UBC Golf Clinic

We had a golf clinic organized from our career management program at SFU MBA MOT program held at the UBC Golf Course. The day was separated into several segments

Driving Range

we spent time review hit golf balls from the astro turf mat with a 7 iron from the south driving range which I found to be more pleasant to hit from. I picked a few tips from the instructor that I found useful

swing: bring it back further and faster. I found the comment about the faster backswing to be interesting feedback as my friend Eliza recognized this and pointed it out to me. I got some good results from the 7 iron when I was able to connect with it on the sweet spot. I got some around the 125 yard area.
Sergei suggested to maintain the triangle formed when gripping the club with both arms until the club is above horizontal level and then to cock the wrist back a bit and then swing through. Sergei also suggested to keep the club head square to the ball when on the group and to keep it square throughout the back swing. This was good feedback that I'm excited to head out go an practice and try now.


putting:
-Segei suggested not to use the Shingo group, but to place the thumbs of both hand point straight up the shaft and removing the pinky from the interlock to a regular double fisted group.
- Another pointer I got was to pause on the follow through rather than coming back to the ready position of your swing
- Just like a job interview or before a tennis match spending some time on the green or the range at that course prior to your tee time is useful to warm up and see whether you get a feel for the green.

Practice at the course:
The instructor suggested one of the best places to practice and learn is actually on the course. He recommended a twilight tee time when it is a quieter and you can take your time to practice on the real course.

Driving:
See the video


Sand Trap tips:
See the video

Get a grip

I bumped into My instructor Shingo and he recommended that I switch back to my original grip that he taught me. I struggled with it because I was practicing so often with the hand separated!

I've had several practice sessions and here are some personal notes and findings from this grip.

Left hand:
- the left hand wraps around the grip with the thumb pointing upward against the shaft in the direction of the white arrow on my grip
- crease between my left index finger and the thumb of the left hand form a V that Shingo and Tom Watson recommend pointing at your left shoulder

Right Hand
- the right hand comes over top where the thumb of your right hand points between 10 and 11pm if you imagine the face of a clock. In my opinion I found it important to get the stability on this group with the right thumb
- the right pinky finger comes between the middle and the index finger in the left hand interlocking the group.

Other pointers
I take the hands back together so that they work together. I tend to have one hand dominate so it gets wristy. I focus on the ball and not pulling my head up.

There you go the Shingo grip. Take a look at the pictures or the video for a better idea of what I'm talking about


There you go the Shingo grip in Greg's words. Take a look at the picture and the video.

Mylora Sidaway

I must admit its been a while since my last blog post. I've had a hate love relationship with the sport. We went to Mylora Sidaway with 2 other friends. This is my second time. The first was 2 years ago for a CORIX golf event. The venue itself is fairly laid back and relaxed. On that sunny Saturday afternoon I found out that beers are welcome on the course. Here are the highlights of the experience:

- Longest hole 320 yards
- 4 holes over 200 yards including the the 330 yard hole
- Bermuda Triangle - Hole 10 with the fountain made over 10 of my balls disappear into the lake
- Made par on hole 4 192 yards, hole 8 116 yards.
- First course to actually keep score. I was kind of hesitant to share my awful score but I figure I can only improve from here. First 9 I was 19 over par. The back 9 I was 22 over par. Our group has spent a lot of time practice our driving game and realize that in order to get a lower score you need a short game and a putting game.

I would say this is a good course for beginners that want to migrate from pitch and putt to a golf course, but don't want to be intimidated by 200 plus holes and a stuffy golf etiquette atmosphere. You can have some beers with friends, with at a fairly reasonable pace. We let a group of two pass through and they mentioned covelinks as a good 9 hole course to try.

Success personal pointers I found successful for my irons and driver

I first experience a leap in my iron making ability after I played pitch and putt. I focused on the key points

- Grip - V's in both hands pointing to the right should. I used to put the right hand on top of the left, but I've been playing with them separated so far. This goes against my instructors teaching, but applying my tennis background where I had good success with many coaches I found that each coach has specific technical elements that they wanted to stress. Some adjustments I've tried and adopted. Some I didn't listen because it didn't work. So applying the same philosophy I've experiment with what worked and tried to incorporate a best practice whenever I can

- Swing for irons and hybrids - For irons I try to keep the wrist firm and bring the club back and maintain an awareness of where the club and an awareness of a pendulum of a circle when swinging. When I make contact I like to hit through the ball to maintain solid contact and for the irons I try to brush the ground and aim for the sweet spot. Follow through in the direction that I want before wrapping the follow through around my shoulder

- Driver - The swing with the driver has felt wieder and different than the irons probably because of the huge driver club head. My problem when hitting a solid shot until today was getting over 125-130 yards. Today I experimented with taking a larger slower back swing and cocking the wrist a a bit and cranking the shot, but maintain intense focus on hitting the ball on the sweet spot and hitting through the ball. Success him some around 175 yards today consistently and straight and for a bonus with a cute girl that could swing well beside me.

Shoulder - I try to take a deep should turn to generate power

Head - I try to keep it down until contact to focus on where I'm hitting

The success I got reminded me when I used to experiment with different ways of hitting the serve, the forehand, and the backhand. Sometimes through just playing you would discover a technique that just worked for you and you end up adopting.
What I can generalize is that there are many ways to hit the ball with much success.

Why Golf this Summer?

So its the middle of June and since some friends and I began golf lessons at Mayfair with Shingo I'm surprised that my interest in Golf continues to escalate even though at times I think I still suck on certain days I leave the driving range wondering why I'm not getting better even with 8 lessons under my belt.

To break down why down why I like Golf and how I got to this point I'll speak about these points

How I got to this point
- Lessons with a great instructor, Shingo at Mayfair
- Investment in a set of TaylorMade Burner Irons
- Going to the driving range regularly ay Mayfair and also been to Mclearly twice, Mylora once, Westwood Plateau once, and Musquem twice
-Pitch and Putt at Central Park
- Full Golf Course at Furry Creek
- 9 hole Westwood Plateau

Why I enjoy it
- Its based on beautiful scenery with well maintained grass and lakes that helps put me in a relaxed mindset
- Business Potential - There is a social and a networking aspect to the sport

- It's fun - Its fun to head out to the driving range and hit some balls to forget about work or school especially when I hit a solid shot with my 5 iron and its got the good height, past 125 yards though the foot ball post at Musquem, and you get to hold the follow through and admire the shot.

- Its Challenging and multi-dimensional - Hitting a golf shot is a frustration in itself and still is. However, when you hit that solid shot on the sweetspot all is forgotten. The sport is frustrating for sure and it takes some investment of time, money, and practice to establish a certain skill level. You need to master different types of shots to be successful. The powerful first drive. The second shot on the fairway. The short game with the irons, and then the putting. You also have to deal with the elements a course with hazards such as ravines and lakes. I'm not there yet, but I plan to overcome these challenges. I find progress slow but rewarding with this sport.

I feel that that I'm on a similar path that I've been on before with Tennis and IT that I both committed many years of time and passion into and have been rewarded for it. This is exciting for me and even though I still think I suck when I went to musquem today and I made some adjustments on my swing and smacked consecutive 10-15 drives 150-175 yards with a solid hit this was truly exciting. I've created this blog for those to share in my quest to conquer the frustration of golf and accomplish a level of mastery in this game. I hope you will join the adventure