Equipment Evaluation

Now that I have achieved consistency, maximizing the distance is now necessary. It is time to evaluate my equipment.

By the way, I use to have two offset clubs in my bag, the fairway 3 and 5 woods. Whenever I have a nice hit with these two clubs, I have the strangest feeling that the ball stayed with clubface for a split second. I can feel the weight of the ball on the clubface! I think this is due to the offset feature of the club. Therefore, I was inclined to buy, the offset Hogan BH-5 irons. I like the weight of these clubs when I tried it at the beginnng of the season.

I have gone to EBAY and bought all the clubs. Now I have the Hogan BH-5 irons, all offset. I love these irons. I wish they make similar wedges (I still have my 60, 56, 52 Titleist).

As to the woods, I bought offset 5, 7 and a driver - all from King Cobra Golf. My putter is a special Callaway. I did try the rescue woods but really did not like them. I, however, love my offset 5 and 7 woods.

At this point, I am very happy with my equipment. I can now cover the 150 - 180 yards range with my 5 and 7 woods. My driver is good but I am still stuck with my 200-yard carry with it - I would love to add more distance so I am still shopping. And my Titleist wedges - I can play with them but I still do not have the confidence. They are a little heavy for me and the grips are a tad thick.

I would like to add that going to the offsets widened the fairways for me. Now I know that my shots only will either be straight or they will go left - not right (especially the driver). I can now aim more to the right of the fairway without fear of losing the ball to the right side.

The Evolution of the Golf Swing

Learning golf is a journey. Learning the all the techniques at the same time is an impossibility. This will explain why in the beginning, the instruction for the golf swing carried detailed techniques, e.g., swing plane, waiter plate, etc., but later on it became much simpler, e.g., Tiger Woods technique. Why then should I not update my earlier instruction? Which then should the reader follow?

I had this dilemna too but thinking this out carefully, I came into the conclusion that what I learned previously must also be essential. Before I was focused on learning the plane, how the left hip is very important, and so on. Now I don't even think about it. I just do what I said about Tiger Woods, lift the club up and turn around to a picture-perfect finish. But I don't think I could reach this point if I did not start from the basics - which now became ingrained as muscle-memory.

So if you readers find some inconsistencies from the start to the end part of this blog - that is essential and part of the journey - the search of the perfect golf swing. This is what is missing in most of the golf instructions and maybe this is the key to learning how to play golf. Everybody is so focused on finding a secret but all along, the secret is the search or the journey, rather than a technique itself. Most golf instruction books will mention this subtly, e.g.,:

• "I practice the mechanics in the golf driving range, then forget it in the course".
• "Muscle memory."
• "I do not conciously remember what I hit the ball with, left hand or right hand."
• "At the beginning of the golf season, I go to my golf professional to remember the basics again."

Remember, all these instructions are saying that after learning the techniques, the ultimate golf instruction, is to "forget all of them" when playing!

One Chip One Putt

Chipping, as far as I am concerned, includes every shot excuted around the green - except sand play. It should be executed by muscle memory. The chipping thought should be the "ball flying with the desired trajectory into the desired landing spot and rolling in the hole."

The procedure should be (very similar to putting):

• Visualize the shot needed and where the ball should land.
• Perform some practice chips but remember to think result - not how to do it. Remember that the forward press starts the swing and the left hand and arm sets the trajectory. A higher trajectory requires a sharp upswing by the left hand. The forward swing is done by muscle memory - usually just the shoulders in very short chips but may include the body on longer ones. The key here is, it should be automatic - the body doing it without any thinking.
  
• With an open stance, repeat the practice swing for the real shot.