More Art, Less Science, More Feel

Have you ever wondered how great golfers acquire feel?  I’ve always tried to increase my feel but yesterday after reading an article in the June 2018 Golf Digest called “The battle of dumb versus smart,” I think I figured out how.   As you know, golf is an inherently mental game.  Most players are either artists or scientists in their approach.   The gist of the article was that unless you are extremely bright and have an analytical mind, like Phil Mickelson or Bryson DeChambeau, you shouldn’t try to play with analytics.

A few years back, I made a decision to go with more art and not think about my score as I played.  I wanted to get more process oriented and stay in the moment.  This worked for a brief period but I still couldn’t get the extra feel.  I realized that I was playing with too many statistics even if I was just counting greens in regulation and total putts.  Sometimes I’d start to worry about my stats during the round.  I was beating myself up instead of thinking about getting the ball in the hole.  Not good!

In yesterday’s round, I decided to play without stats, and noticed I was very relaxed.  I simply thought to get the ball in the hole in the fewest strokes possible.  Method didn’t matter.  I recalled my shots after the round and noted that I had hit eight of nine greens on the front, which had not gone unnoticed by one of my playing partners.   After I chipped in on #10, for the next two holes, this fellow had the questions coming hard and fast.  He wanted to know about club selection, handicap, equipment choices, set makeup, and fitting recommendations.  Finally on #13, he whipped out his phone and asked me if I tracked my ball speed like he did, as he had been introduced to TrackMan recently.  He wanted to show me this program but I wouldn’t have any of it.  I think he was a little disappointed when I told him I was playing old school and writing my scores down on a card with no analytics, and that my phone would remain in my golf bag for the round.

Photo from golf.com

Seve Ballesteros was the greatest feel player I ever saw.  His imagination and touch on and around the greens was incredible.  In 1990 he four putted #16 at the Masters and when asked to describe what happened he replied, “I miss, I miss, I miss, I make.”   No stats, no analysis, no paralysis.  Love the mindset.

Play well.

Lesson Nugget: Keep The Triangle

What I absolutely love about my instructor is that he’s half swing coach and half psychologist, and is very adept at both.  The subject of changing swing thoughts came up during yesterday’s lesson.  I had mentioned that during a late fall round last year, I had “found something” on the front nine and started pounding my driver and nutting my irons the rest of the game.  But when I tried the same thought the next day, I couldn’t hit a thing.  I know, I know, this has happened to everyone who’s ever played the game and is one of the great wonders of the world, but his reply was simple and correct.  “You need to have a series of swing thoughts that work, and be willing to change.  The quicker you can recognize it’s not working, and settle on one that is, the better you will play.”

I have been seeing the left side of the golf course recently.  To diagnose, he had me hit some shots and took some swing video and identified the issue as a quick wrist flip at the contact point which was caused by under rotating my upper body.  This results in a pull or worst case, a smother hook.  Nothing new for me, and it’s funny how your faults keep reverting to your habits learned over the decades.

Last season was a breakthrough for my ball striking, as I had taken several full swing lessons, and made great progress.  But I reminded him how difficult it was to play with all these mechanical thoughts.  My requirement for today’s lesson was to eliminate this Lou Groza drop kick, and keep it simple.  We set to work to find a trigger to get me to rotate my upper body and pull my hands through the hitting zone.  Over the next hour we worked the following:

1. Fire the right shoulder at the ball: Not very successful
2. Pull the grip down to the ball: Moderately successful
3. Slow the tempo a bit and try to hit a slight push: Very successful

I was pleased with the results of #3 but images of tee shots that are tighter than a gnat’s rear end started creeping into my mind, with TPC of Myrtle Beach at the forefront.  I told him I didn’t think this would work on the course because I needed to be thinking about hitting my ball at the target and not away from the target.  I also mentioned that I had been swinging a club in my back yard in the evenings and still didn’t feel connected because I was chicken-winging my left elbow on the follow through.  When I said that, he suggested I, “keep the triangle on the follow through.”  The triangle is the shape your fully extended arms make with your chest.  If I did that, it would be, “impossible to hook the ball.”

For the rest of the lesson and a half hour afterwards, I hit balls with this very simple image in my mind: “Finish like Tommy Fleetwood.”  If you watch him, he’s got that sawed off fully extended finish.  It feels like everything he hits is a punch shot.  I tried this with great success and noticed my weight had fully moved to the outside of my left foot and I was in balance at the finish.

Here’s a great photo of Alvaro Quiros maintaining his triangle.  If I can get here, I can play.

Photo from Golftoday

Right now, this feels a little unnatural but is easy to implement because it’s simple.  My plan is to use #3 above when this swing thought no longer works, and try to find a third that will provide a go-to rotation of on course adjustments.

Do you have a rotation of swing thoughts that work?  Please share if you do!

Play well.

 

 

 

 

Emergency PSA – Myrtle Beach – Course Conditions!

Travelers/golfers going to the Grand Strand:  Red Alert! Check with the golf courses you are booked at regarding course conditions.  About 3/4 of the golf courses in Myrtle Beach have lost their greens due to the abnormally cold winter, and you may not be auto re-booked by your tour operator.  Tripadvisor and Golfadvisor have the gory details and I’d recommend you read the latest reviews.  Courses with Bermuda putting surfaces have been hit extremely hard.  Nothing is exempt, even the great courses like Grand Dunes, Thistle, Tidewater, and Oyster Bay.  Most have had their greens reduced to dirt or dead grass with patches of dirt; and some have been dyed green.  These conditions are deplorable and are creating significant angst among the traveling public.

We were booked on four of the Big Cats, Oyster Bay, and Thistle and have moved off all of them.  Three of the Cats were reported as dead with the lone exception being Leopard’s Chase which has bent grass on the putting surfaces.  Area courses with cool season grasses came through the winter in better shape, but the vast majority of courses have Bermuda, which holds up better in the summer heat, but needs to be covered in extended periods of freezing temperatures.  This was not done and there is a local symposium being held for greens keepers to understand how to better handle such an emergency in the future, but that has not solved for this season’s problems.  June and July could be rough in the area if the Bermuda surfaces haven’t recovered and the bent greens become stressed from heat and over play.

I’ve verified playing conditions are good to excellent on the following courses and aeration schedules will not impact play the week of Memorial Day.  We are re-booked on:  TPC of Myrtle Beach, Myrtle Beach National – Kings North, Pawleys Plantation, Willbrook, Glen Dornoch, and Crow Creek.  We’re staying in Sunset Beach, NC at Sea Trail and as a result of all the re-bookings in the south, will be doing some extended driving, but at least we’ll be playing on good surfaces.

Perl East and Perl West are also reported in excellent condition but are being aerated right before Memorial Day.  If anyone has information about more courses that are in good condition please share and thank you!

Play well.

On a better day at Tidewater – North Myrtle Beach, SC