I’ve managed to get a handful of rounds under my belt after a long winter of Rotary Swing Tour drills. Normally my round progression works from high 90’s/low 100’s for the first couple months of the Central Canadian season, followed by low 90’s and the odd dip into the 80’s for the next (last?) 4 months. However, this year, I’ve already started out in the mid/low 90’s (and would have broken 90 except for stupidity setting in on the 18th).

Is it swing drills? Of course. Apparently my rotary swing was OK, and the adaptation to the Tour stuff has gone along OK. No, I haven’t had it checked, but it sure feels OK, and I know I have stuff to work on still.

Part of the contributing factor for me is the gear. I revamped my sticks in light of the new RS Tour setup and motion, moving to shorter clubs. I also traded in my Wishon 770CFE irons for the new Wishon 870Ti irons. A little more sole width, a little more ball speed, and less offset. Talk about a head design that wants to go straight. I can feel like I’m releasing the snot out of the club, and end up with a 5 yard draw. Does this mean I’m in trouble if I have to hit a 15 yard screaming hook? Yes. But it also means that there’s not much curvature when it comes to my shots – it’s easier to hit targets. I’ve paired these heads up with the Apollo Hump S – the most tip-stiff iron shaft in existence to date. This, however, does not translate into harsh feel as it cycles a little softer than your DG S300 at the butt. So a somewhat lower trajectory, a little less spin, and feels good to boot.

I’ve got a few tournaments lined up – about one per month – and am excited to see how I fare. I am not affiliated with a club this year (but did manage to leave after escaping the 4th flight for the 1st flight last year), so I’m not sure how I’m going to define success for new tournaments (obviously better scores than previous years would be improvement for tournaments I’ve played in).

On the technology front, the new technology is evidenced in the new TaylorMade R9 and the Nike DyMo STR8. But let’s not be fooled – those of us that have worked with Chuck have already witnessed this old technology – in the Nakashima HTEC drivers. It’s all the same tool – a hosel drilled offset so that as you rotate the shaft around, the face angle is effectively opened and closed again. No, the actual driver loft doesn’t change when you do this (contrary to what the ads would have you believe) but the dynamic loft does. Now the actual ratio of Face Angle (FA) to loft isn’t quite 1:1, but it works well for the purposes of guesswork and also illustration. So, for example, a 10 degree driver with a 2 degree closed FA will play like a 12 degree driver with a square FA. Conversely, that same driver with a 2 degree open FA will play like an 8 with a square FA. Again, it’s not quite this exact, but close enough. And this, friends, is all you’re doing with your HTECs, R9’s, and STR8’s. It works, though – effectively increasing and decreasing launch angles, although the driver may look a little ‘off’ at setup as you clock your way through the hosel. If you’ve had your driver properly fit, I say there’s no logical reason to run out and try to better your clubmaker with an off-the rack R9 or STR8. If you simply need the latest and greatest, then by all means – to Edwin Watts with you!

As always, may the course be with you.

I belong to a little 9 hole club. The weather was gorgeous for the end of October (60°F and sunny) and so I headed out for what is very likely the last 18 of the year.

I made a few setup changes after reading about RS2.0, but it didn’t really ‘take’ until I stuck my ‘counterbalance’ out more (allowing the weight to set – and stay – ankle side) and suddenly shots were effortless. The only downside to this was trying to ’squeeze a little more’ out, I’d slide my hips as opposed to pivot an cold-top the ball, but it could be argued that this would be the result with or without the setup change.

As the mercury rose, more people came to the same conclusion that I had – that it was a great day to be golfing. So after playing 9 I decided to play 9 more ‘Tin Cup Style’ – bringing only my 7 iron along. Interestingly enough, my score didn’t really change one 9 to the next, which leads me to really believe that the ‘answer’ to scoring is short game (putting with a 7 iron is kind of sketchy!)

For a guy who spent the majority of his golfing life mechanics-bound, it was very revealing and exciting to play 9 holes where touch, feel, and playing ‘by eye’ became the order of the day (grounds had pulled the tee chocks, yardage sticks and flagsticks earlier this week). Obviously I tried to leave myself a full 7 iron into greens, but more often than not it didn’t quite work out. How exhilirating to move the ball back a bit to add some yards and to move it up and sweep it to hit it higher and shorter. Sure, some of you are thinking ‘huh?’ but please keep in mind that while my clubs are well fit, my game is, um, lets say ‘developing’ as I just broke the 20 handicap barrier this year. I think it was mostly exciting doing it ‘on purpose’ as opposed to having it happen ‘by accident’ – including a sweet punch kept under low branches that hit the green and rolled just off, or opening up the face of the 7 iron to hit a small cut lob from a shortsided position near the green. Shots that I’ve never practiced but seemed to be able to relatively pull off, once again showing the power of visualisation combined with an ounce or two of athletic ability (and paying attention to where the divots show up in the practice swings) go a long way on the course.

Needless to say I think a couple video lessons over the winter are in order – to make sure I’m drilling the right things into my swing. I’d hate to drill the wrong move in, then have to spend all next summer compensating for it!

• Escape to the sunny south.  Difficult without means, and timing is often everything.  If you can only escape for a week, the middle of January is a horrible time as there’s simply too much winter left to deal with when you come back.  However, closer to springtime also brings higher airfare.  Decisions, decisions.
• Join a winter league with an indoor sim.  It’s still swinging clubs, hitting balls, and drinking beer.  It’s often the only time some of us will hit 350 yard drives (with the sim distance boost on), but divots are frowned upon and you quickly get used to sweeping your shots – which could be tough to recover from come springtime.
• Chip balls in the living room or hit balls in the garage.  All the functionality of a sim without the fancy screen.  Plus, ricocheting balls damage your own stuff.  Divots are DEFINATELY frowned upon (unless your significant other was eyeing up new carpet anyway).
• Do drills.  Like plyometrics, they can be done in confined spaces, because if you try full swings with clubs you end up like this guy: Drills in small space
• Do nothing.  Surprisingly, this one takes the most commitment.  It takes guys a few tries to get going, often falling off the wagon to putt a few balls, but with other interests like hockey, sledding, and ice fishing, you can get the hang of it pretty easily.  For those who are having real trouble, playing Tiger Woods on your Playstation can often get you well on your way to doing nothing for your game, while playing a golf game.  It’s almost poetic.

Believe it or not, winter is also a fantastic time to tinker with your clubs.  Or more accurately, tinker with my clubs.  It’s the slowest part of the season, and most companies at least have some catalogues coming out in the new year to whet my appetite with new and innovative designs.  This is about the time I start to get bored and think about pulling apart my gamer set and assembling something new.  I generally consider the heads that did well last year along with the hottest shaft – this year would be the Wishon 560MC iron with FST KB Tour shafts, but I hear Tom Wishon has already spilled the beans on a low-offset version of his industry-leading game improvement 770CFE irons – the first thin-face design iron on the market.  People have been asking for this iron in a lowered offset version for quite some time, and it seems that Tom is going to oblige.  Word on the Wishon forum is that they’ll be the 870’s – I can’t wait, and already have my KB Tour’s ready to go.  The popular iron grip this year seemed to be the Golf Pride DD2.  I haven’t tried them myself, but I see them everywhere.  I’ve held them, but didn’t play them (preferring Sharpro half cord grips for my gloveless hands).  So for now, I’ll wait for spring, and get my order in on the first boat from China.

As for my winter plans, I’ll be lucky to get a couple weeks at the end of March.  I’m sure I’ll have some sort of clubs in my bag by then – I’ve always got a few designs I want to hit lying around!