Format: Stableford
Venue: [Home course]
Score: 31pts (win)
Handicap mark: 3.5
Themes in reply: Mind fog; re-stating the routine.
Hi Colin,
I hope all is well with you now.
I played in my first competitive round for a while, a Stableford off the white boxes. The course was in great conditions and the greens were excellent. As usual it was quite windy with a south-westerly blowing into and across the first.
1st – Ok 3 wood to the RHS semi rough. Good 5 iron (only 150 yds but right into it) to the front of the green. Putted up a bit short but holed for a 4 and 2 pts
2nd – Drive a bit right and a bit short. Hit a rescue about 70yds short of the green followed by a 9 iron. First putt was up a ridge and a bit aggressive but holed on the way back for a 5 nett 4 and 2 points.
3rd – Better drive and unlucky to catch the fairway bunker. Could only move it forward 40 yds and then hit a 7 iron to the back of the green. Good 2 putts for a 5 and 1 point.
4th – Down wind but still a 5 iron – found the green and 2 putted.
5th – Looking for a good drive with the wind behind and off the left. Hit a really horrible cut and lost the ball in the rough on the right. Would have been better with a 3 wood in hindsight as it would have given me more control. P*****d off cause it was an easy par and possibly a birdie – 0 points!
6th – Drive into the lhs rough. Hit 8 iron which didn’t stop and went over the green. Chipped back and 2 putted for a 5 nett 4 and 2 points.
7th – With the wind and the pin at the front, hit a wedge to the back of the green and a good 2 putt for 2 points
8th – Poor drive to the right. Managed to get a 3 wood over the fairway bunkers and then chipped over the back of the green (the pin was right at the back). Putted up to about 4’ and holed for a par 5 and 2 points.
9th – Another poor drive to the right and could only move it forward with a rescue club. Chipped up to the green and 2 putts for 1 point.
So first 9 and only 14 points – not good, my 2 playing partners both had 15 points.
10th – Hit a 3 wood just left of the fairway (wind helping it go that way). Punched a good low 9 iron to about 10’ but missed the birdie so a par 4 and 2 points.
11th – Par 3 wind down and across. Hit a good 6 iron but it went over the back of the green. Chose to putt it rather than chip in and putted up to 5’. Holed a really good downhill putt for a par 3 and 2 points.
12th – Slightly short drive followed by a good rescue to the lhs of the fairway which offers the best approach in. Hit a wedge in and 2 good putts for a 5 nett 4 and 3 points.
13th – For once a good low drive into the wind and an excellent 6 iron to about 15’. Good putt that nearly went in but left a 4’ one back. Missed for the first time today so a 5 and 1 point.
14th – Hit a good 5 iron which just caught the edge of the green and went into the 2nd bunker on the right. Couldn’t really go for the flag as I don’t think the ball would have stayed on the green so I hit it slightly right where there was more green to work with. Then holed a lovely 10’ putt across the slope for a par 3 and 2 points.
15th – Driving is getting better – best of the day straight into the wind. Hit a 19 degree wood to the front of the green but the wind blew it back off and down the slope. The pin was right at the back of the green and it would be a long putt, so I chipped it with a 7 iron but caught it a bit thin. However, it stopped pin high about 4’ away and I holed another good one across the slope with the wind for a 4 nett 3 and 3 points.
16th – Hit a good 3 wood down the LHS and a nice 7 iron just short. Putted up close and holed for a 4 and 2 points.
17th – Poor drive down the right again. The ball was sitting up in the rough and my rescue club went a bit under it. Hit a 6 iron to the right and short of the green. Chipped up but not close and had to settle for a 6 and 1 point – poor play!
18th – Hit a good drive (wind into and from the rhs) followed by a good 8 iron to the back of the green. Putted up to 1’ and then missed the par putt. A 5 and 1 point. I wasn’t comfortable on the putt and should have walked away and started again.
So, 17 points on the back 9 making 31 in total which was pretty good in the conditions. However, I don’t feel on top of my game and in particular my driving is poor – I think I only hit 3 fairways. In particular I’m struggling with my drives when the wind is off the left. I got away with it because the rough has been cut back a bit and is less thick. Because my driving is poor I am not attacking the pins with my 2nd shots and therefore I’m having few birdie attempts.
On the plus side, I kept it going well and putted extremely well except for the last. I won the comp because I beat 2 other players who both had 31 points by the courtesy of having a better back 9.
Hoping to play again this Saturday and if I do I’ll let you know what happens.
Regards,
John
Dear John,
Thanks for the e-mail. It is really nice getting a full description of your round, especially when it is a winning one.
I think it is amazing that your putting is now winning you competitions, even if it is with 31 points on countback! What is frustrating is that the “timing” that is currently available to you when you are facing a putt is for some reason proving difficult for you to locate when you are lining up a drive. What is particularly frustrating for me is that the drive follows the putt. In my theoretical world, the rhythm that sinks the putt should be burning bright in your subconscious when you are going through the routine for the drive.
That you are struggling with your drives when your putting is so good indicates to me that there is something “conscious” going on when you are facing a drive. More evidence for me that I am right is the fact that you mention the direction of the wind when you talk about your current problems with your driving. I quote: “In particular I’m struggling with my drives when the wind is off the left”.
So, I think that you have a fixed “opinion” about your driving that has it that if it doesn’t go straight then it will go right. If the wind is the prevailing south-westerly then you will be conscious of the fact that on the first few holes it will be helping your “slice” to go even further right. Right from the start you will have a conscious anxiety about your driving, which will take up valuable space and use up valuable energy, and will have the effect of lessening the impact of any visualisation you are able to manage. The anxiety will also slightly tighten up your muscles and slightly quicken you up at the top of the swing. Put together, it will be enough to take the edge off your “timing” and guess what?: yes, it will mean that your drives are more likely to leak to the right. (Not, interestingly, that they are more likely to leak to the right because it is “you” but because they would leak to the right for anyone who tightens up, skimps on the visualisation AND quickens up at the top.)
If you could give up your “opinion” about your driving and just accept each drive for what it is then you wouldn’t swamp your critically important imaginary space with unnecessary anxiety. On the tee, with no “opinion” you have would time and energy to consider the next shot: to absorb the conditions, to pick the spot you want to hit, to choose the club that will get the ball there, to see the flight of the ball, to replay that image over and over again as you take hold of the club and take up your stance, and then finally to switch from the image of the shot to the task of recalling the rhythm; and if you have just sunk a nice putt then the rhythm of your “timing” will be at your subconscious’s fingertips.
There are two crucial moments in the pre-shot routine that can easily be missed if your conscious mind is at all distracted. The first critical moment is the moment that you decide to begin the routine. In the hurly-burly of getting to the tee – getting out the drivers, marking the cards etc – this important switch of concentration can easily be missed, especially on a familiar hole under familiar conditions.
The second moment is the moment you need to switch from visualising the shot to “re-igniting” the rhythm. This moment is critical if you are going to locate perfect “timing” and hit the drive with the same exquisiteness with which you have just hit that putt. This second moment is the one that requires your conscious brain to be operating in a space free from anxiety and other distractions. The message from your conscious to your subconscious needs to be vivid and sharp: perfect “timing” – and, therefore, beautiful golf shots – does not happen when there is a lot of “mind fog” around.
I think that was all worth re-stating but on this occasion I think your driving occurred to you as being a problem in the round simply because you were not able to rid yourself of the disappointment of the poor drive on the 5th which resulted in a lost ball. You had negotiated the first four holes safely with a decent tee shot in each case. You would have reached the 5th full of hope because it is the hole that has often kick-started your round after a less than encouraging first four holes. That type of hope has been your downfall before, and it weaves its destructive magic by simply adding to the mind-fog and making it more difficult for your subconscious to pick up your conscious messages.
On that 5th tee your task was to remember to start the routine with a razor sharp image of what the drive was going to look like: where was it going to land and what the flight path would look like. With that image replaying endlessly in your imagination you take hold of the driver and take up your stance. Once you are happy with your stance and grip you switch your imagination to the task of re-creating that rhythm that just had you find the green with a 5-iron down-wind.
That’s it. No hope, no disappointment, no opinions, no fog – just clarity of purpose. And then you accept the outcome of each shot because there was nothing else you could have done at the time.
Have a look at your description of the 5th hole in your e-mail and “get” that it is all crap. Your driving is fine; you have plenty enough control with a driver; stop hiding behind excuses; accept the fact that sometimes you get distracted and shots don’t come off as you would wish. Your job is to stay clear as to what the task is every time it is your turn to hit the ball, and enjoy what happens as a result.
With the poor drive on the 5th confirming your opinion that your driving is not special at the moment (and your hardening conviction that that one shot has cost you any chance of winning the tournament) you move to the 6th tee and hit another not especially good tee shot. What a surprise! The tee shots on the 8th and 9th are not much better. But you are playing well and so end up with 14pts, which is very good given that you have lost a ball.
What is so immensely pleasing for me is that your back nine is so good. It is evidence to me that you are beginning to reap the rewards of not chasing solutions during the round but rather you are simply giving yourself the best chance of locating your “timing” on each and every shot. [Also you need to remind yourself that every single player who plays golf competitively at every level will have the occasional poor shot. I watch a bit of golf on the telly and see loads of rubbish drives.]
I would recommend that you read through your e-mail again and see if you can convince yourself that actually, based on the facts, your driving wasn’t that poor if you are willing to discount the effect of that poor drive on the 5th.
Regards,
Colin
