Format: Medal
Venue: [Home course]
Score: 77
Handicap mark: 3.9
Themes in reply: Language; form
Hi Colin,
Here is a brief account of Saturday’s medal at RPGC. Weather good with a slight N/E wind.
Started off well with a good 4 on the 1st – a good long first putt up to the hole.
Missed a 6’ putt for a 3 on the 2nd.
Par on the 3rd and holed a good putt for a par on the 4th.
Good drive on the 5th but leaked the 2nd into the bunker. Confident with my bunker shots at the moment so got it to 3’ and holed for a birdie 4.
Unlucky on the 6th, hit a really good drive but it was so close to the fairway bunker that I didn’t have a stance. Therefore missed the green and failed to get up and down so a bogey 5.
Par 3 on the 7th and holed a good long putt on the 8th for a birdie 4.
Missed from 5’ on the temp 9th green for a birdie so out in 35 – 1 under par.
Missed a 5’ putt on the 10th for a birdie.
Missed the green on the 11th and chipped a bit long so a bogey 4.
Hit 2 good shots on the 12th but my approach (3rd) went over the back. Putted up to 4’ but missed so a 6.
Good pars on the 13th and the 14th.
Hit a poor 3 wood tee shot on the 15th but was on the green in 3. First putt was downhill and it pulled up short and I missed the next one so a f*****g 6.
The 16th was playing tough right into the wind so a bogey 5 there.
Par on the 17th, and a 3 putt on the 18th from the front of the green so I dropped 6 on the back 9 to finish with a gross 77 nett 73.
I played a lot better than the previous week and if a couple of putts had dropped say on the 9th, 10th and 12th it would have kept the momentum going.
I also had a knock on Sunday evening of the back boxes in readiness for the Club Champs (a week Sat). Hit the ball very well especially the new driver which I seem to be getting used to.
Team game at Langland this Wed evening and then all day Friday for the County oldies at Wenvoe. I’ll let you know how it goes!
Regards,
John
Dear John,
Thank you for the e-mail. It’s comforting to hear that your “timing” is showing up consistently. There are just a couple of things.
I have mentioned before about the importance of using accurate language. In your case this is mainly to avoid you being overly modest because there is a danger that your modesty will descend into despondency.
You write: “Confident with my bunker shots at the moment . . .”
Isolated as a statement like this, one can see straight away that the “at the moment” allows you to indulge the idea that just because you are playing well out of bunkers at the moment, things are bound to deteriorate at some point in the future because they always do.
I need to challenge this idea not because it is wrong in itself but because it does not apply to you anymore.
The idea that “form” varies wildly is borne out of experience of both your own play and others. But that was before you understood exactly how “timing” works.
Before you took on “timing” as the central objective of your play, you would hit plenty of very good bunker shots and some that were not so good. The not so good ones would have a disproportionately deleterious effect on your “form” out of bunkers because they would have you chasing solutions through analysis. As a result of analyzing the bad ‘uns your “form” out of bunkers would become a fragile thing as you tried out the solutions that your analysis threw up.
Now, since taking on having the production of “timing” as your sole objective, you still hit plenty of good bunker shots and some that are not so good. Now, though, the effect of the not so good ones on your “form” out of bunkers is much reduced because there is no need to analyse. Any bad ‘un is now obviously a result of less than perfect “timing”. There are no solutions to go looking for because the solution is “timing”, and you know everything there is to know about that subject!
So, what you are experiencing with your bunker play – “Confident with my bunker shots . . .” – is an inevitable result of constantly striving to locate “timing”. Your “form” will no longer vary wildly, you will simply hit plenty of good ones and some that are not so good. The ratio of good ones to not so good ones will improve but at a rate that will not be immediately noticeable, other than in the observation: “Confident with my bunker shots . . .”
So, I request that you take on the idea that your “form” will vary, that it will vary less wildly than previously, and that the overall level of your “form” will inevitably improve because of the wholly rational approach you now take to hitting golf shots.
Concomitantly, I also request that you give up the idea that any improvement in your play is necessarily temporary and merely the result of the golfing gods choosing to smile on you for a change.
On this theme, I am going to re-write your description of the 6th, which read:
“Unlucky on 6, hit a really good drive but it was so close to the fairway bunker that I didn’t have a stance. Therefore missed the green and failed to get up and down so a bogey 5.”
“I hit a really good drive on the 6th. It finished close to a bunker leaving me with an awkward stance. My 3rd on to the green wasn’t very close, and so two putts gave me a 5.”
The salient points of your description are:
“Unlucky” – is the type of idea that gobbles up mental space that could be given to visualisation. Luck is an utterly pointless concept – no one cares. The ball is where it is, you put it there, deal with it; everybody and his dog suffers exactly the same amount of random variations in fortune.
“Didn’t have a stance” – You did!
“Therefore missed the green” – like it was absolutely inevitable!
“Failed to get up and down” – I have executed this phrase through analysis in a previous e-mail. It is wholly misleading. Dump it.
Because you were playing well, the round revolved around a few two-putts that could have been singles (3rd, 9th and 10th) and some three-putts (12th, 15th and 18th). The three-putts are an abomination and so we will give you all of those and two of the others leaving you with a nett 68. This is exactly where you need to be, where the score depends on your putting because the rest of your play is sound.
If you keep approaching the act of putting with the same rationality as you approach the act of hitting bunker shots then it is inevitable that your putting will improve. The ratio of single putts to three-putts will increase, and your scores over time will come down.
Have fun tonight,
Colin
