[6.The 1967 Bell South Classic]
I’m bringing this up again because I have spotted another potential “blocker”. In your e-mail you mention twice that you are a “slow-starter”. You’re not; it is just that a couple of times lately you have started slowly (and even this is a “fact” only in the sense that I believe you!). This opinion of yourself as a ‘slow-starter” will be there every time you start a match and has the potential to get in the way of your thinking. Let’s say your approach to the first green is a little short and you are facing a difficult chip, it would be easy for you to blame your slow starting ability for being in this tricky position and for that thought to get in the way of a sharply focused shot-process.
So, I request that you give up this opinion of yourself simply on the basis that it is not true!
I admit that this is subtle mind stuff but I think it is important because it is . . .
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[29. Strokeplay and the sabre-toothed tiger.]
I just want to pick up on that word “driveable”. The danger in the word is that it has the capacity to replace your visualisation with an opinion. Do you remember a previous e-mail where I took you to task for playing “a little 7-iron”, I think it was. The issue is the same. To drive the 10th you need a strong sense of what it is going to take to play the shot. This would be a good test of your imagination because it is not a shot that you would get to play very often. Also, a drive of that length would normally be to a larger and less risky target.
So, stood on the 10th tee, you are faced with “seeing” a shot you play rarely (a drive onto the green) with a type of shot that you play frequently (a drive off a tee peg) to a different type of target (a green). There is nothing at all wrong with this it is just that it is a formidable challenge to your imaginative powers.
The word “driveable” encapsulates a general opinion about the shot you are facing and gets in the way of your ability to formulate a specific visualisation of the shot. At the very least this is . . .
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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 . . .
