Crushing Corona Or Getting Crushed

As I monitor events from the GVOHQ (Golf Virus Organization Headquarters) in the 3^rd floor bedroom/office of my home overlooking the golf course at Lakewood Country Club) I am deeply pondering the thought:  Can I crush this virus or is it crushing me?  I’m an IT jockey and am trying to concentrate for work, and of course am very thankful to be employed, but am stuck in the isolating world of work from home (WFH).  Yesterday was day seven in our business continuity plan, and I was starting to get antsy on Thursday.  I had the same feeling back in the blizzard of 2010 when I worked six straight from the house.  You know, you get cooped up, gotta get some outside air and are tired of looking at the inside walls.  But this is different.  Every TV channel you turn to provides ample anxiety building virus coverage –  “Practice safe this, don’t go here, don’t go there, close businesses, and socially distance yourself from everyone.”  I am one of those guys who distrusts the media and understands they thrive on this stuff and will run it as long as people consume.   “If it bleeds it leads, ” so why am I consuming?  Remember how long the news cycle lasted for OJ and Malaysia Air Flight 370?  They just couldn’t let it go and this is 50 times worse, plus there are no sports to distract us.

 

From a human physiology and psychological aspect, isolation can be damaging.  Taken to the extreme, it can be viewed as cruel and unusual punishment (solitary confinement).  The mental and physical damage of isolation is real and everyone has different limits.  We as humans isolate ourselves more and more every day with our text messaging, internet connectivity, and on-line social networks.  Let’s be clear, connecting over devices may feel like connecting but it’s not the same as connecting face to face.  We are social beings and need direct interaction with our fellow man.  Not saying it cannot be done in this climate, just that I am struggling with it.  What to do?

 

Thursday, I had enough, and after work, went out to my home club for some practice.  Wow how refreshing!  The parking lot was ¾ full as was the range and there was a steady stream of groups going out to play.  In short, it seemed like business as usual, if you ignored the closed snack bar and lack of rakes in the bunkers.   I asked the guy behind the desk how the tee sheet looked, with all this virus stuff, and he replied in one word, “packed.”  I have to admit, that the glimpse of normalcy filled me with optimism and I thoroughly enjoyed the couple hours spent working on my game.

 

My concern:  Every day restrictions on the area courses are getting tighter.  Our local group of nine municipal courses had removed bunker rakes, coolers, and closed food service – all good.  Yesterday, they notified that no carts would be used for the foreseeable future – still okay with that.  They also notified that cups would be set to prevent balls from going in the hole (raised) and that flagsticks could not be removed.  I viewed this as excessive and sent them a note detailing my concerns.  Another course on the eastern shore (Baywood Greens) had sent an email detailing their restrictions which included removing flags.  I sent them an email complaining that without flags, we wouldn’t be playing golf, and they relented, but are playing with raised holes.  Where to draw the line?  You need to let common sense take over.  Unless the state shuts all the courses down, you still gotta let people play golf at their own discretion and keep the game recognizable.

 

I realize the situation is fluid and is only getting worse.  If they close all our courses and mandate a shut in strategy with marshal law (hopefully it doesn’t come to that), my strategy is to walk to the adjacent school field, and pound pitching wedges at my bag shag.  I’m sure we’ll be allowed outside for trips to the grocery store, to walk the dog, and exercise.

 

In the meantime, try and cut our leaders some slack and know that they’re trying to balance the tough dichotomy of protecting the public health and maintaining our economic well-being.  We’re all going through this for the first time, including our leaders, and the blame first mentality helps nobody.

 

Stay well, and play well!

Self Awareness – Play To Your Golf Identity

Can you think back to a time when you played a golf shot that was completely out of character for you?  We’ve all done it, but can you also recall a situation where someone else’s behavior, strategy, or club selection, caused you to change your plans for the worse?  Whether we compete in a friendly game or a serious tournament round, it’s not an uncommon occurrence.  Why?  Because we don’t play to our identity.

Recently, I was playing a match in Myrtle Beach at the Barefoot Fazio course.  The driving range was closed and the fellas agreed to take “breakfast balls” on the first tee.  Personally, I am not a mulligan guy and never have been.  I’ve always prepared myself mentally to put my full energy into my first shot and live with the result.  I have nothing against mulligan guys but that’s not me.  So, everyone was taking a breakfast ball on their first shot unless they struck one pure (and most didn’t).  My first shot went in the right rough but was in play.  Since everyone was taking a mulligan, I did too.  I hit it poorly and into a wet fairway bunker.  The rule is that if you take a breakfast ball, you must play it.  I took two to get out and chopped my way to a 7 on the first hole.  My original tee shot was sitting decent about 110 yards from the green – aarrrggg!

I could have avoided this situation and played to my own identity.  The key is to have total self-awareness.  Understand your capabilities and what you want to do for a given situation.  Understand that opponents may try and get in your head – but deny them entry.  Understand that you can work this to your advantage as well.  A reverse example:  Several years back, I was playing a stroke play round in my club championship.  The third hole was a 175-yard par-3 that was playing into a freshening breeze.  I was hitting second or third in the foursome and made up my mind that it was a 4-iron.  I rushed to the tee box, got there first, and pulled a 3-wood and started taking practice swings.  I got some strange looks from my fellow competitors, but the first guy took too much club and blew his shot over the green into trouble.  I had influenced his behavior because he was paying attention to me rather than his own game.  Yes, this works – if you are discrete and don’t overuse it.

Self-awareness is essential.  Know what you do well, what weaknesses you should stay away from, and try not to fix those weaknesses on the golf course under pressure.  Some folks think they know their strengths and weaknesses, but they don’t.  Try this.  After a round, review your scorecard and jot down single shots that caused you to have good holes or bad holes.  This exercise can be revealing.  Last week, I pushed a drive on my par-4, 2^nd hole way right.  I hit a nice punch with a 5-iron to get back in position about 110 yards from the green.  I hit a decent wedge to 25 feet and struggled to two putt for a very lucky bogey.  I was frustrated with my poor first putt, but during the post round analysis, I recognized it was the poor drive that had set up the hole.  My notes also showed that I struggled on a couple par-fives with long iron layup shots.

I was fortunate enough to make three birdies.  My notes included: 50-yard lob wedge, 80-yard sand wedge, 133-yard knock-down 7-iron.  An indication that my partial iron shots were working.  With this data, I have something to work on in practice, and something to try and lean on in future rounds that may yield better scores.

Admittedly, I am a metrics freak but this small amount of data is easy to capture and can improve your focus and concentration.  Give it a try, learn your identity, play and practice to it, and let me know how it goes.

Play well!

2020 Goal – Do You Have One?

I have one goal for 2020 and it’s process oriented.  Before detailing, I’ve been drawing a tremendous amount of inspiration from the book:  The Score Takes Care of Itself, by Bill Walsh.   The Hall of Fame football coach details his controversial approach to leadership and building a world class organization, but the underlying takeaway is to get immersed in the details of process and good results will naturally be forthcoming.  While a common theme from most sports psychologists, I needed to read his specifics about not confusing effort with results and found it inspiring.

Last season, I stumbled on a process-oriented adjustment in September and rode that to higher confidence and better performance in the Fall, and over the Winter.  The experience was so positive that I will try to leverage for 2020.  In 2013 I had experimented using the nine-shot drill that Tiger Woods made famous and found that difficult to implement.  The drill requires you to hit low, medium, and high trajectories with straight, draw, and fade shot shapes.  I couldn’t do them all but last Fall, during practice sessions and warm-ups I began hitting low, medium, and high straight shots with each club in the bag (lob wedge through 4-iron).  Suddenly while on the course, I felt comfortable calling on any of these trajectories, which allowed me to play more aggressively and with greater confidence.  To execute, you simply move your ball position from back to middle to front with each club.  I practiced this way and warmed-up this way.  The advantage, especially during warm-ups, is that on some days I’d find only one trajectory was working but I could take that one to the course with confidence.

Granted, this is somewhat of an advanced technique and you should have your swing mechanics in pretty good order.  During a lesson last year, my instructor had me hitting full wedge shots using my lob, sand, and gap from the back position, and we really liked the ball flight.  He recommended that I add the shot to my arsenal, and I did.  I then added the other ball positions after experimenting.

Fast forward to this year.   My goal is to get comfortable working the ball.  Do I need to add all six other trajectories in the nine-shot drill?  No.  I’d just like to be able to control a draw or fade with the most comfortable trajectory.  I know my biggest challenge will be with the fade because I hit a little natural draw and I can’t remember fading a ball on demand, but think I can learn this using the same approach.  First up, some experimentation on the range, then off to my instructor to dialog the plan.  If I can work the ball with the same level of confidence, great things are going to happen!

What are your goals for 2020?

Play well!