The 5 levels of golf

When you are improving at golf, there are 5 stages of success.

1. On the practice area (range, chipping and putting green)
2. On the course
3. During a tournament
4. During a big tournament
5. During a big tournament on Sunday

Right now I am at stage 2.5

I can’t do it for 18 holes yet. It’s a combination of better focus and confidence which leads to a greater commitment to each individual shot.

I hope you all can learn something from my struggles and hopefully perservearence. I am not trying to make excuses or setting myself up for failure…I am trying to be honest with myself and candid with all of you so we can improve.

It’s a mental game for me now. I have the ability to execute physically in all parts of my game. I need to start playing golf and stop “working on things.”

Tough habit to break. Getting off swing crack might be as hard as getting off real crack.

I am through 9 in Phoenix

Birdied #1 and made 8 pars.

Diver-A+
Irons-D. Getting in front and pushing them.
Wedges-B solid but unspectacular.
Chipping-B+
Putting-B
Ability to stay focused during a 3 hour front 9-C

Edit #1-I am pissed beyond belief. I have played this course 20+ times, just not in the last 3 years. I was unable to play a practice round because there were events yesterday. I hit a ball 5 yards left of the 10 the fairway. They put in new a rock pile and bush area for aesthetics. My ball was up against a bush and I had to take an unplayable.

Problem is the unplayable drop rolled up against another bush but not outside the area that would create a redrop, so I had to take another. Hit a nice shot to 15 feet and missed for a double.

Next hole I was 3 paces from the fairway, up against a tree and had to take another unplayable. Hit what I thought was a good shot to a pin behind a bunker. Ball was a foot or two short and rolled back in the bunker.

Hit a nice bunker shot to 6 feet (tough shot) and the putt did a 360 and came back at me.

On 12 I was seriously pissed after burning the edge on a 6 footer and pulled a Stadler on the 18″er.

You can make fun of me for the 18″er.

I am the devil..666

Regathered my sanity and birdied the 220 yard 13th.

Edit #2-on 14-17 I hit really nice approach shots. I hit it over the green to back pin on 14. Over is bad, but what was I protecting? Hit nice approach shots on 15-17. Just missed on 15 and 16 from 15 and 10 feet. Have another 10 footer on 17.

Missed the 10 footer on 17 and a 200 footer for eagle on 18.

76 is not good, but when you make four 6′s in a 5 hole stretch, the other 13 weren’t so bad.

I hit it really well the last 6 holes. After the insanity that gripped me on 10-12 subsided, I made a nice adjustment to why I pushed irons on front side.

I really hit very few poor shots today. I need to putt better. I didnt putt poorly, but I need to putt a lot better.

The biggest thing in need to do is stop trying to not hit bad shots…and just try to hit good ones.

The day a security guard went for his holster

Many of the Nationwide events I played in was as a Monday qualifier. When you are a member of the Tour you get a money clip with your name on it and that is your ID that gets you into the parking lot of the club and locker room.

When you are a qualifier, you get a badge that has the tournament name and “contestant” printed on it and that is your ID.

Three different times I had a run in with security and not having a money clip.

The first was on a pro am day, which like the PGA Tour was on Wednesday. Because I was a long drive champion, I often got requested to play with the tournament sponsor and this particular week was one of those times. The parking lot at the club was small, so amateurs had to go several miles away and be shuttled in. Typically, no other qualifier played in the pro-am, so security was not used to dealing with these temporary ID’s.

I got to the players lot, showed my ID and got this response, “Sir, this lot is for tournament players only, amateurs need to go to the other lot.”

I told him I was a pro, but was a qualifier. He asked to see my money clip and I tried to explain the money clip and qualifier badge to him. He repeated I needed to go to the amateur parking lot. I was going to miss my tee time if I did that so I just went past him, parked and went to the range.

The round was pretty uneventful, but I came back to the parking lot to find my car had been towed.

The second time wasn’t quite as humorous as having my car towed. The qualifier was rain delayed on Monday. On Tuesday Morning I finished my round with a 63 which was obviously going to make it. I really wanted a practice round that afternoon as the course is closed on Wednesdays for pro-ams. All of the officials knew me and I had done the Tour many favors by doing free exhibitions to help promote the Tour, so they went out of their way for me sometimes. This was one of those times. They OK’d me to come over to the course and play before the qualifier was officially over. Well, security didn’t have my name on “The List,” I didn’t have my temporary players badge and they wouldn’t let me through the gate. I had to go to the spectators parking lot, pay for a ticket, shuttle back to the course, check in, shuttle back to the spectators lot, get my car and drive back to the course.

The third time was my favorite. I had gotten a sponsor exemption this particular week in return for doing a long drive and trick shot show for a few thousand people on Tuesday. There were interviews on the local news and a very large picture of me on the front page of the sports section. After giving the exhibition, I was in the parking lot that could been seen from the entrance to the locker room where a security guard was standing. I was putting my bag in the car when several youngsters came to get my autograph and the security guard saw all of this happening. This was also in the days of metal spikes where you crunched when you walked in the parking lot.

An additional detail to the story was outside of every Nationwide and PGA Tour locker room, there is a sign with pictures of all the ID’s that get you into the locker room, including the temporary badge that qualifiers and sponsor exemption players get. This sign was about 12.37865″ from this guys face.

I crunched my way over to the locker room door and this guy asks me for my money clip. I showed him my badge and went to walk in. He put his arm in front of me and said, “Sir, I can’t let you in without a money clip.” I put my badge right up to the picture on the sign.

“Only players with money clips are allowed in the locker room.”

I looked at him like he had lost his mind and went to walk in to the locker room again. He put his hand on my shoulder and when I turned around he had gone for his holster and to my surprise, there was a gun there.

Well, I was young and angry and said…

“Go ahead and shoot me you ^(^%$%^&*(&^%$^&*(*&^%$%^&*(*&^%^&*(*&^%!@$^&*((*&”

The first two incidents were known by the officials and I didn’t get into trouble for this…which was new, because I got in trouble for everything else I did…LOL

The unimportance of lag as a primary goal

Here is the BIG misconception on this subject that gets everyone in trouble.

Throwing the lag away (casting) and unwinding it earlier are two COMPLETELY different motions. Most people think they are the same.

One involves a break down of the left wrist which cannot be fixed by “holding the lag.” Shorter back swing, keeping upper body behind ball, etc., is how you get rid of that “loss of lag.”

The other involves connecting the clubface to the turn and having the club rotate with the turn from the top of the down swing.

When you try and hold the lag or create more lag, you disconnect the rotation of the club from the turn and cause more issues than you can count.

It is a totally irrelevant discussion.

When you make a good swing, you get X amount of lag. If you try and create it, you get X on the scorecard.

Shortening your swing

All of us (including me) need some tough love when it comes to our golf games.

I will get on point after I tear into myself.

So as not to be a hypocrite, I will give myself the hammer first.

Right now, I stink at tournament golf. I used to be pretty good, but right now I am terrible.

I have spent so much time trying to rediscover my feel throughout the bag, my ability to perform at a competitive level is atrocious right now.

Why? Because it takes time to improve at golf. I am making an effort to rid my brain of mechanical thoughts and redirect to playing the game. Right now, I am awful, but I am making an effort every day to get better…the only way to do that…play tournaments and make an effort to be better each time.

Which brings me to the title of this post…and the same thing will apply to anything you are working on.

If you need to shorten your swing, it is not going to be shorter in a bucket of balls, a day or a week…but if you make an effort each time you swing to be shorter, a month or two from now you will have the length swing you want.

Just like I will be better at tournament golf when I have played 5, 10, 20 more of them.

The Bob Hope

Don’t care about the Humana Challenge. I am fine with sponsor names, they deserve it for the money they put up, but it’s still the Bob Hope to me.

The Bob Hope is the epitome about why a +3 club player has no chance on Tour. It doesn’t matter how hard the courses are, when you put the pins in easy places in the middle of the green, the scores are beyond the level anyone but a tour player can shoot.

It shows why the scores are higher during other Tour events that amateurs think are easy. The pins.

With ams filling out the groups the first four rounds, if the pins were in normal “Tour” positions, the rounds would take 7 hours as the 25 handicap rich guys and celebs couldn’t finish the hole.

It is why in my heyday, an average +3 to 3 handicap could beat me on a given day, but didn’t have a snowball’s chance in Hades against me for 4 days on a Tour level course setup for a Tour event. That is still the case, it’s just the given days where they can beat me happen to be more plentiful now.

I can still go low on a hard course, I can go high on an easy course. It’s all about the flow of the first few holes and how they affect me mentally. I AM WORKING ON THAT. It’s confidence/blind arrogance. Used to have a lot, now I need to get that back.

I can’t say anything about this tournament, that hasn’t been said before. I will repeat what I said last year. It is sad it has become a third tier event the networks don’t even show.

I believe it is combo of the top players are too self important to play 4 days with ams and celebs…and the ams and celebs have been corrupted like the rest of us into grinding on their swing and routines to the point the top pros don’t even want to watch it.

It is painful to watch a 20 handicap step off the yardage twice, throw up grass four times, go through his 2 minute routine, back off, go through his routine again, change clubs, go though his routine again, back off, throw up more grass, go through his routine again and chunk it 50 yards.

…and it’s all the pros fault for doing this and setting a poor example for the ams to copy.

…and it’s the PGA Tour’s fault for not enforcing pace of play rules more and allowing this to happen.

…and it’s the golf media’s fault for putting all all these complicated swing checklist methods and promoting long pre-shot routines.

…and it’s my fault for ruining my game, not making the Tour and setting a better example for the golfing public.

You know what? It’s Johnny Miller’s fault. Just because.

Organize a free clinic

First off, I appreciate all the support I received even though my putting resembled Ray Charles driving NASCAR. I was having fun and made a few birdies after I adjusted, but my adjustment was way too slow.

More golf for Monte needed. I can say it’s all mental for me now.

My daughter is fine. No concussion, just a nasty bump. For those that didn’t see the update yesterday, that is why I WD’d.

On to today’s topic.

This year, I am going to do free clinics. My wife works for Southwest, so I can fly free and I can go about anywhere for the price of a hotel room and a rental car for a day.

If you can organize one in your area with a course willing to host it, promote it and get people there. Maybe the local PGA will sanction it for the local pros as part of their yearly class attendance. I will be entering the program soon as well.

I’ll come out there, bust some drives, hit a few trick shots, talk about golf and the swing, tell a few stories, answer questions and take a look at a few people’s swings.

Here are my motives. It’s fun to do, I want to make people better at golf and enjoy it more…and build “my brand.”

It is a win win for everyone. The course gets to bring traffic to their facility and provide a free service to the community. The golfers in that area will be exposed to the latest, simplest and best ideas about the swing and golf instruction out there.

I get exposure.

Spread the word.

Email me if you are interested and have a facility in mind.

monte.scheinblum@yahoo.com

I made a boo boo

I have been practicing and playing in 65-80 degree weather.

I just got to the range and it’s 39 degrees and I am so ******* cold. What a weenie…LOL.

I’ll be fine, thought you guys would think this is funny. I am so bundled up I feel like the Michelin Man.

Edited:LOL, after I hit a few sand wedges, I went yo dunk it in the water bucket to clean it and had to break the ice layer on top. I am actually having fun.

Edit #2: really struggling with the putter. 3 putted #2, missed a 5 footer for birdie on #3, then on #4, misjudged the speed Ina 10 footer and ran it by and missed the come backer. Then proceeded to hit it OB off #5, just like I did Tuesday.

On a funny note, I am 45 minutes from home playing like a chop, a guy came all the way from Canada to be 9 over though 5…and he has pulled out the Carmelo Villegas spider on the greens. Does it just like him.

I will be good as soon as I stop being a mental case.

Edit #3: Oops. Well, I need some more time at the putting green.
Green. Meltdown. After the OB on 5, I hit it in two and had a 20 foot par putt. 4 putts later and 3 putts on the next two holes has me thinking I wont be handing out putting advice for a while.

In all seriousness, these greens are sloped and fast and I can’t get setup and “hitting” it way too hard.

Edit #4: Alert the media, I made an 8 footer for birdie. I am reminded when you play more golf, you make adjustments quicker. I had to shorten my stroke. Otherwise my two choices are decel and too hard.

Edit #5: Good news, bad news. Parred 9 and birdied 10. Got a pic from the baby sitter and my 21 month old girl clunked her head and needs to go see the doctor to make sure she is OK. I don’t think it’s serious because the bruise came out of her forehead, but I need to get her checked out.

This wouldn’t look so bad if I didn’t have such a history of frustrated walks off the course.

Better luck next week. Aside from the one snap hook OB, I hit it decent and the putter showed signs of life after I adjusted.

Thanks for the support. I’ll be better next week.

The state of my game

There will be a lot of comments and judgements on today’s post, but it is an honest assessment of where I am. It is based on how I feel and what I am seeing.

My swing is great. Looks great, feels great and produces great shots. Except when I short circuit because I don’t like the feel of something or the look of the shot. My turn stalls, I steer the crap out of it and hit a shot a 32 handicap would break a club over.

As I said several weeks ago, my feel in my chipping has returned and although the touch isn’t perfect yet, it is improving every day.

Putting is hilarious. I bomb in 20 footers one after another, or spend the day two putting, even from 8-10 feet.

Starting today, I will be attempting to qualify for the next 3 PGA Events. The Farmer’s (Torrey Pines), Phoenix and The Northern Trust (Riviera).

For Tour events you have to play in a wild open qualifier on Thursday and if you make it, you advance to Monday with the other qualifiers and basically join PGA players who are not exempt…for 4 spots in the event. The “pre-qualifying” on Thursday is like 80 players for 6-8 spots to Monday…or something like that. There are 4 different qualifiers this week, so 300+ are trying.

My game is exciting and scary.

If you told me I was going to shoot 68 today, 66 Monday and make the cut at Torey Pines…I would absolutely believe it. As dumb and far fetched as it sounds, I am playing that well.

If you told me I would hit a poor shot (the 2nd and 3rd holes on this course always give me fits) that left the golf course early in the round, I never got on track and just spiraled down to struggle to break 80, I would believe that too.

Sounds like hyperbole at both ends, but it really isn’t. More than likely I will play solid and shoot 70-73. This course is pretty straight forward with the exception of #2 and #3, but the greens are really tough and if your distance control is a bit off, it’s hard to go low. You need to hit the ball on the correct side of the hole…and you can’t have the hooks off the tee. OB left of every fairway and less than 5 yards from the fairway on most holes.

I have spent so much time trying to re-find my swing and not a perfect swing, I am still a little schizo on the golf course.

My practice round on Tuesday is a perfect example. I spent 15 holes hitting 320 yard lasers, irons all over the flag and chips and putts that looked like a pro was hitting them…I spent the other 3 hitting the ball OB on a wide open driving hole, a 2-iron OB and a 4 putt when I hit the ball on the wrong side of the hole.

8-under on the good 15, 5-over on the bad three.

It’s not pressure or lack of focus, it just is. I have spent the last 6 months shooting 65 or less followed by 73 or 76.

I am almost like a reformed drug addict who sees a crack dealer (a shot that doesn’t fit my eye) and I fall off the wagon.

A lot of hand wringing, but it’s how I feel. What can I say? I believe a time were I won’t be such a schizo is not far off, but it is still here. The bad memory of so many bad rounds and bad shots has not left me yet. A good start probably leads to 60 something and a trip to Monday. A bad start…well, I have experience handling those…get mad and start swinging hard…LOL.

My approach to the swing and to golf works and it will work for me.

Before you rush to judge me, criticize me or rah rah me, just remember, a lot of players who had better resumes than I, have fallen to the depths and never tried to get it back.

I don’t want credit for trying, but I want some time to fail until I succeed…and I will.

Right is not always right

When I give a lesson, I don’t pick off things on a standard list of do’s and don’ts. I look at the swing and ask myself what would make things easier for this golfer…but more importantly, I WILL NOT change something that may not be “right” but is integral in the way this person swings the club successfully.

If an anomaly is not causing an issue…or even helping, I will not touch it.

Myself as an example. I have a high waist and I need to stand a little farther from the ball than would be “correct” to have room for my arms to swing and for me to get the club deep enough. Problem is I tend to crowd the ball, but it doesn’t look crowded to even an expert observer…including myself.

Worst of all I find myself neglecting this fact over weeks and months until I start hitting driver sideways with a really good looking swing.

Then I drop my head in shame when it dawns on me what I have done.

The point is to not only share my stories of my game, but also make the point that all bodies are different and have different fundamentals.

That is why it is so important to have someone who REALLY knows what they are looking at and not just running you through a standard checklist.

A flaw is only a flaw if it is creating a problem.

PS-I had a really good round yesterday from a feel perspective. Didn’t shoot all that low (69), but it was easy.

I am not tournament ready…because I haven’t played in on since July.

I need to get mentally adept at tournament golf again…and I especially need to get mentally adept at pulling the trigger on shots that make me uncomfortable instead of steering the ball…a result of years of having swing problems and hitting foul balls.

The only way to do these things…PLAY MORE!!!!!

My physical game through the bag is better than it was at any time in my career. My confidence and comfort level on the course is the physical equivalent of a 120 pound weakling.

That is what I am working on now.