Golf Rewind - View Single Post

greenguy · #14 (**permalink**) August 19th, 2004, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NDShim

Haven't we all been there? I'm currently mired in a 'what am I supposed to do with this thing again?' moment. My last complete round was with two of my best buddies 2 Saturday's ago. Went off at 6 am, beautiful day, it was awesome, I shoot 39 on the front. I'm doing everything just like I want. I'm having fun, swinging easy, hitting hard, making putts, I've got some feel with the short game--heck, it's an easy game.

Then, it hit me.

I get to the #11 tee. It a short par four, with a short carry over water. You could hit a 7 iron over the water. I'm in the zone--I plunk two in the water and it's over. The last 8 holes are as if I've never held a club in my hand before. Every swing feels foreign. I can't get a putt within 6 inches of the hole. I manage to scrape it around and finish with a 47, but am completely exhausted after the round.

Now fast forward to this past Monday. I've got a buddy who owns/operates a little 2,700 yard course on the nicest 'resort/cabin' lake in North Dakota. It's a nice little course. I take my boys up with me (11,7,4). We take 3 golf carts out and cruise around and play 9 holes. We're pretty much the only folks on the course and had a blast. I didn't play much, as I was dodging golf carts and 'course managing' 3 kids, but I did tee off on every hole and played about 6 holes in their entirety. Same thing. I couldn't tell you where the shot was going if I wanted to....

I tried everything. Slowing down, rechecking alignment, lightening my grip pressure, yada, yada, yada.

Funny thing is, I can't wait to get to the range and hit a bucket. I know I'll be fine. Work is crazy with the 'back to school' rush in my business, so I'll have to wait a week or two, but haven't we all been there?

We have all been there, haven't we? Please don't tell me I'm the only one? I can't be the only, can I?

What did I do to peeve the golf gods that put me in this funk? I'm guessing I was getting too big for my britches as I have been having a great summer. I guess now I'm just slapped back into reality.

Please someone tell me they've been there too. Misery loves company, you know.

Sorry ND for going off topic on your thread - I'll mention 4 tips that has helped me when I was more focused on playing than I have been the last 10 years. When the wheels start to fall off - on the first shot after a bad one make sure: 1) make sure you 'see' the clubhead hit the ball 2) forget distance - concentrate on just hitting the shot on line, even if you don't hit it pure 3) relax like your hitting on the range. The reason that a lot of us hit the ball well on the range is that usually we are just concetrating on getting good contact and hitting on line - distance isn't the primary factor on the range; getting good contact is-take that thot to the first tee. By not focusing on distance and just taking a relaxed and rythmic swing leads to increasing your odds to hit a least a playable shot. 4)last thot - put enough club in your hands to comfortably reach your target - this is the most important thing on a par 3 where I think a lot of people try to over swing their irons. Think line first, then distance and stay relaxed, especially the wrists - no tension with the grip or wrists - just hold it firm enough to hold the club, then don't overswing. The wheels will come back on.

Hope this helps you - I am putting my own thots to test because tommorrow I'll actually be playing in a tournament and for the first time in years, I think I'm going to play well. When I was breaking 80 years ago, those 4 thots always got me back on track faster than anything.