Jack’s Blog

This year I’ve made so many good memories. But here are my top three favorite memories. My first memory I have was when I met up with my friends at school the first day of summer. I hadn’t seen them over the summer so it had been a long time. The next good memory I have from this year was the color run. I ran till my legs felt like jelly, and I was covered in color. But it was super fun. I ran with my friends competing against each other to see who could get the most color on themselves. The third memory I have from this year happened very recently. This was in P.E. We were playing ultimate football and I scored three touchdowns and I threw three passes in for touchdowns as well. The first touchdown wasn’t very difficult to catch. But the other two I caught were more difficult.

This is my final week of improving my golf swing. I have covered many different techniques. The first two techniques I covered were recentering and keeping my club face straight until halfway through my swing. Recentering is basically moving your momentum forward once you get into your full backswing. For the next technique it’s pretty straightforward. You just keep your club face straight until halfway through your swing. Then you pivot your wrist and you continue your backswing. Then you come through and move your wrist back to the normal position when you come through. The next technique I worked on was counting through my swing. This helped me time my swing better. Without using this technique I would either go too fast through my swing or too slow through my swing. During week three I continued to work on that technique. But on the fourth week I focused on hitting down on the ball with my iron clubs. This helped me to level out my swing more. I used to try to hit up on the ball. But when you hit down on the ball you allow the angle of the club carry the ball into the air. Additional techniques I already know is keeping my eye on the ball the entire time. And making sure that with my higher angled irons I put the ball more to the back of my stance. And with the lower irons, my hybrids, and my driver I place the ball closer to my front foot in my stance. This week I will apply all of these technique’s in my swing. Last week I got three days of practice in. I was very consistent which is something I struggled with previously. I’ll sort through that footage this week as well. I will also record myself practicing this week. Thank you for reading this blog. And with that my 20% project is complete! I’ve improved a lot. Before incorporating all of these techniques into my swing, I was very inconsistent. But now I happy with the results i’m seeing because not only am I more consistent, but i’m hitting further and straighter shots then I ever have before!

Here is my statement concerning this photo and caption. On the left there is someone who has many things but is not content. But on the right is shows someone with one small thing yet he is still very happy and content. The kid on the left was most likely given many things when very young and was spoiled. Meanwhile the kid on the left was most likely was taught to appreciate things more. I think that this a very well said caption. The kid on the left has more expectations for things, but the kid on the right is happy with anything he gets. Thank you for reading my blog number 24.

This week I will be focusing on the same technique I focused on last week. I was researching on how to hit down on the ball with my irons. In this blog I will be telling you more about how I used to swing and how my swing is now. About a year ago, I was be coached by a golf teacher. He helped my get all of the basics down. Like getting the right grip. Making sure my left arm stayed straight through my swing. At the same time I was playing baseball. That didn’t help as much as you think it would. Sure I had a really fast swing, but that fast swing would be useless without the correct technique and timing. I had to learn that over time. After having lessons for about a half a year. My golf teacher moved to Texas. Thankfully my dads friend is very skilled at golf. For the past half a year I’ve been getting lessons with him and every once in a while just my dad and I go to the driving range to practice. I didn’t go to the driving range last week, but I’m hopefully going to make it to the driving range this week. Now my swing is starting to come together, and I’m hitting further more accurate shots. This week so far I’ve had no struggles. But I’m sure I’ll face some challenges next week when I have to incorporate all of the techniques that I’ve covered so far.

Wingman on Ice by Matt Christopher is an amazing book. Through the story Tod is trying to improve at hockey. He has the most trouble when it comes to controlling the puck. He went out to the ice pond often to practice. And on Christmas morning his parents had gotten him a brand new hockey stick. He comes to the conclusion that he will keep the brand new hockey stick in his closet until he felt that he was playing well enough to have it. Through the story he gets better at dribbling, but his passing improves massively. And all of that practice begins to show through in his games. The main thing I love about this book is how there is always something going on. For example while Tods sister was performing in an ice skating competition a part of the stadium blew up and got caught on fire. My favorite character has to be Tod. One reason why is because he is so committed. One of his character traits is his dedication. One quote to prove this is “He would put his new hockey stick away. He wouldn’t play with it again until he felt, deep in his heart, that he deserved it.” One of my favorite lines in the book is “Sorry, Jack! But I’m here to play as hard as I can, too! He thought.” The reason why this is one of my favorite lines is because this is the moment we’re he had to go up against one of his friends and former teammates. And he didn’t let it get in the way of him play softer and worse. Thank you for reading my Rad Reading for April.

It would be very hard to decide what room in my house is my favorite. But if I had to choose one room it would probably be my living room. One reason why this is my favorite room is because it’s the most comfortable. We just got a new couch in that room. Another reason why this is my favorite room is because this room is very spacious. But at the same time it’s cozy and warm. The ceiling of that room is probably about nine or ten feet because it also connects to the front door. One more reason why this is my favorite room is because there is loads of entertainment. It also has the second biggest TV in our house. I have Netflix, YouTube, and an Xbox that all connect to that TV. So I could sometimes stay in there for up to almost two hours. One other reason why this is my favorite room is because this is where my dog usually hangs out. She lays down in the curtains where she can get the most sun. The sunlight shines very brightly through that one window. Sometimes she stays in those curtains for longer than three hours. But every once in a while when I’m in that room she walks over and puts her head on my lap and just stares at me. Thank you for reading my blog number twenty-three.

For the next two weeks I will be researching a different technique. The main technique I will be working on this week is hitting down on the ball when using irons. The main reason for this technique is to let the club carry the ball into the air. Sometimes I tried to move my swing to were I would hit up on the ball rather then hitting down on the ball. What this means is I didn’t let the club bring the ball in the air. The club is designed for this specific type of swing. I like to think of it as if you’re “sweeping” the ball of the grass. For this week I will try to get more footage of me implementing this specific technique into my swing. Last week I couldn’t get out to the driving range. But I did sort through some footage. Next week I will also update you on what happened when I went to the driving range.

For this week I will be focusing on those same two techniques. Last week I went to no Bogey’s Golf. I recorded about two hour of video. This week I will be sorting through that footage to find all of the highlights. Then I will find the swing were I hit the ball with the most distance and accuracy and I will study and break down that swing. I will also try to find the parts in my swing when I start to incorporate those techniques I have been using. I may also go back out to the driving range again which if I do I will talk about in next weeks blog. I had one struggle last week when I went to no Bogey’s Golf. I started off strong In the beginning. I had awesome distance and accuracy. However towards the middle I started missing more and more shot. One of my biggest challenges which is what I encountered last week was consistency. In the beginning once Im warmed up I hit some very good shots. But then later I start loosing that accuracy and distance. There could be many different things causing this problem. It could be that my swing is just too difficult to replicate. Or it could’ve been that I was just getting tired. Towards the end of the session though I made one particular adjustment in my swing. I saw I was getting frustrated, so I need to stop and slow down. I was so anxious to redeem myself for all of the other bad swings that all of my techniques flew out the window. So on the next swing I stopped and focused. Just slowing down got me a birdie (one under par). Next week I will find some new techniques to work on.

For this week. I’m focusing on new techniques to help me hit straighter and further shots. One of the very simple techniques that I’m go to use this week is to count through your swing. The helps with your timing and can help your swing as well as your tempo. The purpose of this technique is to make sure you don’t swing your club too fast in your backswing. One additional technique that I worked on was learning to master my own swing. In other words the purpose of this technique is to allow you to make an easy, accurate, and repeatable swing that allows you to hit the ball wherever you want. This means that while you are still learning different techniques. You need to incorporate those techniques into your swing in your own way. Trying to mirror another pros swing will be much harder and more difficult then incorporating those same techniques in your own way. This week I will be going to No Bogeys Golf simulator to practice these two techniques. Also last week I was having trouble getting in the zone. Last week was just one of those days were I wasn’t playing to my full ability. Next week I will look further into these same two techniques.

If I was given the choice to invite anyone to dinner I would invite these three people. My very first choice would be to invite my grandpa from my mothers side of the family. He died about five or six years ago. One reason why I’d invite my grandpa would be because I know that my entire family misses him very much and would be glad to see him again. And it would make my mom especially happy to him again. Secondly I’d invite my grandma from my mothers side. One reason I would invite her is because I know she’d also be very happy to see him again to. One more person I’d invite would be my uncle from my moms side. This would be my final pick because he has done so much for me in my life. For example he always try’s cheering me up if something is wrong and I feel he understands me more than anyone else. He’d also be very glad to see his dad again as well as his mom who’s still living today. Thank you for reading my blog number twenty-two.