I played in my club championship on Sunday. Without a doubt, it was my best learning experience with respect to playing golf (as opposed to just learning how to swing the club or to hit shots).

Believe it or not, I’ve never played in a competitive tournament like that, and I’ve played a LOT of golf in my life.  I’ve played in evening men’s leagues and scramble tournaments, but nothing where it was a true competition, 100% by the book, with everyone playing their best.

I intended to play competitively last year as part of my journey, but regular readers will remember my lengthy knee injury which put a hold on that.  Fortunately, this year, I was able to work much harder and only had one minor stretch where I had to play through pain and take some time off.

So, I know you want me to cut to the chase and tell you how I did.  OK, I didn’t play great.  I shot a 91 for a net 76 (my handicap index is 13.9 giving me a course handicap of 15). I know, a 91 is a 91, but I think I played a little better than my score shows.  Still, I didn’t play up to my own standards.

However, I’m still thrilled with the experience and I’d like to share some observations and things I learned. Some of it will sound like I’m making excuses.  I promise, I’m not.  This is all just part of the learning experience and I hope you can learn from my mistakes too.

A Whole Different Course

We played the championship from the back tees.  That’s right, the tips.  The last word I got was that they were considering playing to the next set up (we have four sets of tees), and I never bothered to check before my practice round on Saturday.

The reason I bring this up is that I had literally never even stood on the back tees at my course prior to the club championship.  It’s not really an issue of distance.  I’m a pretty long hitter.  The course is relatively short with my regular tees coming in at 6000 yards (don’t let that fool you – there are a lot of narrow holes and thick rough and precision is required).  The back tees are only about 500 yards longer, which was no big deal.

The problem comes in the fact that, unlike some courses, the back tees aren’t just a little further back on the same continuous strip of grass.  They’re further out and many are at drastically different angles with respect to the rest of the holes.

I’ve played the place dozens of times, but from the back tees, it was a whole different look which caused me problems with club selection.  Remember I mentioned precision?  Well, the holes aren’t designed for people to just bomb away from the tee and then just compute the approach to the green.  There are places were you don’t want to run through the fairway because of water or waste areas.  Someone who hits the ball longer has to be more careful about club selection on many holes.  I was forced to make guesses on several tee shots and a few times I guessed wrong.

The lesson learned here is to play from the back tees once in a while because there’s no reason for me to have felt uncomfortable on a course that I’ve played many, many times.  I should have been diligent in checking which tees we were playing from, and I certainly could have just safely assumed we were playing from the back tees and practiced there, because if we did play forward on game day, it would have been familiar still.

The Pressure

I can’t remember feeling the kind of pressure on a golf course that I felt on Sunday.

I showed up at the course with butterflies in my stomach and they lasted the whole round. It was certainly worse in the beginning and on holes that I don’t typically play well, but it did get a little better as time went on.

There are several obvious factors for this.  I clearly wanted to play well.  Not having played something so formal was a contributor.  There’s pressure in knowing that every shot counts.  There’s no conceded putt.  There’s no jacking a ball out of bounds and then dropping one up somewhere just to keep the game moving.  There’s the pressure of not wanting to look foolish in front of strangers.  That one wasn’t too bad, because I played with a great group and I quickly felt comfortable with them.

The pressure is one thing I felt like I handled very well.  I’m not sure I can say it cost me any strokes.  Honestly, I truly believe I was prepared to deal with it from reading Bob Rotella’s books (Golf is Not a Game of Perfect, etc.).  I went out there, planned and visualized every shot, hit each shot, and then accepted the outcome.  I dealt with the butterflies by looking at each shot as being a chance to excel.  I trusted my swing, even though I knew I’m in the middle of working on things with my pro, and some of those things came out in my round.

I don’t relish feeling that pressure, but it was constantly telling me that I cared about the outcome and that I should take each shot seriously and play each meticulously.

Observing The Winner

The eventual club champion was in my group.  In fact, it was his third in a row.  I learned a ton watching a low handicapper play a tournament round.  Well, I learned some new things, but most of it was stuff that I already know, but may not have witnessed for 18 holes, up close.

His swing was solid, and he had really good tempo.  Things like this are almost a given with a player whose handicap is in the lower single digits.  But he also meticulously stuck to his pre-shot routine.  If he addressed his ball and was not completely confident in his club selection, he would back away and get the right club.

The quality of his shots was pretty amazing.  His ball almost always started out right on target.  There was very little variation in trajectory and curvature of the ball except when he was trying to work the ball purposely.  From what I could tell, it didn’t seem like he missed the center of the club face much.  I think I saw him hit one truly bad shot in 18 holes.

The one thing that was highly encouraging to me playing with him is that there’s not a single shot he hit that I can’t hit.  The only difference is, he hits the shot he intends a lot more often than I do.  That’s a simple matter of working on my fundamentals and practice, practice, practice.

Playing with someone of that caliber showed me that I’m not as far from that level as I might think.

Positives in My Game

I didn’t shoot a good number, even considering my handicap, but there were some things I did well that I’m happy with.

• As I said above, I’m very happy with how I dealt with the pressure.  I can’t say I feel like it cost me any shots.
• I’m fairly happy with my short irons.  I hit some very solid shots and had a few very makeable birdie chances (which I didn’t make).
• My putting was very solid.  I don’t have my stats in front of me, and I might have had a couple of three putts, but made a number of putts in the 4- to 8-foot range.

Non-positives in My Game

I didn’t want to be negative, so I said “non-positives”.  It’s like Tony Robbins over here.  OK, I admit it, there were a number of negatives.  There have to be, considering I shot a 91.

• I made the cardinal mistake of the classic nonchalant putt.  I hit my tee shot to the par-3 13th and was left with about a 6-footer.  I slid it by the right side and had less than a foot left.  I went up and tried to tap in while straddling another player’s line and flat duffed it.  That’s a mistake I won’t make again.
• I made a couple of course management blunders.  On the par-5 14th, which is a dog-leg left, I hooked my tee shot over by the woods into thick rough.  From there, I had around 100 yards to get to the corner with limbs overhanging. I chose to punch a 5-iron, but the rough was too thick and it just squirted forward maybe ten yards.  Then, I did the exact same thing again.  After that, I had enough sense to wedge it out.  It took me five shots to get on.  If I wedged out the first time, I’m confident I would have saved one stroke, and maybe even two.
• I touched on this above, but I don’t think I prepared properly.  I was sick over the couple weeks prior, so there wasn’t much I could do about that, but when I did have the chance to work, I didn’t play from the back tees like I should have.  I also don’t feel like I worked on my short game enough, even though that probably didn’t cost me much.  There were, however, some chances to get up and down that I missed.  Knowing what I know now, I will prepare much differently next time.
• This isn’t really golf related, but I wanted to point out what a dunce I am when it comes to proper hydration.  I practiced the day before the event in some seriously hot, humid weather and got behind in my hydration.  On tournament day, the weather was nice and not hot at all, so I was lulled into not drinking enough.  I was cramping by the time I put my clubs in my car and was in agony for hours.  I got cramping in my calves, hamstrings, hips, all around my midsection, and even in my right hand.  My hand!  Let this be a warning:  stay hydrated.  I can’t help but wonder if it affected my later holes, but I can say with 100% certainty that it would have affected me had I played the day after.

On any particular day, my swing is what it is and I’m going to make some mistakes.  I don’t like them, but I don’t regret them either.  But the mental errors are things that I do regret, because there’s no reason for them to happen.  I estimate that those errors cost me a minimum of 4 strokes.  That would have gotten me into the more respectable land of the 80′s to a net 72 for the tournament.  Oh well, it’s a learning experience.

Onward!

At this point, I can’t wait to get back to work.  It’s time to schedule my next series of lessons, and I have a good idea where I need to work on my game after putting it to the test.

It’s coming down to the end of the season and it won’t be long before winter is here.  My goal is to get my handicap down into the single digits by the end of the season.  I think that’s very possible, but it’s going to require some focused effort on my part.  That will also leave me in a good position for next year.  If I’m in the single digits right out of the gate, I’ll be in a good spot to actually be able to contend for the championship next year.

I can’t wait!

Did you like this post? Get free RSS updates!

Leave a comment | Comment Policy | Trackback URL