Graphing Progress
I once was successful losing a bunch of weight by charting my progress with a graph like this one. The idea is to chart your weight (or in this case, handicap) against a goal line that maps a way to your desired goal. By charting my handicap each month on this graph I'll be able to measure my progress as compared to my goal line.
There are two lines on the graph. The blue line represents my handicap, charted by month. (I entered monthly handicaps for the past two years for historical perspective.)
The orange line represents the planned goal line, which maps a way for me to reach my desired handicap over the next 60 months.
As it turns out, I have to drop my handicap by an average of .155 strokes per month over the next 60 months in order to reach my goal. (The plateaus on the goal line represent the four months per year during which we do not post our scores.)
posted by p2h @ 2:59 PM
3 Comments:
My graph
I hooked up with a dad (37), and his two sons (13 and 11) for 9 holes tonight. There's this thing I do when I'm out of town where I masquerade as a very nice person. We had a really good time, and I also acted like a good golfer. Doubles on 10 and 18, but 4 pars and 3 bogues on the interior 7. I was happy.
Last night, Char and I went to the range, she hit well, was working on her swing. "There's something different I do with my feet when I hit it well..." She's nearly hooked.
Me, I found I couldnt take it from the course to the range! My new setup to the ball, it quickly has become a caricature of itself, and I'm hitting some shots WAY right. Straight, just not aligned correctly, OR...not swinging the way I should for that alignment. See, I dont know! ;) BUT, I was getting it up close to the hole on the chips and pitches, tonight.
...I'm a little scattered, writing in reverse order...here's the deal: After Sunday, I thought I had it figured out, to where I could go back out and hit about 90% fwys and 90% greens.
Anyway, your slow progress strategy is probably more reliable, but this idea of .155 or .115 per month reminds me of a question my Uncle Joe asked me when I was a kid, working out with weights: If a new calf is born, and you go out and lift it off the ground a couple times a day...how old will the calf be when you cannot lift it any longer?
Uncle Joe has a way of grinning mischeviously but wisely, so I always thought there was a profound truth in the conundrum of the calf, but I never could quite grasp it, so I pull it out every time I get a chance...
How will Friday's 4-man scramble contribute to your goal? Maybe just some casual fun...but I've had a tip for you rolling around in my mind for about a week, and the scramble might be a good chance to mull over the tip:
Your efforts seem to have been mostly in the area of swing improvement, ball-striking and shot-making. How about gameplan and course management? Strong points for you already, admittedly, but you have to get strokes where they are to be had...
I always say "You can force a par, but birdies have to fall from heaven." My advice might seem to contradict my rule: It should become your standing plan to birdie every par 5.
Four strokes a round this plan will give you! You wont birdie every one you say? Well, maybe you sometimes bogie a par 5 now...I dont want to short-circuit the doublethink, but I do think that if you take a different attitude on the 5's, then your par 5 stroke average can reduce by 1.
You have mentioned this objective indirectly when you say you need to get better with the long irons or sissy woods. Maybe so! But there are other ways. Plan the hole from green to tee, play your second shot not to be as long as possible, but target a place exactly 112 yards, and take the water and bunkers out of play...set yourself up for a real meat and potatoes up and down...actually HITTING a big green and making a herculean two-putt is NOT the only way to do it. (although it's actually the best...)
I've over-elaborated technique only to demo that technique is not the issue. Objective and "choose your battles" are important. You can play smart golf on par 4's, take what is offered on par 3's, but on par 5's you will always be aggressive, always hungry.
The only fault I can find with your par 5 suggestion is that it conflicts with my desire to improve my long irons and, as you put it, "sissy" woods.
I AM going to change my par 5 strategy though. From one where I go for the green almost every time, to one where I choose that option only after considering the likelihood of pulling off the shot and weighing that against the sum of (a) the possible trouble I could be in if I don't and (b) the likelihood of birdie via a safer route.
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