A Bright Sunshiny Day - No Fog....

[Martee]

An Update of sorts... After the Martee MakeOver, about 6 months ago, I was armed and ready, however I had to take an extended unexpected vacation from golf. This was not ideal. When I started back up I did a review of my notes and videos from my time with Lynn. Periodically I have been watching some clips from them but just recently it hit me how much information is really in them. Without a doubt I left Yoda with a far deeper understanding of the golf stroke, more importantly my golf stroke. I found it interesting in one clip, Ted was standing in the back ground with a club in hand. While standing there is he was practice the Basic Motion and what appears to his hinging action. I don't know if this is standard for him, but in the two clip where he has a club in hand, he is practicing.

Afrer the review it was hit the range and then play some golf. The range results were mixed and my expectations for my first round of golf in 6 months was not high. However I must say when I completed my last stroke of the day, I was one whipped pup. It was terrible, just terrible. The only thing words that could describe my golf were - INCONSISTENT -- MENTAL MIDGET. I managed to drag myself into the clubhouse and just wonder what I was thinking. Also tell tale was the fact that I dragged myself. My fitness level is need of improvement which I am addressing.

So it was to the practice range, results were improving, short game seemed pretty solid. So back on the course again. Score was better but the rounds were just terrible. After my 3rd round I took myself aside and decided to give myself a lecture, it was more of a verbal abuse session. I hit the practice area again, took some video and headed to the clubhouse. After several adult beverages and reviewing my video and notes, I could identify a dozen different faults at various times. Well to my way of thinking what I am actually identifying are not faults per-se but symptoms, the real faults were somewhere else. I was inconsistent. I noticed that I was inconsistent in my routine between practice shots, was inconsistent in what I was practicing.

The answer became apparent, I don't know how to properly practice. It wasn't that I would grab the Driver right off the bat and swing away, no I start with a PW and some medium shots and work upward. It wasn't that I wasn't selecting a target or that I was just dragging and hitting. Putting it simple, I wasn't initating my golf stroke program correctly. Yes the layoff say's there will be some rust, feel will be less, but I discovered that I was mixing components between hitting and swinging, I was out of sequence, not just in golf stroke, but in the set up, the preshot routine and more importantly it appears that I really was confusing myself. I was actually thinking of mechanic at times, at times that it is not good to do so.

I created Martee's Golf Program....

The program supports a number of purposes:
1. Routine Practice - Keep the golf stroke tuned up.
2. Corrective Maintenance - Identify and correct flaws or change out components to refine the golf stroke.
3. Pre-game warm up - Get the golf stroke program online and running.
4. Emergency Repair - In the course of playing, making an adjustment to get back on track.

It is only after the program evolved did I realized that it would serve to do these purposes. For each of these purposes the amount of time and number of drills will differ, but what doesn't is the underlying basics, or the fundamentals of the program. All of the elements of the program are intended to execute proper mechanic to produce feel or that feel can reproduce.

Overview

1. Stretching
2. Basic Motion
3. Acquired Motion
4. Full Motion
5. The Game

Seems like this is right from 'The Book', it is and it works... Now the details at each step, the goals I set are based on my progress.

Here are some examples:

Routine Practice
- Basic Motion with a PW for 5 reps with no ball, sometimes just a tee. Definitely stopping to check the setup and alignments. I will then repeat this with a mid iron, long iron and fairway metal. I approach this is as if I had just arrived to my ball and selected the club.
- Acquired Motion first with a PW. The goal here is to hit 5 consecutive shots to the target with an accuracy currently of the flag stick length for carry. I choose either two or three target of different lengths and different direction.
- Full Motion again starting with the PW, The goal again here is to hit 5 consecutinve shots to the target. I use two targets for all clubs in this section. If this a routing practice session, then I will select every other club. If it is to be a corrective session I will normally do a mid iron and then select the club(s) I am having the problems with. This assumes that say I am having trouble hitting the fairway metal while I am hitting my irons okay. If I am going to say practice 'hitting', I will then start with a short iron and work my way down.
- The Game is when I mix up clubs and shots. I will start with a dirvers and selected traget. My next club is based on the result. If I was on target, I select a shot that is releatively easy, say a PW or 8 iron. If I miss the target a little bit, then I select say a mid iron. If I hit a really poor shot, then I play recovery shot usually placing the ball in a divot or a bad lie. When I hit a bad shot I go through my mini practice routine before hitting the next shot.

For the above if I am on the course, you obviously can't hit balls but you can take a few practice strokes. While not wishing to focus on mechanics in my case, I grab a short iron, do a quick bacis motion (set up check) then the Acquired Motion and Full Motion. Next I grab the club which I just failed to perform with and repeat. I tried just doing the routine with the club at hand that was at fault, but I discovered that I more often than not focused on mechanics and this didn't seem to help me get the feel for the next shot. Maybe that will change over time.

Tips I have discovered or residiscovered for practicing:
1. When selecting targets to shoot at a varying distances, always change the direction between targets. This has me to take more time in the setup and get the alignments correct. Shooting at targets on the same line allows me to get sloppy.
2. Acquired Motion is most tell all of the golf stroke. Hip high to Hip high or Hip high to a pivot and to the Top can correct so many faults with very little monitoring. Points to monitor for me:
a. Follow Through (hinging, wedges, shaft alignment)
b. Impact (divot starting point, divot direction/characteristics)
c. Back Stroke (shaft alignment, club face alignment, wedges)
d. Ball Flight (direction, trajectory, curvature, intentions)
3. When working on a new or adjusted component, I have discovered that first using a tee, then a ball teed and then just a ball reduces the number of variables to allow for success to be achieved quicker.
4. After one bad shot, do a mini practice sequence. If two shots bad in a row, drop back to the previous club or practice routine. This may sound like overkill, but since I practice alone, the last thing I need to do is practice something wrong. Granted it may feel that on both bad shots I did 'xyz' wrong and the results and check points may bear that out, BUT you or at least I can be fooled. This way I drop back to my successful baseline and then go forward.
5. Off range practice, slow motion drills can be a blessing or a curse. Monitoring alignments and KNOWING the correct alignment is paramount, this is especially true when changing out or adjusting components.

I realize that this read as somewhat anal and long, but it really doesn't take any longer to do this routine since it is flexible in how many reps you hit of a club, but I have only once left the range since doing this where I wasn't satisfied with the results. I really couldn't hit anything past the 5 wood well that day. But even on that day I had success and a good session for everything else.

Want a real challenge.....???

Do the basic motion for every club in the bag. Select a target and hit 3 to 5 balls with each club.

Do the acquired motion for every club in the bag. Select a target and hit 3 to 5 ball with each club with the ball first teed up, then off the deck.

Finally repeat the acquire motion for every club in the bag. This time hit a variety of shots, high, low, straigth, fade and draw with a selected target for 3 to 5 balls. Here again working off a tee at first is benefical.

Scores are dropping a bit, BUT ball striking is up, fairways hit are increasing, distance is increasing, GIRs are still iffy. My current routine for the short game (putitng, chipping and pitching) is being fined tuned. Works well on the practice range but hasn't translated well to the course, the mental aspect is getting in the way.

Anyway, a bit long but I thought I would share this with all of you, cause with good practice, everyday can be a bright sunshiny day.

[nevermind]

Dedicated

[Martee]

Dedicated

Actually it isn't dedication as much as it is FRUSTRATION.

Within the first 20 minutes of a practice session I am working my way through the bag. Normally it doesn't take more than 10 minutes to get into the Acquire Motion and I have hit about 20 balls.

I just got tired of leaving the swing on the range

Got tired of hitting one club good and the next poor

Got tired of trying to analyze and apply corrections to the full swing when the majority of the time the actual fault was detected in the Acquire Motion. Much smipler to identify, isolate and correct fault there IMO.

Also it so far has gotten me back on track quickly.

[Uppndownn]

Your revamped practice routines show a lot of moxie.
No more six month layoffs now........

Congrats!

[Mathew]

Im happy to see you make good progress after seeing lynn. Through his site here I found what I was looking for ... a progressive way to better golf, something offered by many but not really delivered.... Lynn has shown the way with assembling the machine Homer built and all we have to do is listen and study ....