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Sorry I just now have time to write again, with even another golf weekend coming up. I did not do it, break 80 that is. I shot an 88. There is a fine line between confidence and arrogance and I think I fell on the side of arrogance. I have been working on my long game so hard that I neglected my short game, which was good but not up to what I can usually do.  My putting was fair with 28, which actually save me a few times. The style of my putting does not need much practice once you get it down. Even Randy Haag does not practice putting often, my father in law is his putting coach. The short game cost me at least 6 shots, by having to many two putts. I also had two penalty shots, so I believe that I am knocking on the door. I also cost myself a couple of shots by not thinking. This game is mental and not as physical as we believe. I learned that day that if I cannot see the shot do not take it. The closer I get to the 70's the more I do realize how you must picture what you are going to do and then command the muscles to do it. We get greedy on golf shots, maybe we hit a tee shot in trouble and believe that we have a hole or space that we can advance the ball forward, which is the game, instead of calculating the odds of settling for par or an easy bogie by hitting just back to the fairway. Instead we nick the branch or do not carry the rough and end up with an even harder shot, when the punch out was the answer to begin with.  It is making the decisions that force us to not be the hero that will get scores in the 70's. I hit the ball well hit more consistently than I ever do from the tee, but it was also adding the pressure of a tournament that broke me I believe as well as cockiness. I must realize that it is one shot at a time and that you want par or better from each hole, but until the tee shot is hit you can't think of anything else but that one shot. This weekend is a skins game I believe, so I will try again for my quest with a different outlook on my approach to the day and to each shot. We saw it over the weekend with Jerry Rice, he is a great golfer by the way, but add all the different pressures that he has never felt and you might miss the cut if not prepared. If we do not experience we will never know, but how we learn from those experiences dictates our future progress.

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Yesterday I decided to go out to the driving range where my father in law helps teach a group of seniors on Thursday, great range and free balls. The main instructor had a Doppler for checking speed and distance.  I started swinging some short irons and was swinging about 90-95 mph. With my father in law standing there I set up and took a swing with my driver, first swing was 127 MPH with a 304 ball carry, according to the Doppler, a small crowd of seniors gathered and watched me do it again and again. My pops was in dismay, "that piece of sh?! must be broken", he said, so he teed it up. As I said these are seniors and my pops as I will call him is 74, I am 42. He was swinging like there was a million dollar prize. 97 MPH was the result, 260 yards, he was beside himself. What was funny is that I never felt that I was swinging hard,, when I swung hard the MPH reflected much lower speeds. This justified to me that power really is the release or hands as some say. This is why it looks like guys like Els and Singh are hardly swinging, because the speed comes from hip high and through, Johnny Miller said that his swing picked up speed after he struck the ball. If I can put this altogether in tournament conditions this will be great and I will probably piss off a lot of people because if I shoot an 83 from the blues with 20.4(adjusted to a 23-blue tees), I will have a net 60. I actually hope I go lower. There is another side to this as well. Since our last mens club tournament when I shot a horrid 96, I have been on a mission, hitting over 200 balls per day, reading and video taping as well. It has been long enough that these soon to be pissed off people have been collecting my dollars in merchandise. I am not stopping until I truly make it, right in my area the Nationwide, Canadian and PEPSI tour rolls through. To tee it up in one of these would be great, to make the cut would be a dream come true. For now I will keep dreaming. See you guys tomorrow after the tournament.

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As I prepare for this weekends Net Amateur Qualifier, I have been trying to learn some short game techniques as well. I do have a pretty decent short-game, but have been watching guys like Stricker that play a 100 and in with very little wrist cock. I have been trying this from near the green 30 and in, it is more like an exaggerated putting style. It is very affective if you have a lot of green to work with, but is very accurate. I also have been posing and swinging in the mirror, this is really helpful to visualize the proper positions that the body needs to be in at any given point. Swinging in a net is very helpful as well, because you can work on one thing over and over and over without spending a fortune on range balls. I do a lot of hip high to full follow through swings to ingrain the impact position of what it is I am trying to do. Since I side saddle putt I have found that I do not need much practice except for before the round I will just get my speed down. As I mentioned before there are so many ways to swing a club. A lot of time I will be playing, liking what I am doing and hear in my ear,"That's not right!" or hit one bad shot and have someone trying to correct that bad swing for  the rest of the round. If you have a certain person like that tell them if I need you I will ask. There a several guys on tour that come over the top or go inside too much, if you know an older good golfer this does not fit the old school of golf. The important thing is that for .005" of a second the club face is square, this is because they all have their release timed properly. I am no expert but I do know we each have our own little style and that it may or not be text book, but if like what you are doing, then do it! Practice does make perfect a swing that will never be perfect, it makes you more accurate. I will be back in touch Saturday afternoon and let you all know how it goes. I hope that this is helpful in whatever quest you may have on the course.

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First off what a great site! This year I  as many other have seen Ray Romano wanting to break 80. I decided that I would do the same thing. I have played for about 10 years now but nothing real serious, at one point I was a 14 and now I am a 21. In 2007 I had a back surgery that did not turn out the way I had anticipated, worse pain to say the least. Needless to say I have played like I have been injured, I decided no more of babying myself. I want more from my game a lot more. I manufacture and sell putters for those of us that "Side Saddle", so I want my game to back up what I sell as well. My father in law, which has played in 4 senior PGA championships is one of the best golfers I know, he also tries to instruct me, did I mention I do not agree with his teaching ability. One thing that I know is that it takes a lot of hard work to maintain a single digit handicap, and spraying the ball does not help. I have been told do this do that or I see Tiger do this move. These things only work if you have an ingrained swing, I do not. So I needed to start from the bottom up. I recently read about Homer Kelly and his quest for the swing. This guy shot a 116 the very first time he played put the clubs down for 6 months and then shot a 77.  He wanted to know why, he went to every instructor and they all tried teaching him the same swing, which was not the swing he had, he studied this for years and found over 4 quadrillion variances in the golf swing, big conclusion, if a person can't do one way then there are a lot of other ways to teach them. With that said I went on my own quest, no more band aids, I need a swing that I understand and one I can play with. I started from the feet up and using a video camera found a lot of flaws, just in my set up alone. The next biggest thing I found was an outside in swing, I corrected that with Jacks first move, head rotation and leave it there. Next was that I hit the ball high and to the right, I was cupping at the bottom. I corrected this with two things; first I started hitting a PW off my back foot trying to hook it, this helped me understand the release, second I started hitting punch shots this helped to learn shaft angle at impact, keeping some bend in my right wrist at impact. This was the feeling that I was looking for with the two combined. My ball flight is great and my distance has increased up to 30 yards. Before I started this I was swinging a speed stick, I was lucky to get it to 100mph now I get it to 115 and even 120 without swinging harder than before. I do hit 200-400 ballsa day too. What I am learning is that the power is really from hip high and through, the proper release is POWER. The greatest thing that has happened is my scoring, I have since shot three rounds of 83 from the blues. My quest such as Homer Kelly's is for my perfect golf swing not yours or his, my next quest is to make it in the Championship flight. On the 17th of April is our mens club net amateur qualifier, you qualify to qualify then go to Spyglass for the Championship. I will keep you posted as I go and hopefully one day I make it to the tee at a mini-tour event, this is my quest.

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Please share with us what you want.  We created this site for you and want to know what we can do to make your experience better.  Please send any suggestions to: suggestions@hookorslice.com.

We are also holding a friendly contest "first 30 to 30".  Simply invite anyone you know through out the invite link on this site.  Once you have 30 confirmed friends, email us at suggestions@hookorslice.com.  We will be sending the first 30 members an exclusive Hook or Slice Event pack fore FREE.  It's that easy...

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Hello my fellow golfers, Eddie Garrison here from Pensacola Florida. I am new to the site and just wanted to post up a new blog on who I am and what I do.

I actually have only been playing golf now for about 10 months (straight) this time but I played when I was a little younger back in 2006 before I had a an injury that forced me to give it up for  a while.

So now I am back at it in full "swing" and even back out on the mini tours.

I currently play on a tour called the Gulf Coast Golf Tour that plays all around the southeast US in Florida, Alabama and Mississippi.

Now I am not the greatest golfer out there but I am also not the worst on the tour either. I joined the mini tours seeking competition as I use to play professional hockey and I was just seeking the "dressing room talk" if you will with the guys and playing for something.

And I always have my “real” job as a sports journalist keeping the light bill and mortgagee paid.

We have played 2 events so far this season and I am 12th on the money list earning a whopping $200 so far.

I am not out here for the money (yet), I am out here to try and get better with my game under the ideal circumstances in professional tournament golf.

I hear a lot of guys in the bar or out to eat saying they shot in the low 80's or whatever they shot so I roll on over to them and ask if they would like to play with us in a practice round the next day or whenever.

Of course they oblige as they think we are nobodies. As soon as we make them play from the tips and by the rules, they can’t even break 100.

Always funny to me how people may look at my scores of mid to high 80's and ask how I am on a pro mini tour. Well it’s totally different than playing with your buddies over beers and improving lies, giving each other 2 foot putts and playing 100% by the rules of golf.

So here I am back out traveling the mini tour circuit with the rest of my fellow competitors looking for that perfect round out there.

My next event it this weekend March 19-21 at Blackstone CC in Mossy Head, Fla.  I'll be posting another blog after the tournament and let everyone know how I did.

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Please share with us what you want.  We created this site for you and want to know what we can do to make your experience better.  Please send any suggestions to: suggestions@hookorslice.com.

We are also holding a friendly contest "first 30 to 30".  Simply invite anyone you know throught the invite link on this site.  Once you have 30 confirmed friends, email us at suggestions@hookorslice.com.  We will be sending the first 30 members an exclusive Hook or Slice Event pack fore FREE.  It's that easy...

The first 5 to 50 will be upgraded to a LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP FREE.  Grow your network today.

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New for 2010: The Nordegren Driver



Featuring technology developed at its Mississippi research facility, Nike Golf has announced their new line of drivers. The club's grip, shaft and head are completely over sized and this model comes with a unique headcover. It extends and protects the entire length of the club to prevent the potential blemishes and discoloration that can occur during and after the course of play.


Nike Golf spokesman Andrew Pinske commented on the new club's design. "With its low facial profile and high torque shaft, this club should help players everywhere avoid those embarrassing short drives that seem to go nowhere as well as drives into trees."


No word yet on when the club will be available for play. "Definitely 2010", was all we could get Nike officials to say.

Visit us at:
www.IslandwoodCountryClub.com

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