driver, and probably putting. I told him that I would probably like to start fresh, and learn this methodology.

So after the chit chat, the first thing we did was analysis my current swing (which you will see below before and after). Nick wanted me to correct my takeaway. In the past, I’ve been trying hard to correct this and I thought I did until I saw the video again, and I realized that I keep pushing my arms outsides when I do my takeaway.

#1 Nick asked me to visualize and almost feel like I am taking the club towards my back leg, that’s how extreme he wanted me to go… it felt awkward at first, but in video, it looks like I am on plane. So turn the hips with the shoulder, but really bring the club towards my back foot and hinge my club earlier + hold.

#2 Grip pressure is firm. He doesn’t want a lose grip. He said, if everyone had lose grip on the tour, then they would never need to change grips. Grip is firmly, that’s how the shaft will bend. More importantly, my right hand, he wants my index finger, where the knuckle is, on the inside to feel as if that is the point where it is pushing onto the club. If you were to put the club down on the floor at address position, and if you lean the shaft forward with your hands, he said the pressure point you should sense is that inside of the index finger where the knuckle is. There is the force pushing it forward/down.

#3 At the top (3/4), push out with the right hand to crate width and torque. Also, since my grip is strong, he wants my right hand to feel like I am a sever holding up a tray of food, so the right hand is bent with the palm facing up while pushing out constantly.

#4 I have a tendency for my left hand to kind of let the grip go, usually caused by the last 3 fingers of my left hand. You can see that I am lose, then I re-grip as I come down on the swing. If I showed you my glove you can also see evidence of that. So after doing 30 minutes of taking it back slowly, getting into the right feeling and position, he said think about gripping harder for the last 3 fingers of my left hand. Little do I know, I don’t over extend on the backswing (dropping the club), and I feel like I have more control of the club face.

Of course, there are more technical stuff that Nick explained, and I think I would need more lessons and research to quite understand, but I can leave it up to him to explain after the club path / club face / planes / angle of attacks.

See video below:

Before:

After:

HOMEWORK:
#1 Practice to take away, get used to it. Video tape myself, and make what’s uncomfortable, comfortable because it is right.

#2 Use an 8 iron, and get my ball speed up above 110mph+. Ideally, he wants me at 115. Not club head speed, but ball speed, that’s the only thing he cares about… for now.

This is the start to my game plan, I hope you guys have one too.

2011 Swing Changes and Thoughts

1. Taking it back with my shoulders, so try to avoid using my hands to initiate the back swing.
2. Neutral grip to strong grip (seeing more knuckles at address)
3. Swing path from inside out. This was particularly tough in the beginning but what helped a lot was what I actually heard from the pro at Cedar Brae. He stuck a two two tees down, one being about 12 inch behind the ball on the upper side (avoid hitting it would make sure my swing isn’t over the top), then the second tee about 12 inches in front of the ball. He made me just think about not hitting the tees, and that gave me the feeling of inside out, so my thoughts now are, 7 o’clock to 1 o’clock.
4. Avoid my back foot from fully turning before impact. One of my biggest problem in the season was that my back foot would be almost close to finishing position at impact, which has caused my swing to come from the outside since it had no room to come from the inside. Therefore, Ive been practicing keeping my foot down with more of a lateral shift then a lift and turn during impact.

 
2011 Strength Training
Key word is strength. I have been lucky to have been training with Clance at Laylor Performance Systems to help my golf game. He would tell me over and over again, never replicate my swing using weights or swing trainers as those do not work, in fact it will have negative impact. And he’s right, based on my results.

Clance put me on a series of similar programs he uses to help NHL professionals as well as a stretching routine (which I haven’t been doing as much, but I know I should). He wants me to train at least 3-4 times a week, but sometimes with tournaments and vacation in the way, it has been hard but I do manage to get in on average probably 3 times a week.

When I first started, it was discouraging to see how others are benching, squatting, pulling more than me, but I know it takes time, and they were in my shoes when they first started as well. Now after 3 months of off-season and 6 months of in-season training, I can do pull ups and chin ups without problem.

Weight: 152lbs @ 170cm.
Bench: 170lbs
Back Squats: 195lbs
Curl (2 hands): 82.5lbs

2011 Equipment & Stats
These stats were tracked and cross verified with trackman, flightscope, simulators at Lakeshore Links, and Centennial Park Par 3s using Bushnell V2 Tour Laser range finder.

Driver (TM R11 TP 10.5 Stiff) – Carry average 230-245Y – Avg. Club Speed (98-103mph)
3 Wood (TM R11 TP T3 14 Stiff) – Carry average 215Y, Roll 230Y
3 Hybrid (TM 2011 Rescue 19 Stiff) – Carry average 195Y, Roll 215Y
Irons (TM R9 0.5″ Shorter Stiff)
4i – 195-205Y
5i – 190-195Y
6i – 180-185Y
7i – 170-175Y
8i – 155-165Y
9i – 145-150Y
Pw – 130-140Y
Aw – 110-120Y
Lw (TM xFT 60.10) – 75-85Y
Putter (TM-110 Ghost Tour – 32.5”)

Swing Path: Inside-Out

2011 Results & Achievements

1. Broke 80 3 times
2. Won 1 GTAAT Tour Event
3. Placed 2nd @ the GTAAT Championship & 4th in Order of Merits
4. Increased in distance
5. Better understanding of club path, face, and impact and how they affect the ball

 
2012 Plans And Goals

1. Practice more at a facility that can track the stats I need to improve. I have chosen Lakeshore Links Indoor Golf as my off and in-season training facility.
2. Continue my strength training at Laylor Performance Systems
3. Stretch more
4. Keeping my arms connected with the body
5. Once a week, spend 2-3 hours on putting drills at Lakeshore Links
6. Once a week, spend 1-2 hours on short game
7. Move to single handicap (currently @13)

 
2012 Plans that I am considering

1. Find a new instructor to take me to the next level
2. Aim point sessions

Picked up the Globe and Mail today, and this is what I saw in the business section: