Also, for God's sake, get your hands on Mickelson's Secrets of The Short Game.

PM me if you want a simple way to do so.

Hey guys!

Thanks for comments, some good advices there.

Unfortunately I've been ill since Friday and can't even think about going to DR
Hope that this break will help me though.

Definitely need to work on my short game, but currently my swing is one big mess. Some of you might be right, currently I'm probably over thinking everything.

Will have a look at this Mickelson's dvd

Finally after more than a week I went today to golf course, still not feeling well though.

Watched that Mickelson’s Short Game dvd last week, I really think it’s great.
I spent most time on “hinge&hold” chip shots. It feels much different from what I’ve been doing before. It was hard to control the distance, but because I’ve just started I don’t care too much. Will see how it goes in a few weeks.
I felt like sometimes I de-lofted (is it a word?) my club on downswing probably with some action in my wrist. Gotta watch the dvd once more

My swing is still so bad. Hit many varieties of shots. Some shanks, some were bladed, some good ones. So still it’s so frustrating.
Anyway, with that long break I found more passion and desire to work harder. Just need to get rid of this F flu.

ur exactly right, CONSISTENCY is big term in this context, if ur able to hit a clean shot majority of time that's when the game gets interesting, u got to hit clean shots 100 out of 100, if we can do that then we r ready to take next step

I'm pretty sure if anyone played as much as I did the first year they would have broke 80. I pretty much played a full 18 4-5 times a week.

It’s been almost a month since I’ve posted here.
May was horrible. First I was seriously ill for a week or so. Then I had a back injury and needed a week break. Finally I twisted my ankle while playing basketball, so next break.
This week I was ready for comeback. Went 3 times to DR and surprisingly I hit balls quite well. Today was the same so I decided to play my only 2nd round this year. I expected my short game to be horrible because I haven’t touch putter and wedges for like 3-4 weeks.

Recap (all distances are in meters, 100m= 109yards):
#1 par4 246m- good iron7 tee shot, about 90m to the green, pin high but to the left, great chip shot and 2feet putt for par (my 5th par in career)
#2 par4 327m- again good i7 tee shot, I knew I couldn’t get green with i7 but still decided to go with this club, so decent 2nd shot and ~40 to go. Horrible chip shot 15m to the green. Another bad chip shot, 2 putts and double bogey.
#3 par3 162m- 7iron and GIR, weeeee. Bad 1 putt, nice 5feet put, PAR weeeeeeeee
#4 par5 448m- First fairway missed with 6i (left), very good 2nd, decent 3rd shot. Again very bad chip shot from about 35m. Nice another chip and 2feet tap in. Bogey
#5 par4 352m- nice straight tee shot, again decided to go with i7 so 40meters short of a green. Another horrible chip shot, then bad tee shot and 2 putts for double bogey.
#6 par 3 117m. Tee off with PW. Landed on the green but stopped behind. Happy with my uphill chipshot, 2 putts and Bogey.

So after 6 holes I was only +6 and as soon I realized…. You can imagine what happened.

#7 par4 338m- very nice tee shot, 2nd shot goes OOB- penalty. My 4th landed on the green but about 50 feet from the pin, with like triple break = 4 putts and +4 on the hole
#8 par4 377m- Another fairway hit. Bad short 2nd shot to the rough, some bad chip shots, 2 putts for +3
#9 par5 513m- Nice straight 1st and 3rd shots (2nd was shortish). 4 landed on the green from about 150m so really happy with that. Difficult first put from about 30feet, good 2nd from about 8feet barely missed, tap in for +3
So my front 9 was +15 (51), best 9 ever played by me.

#10 par4 317m- first really bad tee shot, just about 50m. good second one but missed green with my 3rd. Good chip and 2 putts for Double Bogey
#11 par3 187m- again only i6, so about 20m to the green. Really good chip and about 6feet PAR put
#12 par5 449m- nothing special, bad chip, 2 putts. Double bogey
#13par4 316m- missed fairway far left. My 2nd shot went OOB- penalty. Another horrible 30m chip, great next one and 1putt from 1feet. +4

So with that horrible last holes I realized I’m not gonna break even 100 so I’ve just played golf since that instead of trying to make a good score.

#14 par4 309- good tee shot, my 2nd shot landed on fringe. Good up and down (5feet putt) for PAR
#15 par3 160m- GIR with my i7, pin high but 20feet to the left. Bad 1st putt, 2nd missed by inches. Bogey
#16 par4 272. Good tee shot, shortish 2nd one. Not great chip from 25m, 2 putts for Bogey
#17 par5 473- Same story- good 1st and 3rd shot, decent 2nd. Worst chip shot today, Instead of going straight it went at 45degree right. 2 putts for Double Bogey.
#18 par4 417. Great tee shot, very short (2nd for today) next one. Then from 160m great shot to the green in front of a club house and patio- great feeling. But of course 3 putted fro double bogey.

Back nine was +14 (50)- new personal best 9.
+29 on 18, 101- best round ever and so close to break 100 (stableford according to Golfshot was 45). But I’m really happy with this result considering practicing only 3 days in May, and no short game.

Made 37 putts, Fairways 71%, GIR 11%.
My short game was disaster today. Chipping from <40m was awful, putting was horrible- never had a chance with long putts, most made putts were from inside 4feet.
But I’m really happy with my iron play. Playing with only i7+ (few tee shots with i6) I know I can’t make GIR or decent up&down chances.

I only hope I won’t injury myself again (tomorrow I’m playing in a basketball tournament so I have a chance…). Now I only need to practice on my short game, start hitting my i6, i5, hybrids and driver so I will have few more par chances. And hope to break 100 soon, than 90…

peace,

Short game, short game, short game! Just work on anything inside of say 50 yards. Pitching, chipping, putting, everything. It sounds like your swing is at least decently serviceable right now, but the most important thing is always short game. I watched the mickelson dvd recently too, its good stuff. Good luck!

wow 162m with iron7 on the par3. I´m jelly!

yeah shortgame. if u chip from <30m, try to 1 putt

thats the story of that round:
Ball around 30m from green= 2 chip shots and 2 putts

recently i have been driving well and getting the ball on or in very general vicinity of green in regulation (often below regulation on par 5's), but i need the precision on my shorter shots. 15-20 feet from 25 yards just doesn't cut it. not sure whether to try harder or relax more. i guess more practice and measurement in practice

Is distance control your major problem or is hitting it straight/aiming a problem as well?

Distance control, definitely.
But I know that yesterday was just awful and I can do much better. I’m not telling that I’m anywhere close to being good at chipping, but I haven’t done any chipshot for almost a month, which for beginners like me is like a year.
I’m gonna spend most of my time on shots from inside 50m next week and see how it goes.
Any suggestions? Drills?

Another thing I found hard yesterday:
At my golf course there are 200m, 150m, 100m markers. Anytime I am <80m I found it very hard to judge distance. I think it’s most likely because of lack of experience, isn’t it? Should I buy any laser range finder?

Hey!
Because my short game almost doesn’t exist I made few videos today.
I tried to follow dagolfdoc’s instructions on filming.

Feel free to comment. I really don’t expect any positive words. I’ve got less than a month to improve my game as at the beginning of July I’m playing with my poker friends few rounds and money will be involved

(btw I’ve never told you how I made the easiest 3k$ in my life- my friend took a bet that after playing only for about 16month he is gonna play in one day 3 rounds with total score less than +15…….. His best single round score after 3 years is 116 I believe)

Here are the vids. I will say it again: what you feel is so much different from what actually you are doing… Hate those vids, but anyway:

Putting FW:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMGHbDt9hUE

Putting DTL:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDEn71KaAR0

Chipping FW: (I messed up a little with camera angle)
Short: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCWayyP6XVY

Long: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceh9F7VWfAE


Chipping DTL:
Short:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVaGoKb2R9w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neIpCSRLgvY

Long:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9gl_8V7Wxo

i like the putting stroke!
maybe straighten your legs a bit that your eyes are really over the ball. but very fluid stroke ! thats important

Cant say anything about that chipping since im chipping noob aswell but looks good for me in beginning / attempt

I couldn't chip or putt that well when I was breaking 90, keep it up dude, I think the technique looks great.