The Steve WenPetren Project, Part 5

For those who missed it, check out Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4 of my series on how to stop being a terrible golfer.

As we reach the halfway point of my lessons, I think there’s two essential things that I’ve taken from this whole process.  First and most important, is my new-found love of this game.  Prior to my lessons with Steve, golf was an expensive recreational activity that I played sparingly whenever I had some free time and the weather was nice.  But now, my mentality is to get out whenever possible, wherever possible, for however much possible, and in whatever weather conditions.  I’m proud to call myself, at the very least, a weekend golfer now (and the occasional mid-week golfer).

The second essential thing I’ve noticed is how I can actually (finally) become frustrated with this game.  Again, prior to lessons, golf was purely recreational and I was just happy to be swinging a club as opposed to doing yard work or sitting through some terrible chick flick (ok, who am I kidding, I love terrible chick flicks).   Now though I actually have some sort of expectation when at the driving range or on the course.  It’s no longer only about “just happy to be here” syndrome, now it’s about that AND trying to improve on every swing.  Interesting dilemma, curious to see how my mental approach to the game progresses, but just in case, I have a slew of f-, s- and c- words in my arsenal waiting to be yelled.

LESSON #5 – HIPS DON’T LIE

The Steve WenPetren Project, Part 4

For those who missed it, check out Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 of my series on how to stop being a terrible golfer.

After the third lesson, I felt discouraged. Nothing to do with Steve’s teachings, but just the mental block I had given myself and my inability to hit a ball straight again. Thanks to a few visits to the driving range and a round of golf, I felt a little more confident going into the fourth lesson. But since all the confidence in the world isn’t necessarily going to give me the physical ability to hit a golf ball correctly, now I was slightly apprehensive yet anxious to show Steve if practice really does make perfect (or at least something better than awful).

Sure enough, it does! My hands were turning over, ball was going straight, and my 7-iron was going a solid 150 on most shots. Even my pitching wedge, a club I have ever rarely swung at full, as I’ve always chose to use it as more of a short half-swing wedge, I was hitting a clean 110 yards on most swings. Steve was so impressed that he suggested I try to qualify for the U.S. Open this week, ok, he wasn’t that impressed as this is what I should have been doing during last week’s debacle of a lesson, but because I had improved greatly from the previous week, he left it up to me what I wanted to learn next.

LESSON #4 – ENTER SANDMAN

The Steve WenPetren Project, Part 3

For those who missed it, check out Part 1 and Part 2 of my series on how to stop being a terrible golfer.

After last week’s somewhat successful lesson (I finally turned my hands over!), I was very anxious to see what this next lesson would have in store.  Especially since I was starting to get the swagger of Chi ChiRodriguez in my game.  Actually that’s not entirely true, but I did spend part of the week practicing Chi Chi’s legendary club/sword swing.

Wrong type of golf swing to be working on.

Unfortunately, although it was my homework, I was only able to get out to the driving range once in between lessons.  Had mixed results, the first ball was beautifully struck, just as I left off from last week’s lesson.  After that, the next 44 balls were pretty much inconsistently all over the place, including one that may have landed behind me somehow.  Hopefully this wouldn’t cause any roadblocks in my (slow but steadily) improving golf swing…

LESSON #3 – ????