attention is a big factor and variable in my golfing performance and the experience I have out there on the course. in a state championship event last summer I was in the midst of a meltdown. I had driven OB and then was playing my third shot with my second drive when it dawned on me that my position was so dead left of the green, that I could make an 8 or 9 on the hole if I did not watch out. so I visualized a 5 iron run shot through the trees to bounce into a bank and land on the green. It was a one in 50 shot but it caused me to focus and see the shot and another important thing happened; I knew immediately that I could not think how to swing to play this shot. I simply had to see the shot and focus on exactly where the ball had to travel for the shot to end up on the green. so I gave up on my approach of concocting a swing in my mind to translate to my body to pull off. the reason I remember this so well is because the shot came off exactly as I had seen it as it needed to, to escape from trouble. so why on the very next hole did I again revert to thinking how to swing? that's the mystery I'd like to explore today.

there are many times I recall someone saying, " I hit my best shots out of trouble, from the woods where I have to play between trees." I believe the reason for this is clear, when you are in trouble you must focus on what the ball must do to escape and get back to the fairway or onto the green. The trajectory and path are critical to the shot being played successfully. from the middle of the fairway there's the tendency to "fall asleep" in terms of your target and the ball path to get there. you get into your head and think about how you want to swing. being "in your head" if often harmful to performance and tends to diminish your athletic abilities. some of the worst shots of my life, when I reflect back just after I have played the shot, have occurred when I have totally lost track of my target and have been cocooned in my mind thinking how to swing. being in love with perfection and listening intently to the voice in my head giving me instructions for the shot is something I often fall prey to.

this week I saw a short blurb in the nytimes golf page entitled, you mind the ball, the body will follow http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/24/sports/golf/24golftip.html. jerry mowlds says well what I have just tried to explain here.

as I continue my journey with golf, I know so much more about my hopes and intentions for my time out there on the green landscape. to be aware of my target and exactly where I hope the ball will go is up there at the top of my list. and to then be "in my body" instead of trapped in my mind thinking how to swing follows closely behind.

last week

coming to the mountains I was feeling excited about working on my game. I should note that working is a term deserving some scrutiny. I have had a really good stretch of golf where I was able to shoot some scores in the 60s and capped off my good play with a 63 at Finley on July 18. I birdied the last 6 holes for 29 to pair with a 34 on the front. I was “on” in a way that was so much fun because I was simply seeing the shot and trusting myself to play the shot I visualized. And hey I was making putt after putt many of them from 12-15 feet. At the last I had 135 to a tight pin and my shot hit the flag and dropped down very close.

I seem to always fall into a similar trap.....wanting to reinforce or practice to make my game more reliable and I was using my experience with this very low round as a model. but it seems I always experiment and tweek this and that and is what happened here this week and before I knew it I was totally lost. my swing felt just terrible with no rhythm or tempo. I fell to a level of desperation, which I can hardly ever remember sinking to before. I had the awful "yips" with short shots and often ended up out of breath and off balance at the end of my swing. I tried everything but couldn't stick with anything and didn't know what to do.

my scores were the worst I have ever recorded here in the mountains and on the short course I could never make a birdie....all this just a few weeks after making 9 birdies in one round on a much more challenging course. My last wedge shot at 18 yesterday, was a shot that felt different and sooo much better. my hands felt "quiet" and the club's back and through swing felt controlled by my pivot and shoulder turn. So I headed off this a.m. by myself at 7 a.m. to try and recreate this feeling with all my clubs. I played 18 holes and was by the end really on. The club was swinging again I was on balance and I was contacting the ball solidly. but most amazing were all the short shots around the green which I would practice on every hole. I played shot after shot which had the correct trajectory and I was able to contact the ball first. I was so relaxed and my grip pressure felt soft and constant. I had this feeling that I was pre-cocked at address with my hands low and the right hand pad pressure pushing down on my left thumb and molding my hands together as one. this "locked-in" feeling with my hands allows me a smooth swinging tempo where my shoulders and body control the club. my arms stay close to my body and the swing is a smaller swing w/o my arms ever "running away" from my body on the backswing. There is no hit, no jump, no losing my spine angle when my body stops and I straighten up. just like a switch went off and I could play any shot I wanted to and holed out twice and left many others at tap-in range.

the bunker shots I played were even better and I holed one of these out and only played 3 shots. again there was no stop and flip but an acceleration and the great "thump" sound when your technique is correct. again the club seemed to go up quicker and was pre-cocked so all I had to do was turn my shoulders and stay within my foundation.

the image of tom watson came quickly to mind as I felt like he looks and I even assumed his attitude of being unattached to where my ball went and I would simply swing and let go. my divots were shallow and on most every shot my hands felt passive and as if their job was simply to keep the grip pressure secure and steady.I was amazed by how much less effort I was using and I played a few shots where there was a heavy hit sound created by the speed possible from the centrifugal force you achieve when you are in the position and on balance to simply let go. I thought back to all the awful swings I have made this last week where I was trying so hard, finishing off balance and tense.

my posture was athletic and bent from the waist and my arms were loose and "drappy" feeling. I am sure my back swing pace was slower but when I had tried over and over to do this earlier this week I would always speed up and jump into the ball. today I felt the transition as balanced and effortless.

when I have made this swing before there is the sense that the heel of the sole contacts the ground with the toe in the air.....I am unsure if that is in fact what happens but the divots were square and you could see the toe was not racing to square the face by the depth and shape of the divots.

tiger's latest win

when I saw tiger finish his round on thursday and then read his comments in the friday sports page about his round I briefly considered and thought maybe he will finally, just this once come back to the rest of the golfing ranks. maybe he will like all others around him succumb to the pressures of being the best and let down his guard enough to shoot a normal score of friday and miss his second cut in a row. he is off and called his thursday putting performance the worst he can ever remember. if tiger had shot 70 on friday and missed the cut it would have set off a storm of commentary because this would have been new, something he had never done before.....play like a normal professional golfer and in the midst of being slightly off get a bit worse until you "right the ship" and move ahead.

so with interest on friday morning, I called a friend who follows golf to inquire how tiger was playing and he told me he was 7 under through the first seven holes. no he was not going to fall back to normalcy even this once. he would go on to shoot 63 on friday and take home the trophy on sunday. this determined relentless golfing genius once again found a way to find his game....at least enough to beat the group of no name golfers who were at the top of the leader board at the buick open.