In golf, though, it should be used sparingly, because the negative outcome will usually be disaster.

Now, be honest.  How many times have you been standing over your ball on a par five, about to hit your second shot, with 220+ yards to the green, over water?  And how many times have you taken the shot, knowing that the club you have in your hand will yield that perfect result only a fraction of the time?

Why do we do it?  I say “we”, and not “you”, because I’ve done it too.  Guilty as charged.

How about those times when you have 160 yards to a tucked pin on a difficult green that’s protected by water or severe bunkers?  Do you have the discipline to aim for the middle of the green, take your two putts, and get out of there?  Or do you go for it, thinking birdie all the way?

I bet some of you “go for it” types blasted Phil Mickelson in 2006 when his “go for it” attitude brought an end to his hopes for winning a U.S. Open.  And I also bet that next time you hit the course you put yourself in similar situations.

I know I have.

The only good reason for it is that subconsciously, we must believe the reward is worth the risk.  If you hit your 220 yard shot over water and make the eagle, you’re going to remember it for a long time.  If you hit to the tucked pin and have a tap-in birdie, you’re going to remember that shot for a long time.  Fall short and it’s just another in a long string of misses.

Sadly, most of the time, we’re going to fall short of success in golf.  Golf is a game of misses.  We’re going to miss shots probably 99% of the time.  The only question is, by how much.  Even Ben Hogan said he only hit a few perfect shots per round.

Virtually every shot we strike is mishit to some degree.  That 220 yard shot over water?  Miss the sweet spot by 1/4 inch and the ball is probably splashing down.

Sometimes, the “go for it” attitude is a powerful tool.  Winners know when to go for it.  Coming up the 18th hole, down by one, a winner knows that the time has come to go for it.  Finishing second is not good enough.  The player with a winning attitude will pull out all the stops to try and make birdie.  Everyone else would play reserved and try to lock up second place money.

These situations are few and far between, though.

Of course, there’s always the opposite problem.  How many of you out there are capable of shooting under par for a given round?  I’ve read that, mentally, many players of that ability will get under par and then suddenly start protecting the score, keeping themselves from going really low, even though they have the game.  They get under par and then so desperately cling to it that they forget what got them there.  That’s kind of the anti-”go for it” attitude.

If we want to shoot better scores and lower our handicaps, we have to discipline ourselves to limit “go for it” episodes to those times when it’s the difference between winning and losing and to those times when the reward is worth the risk.

What I try to do when I’m facing a risky shot is, think what I would recommend another player do in that situation.  Better yet, ask yourself what you would do if you were sitting at home thinking about the shot.  If the answer is different than what you’re about to try, then you need to rethink your strategy.

Sometimes, going for it is bold strategy.  Most of the time, it’s just bad strategy.  Learn to tell the difference and you’ll become a better player.

© 2007-2011 Life in the Rough. All Rights Reserved.

The “Go For It” Attitude in Golf

“So exactly what are you talking about”, I can hear you asking.

Have you ever played team sports?  Football (either kind)?  Baseball?  Hockey?  Basketball?  Rugby, lacrosse, or volleyball?  Let’s forget for a moment that those sports require teams simply to play the games.  Let’s instead turn to what team dynamics mean for an individual and then we’ll get back to golf.

I played team sports through childhood and on through my 20′s.  One thing that I always liked about it was the camaraderie.  I was an individual, but I was never alone.  There was always someone else there to help me achieve my best or to take up some slack when I was in a slump.  I always did my best because I never wanted to let the team down.

One of the drawbacks to solitude is struggling to be 100% self-reliant.  There’s no one to lean on.  A team atmosphere changes that.

On a golf course, we’re completely alone. Again, I’m not talking about those occasions where we’re in some kind of team competition, so let’s leave those aside.

I discovered this summer that I was able to get back some of that team dynamic that I was missing with one simple thing:  I started scheduling regular lessons.

It makes sense if you think about it.  In our imaginations, we have the image of PGA Tour players living and dying on their own, week in and week out, in solitude.  It looks that way on television, but they have bigger teams than most of us could dream of.  Caddies, swing coaches, trainers, mental gurus, business managers.  Sure, they’re the ones that hit the shots.  But, don’t think for a second that it’s not a team effort when the club isn’t in motion.  Take a walk to the practice tee at a major to see for yourself.

Obviously, there are differences in the size of a player’s team.  Some have never had any swing coaching.  Some don’t work out much or at all.  Some don’t really look to caddies for shot advice.  In general, though, these things are quite common at that level.

My theory is that it’s not just about learning the best technique.  It’s also about having someone to lean on.  Mentally, that’s a big advantage in a sport that seems to demand solitude by placing so much pressure on the individual.

I’ve been asked many times why I didn’t stick with the one plane swing concept, or why I don’t adopt the Stack and Tilt swing.  Believe me, I’ve thought long and hard about it.  In the end, it came down to not being able to find a local pro to coach me on those concepts.

When I went back to taking regular lessons, I didn’t know how it would turn out.  To my surprise, I immediately started to feel a sense of team.  Sure, my pro doesn’t see it that way.  He gives lessons to a bunch of people every week.  It doesn’t matter, though, because I do see it as a team effort.

When I tried to go it alone, it was difficult.  I studied hard, always increasing my knowledge of the golf swing.  I’m always going to do that.  I also worked hard.  I practiced and practiced and practiced.  The problem came when things didn’t improve as they should have.

It’s not that I wouldn’t have eventually figured out my swing issues.  I would have dug it out of the dirt, as Ben Hogan liked to say.  The real problem was the shattered confidence that came from not being sure what was going wrong and not being sure if I was wasting my time changing some swing position.  Self-doubt crept in and started to keep me from progressing.

So I did the only thing that made sense.  I added someone to my team.

Forget the fact that he immediately helped me find problems and start to fix them.  Don’t think for a second that it happened over night, either.  It’s been a long process.  It’s truly amazing, the mental boost I get from knowing that no matter how bad I struggle, I’m going in for a lesson every two weeks and we’re going to get to the bottom of the problem, whatever it may be.

If you find yourself struggling and frustrated to the point of quitting, then do yourself a favor and add someone to your team.  Get a series of lessons.  Get some sessions with a personal trainer if you’re struggling in that department.  You might even do well to team up with a friend and hit the driving range together once a week.  Go with someone that can look at your swing as you try to diagnose and fix problems.

Some people prefer the solitude and don’t want help.  I can understand that.  That’s the allure of golf for some people.  They like the pressure to be squarely on their shoulders and don’t want help bearing the burden.  They like to figure it all out from themselves.  They lose themselves in practice for hours at a time. And obviously, many players aren’t looking to improve, so this concept isn’t really relevant to them.  I get that, also.

Personally, I respond better with someone in my corner.

No one can help you when it’s time to make a stroke.  But if you’re like me and like the support, then try and do something to turn golf into a team game.  It may give you the boost you’re looking for to get through frustrating times.

© 2007-2011 Life in the Rough. All Rights Reserved.

Golf as a Team Sport

With that always in the back of my mind, I was recently reading Johnny Miller’s book, I Call the Shots while I’ve been recuperating from surgery.

There’s a chapter in there about players that could give Tiger Woods a run for his money. The book was published in 2004 with most of the information current thorough 2003, but one of the players mentioned was David Duval.

It mentions his decline after winning the British Open in 2001, but I think Miller and most everyone else figured he’d eventually turn it around.

That had me thinking: what can cause such a radical decline for a player of that caliber?

Duval was the number one player in the world in 1999. He shot a 59 in competition. He won a major. He had several other top 10 finishes in majors. He won 13 events on Tour.

This year, he made $71,945, ranking him 220th on the PGA Tour, and who knows where in the World Golf Rankings. The only thing keeping him around is his name and his history.

It’s almost inconceivable to me that a player like him could decline so dramatically. He’s not alone, though.

We forget, because he’s doing a nice job in the broadcast booth these days, but Ian Baker-Finch experienced a dramatic collapse that started in 1995.

It was like he woke up and forgot how to play at that level. It culminated with a 92 in the opening round of the 1997 British Open. He withdrew from the tournament and retired from tournament golf.

And let’s not forget that it happened to Johnny Miller, also. Late in his career he had a bad case of the putting yips (the yips are a mental/neurological affliction that causes a player to uncontrollably jitter, causing missed putts – even short ones).

These players were in their 30′s when they started their declines. Each of them should have had years more good golf in them, and in Duval’s case, he should still be in his prime.

Being so competitive myself, I can’t imagine what it must be like to lose it like that.

These guys don’t rise to that level without having the mental and physical makeup to succeed. We’re not talking about slow erosion as age takes it’s toll. We’re talking about career time bombs.

So what causes it? There are theories about the decline of each of those players and others who had big declines, but I don’t know if any of them fully explains each situation.

Cases like these leave me simultaneously fascinated and saddened. It’s hard to believe that such a difficult climb could end with such a dramatic fall.

© 2007-2011 Life in the Rough. All Rights Reserved.

The Tougher the Climb, the Harder the Fall

I hate bringing up things where I can’t cite a specific source, but I saw this recently, I think on Playing Lessons from the Pros on The Golf Channel.

The problem lies in the fact that for too many people, par is an impenetrable barrier. We look at par as the standard to be judged against. Like par is the goal, and anything better is gravy. When we look at things like that, we will tend to make sure (maybe subconsciously) that our outcome meets that expectation.

For Tour players, that’s the kind of thing that will end a career because except for the U.S. Open and sometimes The Masters, shooting par at the end of the day is not going to be good enough.

This idea got me thinking about myself, and I realized that I’m guilty of this kind of thinking. I plan my actions and judge my outcomes against par. For instance, if I make a fairway, I think, “OK, I’m in a good position for a par”. If my approach to a green is a little off and I have a lower percentage putt (say over 15 feet), I think, “well, I’m in a decent position to two-putt for my par”.

I think this is just a bad way to look at things. This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t lay up, or take our medicine when we get in trouble, or be satisfied with a good lag putt, or be happy with a par (when warranted). But in general, we should be devising a plan for each shot that puts us in the best possible (realistic) position to score, committing to it, and executing it. Then we can hold ourselves accountable for each and every shot, as opposed to an overall score. Believe it or not, there is such a thing as a bad par. And there’s nothing wrong with expecting a birdie on a particular hole.

When I hit a nice drive into a fairway, that doesn’t do anything for my next shot. Yes, it put me in a better position for my next shot, but that’s not what I mean. When I get to the ball and plan my next shot, it doesn’t matter how I got there. The only thing that should matter is the shot I’m about to hit. I should be worried about making that shot the best that it can possibly be, not gearing it toward an overall score.

If I’m hitting a wedge from 50 yards, my plan should be to get close enough to make the first putt. That’s the whole purpose of the finesse wedge game. If I start to think, “All I need to do is get on the green and two-putt for par” then I’ve basically conceded defeat because my brain is going to find a way to make that happen. And if I fail to execute on that plan, then I’m looking at bogey. That means that my expectation should be for a birdie, not for a par. Otherwise I must not be confident that I’ll execute on my plan and once that happens, chances are that I won’t.

Along the lines of all this, I saw Craig Stadler (maybe it was he who talked about the stuff above) on Playing Lessons recently and he remarked that he sees guys start to go low sometimes, say 5-under, then for some reason, they start to play conservative trying to hang on to it. That’s when it starts to slip away. His feeling is that you need to stick with what got you there in the first place, not shrink up and go into a defensive mode.

Par is just a number. If you’re fixated on it, then you’re going to do what you can to shoot it, even if you can really do better. That’s all right if you’re normally shooting 100, but if you want to mix in some birdies, then you have to make sure you’re not creating a par-barrier for yourself. I’m guilty as charged. Forget about par and hit each shot like it was a game in and of itself. It’s one thing to expect a birdie and not succeed and have to live with par, but it’s entirely something else to view par as a fall back right off the bat, because more often than not, you will have eliminated any chance for birdie by guiding your play toward getting that par.

This is a change that I’m going to make in my own philosophy. To have a shot of going low during a round, we must be able to break through the par barrier and not look back.

© 2007-2011 Life in the Rough. All Rights Reserved.

Defeating Old Man Par

The stock answer is that I’m working on my fitness, weight loss, and practicing the various aspects of the game. But that’s not enough. If I lose all the weight I want to lose, get reasonably fit, and play to scratch, I’m still not going to be good enough.

My basic premise in what separates the best from the rest is that mental game is the biggest factor once a player gets to a certain point. I listed out a bunch of aspects of the mental game that I feel are factors. The question is, what am I doing to develop those things?

Right now, this blog is my biggest vessel for mental development. It sounds strange, but when you find a way to be totally honest with yourself and expose your deepest, darkest, inner flaws in front of the world, it’s an experience that starts to change you.

One of the biggest issues that many people, including myself, suffer from, is a lack of honesty with oneself regarding where we stand, whether it’s golf or anything else. It’s that lack of honesty that keeps us in the same ruts, doing the same things over and over. We can’t know how to improve our lives if our mental defense mechanisms hide our problems from us.

This blog lets me air out all my problems so that they’re right there in black and white, in my face. Then, I must deal with them if I want to achieve my goals.

I also have the benefit of people in my life who are very supportive, but don’t let me cop out. They’re family, friends, and co-workers. They’re also total strangers here whose input I value greatly. They help me to see things that I don’t (or won’t) see for myself.

But that’s only half the issue. Knowing what’s wrong is important, but having a specific plan to reach goals is just as important. A while back, I lamented that I lack discipline. That’s great, but if I don’t do anything about it, then I’ve accomplished nothing toward reaching my goals.

With all that in mind, here are some problem areas for me, and specific steps I’m performing to fix them.

• Discipline. As I said, this is a sore spot. In virtually every aspect of fitness, proper diet, and golf, I know what to do. I know how to get the job done. Working on discipline is the easiest, because it comes down to a simple choice. Am I going to eat fast food tonight? Am I going to be too lazy to line up an aim club at the driving range? Am I going to give up after a bad hole and call it a practice round? With each and every choice I make, I am striving to make what I feel are the best choices for achieving my goals. I know I don’t have all the answers, but too often I do and still make poor choices.
• Fear. Sometimes I fear failure. Also, while I’m not afraid to lose, sometimes I’m afraid of being a loser (if that makes sense). To deal with fear, I’m trying to evaluate everything that happens with a “so what?” attitude. Nothing I’m doing will ultimately have a negative effect on my life. So what if I don’t win a tournament, or play a bad round, or have atrocious stats, or top the ball in front of a bunch of strangers? In the end, these individual events won’t define success or failure for me. Part of the reason I stopped keeping stats as regularly was out of embarrassment because I felt like they were way worse than they should be. Why should that worry me? The problem is that the stats are where they should be. But I was worried about people’s perception of me. Why? I don’t know, but I’m getting over that.
• Pressure. In some aspects of my life, I deal with pressure well. At work, when there’s a crunch, I dig inside myself and excel. On the golf course, I’m not so good in that area, especially since I’ve never really faced any real pressure. What I need to do to deal with the pressure is break down each and every shot into a single, atomic action. It’s one shot. I need to form a plan, go through my routine, absolutely commit to the plan, and execute. I can’t worry about the big picture.

In addition to addressing those specific problems, there are some things I’m doing to improve every area of my life.

• Evaluate every action. I try to evaluate each and every thing I do to determine if I’m doing what I can to meet my goals. Whether it’s a decision to watch TV, a decision to eat something, a decision to stay up late, a decision to read a book, a decision to take a nap, I ask myself “how does this fit in with my goals?” If it doesn’t or if I feel a little twinge of guilt, I then have to decide, “is it worth it?” Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn’t. The point isn’t to make sure every single detail of your life fits in with your goals, the point is to be sure that you’re making a conscious decision about every detail in your life.
• Do something each day. One of my main short-term goals is to do something every single day to further my overall goals. That doesn’t have to mean a round of golf or a driving range session. It can mean reading a book or doing some stretching, or making good eating choices or uncovering another truth about myself.
• Write a blog post each day. I really make an effort to make a post every day. I’ve probably missed 4 or 5 days in the last couple of months. On the surface, you might think, “how does that really help?” Well, in two ways. First, when I write technical articles, I go through a process where I lay out what I know. Then I do research to fill in the blanks and to fact-check myself. This is an amazing source of learning for me. While I might have 80 or 90% of an article coming out of my brain, there are still little details that I’ve forgotten or never knew in the first place. That fills in the gaps for me. Secondly, writing these posts is where I discover probably half of the shortcomings I’ve found out about myself. When I write an article saying that you should do this or that, sometimes I’ll think, “wait a second…” and realize that I need to improve in that area.
• Put time frames on goals wherever possible. HappyRock pointed out to me that when we don’t put time frames on goals, we give ourselves an out. When we give ourselves an out, we generally will take advantage of it and don’t attend to those goals in a timely fashion. Before we know it, years have passed and we’re still not able to reach specific goals.
• Gain knowledge. Practice on the range only takes a person so far. I feel that I need to absorb all the golf knowledge I can get my hands on. This includes reading books, talking to people, experimentation. I need to understand everything there is to understand about the game. I also need to absorb information about fitness, diet, etc.
• Develop confidence. My confidence is generally good when I’m in a comfort zone. Most people can say the same. The problem comes when I’m not hitting the ball well or when I’m faced with some adversity. When I get out of my comfort zone, I lose confidence and it affects what I’m trying accomplish. To gain more confidence, I need to make sure I’m properly prepared for the task at hand. If I never practice hitting a ball from a plugged lie in a bunker, how can I expect to be confident as I prepare for the shot on the course? Dealing with the items mentioned above (fear, pressure, discipline) will also help breed confidence.

Finally, in addition to those more general changes, I’m going to achieve the following specific goals in the time frames listed.

• Update my to-do list to include due dates where applicable. (June 18, 2007)
• Develop a detailed fitness plan. (July 1, 2007)
• Develop a detailed diet plan. (July 1, 2007)
• Develop a detailed practice plan. (July 1, 2007)
• On the first tee of every round, declare whether the round is going to be practice or for a score, then stick to it. This includes regular stat-keeping again. (Immediate)

That’s pretty much it. Once again, I’m lain bare before you. That’s OK, though. It’s what I need to do.

Maybe you can apply some of these things to your own goals and we can attack them at the same time.

© 2007-2011 Life in the Rough. All Rights Reserved.

Talk is Cheap: Achieving Goals