Insomnia

I just met with a group of friends from my time in California. These are men and women that I served with as an LDS missionary. It is insane to see some of them come in with babies in their arms. When we were serving together, we were all celibate, focused on spreading the Gospel and serving the Lord and our fellow men. Now many of us are married, and some are starting to have children. Life is full of circles.

Somebody once made one of those weird comments that stuck with me. They were talking about life being a circle and golf being a circle. They said, a golf ball is a circle, a swing is circular, the hole is circular, when you play 18 holes, you make a complete circle out and back to the clubhouse.

Our days are circles too. In normal circumstances, one awakes in their bed, and at the end of the day, retires to their bed. But then there are those nights where you somehow tumble out of orbit, and can't seem to manage the retiring to bed part. I'm glad that I have this blog to work in during those times. Luckily for all of you who may happen on this, my first attempt at blogging, I'm not a regular insomniac, so these night-time posts will be few and far between.

This post is going nowhere. I'm going to try going to bed, and see if I can force myself to sleep. Any tips on how to get to sleep?

Fast Learner This One Is

After seeing how much I sliced the ball, I decided that I needed to get help from someone who knows golf. The first person that I went to was my sister's boyfriend. Back in high-school, he was a scratch golfer, but a car accident and multiple concussions have taken him away from consistent play. He accompanied me to the driving range, and gave me some sound advice that every new golfer needs to follow.

• Keep your knees bent (Don't stand up as you swing through). This was causing me to hit the ball on top, sending the ball fast and low for only a short distance. Keeping my knees bent has helped me strike the ball at the equator, letting the loft of the club launch the ball.
• Keep your head down. This is probably the most common advice that I've heard, but it is the most universal, and the truest. If you look up to see where the ball is going, you throw your body off balance, and the ball's trajectory will be changed from its original path. Look up after your follow-through. You'll still be able to see where your ball is going.
• Don't swing so hard! Swinging hard takes power away from you. Let your body guide the club through your swing path; starting with your hips shifting toward the target, your weight shifting from right to left, your left shoulder moving from the ball to the target, which will bring the club down to the ball, and bring the wrists back to neutral position as your club makes contact with the ball. It should be a nice, fluid motion (I'm still working out kinks with this one, and it has taken me months).

Well, these were some of the first lessons that I received, and as far as free advice goes, it helped out a lot. Mostly, though, I've been self taught. What I've gained from session's with my sister's boyfriend, has been confidence. Having someone who can critique you in a non-confrontational way makes you want to improve and succeed.

Up until this point, I had only been to the driving range. I'll tell you how far my confidence got me next time...

Technorati

I've just signed up with Technorati to further promote my blog. Hey, a little self-promotion is good, right? Check it out at the link below, and while you're there, check out some of the other great blogs featured.

Technorati Profile

My Admiration Keeps On Growing

Tiger Woods... What can I say about him that hasn't already been said. Because of school and work, I missed the opening round the the American Express World Golf Championship. But this morning while working out, I saw all of the highlights on ESPN. What Tiger did out there was nothing short of amazing. He put all of his match play disappointments behind him and shot nine-under! If you wonder what my ultimate dream is, that is it: to play golf like Tiger Woods, and be able to display the U.S. Open trophy, the Claret Jug, the Wanamaker Trophy, or the Green Jacket. Oh, to dream...

But anyway, I digress. I'll get on to my training later today.

(AP Photo/Tom Hevezi)

Starting Down the Path

Several months ago, I took my wife to a movie that was being shown in the auditorium at my company's headquarters. The movie was The Greatest Game Ever Played, which is about amateur golfer, Francis Ouimet, winning the 1913 US Open Championship. I absolutely loved the movie, and although I've been interested in golf for many years, for some reason, this movie captured my imagination, and I've been itching to play ever since.

I stepped into a local sporting goods store about a week later looking to buy a set of clubs. I was dismayed at the price tag: $399 for a starter set of clubs. I've come to find out that $399 is a decent price to pay, but I wasn't willing to pay that much to start out. Next I went to ebay, but after a bad deal with a laptop from China, I've been leary of online auctions. Finally, I did what I should have done from the beginning, and I froogled golf clubs. I found several sites that offer inexpensive golf equipment, but the site that topped them all was Golf Outlets USA. They feature knock-off clubs, which are great for starting out. If you've golfed for a while, you should probably bite the bullet and purchase some name-brand clubs. I finally settled on a set by Confidence Golf that included all that I would need to start out. Driver, 3 Wood to 5 Wood, 3 Iron-Pitching Wedge, and of course a putter. It came in a nice stand bag and only cost $109 ($140 after shipping and insurance). There was one additional cost... I had to get my wife a new digital camera, which cost $199. It was her bargain for letting me get clubs. Oh well, small price to pay for what I hope will be a lifetime of enjoyment.

The day the clubs arrived, I went to the local driving range. For the price of a burger at Carls Jr., I was able to slice 50 balls, and realize that I have a ton of work to do to even be able to hit the ball straight.

I learned a few great lessons from the experience: do your research before making a purchase. If I had insisted on getting Calaway, Taylor Made, Titlesit, Ping, Cleveland or some other big-name brand clubs, I would have gone to the course and hit the ball exactly like I did with a set of generic clubs. I also learned that watching Tiger Woods on television does not mean you can hit the ball like him. I decided that I needed to get some lessons, but being the cheapskate that I am, I decided to get lessons from friends before opening my checkbook, but I'll tell you about that in my next post. Until then, Chris (NexTiger).

Introductions

Hello, and welcome to the Golf Saga blog. As a new golfer, I want to use this blog as a journal of my progress, and hopefully help other new golfers to progress. I will include techniques that have worked for me, and techniques that haven't had such hot results. I want this to be a record of my quest to get from a handicap too high to mention down to scratch golfer, or barely breaking 90, wherever I plateau. But I will not be satisfied unless I can shoot par!

For this first post, I just wanted to let everyone know what this blog will cover. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Until next time,

Chris (NexTiger)