My Mental Golf - Progress To Date
Last week I played my first round of golf for some time, a combination of poor weather, business commitments and Christmas conspired to keep me off the course.
I have mentioned the round briefly before but with it being my last round of 2008 I found it a great opportunity to assess my mental golf progress. Inevitably there were some plus and some minus points.
The Good:
I had played the course before so was able to work out a strategy for getting round including a scary Par 5 that I have consistently cocked up in previous rounds. The hole is very tight with OOB left and right and invariably it plays into the wind. I calculated that even by teeing off with a punched 7 Iron I could get on in three. When I came to play the hole I was swinging well and there was little wind so the temptation was to ditch the plan, get the big dog out and try to get home in two. BUT I RESISTED!!!!! and stuck to the plan.
On another hole I had a very tricky eminently missable 5 foot putt over a horribly bumpy winter green. I was pleased with my mental golf on this one, I resolved to simply make the best stroke I could, read the putt normally but dismiss thoughts of the bumpiness. It was pleasing that the putt rolled truly, over all the bumps and straight into the can.
After a mid round wobble my score was looking disinctly iffy. On the 13th tee resolving just to take each shot as it came (I know I should have done this on the 1st tee but that’s why I’m a handicap golfer) I crushed a great drive and got into a groove that brought 6 pars on the last 7 holes.
The best of which was on a tricky dog leg right hole. After a good drive I had an slight uphill shot into the green that really favoured my draw. I could really “see” the shot in my minds eye setting off slighly right of the target and drawing gently in to the flag. When the shot came off I was absolutely delighted, it soared into the sky, followed the slight curve left and I saw it itch and settle on the green. I really thought it was close but scampering up the fairway revealed that I’d seriously underclubbed, the stick was at the back and my ball sat only just on the front about 35 feet away. What a serious let down! As it turned out 2 putting from there was another triumph for my improved mental golf attitude.
The Bad:
So after bragging about the good stuff what about the not so good? There was plenty of it.
Another shot coming up short cost me a double bogey when all I had to do was walk 40 yards or so to get a better look at the shot confronting me but the most serious and damaging piece of poor mental golf was a rushed tee shot on the 10th. I had become aware that a group behind was waiting for us to clear the previous green and felt we were laying unduly slowly. As a result I rushed onto the tee, played without going through a pre-shot routine, hooked it left, chipped out, dumped it into a bunker and thinned it out. NOT HAPPY!!!!
This was the mid round wobble mentioned previously and I did get back into the groove but a moment of complete madness, cockiness really, cost me another bad hole. After a run of good holes we came to a Par 3 with, what I thought, the pin cut on the right side of the green. I tried to cut a little 6 Iron in to the flag only to succeed in pulling it left into serious rough. NOT HAPPY AGAIN!!!!
Just by committing this to “paper” it’s obvious that the golf is more than hitting good shots, it’s about playing sensibly, keeping patient, playing within yourself and maintaining equilibrium.
Will I remember that during 2009?
FOYT6
January 7th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
You make a good point about rushing the shot because you thought the group behind were waiting for you. there’s nothing that upsets my game more than slow play and holding people up. But in the end with golf the best philosophy is still grip it and rip it !