Golf and more golf

I forgot to update all of my followers on the Arizona Stroke Play Tournament.  I missed the cut after 2 days unfortunately, but I did just join a prestigious golf club here in Phoenix where I can now call home.  Moon Valley Country Club.  http://www.moonvalleycc.com

I am really excited, the facility is going to allow me to have a place to workout, play golf, and practice.  18 hole par 3 course, and 18 hole championship course that stretches to 7,200 yards.  I cannot express how happy I am, this is another step in the right direction in my journey to the PGA Tour.

My goals this summer are:

-Win a tournament

-Qualify for the US Amateur

-Qualify for the US Mid Amateur

-Win the AZ Match Play championship

These goals are all attainable, and I would not even say this if I did not know that I can do it.  I am so excited that everything has worked out the way it has thus far.  I am going back to Rochester, NY on May 13th for the US  Open Local Qualifier at Oak Hill CC.  Go low so I can move on to the Sectional in Columbus, OH.

By the way, today I won a pair of Dawgs Golf Ultralite golf shoes.  You need to check them out, very similar to crocs, and look more comfortable then them.

DawgsGolf

Congrats to @GolfMachine – the winner of our RT competition, and the new owner of a pair of DAWGS Golf shoes…well done, Sean

Awesome huh??  I am excited, I also should be receiving my Scratch wedges here in the next week or so.

I have a Haircut this afternoon and then more practice at MV.  I plan on hitting balls tonight until I get a hole in my glove, that’s ok because I have 3 more, so I could be there awhile!  Have a great night, and I promise I will be more consistent now that my golf game is more consistent with playing everyday…

SAN DIEGO this weekend with Mary and Hadley, will be nice to relax.

Arizona Stroke Play 2010

Alright, finally a golf tournament again.  I feel like I have taken way to much time off from these.  The last one I played in was the AZ publinks which I did not play all that great.  I am ready for the Stroke Play and it is being played at my home course of TPC Scottsdale Champions course.

144 of the top Amateur in Arizona and surrounding states.  I am going to take home the trophy this weekend.  The tournament is played as a 4 day stroke play event, with cut after 36 holes to the low 60 and ties.  Those that make the cut get to play the weekend.  This is setup like a PGA Tour Event, and the greens at TPC are similar to that of Augusta.  Go get em Phil!

Leading up to tomorrow:

-Hit balls at lunch time- Check

-I have to work the range shift again today at TPC, gotta pick the range fast so I can hit some balls in the corner to get practice in.  14 hour days of work are not hard at all, it only makes me strong.  So Strauss if you are reading this, thank you! – very soon

I am mentally ready for this weekend, and this is the first step to put a win on my resume so investors can see that I am in this fo the long haul and that my website and social media presence is not just for fun.  I need this for myself, and to prove that I am ready for the next level.  I am ready, and I cannot wait for the future of my golf game.  I watch the Master’s and know that I will soon be playing with Tiger, Phil and guys like Hunter Mahan, Chris Wilson (guys my age).  What is it going to take?-  A lot of hard work, commitment, dedication, focus, and belief that I can get there.  It looks like the only thing I am missing is investors so I can do this everyday, COMPETE.

Have a great night, and watch me take that trophy home.

Ancala CC this weekend

I know it has been awhile since I last posted.  I have been busy with cars being fixed, bumming rides to and from work and golf course, and of course trying to fit in a meal in between.

This past weekend I was invited to play at Ancala Country Club in Scottsdale, AZ.  A friend of mine is a member there, and I give his son Baseball lessons so that is how we met.

When I got out there I was very excited because I was playing with Greg in two man best ball, against 6 other teams.  So there was a chance to compete and play well.  I have been hitting the ball well recently, just had struggled with the short stick.  I drove the green on the first and got a birdie 3.  Good start.  Next hole I just missed the fairway, and put myself in a tough spot in a bunker.  punched out and took a bogey.  Swing felt great, and I was -2 on the front side 34.  On the back was up and down, I started with a bogey on 10 and went on to birdie the next three, then bogeyed the following 3 holes after that.  Not so great.  I finished with at 37 on that side,  total of 71 and -1 under par.  Not bad for the first time playing the course.

After we all sat around and watched the Mich. State, Butler basketball game and smoked some cigars.  It was a great time.  I had the chance to meet some pretty neat people, and also played with Dale Hellestrae who was the long snapper with the Dallas Cowboys in the ’90′s and took home 4 Super Bowl rings with them.  He was a great guy, and now owner of Cookies By Design.  So this was a good weekend, and I look forward to my upcoming Stroke Play Championship at TPC Scottsdale Champions course on April 15th through the 18th.

Have a great day everyone, and keep in mind I am still updating my website on a daily basis.  Take care.

Practiceee, I love practice

Tonight I am going to head down to Crackerjax.  Right now it is 4:50PM MST and I am about to make some dinner up for me and my dog.  Except she is eating her food, and I am gonna grill up some of these sausages I just got from Whole Foods.  I am hoping to see Ben there tonight, so I could get some help from him and confirm that the swing is on plane and I am finishing in the right slot.

I think that is my biggest problem right now is finishing in the right slot.  Sometimes I feel myself still leaning back, which causes my follow through not to be on same plane as my backswing.  So tonight I am really going to concentrate on that.  Yesterday I was over at Coronado hitting balls, which I love doing, and I really hit some good shots and I also hit some poor shots.  That is what practice is for though right?

I also wanted to mention that on Friday May 14th when I go home to Rochester, NY I am playing Oak Hill CC with a good friend of my dad’s and of course he is coming too.  I cannot wait!  I am going to also sit down and speak with a few more people when I am home about what I am doing with golf, and see what they can do to help.  I cannot wait, I am so excited!  I will let you know tomorrow how tonight goes at the Crackerjax.  I am hoping to see @betterthanhogan there.  Follow him, he is one of my good buddies and starting to get into twitter.

Have a good night, if you have any ideas for why I am leaning back on my follow through, please let me know.  Thanks!

One plane swing

Guys like Ben Hogan, Hunter Mahan, Scott McCarron, Vijay Singh, and even Tiger Woods are all trying to swing on one plane.  The reason is because there is less margin for error, and a more consistent ball flight.  That is what Howard Oliver (aka @betterthanhogan) is now helping me with, and his Coach Ben who is also at Crackerjax.   So the other night was the first night I had hitten balls with this one plane swing.  My biggest problem in the past was I was so wristy, that I would miss balls both right and left if I could not get my hands through quick enough, this eliminates that.

I was hitting balls and connecting better than I have in a long time.  The switch was easy enough because the first thing I had to do was not cock my wrist- easy enough right?  Then all I had to do to initiate the downswing was start moving my hips- that was it?  Yup, then make sure you get to your left side fast enough to get a full shoulder rotation and follow through on the same plane.  Done, perfect contact and a nice draw or a fade depending on how the face of the club ended.

Last night I went to Coronado to work on this a little more, I was striping the ball right where I wanted with effortless force.  Isn’t this how golf is suppose to be played?  This is the first time I have ever really had someone make an adjustment to my swing, and I think a lot of it has to do with Howard talking about his Coach Ben because he use to work with Harvey Penick, and everyone knows good ol’ Harvey.  Then Ben came over to watch my swing, and made a few adjustments, and I was right on track with my plane.  It felt good and now I have even more confidence, and cannot wait to play a round this weekend to see how it goes.

Swingplex training

Last night I was able to meet with Carl Horne of Swingplex Golf.  http://www.swingplexgolffitness.com/.  Carl use to work with the LA Lakers and works with a handful of professional golfers now exclusively.  I was referred to him by my golfing friend Howard Oliver.

It was a total assessment of my strength, stability and flexibility.  It was a full body workout it felt like, and the whole time he was testing how I was doing.  The whole process was great, and I felt that it was definitely helping and I could see it improving my overall stability of the golf swing.  I was doing some drills that I have never done before, and even with playing College baseball I thought that I had done them all.

After the workout I went to Orange Tree Golf resort in Scottsdale to hit 100 balls and do some putting.  My swing is feeling great, and I need to get out this weekend and play 18 holes because I have not played a round in a week or so.  Putter is also feeling good in hand, and am getting on some good lines.  I am going to meet Howard today at Crackerjax in Scottsdale, he is a teacher there and gives some lessons so I was going to hit some balls with him.  More to report tomorrow, I need to get a gym membership!!!!

Go Syracuse!

Practice and training aids

The other day I went to the PGA tour superstore to look at some training aids, and I have seen a lot of guys on tour using these.  I purchased the Eyeline Dual Plane putting system.  It looked like it had it all, from the plane to the mirror and you can put tees in it for other drills.  So I brought this out to TPC for some good quality practice. 

I put both of the metal planes on and started putting from 10 feet with it.  I slowly started to take the planes off after making 30 in a row, then the other plane.  Not to mention this also help with your alignment for your shoulders and your eyes, because of the mirror.  It gives you instant feedback, which is great.  A guy I follow on Twitter, Chris Wilson (@Therealcwilson), uses this and in his latest post he said “do not travel with training aids”, because it busted while flying. 

So back to the practice session, next I took away the eyeline training aid and was putting from 10 feet without the tool.  I felt myself having a more confident stroke, and also on a more consistent plane.  I also saw Jin Park, a former ASU player, using the same tool on the green.  So this training aid must be popular, and now I can see why.

Today I am off to the SF Giants vs. Milwaukee Brewers game in Scottsdale.  Look for a new post soon, have a good Sunday!