I went to the range on last Wednesday after hearing reading a tip from Retief Goosen.  He said that for par 3’s you don’t really need to take a full backswing, which is one of my biggest problems.  I tend to try to take big backswing and then lift my upper bodd *and* head up as well.  As you can imagine, this is one of the worse things to do!  So, as part of my Off Season Swing Rebuild, I’ve been practicing trying to keep my backswing shorter.  Before last Wednesday, I tried this a few times, but I found that my distance was way off, but I stayed the course and kept at it.  I couldn’t figure it out, but I figure if I keep things simple, I would get there in due time.

But after I read that article, it hit me!  I was actually confusing shortening my backswing with shortening my shoulder turn.  Not only did this cause a loss of yardage, but it made my swing uneasy.  So after I worked on the short backswing/full shoulder turn, I finally was hitting much cleaner shots.  I’m still starting from scratch on a few other items like timing, and swing path, but I definitely saw a tiny bit of light from the end of the tunnel . . . gotta keep at it!

So Google came up with the Google Charts API recently. This is kinda cool because I was looking for a analytics charting solution for a visual representation of data. I was thinking of using PHP/SWF Charts, but it seems that Google Charts is easier . . . although I have to state a max for Google Charts and then each value is a pro-rated from 1-100. This makes is somewhat convenient. For example, a score of 93 has to be charted as 74.4 because it’s 93/125. I put 125 as the max, even though I wish I could keep that a little lower.

This is one of my ideas of Golf 2.0. The idea is to allow people track their handicap and other KPI’s (for lack of a better term). Also, in the spirit of Golf 2.0, this is data they can share with their friends via a simple URL.

I am open to comments and criticism. Would you use something like that? I currently track my handicap on Yahoo’s Golf Handicap Tracker and I’m sure many track their handicap on a golf club like Northern California Golf Association.

I know it’s really cold now, but the other day, I saw my Caddy Daddy six-pack cooler on top of my freezer and it reminded me of warmer days . . . sigh. The best thing about the cooler is that it’s soft, so it fits right in the side pocket of the bag. In the winter time, I usually have a jacket, but when it’s scorching, I don’t really need one. So it works out perfectly! There’s nothing like a nice cold drink when it’s 110 degrees out in the Sacramento heat!

It definitely doesn’t work as well with bottles, so I have to leave the premium beer in the fridge and bring some Bud or Tecate! I haven’t tried it yet, but I don’t think the Heineken keg cans will fit in the cooler.

You can get it here at Amazon.com.

Recently, I read this really cool article in Golf magazine about how to place the 10 toughest wedge shots. Their summary of the article was “New research shows you can hit the ball up to 41 percent closer by making the right choice between your lob wedge and sand wedge”

This is pretty compelling since they had a group of 27 golfers of various levels 9 different combinations of chip, pitch, and bunker shots with 3 different lies each. Every swing is different and every person has varying confidence with different clubs, but it is always interesting to have data like this. Even the pros tend to use the lob wedge more than the sand wedge, which contradicts the findings of this story a bit. However, they do admit that they should use the sand wedge and pitching wedge more.

The biggest shocker was that the lob wedge won the battle from the bunker as seen from page 4 of the article. The reasoning is that you don’t need to open the clubface up to achieve the same loft as a lob wedge . . . and the bounce of a lob wedge keeps the blade below the ball and reduces the chance of blading the ball as well. Unless the sand is really soft (not playing a muni course), the lob wedge is the way to go.

I tend to hit my lob wedge a bit fat from the fairway (part of off-season rebuilding project), so I personally only play my lob wedge when there is very little green to work with or from a downhill lie, but I think I’ll start mixing in the lob wedge from the sand a little more.

Last summer, I actually got back into golf again A LOT! I think I finally found my swing. Well, I found it for about a month, then the stars were no longer aligned and my natural swing flaws that were temporarily masked arose again. The good thing was that I learned a whole lot about my swing tendencies and how I approach the game.

It’s winter time and it’s time to rebuild my swing. I’m going to start with the fundamentals, master them and get confidence, and build from there.

Wish me luck!