Pilgrim's Progress

[Yoda]

Just received a Private Message from a student I worked with last winter and couldn't resist reprinting it here. You know him as Jabinjax on the Forum. I know him as a delightful guy and a dedicated student of the game. Enjoy his story. He earned it!

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Lynn,

I wanted to share with you some of the minor successes I've had with my golf game since my lessons with you on those two cold days in late March of this year. You may recall my lesson focused on hitting and I am still trying to be a hitter although I'm still fighting swinger tendencies (overswinging past the top), staying on plane, and a bent left wrist.

In April my wife and I moved from Jacksonville, Florida to Plano, Texas. In June we joined the Stonebridge Ranch Country Club in McKinney, Texas. Since then I have played about 40 rounds of golf. The club has a Senior men's group which typically has some sort of tournament most Wednesdays with 30 to 40 seniors competing. In 13 of these events they have had close to the pin contests on two of the par threes, creating 26 opportunities to win close to the pin. I have managed to be the winner four times out of 26 chances, for a 15% win rate. On good days my shorter irons (7 iron through sand wedge) really seem to be dialed in using the hitter's stroke.

In November the Senior Men's Golf Association annual championship tournament was held. This was a two day, 36 hole, individual, "net" score championship. The first day of the tournament I shot an 80, with a 12 handicap for a net 68 and lead my flight and the overall tournament (with a 50 player field) by 3 strokes. The second day I shot an 81 with an 11 handicap and won my flight and the overall net championship by 6 strokes. The first day the course rating/slope was 69.7/123 and the second day the course rating/slope was 69.4/119. So, the courses played are relatively easy and this was a Senior field and shooting 80/81 is not "great" golf. Nonetheless, I was pleased that my hitter's stroke held up two days in a row and that I was able to win the tournament. I might also comment that for the various tournaments I've entered this year, I've paid $125 in entry fees and won $275.

I am looking forward to next year as I really haven't been able to focus on golf this year due to other demands on our time. Practice has been limited to a few trips to the driving range and hitting 30 balls or so before each round I've played. I have not practiced my short game at all as our Club's putting /chipping green has been closed since we joined, and that is hurting my game. We are building a house and I have not had my "golf learning center" set up in our garage like I had in Jacksonville. So most of my training tools, dowels, impact bag,etc. haven't received enough attention.

I am also embarrassed to say that I have not kept up with the Forums on your web site. I hope to get caught up with my reading and learning by year end as our winter weather will probably limit the days when golf can be played.

What recent reading of your web site I've done, indicates you and TGM are going strong. Congratulations to you. I hope you are enjoying every minute.

I hope you feel some ownership of the results I've achieved so far, you deserve a great deal of credit for your patience and teaching ability.

Thanks for your help!