Just recently back from Charleston where I played in the Yeamans Hall Senior on what has become one of my favorite courses. Three rounds on this Seth Raynor classic with no cut is a fine way to go. Traveling there I was saying to myself that I have played so few events this season I wanted to try and be easy on myself and not expect too much in terms of performance. This sounded like a good plan but once I teed off and made a few pars I desperately wanted to play well, especially with all my gloving contemporaries playing there too.
I wasn’t very comfortable and made some poor shots and many bad decisions. In the first round I turned in 41 with two doubles and felt discouraged. I was thinking to myself, “ do I like doing this?” I said to myself as I went to the tenth tee I was going to make no more bogies and played 10 through 15 very well with all pars and lots of birdie putts. I made bogies from the fringe at 16 & 17 and at 18 I layed up to my wedge yardage and slightly pulled my 95 yard shot into the edge of the bunker pin high. When I couldn’t find the ball I knew it was buried and I made a good putt for my 6 after finding the ball and barely getting out into the high rough surrounding the bunker. I felt sick to my stomach as I signed my card especially when I saw the low scores on the scoreboard…. I had shot 79.
I went straight to the range and played lots of 95 yard shots just like the one I had just had at 18. This is a part of my game, 30-90 yard shots where I am not nearly as accurate as I’d like to be. I was able to find a rhythm and played lots of fine shots on the range.
In the second round I played better and did not make any doubles, but still wasted lots of shots and had a number of 3-putts for 75 which is 5 over par. I was 14 over after two round and the leader was close to par, maybe 1 or 2 over.
The last round I shot 73 and felt a bit more comfortable out there. But on the first hole added to pin sheet info to the front rather than the middle of the green yardage….so I had 162 instead of 132. I was able to smile at this idiocy.
Driving home I was thinking about what is ahead as I always do. I want to be better and to enjoy myself more.
I sent Billy Harmon an e-mail asking if I could phone him to talk. I did so and spent 45 minutes on the phone. It was so great to be able to talk with someone I respect, someone who has spent his life in and around the game. He was full of insight. Here’s a bit of what he said.
Playing well is not as much about good swings as it is about belief in your ability to play.
Your attitude and the way you think about your game is everything.
Managing your thoughts is difficult but crucial to giving yourself a chance to perform.
He suggested that after each shot I consider this; was it my swing that failed or was it my interference from my mind, which dominated the time playing the shot. If you are trying to not go out of bounds, if that is what you are thinking then you really have not given yourself a chance to play a good golf shot.
Being afraid is very different from being nervous.
He told me a great story about his friend Frank Beard, who said; every golfer approaches a round and many shots within the round with a 40 lb bag of self doubt, lack of confidence, nerves, etc. = a 40 lb. bag of “shit!” Frank said, “ the reason I was successful is that I found a way to put that bag off to the side and give myself the 25-45 seconds I needed to play my shot.”
After my phone conversation I went to the golf course with a short putter ( I have been putting with a long putter for 18 months ) and shot a 6 under 66 making putts from everywhere. Yesterday I played in my normal Sunday game where there is much more pressure and I was determined to take the short putter and give it a try. I made a 3 footer on one and two and a 20 footer on 3 and putted pretty well. I did have 2 three putts. I had 72 on the difficult Duke course
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