I just wrapped up another work out. I feel great now that I finished and stretched. I notice that lately I am in a funk. I think I am at the point where I have been grinding on this workout for a while, and with school and a son who is becoming increasingly difficult to put to bed, I find I am loosing "me" time to get things done. This is increasing my stress level with so much school work and my Toyota MDT test looming over my head. But alas the test is due by friday and I will have to have my take home test for school done for March 1st. So I think once I get those two things done I will feel better, although I start another class on February 29th, so that will make 3 classes, plus work, plus family time, plus house chorse on top of my golf training. I maybe have bitten off more than I can chew, but I am looking forward to the challenge. I think a small getaway will do me a world of good.
The biggest hurdle now is getting the motivation to workout. But once I get started I am good to go. Lately I just keep reminding myself that the other guys aren't working as hard as I am this off-season, and if I want to win, I need to put in the hard work. Also when I am feeling sluggish and tired I look at my Ben Hogan 1950 U.S. Open picture. It reminds me that he almost died, but came back and then won the open. Talk about inspiration!
My workout has stayed the same, although I did shuffle my jumping rope. I now jump rope first before I start working out to help avoid feeling sick from water sloshing in my stomach from hydrating with doing exercises. This has helped alot. Now I could use a matt or pad to put under my elbows while planking to help save my joints and keep my arm from going numb.
I went and hit some golf balls saturday. My parents were up visiting and this gave me the opportunity to sneak away for an hour and hit some balls. I find that my misses are a bit tighter. I still occasionally hit the block when I really try to crank it up with the driver. But I think I can iron that out when I get some more time on the range. I am also looking into buying a Tour Striker training club. Since I am hitting off of a matt right now on the range it would be nice to hit a few shots with that training club to make sure I am hitting down with forward shaft lean while striking the ball.
Stay tuned for some more exciting news as we continue on here. I am planning on getting out to hit some more balls this coming week. Maybe I will have the tour striker by then, if so then I will be sure to write a review of it.
Thanks for reading!
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Missed Posting on Friday, but making up for it today.
Sorry to miss posting on Friday. I have been so busy with school in addition to my golf that was unable to get on the computer. But to catch you up, and myself, I will post a rather long post today to recap what has been going on.
My workout has not changed, I am still performing the same routine, and still with the same increased weight. I am pushing the weight up much easier now, but not quite easy enough to move up more weight.
Since I was sick last week and missed two workouts, my first two workouts back were a little tougher. My core felt a little weaker and I was starting to "shake" sooner while bracing my core for my Plank matrix. But since I am better this week and haven't missed a workout I am back to normal. I still "shake" while bracing for a plank but it doesn't start until later during each rep.
During the week this week I also got out and hit some balls. It was really nice to get out and hit some even though it was off of mats. On the plus side, I went to Big Oak driving range which is outdoors and has a cover incase of inclement weather. It was a windy cold day but I hit the ball well. They have a nice little pitching practice area with makers at 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 yard increments. I was hitting my yardages really well, but off of a mat you can get away with anything and still hit a good shot so I dont put much weight into that. The biggest benefit of hitting outside is being able to see your ball flight. I have also spent a large portion of practice time hitting my driver, trying to get that club under control. I also "played holes" in my head while practicing, making imaginary fairways with yardage signs and flag sticks. I also spent a bit of time on the putting green and was really making some great strokes. I was only sinking about 50% of my putts but my speed was perfect, I either died the ball right at the hole or ran it 8-10 inches past the hole, only left 2 out of 60 putts short. Speed is really the biggest concern for me with regards to my putting so I was pleased.
As promised before I will review my goals and my progress towards those goals, think of it as sort of a mid post season report card.
My first goal was to improve my ball striking. And I planned on doing that by Swinging my golf club everyday. Performing 50 focused swings, working of perfect form and keeping my head still. And also by performing my TPI workout three times a week.
With regards to this goal, I would have to give my self a B+ on the condition that I have diligently stuck to doing my workouts 3 times a week. I am not really doing the TPI workout, but instead my own lifting, stretching and PST program. I am swinging the club almost every day, 3 days a week during PST's I swing the club more than 50 times in a day, but these aren't performed with perfect golf form in mind. I will have to start spending some time doing a few swing specific drills with perfect form in mind.
My second goal was to improve my driving accuracy. I was going to do this by working on core strength and stability and hitting at least 20 balls during practice sessions,
I would give myself an A+ on this part. I spend 30 minutes, 3 times a week on just core work during my workouts, and the couple times I have gone and hit balls I have hit at least 1/3 if not more of the bucket with just driver. So i would guess 30-40 balls each time.
Third goal was to improve my short game. I was going to spend 30 minutes a day on short game, chipping and pitching, and 15 minutes during practice sessions chipping around the green.
I would have to give myself a C+ on this. I am spending 15-20 minutes every few days on chipping inside the house, practicing into a net. When at the range I would hit about 20 or so balls to various yardages 10,20,30,40 and 50 yards, i would also hit some chips to the 6 different pins on the practice green. I give myself a C+ because I haven't gotten to put in that much time into short game. I will be able to spend more time when the weather is nicer and I can get out to the range more.
Lastly I was going to work on maintaining my putting stroke by putting around the living room and checking alignment with a mirror and video camera.
I would rate myself a C- on this. I haven't spent much time putting around the living room, and I only used the putting mirror and alignment sticks a couple times so far. I am going to have to start spending a little more time working on my putting and alignment. These are things I can definetly do in the living room. I am looking into signing up for the AimPoint class and working on green reading for this season as well. Hopefully this will help me sink a few more putts and shave 2-3 putts a round off my game.
To recap, I would give myself an overall grade of B+ I think i put in a lot of good work so far. I have some more cool stuff in the works so stay tuned to hear about that. Thanks for following me and I hope you are having a great off season as well.
My workout has not changed, I am still performing the same routine, and still with the same increased weight. I am pushing the weight up much easier now, but not quite easy enough to move up more weight.
Since I was sick last week and missed two workouts, my first two workouts back were a little tougher. My core felt a little weaker and I was starting to "shake" sooner while bracing my core for my Plank matrix. But since I am better this week and haven't missed a workout I am back to normal. I still "shake" while bracing for a plank but it doesn't start until later during each rep.
During the week this week I also got out and hit some balls. It was really nice to get out and hit some even though it was off of mats. On the plus side, I went to Big Oak driving range which is outdoors and has a cover incase of inclement weather. It was a windy cold day but I hit the ball well. They have a nice little pitching practice area with makers at 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 yard increments. I was hitting my yardages really well, but off of a mat you can get away with anything and still hit a good shot so I dont put much weight into that. The biggest benefit of hitting outside is being able to see your ball flight. I have also spent a large portion of practice time hitting my driver, trying to get that club under control. I also "played holes" in my head while practicing, making imaginary fairways with yardage signs and flag sticks. I also spent a bit of time on the putting green and was really making some great strokes. I was only sinking about 50% of my putts but my speed was perfect, I either died the ball right at the hole or ran it 8-10 inches past the hole, only left 2 out of 60 putts short. Speed is really the biggest concern for me with regards to my putting so I was pleased.
As promised before I will review my goals and my progress towards those goals, think of it as sort of a mid post season report card.
My first goal was to improve my ball striking. And I planned on doing that by Swinging my golf club everyday. Performing 50 focused swings, working of perfect form and keeping my head still. And also by performing my TPI workout three times a week.
With regards to this goal, I would have to give my self a B+ on the condition that I have diligently stuck to doing my workouts 3 times a week. I am not really doing the TPI workout, but instead my own lifting, stretching and PST program. I am swinging the club almost every day, 3 days a week during PST's I swing the club more than 50 times in a day, but these aren't performed with perfect golf form in mind. I will have to start spending some time doing a few swing specific drills with perfect form in mind.
My second goal was to improve my driving accuracy. I was going to do this by working on core strength and stability and hitting at least 20 balls during practice sessions,
I would give myself an A+ on this part. I spend 30 minutes, 3 times a week on just core work during my workouts, and the couple times I have gone and hit balls I have hit at least 1/3 if not more of the bucket with just driver. So i would guess 30-40 balls each time.
Third goal was to improve my short game. I was going to spend 30 minutes a day on short game, chipping and pitching, and 15 minutes during practice sessions chipping around the green.
I would have to give myself a C+ on this. I am spending 15-20 minutes every few days on chipping inside the house, practicing into a net. When at the range I would hit about 20 or so balls to various yardages 10,20,30,40 and 50 yards, i would also hit some chips to the 6 different pins on the practice green. I give myself a C+ because I haven't gotten to put in that much time into short game. I will be able to spend more time when the weather is nicer and I can get out to the range more.
Lastly I was going to work on maintaining my putting stroke by putting around the living room and checking alignment with a mirror and video camera.
I would rate myself a C- on this. I haven't spent much time putting around the living room, and I only used the putting mirror and alignment sticks a couple times so far. I am going to have to start spending a little more time working on my putting and alignment. These are things I can definetly do in the living room. I am looking into signing up for the AimPoint class and working on green reading for this season as well. Hopefully this will help me sink a few more putts and shave 2-3 putts a round off my game.
To recap, I would give myself an overall grade of B+ I think i put in a lot of good work so far. I have some more cool stuff in the works so stay tuned to hear about that. Thanks for following me and I hope you are having a great off season as well.
Monday, February 6, 2012
No, your eyes are not deceiving you...there was no post.
As you may have noticed, there was no post this past week. I did not forget. I was sick and have not been able to do my workouts or PST's on both Friday or Sunday. But Rest assured. I am back on track and feeling much better. I will be on schedule this week. I am really bummed about missing two workouts, I had been doing so good since November, but alas it was bound to happen. Stay tuned for a wrap up post at the end of this week!
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