What is the state of my golf? How did I get here? Where am I going? As someone who is almost completely self taught through books and video and play and practice, I am aware that I am not the best of players. However, I always want to improve so I approach golf seriously (which annoys my wife – “It’s just a game!” she always says.)

I spent all but the last two years playing with a hands and arms swing. It wasn’t until early last year that I learned that more power and distance and consistency comes from using a sequence swing with body turn to whip the arms and club around. When I get this sequence/turn swing right, the ball flies farther, straighter, and with considerably less perceived effort. But it is hard not to revert to the arm swing if I am not consciously thinking about sequence swing. Like karate kata, I need to perform so many repetitions of the sequence swing that it becomes second nature – I’m not there yet, but I am getting there.

What are my stats? When I joined the Austin Golf Association last year I didn’t have a handicap. I eventually, through recording my previous round scores from my Avery Ranch home course and the tournament rounds played, established a handicap index of 31.2 through the GHIN network. Since then, my swing change and practice efforts have resulted in my handicap dropping to 24.6 in just 11 months. I have broken 100 fifteen times since the initial AGA breakthrough at Jimmy clay with the best score being a 94 at my home course of Avery Ranch.

The two biggest influences for the improvement in my score come from two sources. Early last year I found the youtube channel, “Wisdom in Golf” with a Canadian pro, Shawn Clement, who teaches a swing method with analogies of the clubhead cutting grass and such that really taught me that the swing is not a hands and arms thing, but instead a sequence of movements from the ground up that whips the club around with velocity. Once I started using this swing method I started hitting the ball so much better with much less effort. The second influence in lowering my score was adopting the “Scoring Method”  as a strategy to attack the golf course. I will write separate articles on both of these later with more detail. However, both of these are what I consider the primary reason for my handicap improvement and I still have so much more to learn from these two things that just from these two I will knock my handicap down below 20 within a year. This is because I still am working to hit sequenced swings more often – I revert to the arm swing when I loose focus. And I haven’t been diligent about employing the Scoring Method on every shot on every hole.

My practice routine comes from the knowledge that when I play golf, I never hit the same shot twice. Every shot requires a different club or target or approach. Why, then, should I practice hitting one ball after another with the same club? I only do this when I am deliberately working on one swing key. Otherwise, I practice with different clubs on most shots most of the time. And I grade my shots and keep test score of how I did, from one session to another. This is a tenant of the Scoring Method, but it is also recommended by other golf books that emphasize the mental side of golf. I am always setting up practice tests to hit 10 balls to specific targets with varying clubs and scoring how I did. My favorite test is to set up four rows of 9 balls. Hit a tee shot, (usually with 3-hybrid), hit a fairway approach shot, hit a wedge to green sized target, shot, and hit a chip shot. That’s 36 shots to score a point on and I usually score in the mid-20’s.

I also only practice chipping and putting with one ball because I only play with one ball – therefore I only have one chance to get it right. I typically play up and down games of 9 holes or play two-putt games of 9 holes. The tests and games add pressure to get results – which I believe helps me play under pressure in my AGA tournaments where every stroke counts.

On a final note and related issue – no matter where I am playing or whom I play with, I always play by the rules with a couple of exceptions related to pace of play in friendly rounds. I alway putt out – always. I must do so in tournaments so there’s no good reason not to when I play friendly rounds.

So where am I going? I seek to continuously improve, with the goal of driving my handicap down to single digits within 3 years. At some point I may finally take lessons to deal with some issues that persist even with successful swing changes. This goal is both achievable and challenging and requires a good bit of devotion and work and study. As an inherently positive person, I know I can get there with sufficient application of effort.