Pots of Gold & The Golfing Rainbow
A very good friend of mine has agreed to bare his soul in a search for an improvement to his putting by guest blogging for me about his trials and tribulations on the greens.
Since returning to golf after several years’ absence due to poor health, putting has been my Achilles heel. Actually, it’s been my Achilles heel, ankle, leg and, well, you get the idea.
I’m not sure where the problem began, but I seem to recall I used to be a pretty good putter. Streaky, maybe, but my bad days were never that bad. I mean, I played with the same left-handed blade for a good five years without ever considering inviting a new young thing into my golf bag. Surely this is a sign that I was happy on the greens?
So where did it all go wrong?
My attitude was vastly different on my return to the game. I used to be very intense on the course, breaking clubs over my knee on more than one occasion, but this time around I was simply overjoyed to be actually playing again. My old handicap of eight was meaningless, I told myself, although I secretly believed I’d soon be shooting in the 70’s again before too long. How wrong I was. I was still in the long-term recovery period of PVCFS, had lost two stone of muscle and my balance and coordination were affected. Breaking 90 was difficult enough! This affected my game in several unexpected ways, and my putting most severely. I lost sight of the importance of a decent pre-shot routine and generally became very sloppy with my preparation and mental approach to the game. I failed to realise how crucial this aspect of the game was to my previous standard of play.
This lacksidasical approach obviously had a detrimental effect on my putting, leading me to start tweaking and customizing the old blade by chopping her down, adding lead tape and trying different grips before finally consigning her to the shed. I started looking for any external excuse I could when the real problem was the 6 inches between my ears. Yes, I’d talked myself into being a poor putter.
“Whether You Think You Can or Can’t, You’re Right”–Henry Ford
So where does that leave me now? Now my long game is up to a standard I’m comfortable with, but still can’t break 80 due to averaging around 36 putts. On a mission, that’s where!
It’s my intention to use this blog to share the highs and lows of my mission to average 30 putts by the end of the season by focusing on mental techniques such as imagery, meditation and mindfulness.
Is that possible? Can a hopeless case like me develop the steely gaze of a Dead Eye Dan? I guess we’ll both find out soon enough!
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