Category: Free Inquiry (Page 1 of 2)

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Free Inquiry 10: Thank You!

December 3, 2023 / lucasyesaki / 0 Comments

As I sit here creating my final inquiry post, I ponder a few things. The first question I have is, what was my goal with this project. Well, my goal with this project was to make myself a better golfer by holding myself accountable to actively attempt to improve. Did I improve? No. The answer is no. I would say parts of my game have taken strides while other parts have severely regressed. The parts that have improved over this semester have been my chipping and iron play. My irons used to be the worst part of my game as I could hardly hit them well but now they are the strongest part. My chipping has always been pretty consistent and it held the course and then some. My driver is a different story sadly. Through the summer I was able to stripe the thing and I had the most confidence in the world. Now I can’t even look at it. I’m scared to use it! Golf is such a weird sport because it is so hard to have all facets of your game going well at the same time. If my driver is solid, my irons are off. If my putting is dialled in, my chipping falls off a cliff. It is hard sometimes but I keep reminding myself that I’m not a professional and can not hold myself to such a high standard.

My second point of ponder stems from the project itself. Did I have fun with it and was it helpful? To answer the first part of that question, yes I had a ton of fun. It was a very unique project and the fact that it was low pressure and stretched the entire semester was very cool. I really liked how much freedom we had with it. We could basically do whatever we chose. For the second part, I think it was helpful in the fact that I was able to document parts of my golf game that were good or bad but I would’ve liked to have done more inquiry. It turned into more of a blog of sorts rather than an inquiry project but that’s ok.

In the end, I had a lot of fun with it and that’s all that matters.

Thanks for reading!

Free Inquiry 9: Slow-Motion Home Setup

December 3, 2023 / lucasyesaki / 0 Comments

I was unable to get out and play golf this weekend due to weather and other circumstances. However, my dad has set up this makeshift golf net in the basement. Before its repurpose, this area of our house was home to a hockey net where I would shoot pucks. That’s why there is plywood painted with “Yesaki Arena” on the back wall there. Now, since nobody in our house is practicing hockey, we put this net up and bought an artificial turf mat. In all honesty, I don’t find myself using it that often. Maybe that’s why I am regressing at golf, because I am not practicing enough.

In the videos, you can see a slow motion golf swing. The problem with hitting balls in the basement is that I am always worried in the back of my mind that I am going to hit the ceiling either on my backswing or my follow through. However, it is cool to see my swing in slow motion. Seeing the impact of the ball and watching it sail into the net is quite satisfying. In terms of the swing, I have this problem where my hands are much too close to my body when I am impacting the ball. You can see how compact everything is in these videos. I have had this problem for a while and I am not sure how to correct it. My ball striking is pretty solid in both clips.

Maybe I should start utilizing both the net and slow motion more to try and improve my game…

Free Inquiry 8: ChatGPT Help Me Please

November 24, 2023 / lucasyesaki / 0 Comments

I am desperate to fix this slice. So desperate that I wanted to get ChatGPT’s input on my current situation. I also was curious to see what it would say about golf. I often look to it for help with school related issues but never have I used it for a recreational topic.

I started with the prompt “Please help me fix my slice with the driver” and this is what it came back with:

Fixing a slice in golf can be challenging, but with focused attention on your swing mechanics and some practice, you can make improvements. Here are some tips to help you correct a slice with your driver:

Check Your Grip:

Ensure that your grip is neutral and not too strong (hands rotated too far to the right on the handle). A strong grip can promote an open clubface at impact, leading to a slice.

Stance and Alignment:

Check your stance and alignment. Your feet, hips, and shoulders should be parallel to the target line. If your body is open at address, it can contribute to a slice.

Ball Position:

Place the golf ball inside your left heel (for a right-handed golfer). A ball positioned too far forward can encourage an outside-to-inside swing path, resulting in a slice.

Swing Path:

Focus on an inside-to-outside swing path. A slice often occurs when the clubhead cuts across the ball from outside to inside. Practice making a more shallow and sweeping downswing.

Clubface Position:

Pay attention to your clubface position at impact. The face should be square to the target. If the clubface is open, it can lead to a slice. Practice squaring the face during impact.

Grip Pressure:

Maintain a relaxed grip pressure. Gripping the club too tightly can affect your wrist action and lead to a slice.

Wrist Position:

Avoid “casting” or releasing your wrists too early in the downswing. This can open the clubface and contribute to a slice. Focus on a delayed release.

Take a Slow Backswing:

A too-fast backswing can result in a rushed downswing, leading to a slice. Take a smooth and controlled backswing, allowing for better control on the downswing.

Practice with Alignment Aids:

Use alignment sticks or other aids on the driving range to ensure that your club is traveling on the correct path.

Seek Professional Guidance:
- Consider taking lessons from a golf professional. They can provide personalized feedback on your swing mechanics and guide you through specific drills to correct your slice.
Record Your Swing:
- Use video recording to analyze your swing. This can help you identify any issues with your mechanics that contribute to the slice.
Patience and Persistence:
- Correcting a slice takes time and consistent practice. Be patient and focus on making gradual improvements to your swing.

Remember, making significant changes to your swing may feel awkward initially, but with dedication to improvement and practice, you can develop a more consistent and accurate drive. If possible, consult with a golf professional for personalized guidance based on your specific swing characteristics.

What I find interesting is that these tips are actually legitimate. If you look at YouTube videos by people that claim to know what they are talking about, you get a lot of similar stuff. The one that really made me laugh is the headline that says “Seek Professional Guidance.” That is an instance where AI does not sound very human because it makes it sound like I need serious help for a serious problem. But the “Clubface Position” and “Swing Path” points are my problem and it is cool to see ChatGPT address that.

Free Inquiry 7: A Slice Solution?

November 24, 2023 / lucasyesaki / 0 Comments

https://images.app.goo.gl/ae3WxNhx51TJKVUZ9

I have a serious slice problem with the driver. That has been well documented over the last 4 weeks or so. What is a slice? It’s a problem where the ball aggressively goes right off the club face after starting straight. It just starts to peel right and you lose a lot of distance. With this image you can see the different types of golf shots that can happen. I currently am operating under the F diagram that shows a slice. You can see the ball starts straight and then peels right. This is a result of the swing path. The swing path is the red line in this digram and you can see how it goes right. relative to the target line (black line). This type of action results in some wicked side spin that causes the slice. So my problem lays within my swing. I am swiping across the ball rather than hammering it dead straight relative to my target line.

The problem with golf is that you can fully know what your problem is and never be able to fix it. This can be due to lack of practice, not being skilled enough or simply not being able to play enough. It sure is a frustrating sport.

Free Inquiry 6: Having Fun, Still Not Good at Golf

November 10, 2023 / lucasyesaki / 0 Comments

I played golf on Sunday and I had a lot of fun. I only played 9 holes because the time change has really dampened the ability to play 18 holes. With the sun setting at 5 o’clock, there is only so much time in the day.

As you can see by my scorecard, I really didn’t get off to a great start. Double bogey, bogey, and double bogey will never make anyone feel good. But I played the par 3’s really well. On both of the par 3’s I hit the green and had looks at birdie. Unfortunately I did not cash in. In fact on hole 7, I actually 3-putted and it cost me a bogey. Unreal. The whole round, my putting is what really cost me strokes and that needs to change. I used to be a solid putter and never really thought too much about it but now I’m abysmal. It might be because I’m over thinking it and I just need to get the ball towards the hole and minimize the 3-putts. Also, leaving putts short has been a problem. I need to get back to missing long to at least give it a chance at the hole. If you leave it short it will never even get the chance.

This is my friend Grady absolutely flushing a 9-iron on a par 3.

In terms of my clubs and how they performed, my driver is still terrible. I’m trying to swing more from the inside instead of over the top but I can’t figure it out. It’s getting demoralizing but still having fun! The irons were my best part and the short game was solid too. No complaints there. And I already talked about my putting.

Driver 5/10 Irons 8/10 Short Game 8/10 Putting 1/10

Free Inquiry 5: Frost in October

October 29, 2023 / lucasyesaki / 0 Comments

I have not been able to get out to play golf lately. I was really looking forward to playing fall golf as this is a time when golf courses start to soften up after the summer and regain some green. However, each morning lately has seemingly been plagued by frost and frigid temperatures. And when there is frost in the morning, golf courses enter what is called a frost delay where all the tee times get pushed back and sometimes cancelled. I am also not really looking to get out and play golf when it is 5 degrees outside. Sure I could layer up, but I would rather just wait for the cold spell to pass. If it never passes then I’ll just get over myself and play in the cold. Here is the twitter account of the golf course I play at updating us on the status of the course:

https://x.com/RoyalColwoodGC/status/1717901005709529168?s=20

From YouTube, Golf Monthly

I found this YouTube video that includes some solid tips for how to brave the cold on the course. They talk about simple things such as wearing a base layer on the course and even buying one of those hand warmers that quarterbacks wear in the NFL. The most interesting tip to me that was mentioned was how you need to put your ego out of the way and club up. What do I mean by that? Well in the cold air, the golf ball is guaranteed to travel a shorter distance versus the summer air. So the guy in the video suggests that although it might be slightly embarrassing, for the best results you need to hit a longer club than you might normally to account for the loss of distance. That isn’t something I’ve given much thought in the past but will keep it in mind going forward.

Hopefully I will be able to get out to play a little bit next weekend so I have more to share.

Free Inquiry 4: More Fun

October 15, 2023 / lucasyesaki / 0 Comments

I got out to play golf for the first time in two weeks today. I had low expectations for myself and honestly, I think I met them. Again, there was aspirations to play 18 but we ended up only played 9 holes and I finished +10. I bogeyed every hole except for the 6th where I ended up with a double bogey. The craziest part about that double bogey is that it came on the heels of my best drive of the day. I hit it dead straight down the middle and then completely whiffed my next shot. Classic.

My friend Connor managed to capture this image of me on the 4th hole after my tee shot went right. I ended up in a not so favourable spot but it is what it is. The course I play at has a ton of trees and is very narrow. So any shots that stray left or right are almost guaranteed to end up in a bad spot. I did not end up playing the shot as it is pictured.

My driver didn’t hurt me as bad as it did last round. It actually felt like it might be headed in a good direction. But only time will tell. My irons were solid today, I was able to strike the ball well and actually feel like I was compressing them which was nice. My short game was not bad. There were a few short chips that I used my 60 degree wedge on and they ended up working out. Putting was a different story that I don’t really want to talk about. I can not remember the last time I saw a putt that was over 10 feet go in the cup.

Driver 6/10, Irons 7/10, Short Game 8/10, Putter 1/10

Here’s a bonus picture of my friends Grady (left) and Connor (right) in the lounge after the round enjoying a nice warm coffee.

Free Inquiry Post 3: Regression

October 8, 2023 / lucasyesaki / 0 Comments

I got out to play golf at Royal Colwood on October 1st. The weather was great and I was feeling confident about my abilities, until I got on the first tee box. Not much went well for me in this round. The biggest positive about my time on the golf course was that I got to play a full 18 holes and spend time with my friends.

Let’s start with the driver… I am lost with this club. I can not seem to figure it out. Every time I swing it, I am slicing it hard right and it either goes out of bounds or just loses tons of distance and is ineffective. I need to figure this out quickly or else my desire to play is going to go out the window. I think my problem is that I am swinging “over the top” of the ball and it causes my terrible ball flight. I found a few videos that I plan to watch before my next round: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzYJ_3sAgSc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=On7K89a1Buw

Both of these videos include definitions and drills to help fix my problem.

My irons, short game and putting were all average too. I had a couple of putts that I just gave up on and didn’t take my time with so that obviously never works. And towards the end of the round I started to fatigue and when that happens everything just kind of falls apart. I only made 3 pars the entire round and sprinkled in many double bogeys on my way to shoot 91. Not great. But at least I had fun.

Ratings: Driver 2/10, Irons 6/10, Short game 6/10 Putting 5/10

Free Inquiry: Rained Out

September 25, 2023 / lucasyesaki / 0 Comments

I was able to get out and play 9 holes on Sunday but was a little bit disappointed with the weather. We played about 3 holes before the rain started to come down and the wind started to pick up. There was a small part of me that wanted to keep going and play 18, but that just was not in the cards. Regardless, I thought the round went okay. Here is my scorecard:

The square boxes mean I made a bogey (+1 on the hole) and the double squares mean a double bogey (+2 on the hole). As you can see I was doing very well until the last two holes. I am a frequent maker of double and triple bogeys so to not have any going onto the eighth hole was a good feeling. And then everything collapsed as both my drives on 8 and 9 went into the trees and I was unable to save myself. However, I like to take the positives away and the fact that I was playing pretty steadily until then is great.

Moving forward, I am going to rate the different aspects of my golf game on a scale of one to ten. Those different aspects are my tee shots, irons, short game (chipping, pitching) and putting. My driver has been in shambles lately and Sunday was no different. I took a total of seven drives and 1 of them went straight with the rest having a heavy left to right movement. My irons were quite good and there is not much to complain about there. Short game and putting are always things that elude me but I feel like they were not too bad. Although I had four putts for birdie (-1 on the hole) and I didn’t make a single one.

Driver: 5/10, Irons: 8/10, Short game: 7/10, Putting: 7/10

I think I am going to give it one more round before I start looking for help/resources and make massive changes to my driver swing because I used to be half decent with it so I know it’s in there!

Golfing Inquiry Project

September 21, 2023 / lucasyesaki / 0 Comments

For my free inquiry project I decided to stick to a hobby of mine and that is playing golf! Playing golf with my friends is something that I love to do. My two friends and I have memberships at Royal Colwood and through the summer we played about 3 times a week. Despite all of this time spent golfing, I am not very good and that frustrates me. I have for sure improved a little bit over the last few years but I usually find myself shooting anywhere from 87 to 95 with my lowest score being an 84. For those that might not know golf, those are okay scores but nowhere near what is considered good.

My vision for this project is to simply play golf, and document how I do! I will post updates from each round I play and include photos and videos. I also want to post updates on skills that I am practicing and working to improve. For example, if I finish a round and think my putting could have used work, I will research some putting drills or YouTube videos that touch on that subject and post them to my blog along with media of me putting those drills into practice. The beautiful part about golf is that there is always something to work on and there is always someone that has something to say on the matter.

I am hopefully going golfing this weekend so hopefully I will be able to make my first post about how well (or terribly) I played.