Getting Too Mechanical

Photo courtesy of Pinterest

 

Over the last four rounds, I’ve twisted myself into a psychological swing pretzel.   I’ve had this happen before.  I go to the golf course with a swing thought I’m going to work on for the day and usually strike the ball poorly, but sometimes find a new thought late in the round that allows me to finish strong.  Then the new thought becomes the focus for the next round.  This perpetuates a viscous cycle of bewilderment as I travel through the swing thought wilderness.  Does this happen to you?

Not sure why I do this but it’s usually late in the season, and it happened again last weekend.  After a predictably frustrating ball striking day, I decided to go back to what my pro and I had worked on in our last lesson, and bingo.  It was late in the round again and I had just debunked all the solutions and fixes I had been working on for a month, with some common fundamentals passed down my instructor’s trained eye.  I’ll chalk this up to COVID because I had a lesson left on my 2019 package, and rather than taking it in the early spring and following up every month during the season, I took my first and only lesson in the summer, after restrictions were loosened  at our courses.  Rather than signing up for more lessons, I tried to self-medicate.  Some people can do this but there’s a reason we pay good money to these trained professionals and why most of the instruction on the internet is free.  YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.

So where does this leave me?  There is more playable weather forecast for the DC region in November, but I’ve shut my game down.  It’s time to empty the mental recycle bin and not refill it for a while.  I’m hoping this year’s winter is as mild as last year because I was able to practice and play in January and hit the ground running for my February Myrtle Beach trip.  That trip is planned again this year, but I’m wondering if it’s going to happen with the current state of the virus.

Sometimes it’s best to give your game a rest and recharge your physical and mental batteries, even though you can keep playing.

Do you take time to refill your psychological tank?  Have you shut it down for the year?

Play well.

 

New Waves of Golf Participants

 

What drives golf participation in the masses?  The last explosion was led by Tiger Woods.  People thought Tiger was cool and it was awesome to dress like him, play his equipment, hit it far like him, and kick ass.   But that group receded as Tiger faded from his previous level of prominence.  As demand dropped, the accompanying high greens fees at upscale public courses went down, and the problem of unavailable tee times subsided.

A new wave is forming led by folks who have discovered golf as a safe socially distanced game you can play outside.  It satisfies the need to meet face to face brought on by COVID-19 restrictions.  I’ve played with several of these newbies and understood their rational for starting.  I’ve also overheard many conversations of players at my practice facilities to confirm the trend.  Once COVID recedes, will these players abandon the game?  They might when confronted with the high cost, time commitment, and long attention span that is required for success.

There’s another wave that’s already formed and is characterized by the player who patronizes Top Golf.  Calloway just purchased Top Golf and the club maker went all in because the latter is an entry point to new customers.  Here’s a fascinating article on the merger as described by the two CEOs of TopGolf and Calloway.  Their target customers are people who enjoy eating, drinking, congregating, playing video games, and love music – in no particular order.  50% of Top Golf customers are new to the game (haven’t played one round in the last year.)  Forgive me for profiling, but these are your young foursomes with a 12-pack of beer and a blue tooth speaker blaring loud music that have already invaded many golf courses.  In addition, Calloway already owns the TopTracer range technology which is about tracking every shot struck at every facility where it’s installed and networking the data world-wide.  This is a godsend to customers that love video-gaming with people anonymously over the internet.  They just staged a 7,000-participant virtual tournament.  This is the kind of customer Calloway wants to pull into the game and onto our courses.  Is this wise?  What will it do to the game?

Thomas Jefferson once said, “In matters of style, go with the flow.  In matters of principle, stand like a rock.”  I am a golf traditionalist and believe we should welcome the first wave of COVID refugees to the golf courses.  Not sure about the second group.  Of course, I want to grow the game but still love that the golf course is a place to go unplug for a while.  What do you think?

Play well!

Playing Great Golf on a Time Budget!

On #13 tee at Arthur Hills – Boyne, MI

Is work/life getting in the way of your golf?  How do you play your best if you can’t tee it up four times a week or visit the driving range on a daily basis?  Time is a precious commodity and it depends on how you use your available hours, but you can shoot low scores even on a constrained schedule.  Here’s how.

Use the correct combination of play and practice.  My preference is for more play than practice, but first you must measure how much you do of both.  Today is Sept 8 or day #253 in the year.  I’ve played 21 full rounds and practiced 41 times.  My 62 days of golf divided by 253 indicate I have my hands on the clubs only one out of every four days.   I’d consider myself a dedicated player but not a frequent player, with a 1:4 ratio.  What is your ratio?  If you can get your hands on your clubs every other day, your ratio is solid.  You need both play and practice, but given a short supply of time, favor play.

Meaningful practice is essential and doesn’t require the same time commitment as play, which is why my practice days are double my play days.  In season, I’ll generally practice twice per week and play once.  Off season, I’ll practice more and play less.  A general rule about practice:  The closer you are to playing a round, the more you should practice your mental game.   This is the best way to ease the transition from practice to play.  Have you ever overheard players out on the course saying, “I don’t understand why I’m playing so bad; I was hitting it great on the range.”  That’s because they haven’t practiced correctly by focusing on their mental game.

The key to mental practice is to mirror game conditions.  Many coaches in other sports utilize this technique.  Football teams pump crowd noise into practice.  Teams also script their first 15-20 plays and rehearse that script over and over in preparation to implement in games.  I try to script my golf practice by playing up-and-down in the short game area and working with only one ball.  I’m getting my mind ready for the pressure of difficult green-side shots.  Sometimes I’ll putt 9 or 18 holes alone or against a friend, varying the length of the holes.  Always play a match with a goal.  The key is to build pressure on yourself.  On the driving range, don’t rake ball after ball with the same club.  Vary your clubs from shot to shot.  Play a simulated round at your favorite course.  All these activities insert small doses of pressure and condition your brain into play mode.  Finally, when warming up before a round, do not work on your swing.  Just get loose.  Reserve the last half dozen balls and hit shots to simulate the first three holes of the course you are about to play.  This will give you the best chance of getting off to a great start.

Mechanical practice is necessary when trying to make swing changes and should not be attempted too close to a scheduled round.  Golf is a difficult game.  Playing golf swing when you’re trying to focus on scoring just makes it harder.  A big challenge amateurs face is playing a round immediately after a swing lesson because the plethora of swing thoughts can quickly get your mind off the business of scoring.  Has this ever happened to you?  Tour pros are often seen working with their swing coaches at a tournament site and are simply good enough to execute mechanical changes into their game immediately.  Forget them.  Sometimes you cannot avoid playing right after a lesson.  In this case, work with your pro to distill the lesson content into at most two swing thoughts.  And try to keep them as simple as possible for easy replication on the course.

One final though.  Lately, I’ve been working the Dead Drill into my Mon-Wed-Fri gym workouts and found this is a great way to build good mechanical habits without focusing on swing changes.  A couple weeks ago, right after introducing, I enjoyed a great ball striking round just thinking about the movements of the drill, and they’re really quite simple.  Give it a try and play well!

 

 

 

Zombie State – Broken!

From vectortoons.com

Dr. Bob Rotella is fond of saying, “putt like you don’t care if you make it.”  The advice is supposed to keep you focused on your routine and not let pressure situations alter your nerves or approach. Can you take this to the extreme?  I did, and was not getting mad at myself when I’d three-putt or miss a make-able shortie and had started to wonder; do I really care?  Why am I playing like a Zombie?  That was until two weekends ago playing The Links At Gettysburg.  We were coming up the 18^th (a reachable par-5) and I had ripped a long drive to within 180 yards in the left rough.

18 green seen from the clubhouse

The approach was over water and I picked a 4-iron and stuck it two feet from the cup.  As I approached the green, I sort of conceded the eagle putt in my mind.  It was one of those that would normally be conceded in a match but if you’re just playing for score, you should putt it out. . .because it’s for eagle.  So, I casually strolled up, tapped it and missed left.  Now that was surly the shortest eagle putt I have ever blown and at the time I felt a little numb but just shrugged it off – because I didn’t care.  But on the drive home I started stewing.  Why hadn’t I gone through my regular routine on that damn putt!

Now the story gets better.  I’m drawing inspiration from my friend Jim, over at The Grateful Golfer.  Jim was working all winter on his chipping and putting in his basement, waiting for the snow to melt.  He reported his short game was sharp at the season’s start, and I’m reminded of a winter long ago when I built a putting track and used it for a few months.  That spring I was automatic from inside six feet.  So after the round at Gettysburg, I decided to work short game and putting – exclusively.  I even dragged out my old alignment stick drill

Putting drill with alignment sticks

and have been banging groups of 50 4-foot putts to build good rhythm, get centeredness of contact, and start the ball on line.  I want automatic again.  Now this drill is VERY mechanical, but it has worked before and just payed off.

Fast forward to yesterday’s round at my home course, Blue Mash.  “The Mash” hits you with three par-4s at the start of 424, 428, and 453 yards – hard holes.  I hit good putts on 1 and 2 that didn’t go in and bogeyed both.  After a nice two putt par on #3, I hit a great tee shot to #4 which is a 190-yard par-3.  From 20 feet straight uphill, I blew it by six feet and three-putted, but here was the difference.  I got pissed and back in the cart, slammed my fist on the seat.  And then something happened after that burst of emotion; I felt a weird sense of relief, like some strange burden was lifted off my shoulders.  Almost immediately, I regained an amazing level of concentration with my putter and rolled in five birdies and ended up shooting 71 (even par).   It felt good to get mad again because I realized I do care and missed putts do matter.

I seemed to have rescued myself from this zombie like state.  Have you ever gone “Rotella” too far in the opposite direction?

2018 – Season Wrap and Lessons Learned

Tee shot on the par-3 17th hole at Eagle’s Landing

We like to think the golf season never ends in the Mid-Atlantic.  2016 was so mild we played straight through the winter.  Three days ago, I was wrapping up an excellent 54-hole trip to the Delmarva, but three inches of the white stuff today slammed the lid on my year.  It’s time to hang ’em up and reflect on one of the best seasons in recent memory.

Commitment

2018 started off with a renewed commitment on my part to improvement through additional instruction and by challenging myself on harder courses.  Over the course of the year, I took four lessons (two on full swing, one on short game, and one on putting).  The attention to all facets was incredibly beneficial.  I had never had a professional putting lesson and the last time I received any short game instruction was in college.  Both were eye-opening experiences and left me more confident on and around the greens, and a bit  regretful that I hadn’t invested in either earlier.  The results from the last ball striking lesson in August were profound and left me with a bit of a dilemma for next year.  More on that shortly.

Challenge

In April, I joined Blue Mash Golf Club and spent my first four rounds trying to figure out how to play the first three holes.  Blue Mash hits you straight upside the head with par-4s of 424, 428, and 453 yards.  There is no easing into your round, and the 4th hole is a 190 yard par-3.  Even if I was hitting the ball well, I would often require a 3-iron or more into the first four greens.  There are opportunities to score later in the round, but coming out of the blocks playing bogey golf is not uncommon and figuring out how to play for par was critical to my improvement.  Eventually I got comfortable with the layout and was able to game plan for the brutal start.

A key takeaway is that you need to challenge the weakest parts of your game.  Mine is long iron play, and is where I tend to hit my big miss (pull hook).  There were several afternoons that I wondered what the hell I had done by joining this course, and would I ever get my round off to a good start.  But through lessons, practice, and constantly challenging my weakness with the long irons, I began to improve.  There’s an old saying in software development that says if you are faced with a difficult task or process, repeat it as often as possible and it will become easier.  I learned the same is true in golf.  Out of necessity, I worked those long irons and slowly built confidence.  Later in the season, I was able to play some initial rounds on new difficult courses with significant success because of the challenges overcome at the opening holes at Blue Mash.  Now, I am not a great long iron player, but I don’t fear them or the big miss any more.

Adjustments

During my last lesson, my pro had me make two adjustments.  I moved closer to the ball for all shots and that solved an alignment and balance issue that had been plaguing me for a long time.  It allowed me to flush my irons with more regularity.  Next he had me pause a bit more than normal at the top of my back swing which allowed me to start the swing with my lower body and not cast the club, as so many amateurs are prone to do.  Late in October and again on my recent trip to the shore, we played several rounds in heavy wind.  I had been practicing for this by playing all my iron shots on the range 3/4 back and knocking them down, and was able to leverage that during play.  It’s an incredible feeling to strike it solid and straight in heavy wind.  This was so much the case, that I’m considering playing ALL my iron shots in this fashion next season.  In essence, I would reinvent my golf persona ala Paul Azinger, who played these low knock down style shots all over the course.  The dilemma is, of course, what do I do when I need to hit it high?  I’m thinking the success of this low ball flight was so encouraging, that I may just play it and deal with the high shots as they come up.  I just dropped a note to my pro mentioning the same and asked for his thoughts.  What do you think?

So here they are, staring at me from behind my living room couch.  Should I bag it for the season and put them away, or have the stare-down for another month?

Play well!

 

Golf’s West Coast Offense!

This is a strange tale of improvement that I need to pass on.  It was spawned a couple weeks ago when I responded to a post by The Grateful Golfer in which Jim wrote about fighting off bouts of poor play.  In line with that, I mentioned the technique I had tried of writing your score down hole by hole for the entire round, before you play, and how it had started to work.

As readers of this space know, I’m a huge fan of mental game improvements and a big proponent of all of Dr. Bob Rotella’s books.  I’ve never seen this technique written about by Dr. Bob or anyone else, but got the idea thinking about the success Bill Walsh had with scripting the first 20 plays of a football game.  Walsh was helping his teams prepare and visualize good starts.  His teams always seemed to execute well in the first quarter and my golf game was in need of some first quarter magic.  I was getting killed by poor starts.

The specifics:  In addition to the scores, I was predicting GIRs and putts per hole.  My approach was optimistic but reasonable.  I didn’t chart any career rounds but felt it was a good idea to plan for the best ball striking possible, at least to a level that I was capable of.  In addition to plenty of GIRs, I threw in a few bogeys to keep it real, but no three-putts!  I realized that this technique might be deviating from the stay in the moment mindset associated with good mental approaches, but I had seen enough bad starts that I didn’t care.  I just wanted to try something new that might help.  After all, it was a different kind of visualization.  You write a goal down on paper to cement it in your mind’s eye, right?  Same idea.

The results:  As I mentioned, my early season ball striking was terrible, but boy has it been working after the change.  My first round out, I scripted 16 GIRs and hit 14.  The second round was in a four-man scramble and we finished 4th out of 33 teams.  I performed well in pressure situations (hitting last) which felt like a positive.  And last weekend I played in very heavy wind and managed to hit six of nine greens on the front nine on my way to a two-over 74.  I had scripted 72 strokes, 13 greens, and 31 putts even knowing that I’d be playing in difficult conditions.  I finished with 74-9-29 which was probably the best wind game I’ve ever played.

I am not sure what is going on with this technique, but I suspect it allows you to visualize success based on playing to your full potential, but turning your full potential into your comfort zone.  Is 16 greens in my comfort zone?  Heck no, but if I can fool my mind into thinking that it is, maybe I’ll get closer more often.

Admittedly, there was a physical element as well.  I haven’t been playing or practicing much, but have been working out daily and doing a lot of rotational work to rebuild flexibility in my torso.  Also, on Saturday, during The Players, I rug putted for five hours during the telecast.  Call me crazy, but I was very comfortable the next day on the greens, wind or no wind.  So there’s probably a combination of mental and physical preparation at play.

So there you have it.  Try scripting your next round down to the finest detail and see if Golf’s West Coast Offense will work for you!

Play well.

Cramming for May events

Normally the golf season starts in late February in the DMV and I attempt to peak my game for the important events on the May calendar.  May 5 is the four-man scramble for the Jess Carson Charity Foundation at Queenstown Harbor, and May 30-June 4 is our annual Myrtle Beach 216-hole slug-fest.  This year we have a dynamite course line-up and I am pumped to travel, but the physical demands of this trip can be daunting if your fitness level is poor or you are struggling with your game.   Sometimes you can’t control game struggles, but this year I broke protocol by doing a poor job maintaining my fitness over the winter, and am playing catch up.  Also, rather than dedicating two days per weekend in the spring for practice and play, I was limited to one mostly because of bad weather.

As I noted earlier, I’ve been battling a long running case of the chip yips and last weekend appeared to have it whipped.  I managed to chip in again for the second time in four rounds and took great encouragement from the course despite my continued ball striking issues.  Fast forward to yesterday and I hit 14 greens in regulation (did not see that coming), but the chip yips were back – ugh!  I left the course a bit dejected after blowing a chance to go low by playing holes 15-18 bogey, bogey, bogey, double bogey.  What drives you nuts in this game is that you cannot solve for one thing without something else going wrong.  But my dejection quickly faded because I realized my ball striking was coming around and I finished poorly because my poor conditioning caused some loose swings late.

It’s hard to recognize that when you lay the sod over a short pitch, you are actually improving.  Improvement is not linear and you are going to have setbacks and can only hope to see overall improvement that trends up slowly.  So the push is on and I’ll continue to work on flexibility, dropping some more weight, and tailoring practice to the May 5th tournament.  The scramble is all about driving, putting, and short iron play.  I’ll practice on Saturday featuring wedges, drivers, and putting, and then play on Sunday.  Hopefully it all comes together on the 5th.  After the scramble, it will be back to the short game focus and working hard on conditioning.

When you’re a desk jockey, it’s difficult to see the forest from the trees; you want to do your best every time out, but when you only get one day per week, it sure seems hard.  How is your early season coming?

The Benefit of Replacing Practice With Play

Kings North at Myrtle Beach National

The new play-practice paradigm I’ve put into place is ready to be battle tested in Myrtle Beach.  We are on the tee at Kings North on Memorial Day to get the show started, and I am shooting for a personal best of 216 holes over six straight days.

Since April 20, I’ve played 12 times and only practiced twice; effectively replacing 90% of my dedicated practice time with time spent out on the course.  About 2/3 of these sessions have been nine hole rounds and each has been followed by a short debrief around the practice green for 5-10 minutes.

The gains from this approach are clear.  I don’t feel like I’m relearning any parts of the game due to infrequent play, and as I play I accumulate mini tips that I use and reuse to self correct on the course much more easily than if I were playing once every week or two.  The frequent play has got me MUCH more comfortable with my new Cleveland CG16 wedges.  Distance control on the full and partial shots is becoming second nature and my bunker play has stabilized.  Haven’t seen any dreaded lateral hits or thin chips for several rounds and hopefully that’s gone for good.

With the reps from playing 36 a day for six days, short game is usually not an issue, but physical and mental fatigue is.   The true test and ultimate goal is better and more consistent ball striking.

Clubs “check”, balls “check”, Advil “check”.  Wish me luck!