Friday, July 22

The Buckle B Boost

My April 6th Masters post showed a picture of Darren Clarke standing in the fairway smoking a cigar. Three months later, he wins his first major ever at the age of 42.

This just shows that if you appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated, you're jinxed. If you appear on Buckle B's Blog, all your wildest dreams come true.

You're welcome Darren.

Wednesday, July 20

Round Number ???? for the Year

I played Nevel Meade Wednesday night with a few guys from the Bats. Recently, I began trying to eliminate the loopiness known as my backswing. I have always felt, except for a few small details, that I had a good swing in spite of my horrid takeaway. However, my backswing puts me in a hole and my body must do everything to compensate for me to make solid contact. Then if I do make solid contact, I must hold the face open to keep from hooking, causing a push, or I over correct and slam the club face shut causing a hook. It doesn't always work, which leads to a very inconsistent game. One of the teaching Pros at Hurstbourne told me years ago they new I had some talent just by being able to hit the ball using my backswing.

Over the past few years, I have tried to correct this problem by merely forcing the change with will power. This didn't work. Anytime I felt I was not fanning the club face open, I would watch a video of myself or someone would say, "hey, you swing like a Jim Furyk...without the talent."

I decided to tackle this problem the correct way. Through lots of reading, gathering of information and a series of drills. I feel I have finally turned the corner with my back swing, although it still requires more work, but the loopiness is more than half gone. I intend on bringing a mirror to the practice range along with my camera to help me fine tune.

I will never, ever say I have the game figured out. That is impossible. More issues will arise down the road and that's one of the reasons I love the game. I also know my swing will always be unique, but that is ok as long as it is consistent.

I did shoot my best round in quite awhile Wednesday night at Nevel Meade; a 2-under par 70. I birdied #1, #6, #9, #10, and #18. The only par-5 I birdied was #18 where I missed an 8ft eagle putt for my 69. I had several shots throughout the round I tanked, mostly on par-5's.

I am excited with the direction my game is taking and feel the swing change is simple and will allow more consistent golf. I hope to post some video within the week to show you what I am blabbering about.

Tuesday, July 19

What I Did This Summer - by Brian T.

The last time I posted, I was showing you pictures of our mailbox that was struck by lightning. That was April. Since then, we have put in a new mailbox (but it still gets junk mail) and put on a new roof due to the wind damage.

Our fish pond has all of sudden started retaining its water. Last year, I would fill it up and then the next day, it would be down 25%. This year, I haven't filled it once. I guess wherever the crack is, it finally filled in with enough sediment to seal it. We have two fish left. Last year we had four. I'm not sure what is getting them, but it's stealthy. For awhile, I didn't think we had any, but the two remaining fish must have kicked into survival mode and started hiding in the filter box where they get stuck. They spend most of the day hiding under the rocks now that I've put the Kibosh on them by blocking the filter.

Work has been extremely busy. The huge GE Volunteer Project is complete, but now my very small department is busy tying up all the loose ends while still trying to maintain the daily operation of the building. All this while we have 400 kids here for summer camp and the pools have been packed every day because of the heat.

Amongst all the chaos, my beautiful Fiancee and I have been planning the wedding with tons of help from Julie's mom and sister. Julie is on top of things...I am not. I help where I can, but my brain doesn't work when it comes to all the little details that need to be taken care of. But I'm trying. We are both extremely excited, but just want the day to get here.

We are taking dance lessons at Arthur Murray, but Julie's ankle has kept her sidelined quite a bit. We need to practice this week so we don't tick off the teacher Monday at our next lesson. I never think the first dance looks quite right when it's a set dance, but I guess it's just me. I come from the "sway back and forth until the song is over"camp, but then again, I have no culture ( I also don't know no Portuguese).

I've been playing softball with brother Kevin and the Yogi's on Sundays, which is fun. However, I do prefer Fall leagues. If I am going to be that hot, I'd rather be on the golf course. I usually pitch, but have caught a few times when I was having trouble finding the plate. I only feel comfortable at the moment at these two positions and first base, however I think with some practice I could be an outfielder. It's been years since I fielded fly balls.

When it comes to hitting, I feel like I've started games off well, but then start grounding and flying out in my last couple of at-bats. This is usually due to a lack of patience and swinging at the first pitch. I'm sure I'll get it figured out by the last game of the season.

I have tried to play some golf here and there, but it's been tough to get out. I'm playing Nevel Meade tomorrow night after work with some guys from the Bats, so that should be fun...but hot. I won't go into detail in this post, but I am going to post some self made videos of my golf swing and what I am working on. It is mostly for my benefit, but thought it may lend some direction to my sputtering blog posts.

Anyhow, I know it's not as fascinating as my brothers, God of Thunder, and Carlos Merriweather, Dr. Love & Tony Dollar$. Now that I think about it, I have never seen any of them in the same place at the same time. Hmmmm