left wrist injury

this sucks. i wake up and my left wrist isn't better. it hurts to put any form of pressure on it or even bend it just slightly.

every night i imagine that when i wake up my wrist will be cured. it hasn't happened yet.

don't you wish that injuries can miraculously disappear and how cool would it be if it really happened by willing it to.

oh left wrist left wrist i love you so much and i can't wait for you to get well so we can play great golf together again ! imagine all the great scores we can play once you are better. i am sooo looking forward to it

check out my tumblr

feel so backward. i just found out about this cool site. i'm still figuring out how to use it but there you can check out what i have for now. it looks very confusing but i think it is a fun tool to use. it can help collate any youtube videos, quotes, links and even photos. coolest part is that it automatically feeds into my facebook profile. if only it could feed into my facebook page

check out

http://shuyanlovesgolf.tumblr.com

hope i will get sponsored :)

i'm in the midst of getting my facebook page up and running. i feel a bit embarassed to publish it because first of all i'm not some golfing celebrity. not yet anyway. and there isn't much to see on my page. i decided to start a photo album of golfing fashion. i wear my golfing outfits. i hope that it can inspire others in mixing and matching their golfing pieces because sometimes it can get very boring i know. very often because its hard to match bright colored shirts with any other colored bottom other than black, brown, beige, blue. anyway i hope that i can also promote proper golfing attire among female golfers.

even if golf is seen as an old person's sport, we ladies can still dress and look good on the golf course. i always find that wearing an outfit that makes me look good and feel comfortable greatly increases my confidence on and off the golf course. and naturally i play better too.

these starting photos are of my new tops i just bought today from arnold palmer. was really a good bargain because i only paid $22.50 each after discount heehee. the shorts were good buys too mainly because they aren't branded and aren't marketed as golfing shorts. i got the green one at far east plaza (last piece so i just had to try it even though it didn't look my size but turned out to fit me perfectly YAY) and the checked one i got from BHG at bishan junction 8. only $22 :)

maybe someone will offer to sponsor me after seeing me look so nice in golfing clothes. maybe i can even be a model for them or a spokesperson for their golfing wear line. heehee then maybe they will sell more clothes that suit my body.

improving the mental aspect of golf

i've been resting my left wrist for the past two days

during this time i've been doing more work on my blogs, facebook page and also the mental aspect of my golf

i try to relax my body, visualize my perfect swing

in sports psychology, it has been proven that people who visualize themselves shooting 3pointers in basketball improve their accuracy by the same amount within the same time as people who spend the same amount of time actually practicing shooting 3pointers

even though i'm lying down, i visualize myself addressing the ball, how i grip the club, what the club feels like in my hands. i also try to imagine my surroundings and what the view is like. i draw a line connecting the sweet spot of my club head to my heart. on the backswing i feel myself getting into the right position and imagine myself working on the things i am trying to take note of in my swing. then on the downswing i feel my body driving into the ball and using my body to compress the ball. then i follow through with my club pointing down the target line and finish through smoothly :)

basically i visualize myself swinging the club the way i want to swing it all the time and imagine getting good contact with the ball. then when i know i have hit a good shot in my imagination, the actual feelings of satisfaction and happiness come to me naturally.

i do this in conjunction with creating the emotions that i would feel from hitting a good shot everytime. i imagine myself smiling with happiness after hitting good shots throughout the good game. the shots include sinking long putts, hitting long drives, solid iron shots and chipping and pitching the ball to near the pin.

in golf, they usually talk about visualizing your shot. this means the ball flight: where it starts out, what height and how much draw or fade you want it to achieve.

i haven't yet read about visualizing yourself and the emotions that are attached to hitting great shots

left wrist injury

a new injury for me is something for me to learn from and i appreciate it and overcome it

i hurt my left wrist last friday. someone said something to me. something about comparing my golf skills to his. i didn't feel upset by what he said but i was more affected by why he had to say things like that.

i know i cannot control what other people do. i can only control my reactions towards it. i thought i wasn't affected by the comment, but turns out it did. and i injured my left wrist on the tee shot of the next hole. it hurt but wasn't something unbearable so i continued.

saturday i practiced my short game in the morning because i thought it would be less straining on my arms. practiced from 8am to about 12 noon. then i had a break before premier team training again at 3pm. by then i could still hit shots but it hurt to try and hit cut shots or flop shots. basically it hurt to do anything related to scooping the wrists.

i thought my wrist would be fine so i went to practice on the range on sunday morning. i wore my wrist guard and i was hitting good shots and getting good compression. i felt that my wrist was even getting better. i left at 9am feeling very pleased that i was finally able to hit decent shots with my new irons. i couldn't wait till 1pm to tee off my 18 hole game with sixuan and her dad.

to my disappointment, i played the worst 9holes of my life that day. i was hitting my fairway woods really really badly and i almost topped all my iron shots, even my chips and pitches were horrible, always landing short of the green. aargh i was sooo frustrated. the highlight of the day was being able to hit 1 really good 8iron shot which went farther than i estimated and landed past the green. after the 18holes i decided to play another 9 holes with my mom. hah i actually played better on the last 9 holes even though i must have been much more tired.

i think it will be my first and last ever 27 hole game. it must have put a toll on my injured left wrist because i went to the driving range just now after resting the whole of yesterday (tuesday) and i even found it painful to grip the club. it hurt even more to impact the ground.

sighs

i love my body and i don't want to injure it. i'll treat this as another learning experience to better understand my golf swing and how to cope with external stimuli

easy way to hit a draw shot

for people like me who are currently quite clueless as to how to hit a draw or a fade shot, but know that they are useful shots. here is a good and simple way to do so.

A draw shot it useful in windy conditions because the ball tends to fly lower and will run more on the fairway. you are likely to use this shot when the wind is blowing into you or when you are playing a dog leg left hole.

ehow.com has an article called

How to Hit a Draw Shot in Golf

read it at http://www.ehow.com/how_1166_hit-draw-shot.html

many people have referred to this article and i'm sure it does prove useful.

This is a tip i would personally recommend to golfers who want an easy miracle in hitting a draw shot. it is simple and easy and you don't need to change your swing much. a small adjustment in the way you stand can lead to the same effect.

stand slightly farther away from the ball when you want to hit a draw shot. this will create more space between your body and club on the downswing. this widens your swing arc and you will find it easier to swing the club around your body.

try it out and i hope it works well for you as it has for me.

ps: don't stand too far away from the ball. you only want to move backwards about an inch.

pps: you may try varying how much further your stand from the ball and see the effect on the ball flight

finally, stay confident in your golf swing and don't give up !

golfing clothes

i find it really hard to find suitable golfing clothes ! it seems like no one else has this problem.

the main brands i would think of to buy golfing shirts would be

ASHWORTH - i love buying from ashworth because the material is always nice and they do a very nice cutting that has female curves

CALLAWAY - i have found some really nice pieces, but not in every season

ANIKKA SORENSTAM - i find them unsuitable for my frame and size, probably because they're not designed for asians

ADIDAS - i don't quite fancy the three stripes, don't ask me why and although i like the material, i haven't been able to find a nice one that is of dryfit material

PUMA - i find their current designs very sweet. they have that frilly, lacy feel and feminine sleeves although i also think the sizing doesn't suit me

NIKE - haven't seen a nike top that catches my eye yet even though i've also been on the lookout for one in a dryfit material. they have a new shorts out that is nice but $100 is not within my budget yet

OAKLEY - they do have a golfing clothes range that has nice designs but i haven't dared to try any of them on yet because they price is a bit steep

VERMOGEN - this is one brand that i recently discovered tucked away in Takashimaya. i find their berms really nice. some think that it is a bit long and high cut. i think the length gives me a more refined classy look because it sits just above the knees. the shirts seem a bit dubious because they have this design/print on most of them that would usually be seen as ah beng but i find the material very soft

i find that it is especially difficult to find nice golfing clothes for girls because of our main parts eg chest and butt

so often i try a top that fits my shoulders but is too tight around the chest and if i up a size, the shirt looks so baggy around my waist that it doesn't seem right. or another problem is the length of the sleeves. too short and it accentuates the big part of the arms, too long and it looks funny too. then these problems interact with each other. it's really a challenge to find a shirt that satisfies all my requirements. since golfing shirts are not that cheap, it's only correct that i search for something that suits me so i would feel my best when playing golf right !

these days, it seems like most of the golfing apparel brands are selling skirts for girls. while it is more feminine, i find it a bit restrictive. i don't mind those that are shorts but have a layer in front to make it look like a skirt (this layer should be more like a flap)

maybe thats the fun of searching for golfing clothes. when you find something that you really like, make sure to buy it.

today i had a very good bargain at the arnold palmer for ladies shop. i love it when i find good golfing clothes that fit me and are on discount. ok i just love discounts haha. i didn't even know there was such an outlet and i wouldn't have thought that they sell golfing clothes. they sell polo tees and other casual wear. the salesgirl didn't seem to think that alot of people buy them to play golf. i feel kinda excited to have discovered this brand heehee

to all those with the same challenge as me, i wish you all the best in finding the perfect piece ! don't give up because it is out there !

serious practice everyday brings to light flaws in my swing and golf game

it's only because i've been playing everyday and practicing much much more that i have created problems in my body.

first one that occurred was a pain in my right wrist. somthing about inflammation of the little cartilage in between two of the bones. that cartilage is so small that it may not even be shown on those diagrams that doctors use to show and describe it to their patients.

anyway, the physiotherapist in australia said that it's uncommon for people to get a pain there for golfers. however, probably reasons for this appearing in female golfers is

1. too much wrist action on the backswing (cocking too violently)

2.weak core (the body isn't strong enough to rotate and so has to rely on the wrists to get more power)

i later discovered that i do too much of a punch on the downswing such that i swing fast on the start of the downswing but show down as i am about to contact the ball. this causes me to hit the ball at a slow speed and doesn't make the ball go very far.

daddy and i have been working on improving my hitting area and increasing clubhead speed in that area (between 3pm and 9pm if you think of your swing as a clock)

after about 3 months now, i have solved the problem and my right wrist is now pain-free WHEEEEEEEE

however, last week i accidentally did something weird and injured my left wrist which hurts especially when i try to do a scoop shot grrr.

i'm constantly learning about how various aspects of the swing affect my body and how to minimise damage

i think i am so lucky to have learnt all this things. i feel like i know more about this area than others because i spend more time playing golf and thus am more susceptible to injury. good thing is that i get to learn from it heeeheee

golf biomechanics swing analysis

i did a biomechanics swing analysis recently. i got all plugged into this machine with sensors put around my head, my chest, my waist etc

i was hoping to find a miraculous way of hitting my new nakashima irons better. i had been topping all my shots ever since i got them.

main thing i discovered was that i had bad posture. i hyperextend which means that in pulling my shoulders back, i arch my back which is not good i guess. so we spent the rest of the hour improving my posture.

i have to pull my shoulders back while tucking my pelvis toward my belly button and also bend my neck downwards.

i think i tend to stretch my neck upwards when i stand and my sister's friend once commented that i look very proud. probably because of me elongating my neck so i seem to be sticking my nose up in the air. haha

been working on this new posture which puts less pressure on my shoulders which have been tight for a long long time (such that it's painful when i massage it) and get more rotation through my back muscles which are the big muscles in the body

although mark says that i should have gotten a print out with all sorts of numbers such as hip rotation, spine rotation and all other angles and stuff. i didn't.

i still feel it has benefited me and my golf swing :)

my shoulders have been less tight and i am finding it easier to get into a good posture and still make a good swing. yay for me !!

been learning so much

i just got back from a 3d2n golfing trip to Ria Bintan Golfing Resort in Indonesiaer ai've learnt so much from craig and andrew in the short span of time and i'm so grateful that they are so patient and willing to help me improve my golfing skills.

i learnt different styles of pitching and how to hit different shape shots as well as how to tackle a hole downwind or against the wind.

those i will fondly recall as my rbpals (ria bintan pals) will probably be some of the people i will be very grateful to when i play professional golf

they just give me a very encouraging and motivating feeling while being such fun to hang out with

going to the beach together at night was a very relaxing way to end the day and that platform above the waves where we laughed so much is somewhere i will remember and hope to return to

through practicing golf everyday i also have learnt more about different types of rashes and skin irritations (because i have developed them)

1. hives

2.eczema

3.heat rash and even

4.foot rot

sighs. they are all not very pleasant things to be going through but i am now able to identify which rash is which and i believe this information is vital in my learning process and working towards playing professional golf