Bad Golfer

 Two rounds last week to report on. To be sure, there's no danger of having to change the name of my little blog. I'm still a very bad, horrendous, stinking-awful golfer. But I comfort myself by looking on the interweb for some statistics that say that roughly half of all golfers are as bad as I am (meaning we shoot around 100-110. Not counting Mulligans or "practice shots" or gimmes or screw-its. But I guess I'm not the only bad-golfer out there, which is a little comforting. A little.  So I had made a tentative date with my buddy Alan to play a round last Sunday. I figured I'd go out on Friday and play a practice round to get into shape for my first round of the year not playing alone. It did not go well.  That's not entirely true: My first shot off the tee was textbook. Straight, long, beautiful, satisfying. Got a bogey on that first hole, which always puts me in a good mood. But I got a 10 on the second hole (not the first time on that hole,) which alw...

Address the ball.  Feet apart but not too far (aligned with shoulders, more or less) Don't groove the waggle Back straight, good posture, butt sticking out a little bit Deep breath Strong grip (knuckles visible) Club face correct left foot angled out just a smidge grip the club like you're holding a bird Deep breath again visualize shot shape Backswing inside the plane Trust your backswing low and slow hands, arms, shoulders, hips (in that order) head down, watch the ball straight left arm wrists hinged left knee bends a little inward but not too much club parallel to ground at top of backswing hips, shoulders, arms, hands (in that order) swing down to the ball, not at the ball swing through the ball pronate left wrist slightly at impact swing hard but not too hard (80%) swing just outside the backswing plane power in hip speed follow through belt buckle facing target arms straight only just after impact elbows toward target keep head still!!! don't spring up at impact Don...

 Back in the 16th century, when I was a kid, I loved baseball (still do, of course, Go Sox!) and I wanted badly to be a bad-baseball-player. My poor long-suffering Dad tried to help me in this hopeless endeavor, coaching me on a good baseball swing, and he always emphasized a good follow-through. This made no sense to me, and frankly still doesn't. How can what happens to the bat after you hit the ball make any difference whatsoever in how well you hit the ball? I'm still mystified by this, if I'm honest.  But it turns out the same is true in golf. Who knew? If you follow the impact of the ball with a full follow-through, the ball goes further, and it goes straighter. This I found out on the range, and it was confirmed the other day when I played my first round of nine holes of the 2021 season.  It started off well. I felt confident, thought about my follow-through as I went through my pre-shot routine, and hit the first ball of the season with a satisfying thwack. It fle...