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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!

Sometimes, a disjointed thought says more than a thousand words of orderly discourse. I thought I might test that theory.  Here are twenty random thoughts about golf. Feel free to agree, beat me down, or add your own in the comments.

1. I don’t care about the new groove regulations because I would still love the game if I had to hit featheries with persimmon woods across six holes of sheep pasture.
2. If I owned a golf course, alcohol would be forbidden on the course, but would be allowed in the awesome 19th hole bar that would be on the premises.
3. I cannot explain why, but I firmly believe in dress codes on golf courses. If there isn’t one, then fine, but if a course is going to have one, it should be enforced in a draconian manner, even if it means sacrificing revenue.
4. As a fan, I prefer watching golf on TV.  As a student of the game, there is absolutely no alternative to being there on the premises during a tournament.
5. The length of time Sam Snead played at a high level is amazing to me. Tom Watson is performing well at his age, but isn’t even on the same planet with respect to total wins.
6. The LPGA Tour has some great players, cool personalities, and good golf, but given the choice, I prefer watching a PGA Tour event 99% of the time.
7. My dream foursome:  David Feherty, Gary McCord, John Daly.  THAT would be a fun day.
8. Why do people refuse to fix ball marks and rake bunkers?  I bet those same people complain when their ball lands in a foot print or their putt rolls like a game of Plinko.
9. I love how people will spend $400 for the newest driver for its “forgiveness” but won’t spend $50 on a lesson with a pro. With a good swing, there’s not much to forgive.
10. Attention golf course operators:  I appreciate the guy who is there to help get carts loaded and unloaded and shine up clubs, but I would be infinitely more happy if you would have him riding around as a course ranger – and not just during weekend mornings.
11. There are some great golf blogs out there.  To anyone thinking of starting one: if you’re just doing it for money, your heart won’t be in it and it will show.  And, it probably won’t last for long.
12. I believe I will make every putt within ten feet. I don’t just tell myself I’ll make it, and of course I don’t make every one, but I believe that I will before I make the stroke.
13. If you’ve ever mowed fairways on a golf course, then you know that when you finish one and the striping is nearly perfect, it’s a very rewarding feeling.
14. I’ve done just about every task a golf maintenance worker can do and the one I hated most was changing hole locations.
15. I’m still waiting for the wonderful day when I get matched up on the course with some stranger and he says, “Do you mind if we play a match for honor, not money, and can we strictly enforce the rules?”
16. I’m not sure how I feel about long putters. I could see outlawing them and forcing a traditional-type stroke, but at the same time, they don’t really bother me that much to push the issue.
17. I’m a fan of using a little gamesmanship, but I’m afraid that in a serious tournament, I might cross the line, so I would probably not even try to play any mind games.
18. Since I started my journey to become a pro, I’ve been working with my pro to develop my game, but I haven’t played any competitive tournaments, partly because of poorly-timed injuries.  My club championship is this Sunday and it occurs to me that I don’t really know how to prepare effectively for a tournament. Both in the days leading up, and on the day itself.  I need to develop my own routine.
19. I have Hogan’s famous 1-iron photo hanging up in my dining room in my apartment, or my “golffice” as I like to call it.  It provides great inspiration on a daily basis.
20. I prefer match play to stroke play in a one-on-one situation. In stroke play, it’s too easy for a player just to zone out and shoot a number.  In match play, the opponent matters a lot more and there’s a lot more opportunity to get inside a player’s head. Especially since in match play, when the match is mathematically decided, it’s over, but in stroke play, a huge lead just means the need to grind out the final holes.

Without a doubt, the 2008 U.S. Open was one of the greatest golf tournaments I’ve ever had the pleasure to watch and it probably ranks somewhere solidly within the list of the most exciting ever played.

The storyline was almost surreal.  Tiger Woods, probably the best player who ever lived, had come back after knee surgery, and as we found out later, was still seriously injured.  He was stared down to the bitter end (and then some) by Rocco Mediate, a player often described with terms like “journeyman” and “everyman”.

It took 91 holes to decide the battle and, as we know, Tiger Woods came out victorious. Tiger needed to hole a knee-knocking putt on the 72nd hole to even get into a playoff with Mediate.  The two then stayed neck and neck for an 18 hole playoff and Tiger finally won it on the first sudden-death hole where Rocco didn’t make the putt he needed to extend the playoff.

Tiger’s performance became more legendary after we learned the true nature of his injury.  Throughout the week it was obvious he was hurting, but we didn’t find out until later that he had a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his knee as well as stress fractures in his leg.

That’s not to take anything away from Rocco Mediate.  He gave Tiger a serious run.  Though he was an underdog in the tournament – usually the entire field is when Tiger plays – he bested everyone else and nearly beat The Man himself to take home the prize.

The drama on Sunday that spilled into Monday swept the golfing world.  It’s reported that trading was actually down on the New York Stock Exchange during the playoff.

The story was spectacular, but the story behind the story is compelling, as well. How did it all start for Rocco Mediate? What hurdles did he face on his way to that historic showdown?

“Are You Kidding Me?“, by Rocco Mediate and John Feinstein answers those questions and more.

No only does this book give a lot of detail about Rocco’s start in golf and his early career, it also gives a very detailed account of that U.S. Open week and the lead up to it, where Rocco had to play his way into the tournament through sectional qualifying.  We learn more about his longstanding back problems and how he overcame them.  We also learn how this brush with greatness affected Rocco as he moved on and found himself flush with new opportunities.

I still vividly recall the 2008 U.S. Open and I remember the knot I had in my stomach as it played out on Monday.  I’m a huge fan of Tiger Woods and always like to see him win, but how could I not pull for Rocco to win?  He seems like a great guy and the word is that he’s liked by everyone.  It was a great underdog story with two guys that had to play through adversity to contend for the U.S. Open.

I found this book to be a thoroughly enjoyable recounting of how Rocco found himself in that moment and how the week played out.  It is well written and quite a compelling story. I highly recommend it for anyone interested in learning Rocco’s back story or for anyone who would like to relive some of the magic of the 2008 U.S. Open from the perspective of one of the guys that made it happen.

The dog days of summer are here.  I was grinding away with the pain in my hip/leg area since my last update but fortunately, it seems like it might be very nearly gone.  Over the last week or two, I’ve been able to play and practice more and haven’t really been troubled at all.

I did lose a little of my golf stamina because last week I hit a lot of range balls in the morning and when I tried to play that afternoon, I was definitely fatigued.  It doesn’t help that the heat finally kicked in here in New Jersey and when it’s not hot, it’s raining, but I’m adapting.

So, to sum all that whining up, “blah blah blah blah, I stagnated for a month.”

On the positive side, I had a playing lesson last week.  Believe it or not, that was the first one ever for me.  I’ve had tons of traditional lessons on the practice tee, but never a playing lesson.

It was quite an interesting experience.

For those that have never had one, I’ll describe how it went.  Those of you who have had playing lessons before, I’d love to hear how yours went.  Specifically whether they were different than mine and what you feel that you got out of  it.

Basically, it consisted of me showing up and playing a 9-hole round with my pro.

He preferred that we didn’t take a score card, but left it up to me, and I was fine with that.  He simply asked that I explicitly talk my way through every shot.  The experience was very eye opening.  It pointed to some good things about my game, as well as a few problems.

First, the good stuff.

In general, he liked my course management process.  I was doing a good job taking in all of the variables, and adjusting well to them.  There were only a few times where he felt like I could have chosen a better shot and he encouraged me to actually try those alternates to see the results.  One time, we talked through club selection prior to a shot, he changed my mind, and it turned out he was exactly right.

He complemented me on my putting reads, as well.  I’ve always felt that’s something I do well, even when I’m not seeing results. I’ve been working on alignment, and I’m not there yet, so I didn’t putt well, but it was great to know that it wasn’t a problem with reads, because I don’t really need that sort of uncertainty causing doubt.

Now, the not-so-good stuff.

I have a number of technical problems that I need to work out, and alignment is the biggest.  I knew I was having trouble on the greens, and I was even starting to suspect it with full shots, but I didn’t really realize the degree to which I was off.

One shot kind of put the exclamation point on the issue for me.  On the 9th tee, a straight par 5, I called my shot.  Because there’s a creek running up the left and because I have a natural draw, I aimed at a tree in the distance up the right side.  I hit the most solid drive I could muster.  Except it went dead right, probably 50 yards right of my target.  I remarked that I pushed it way right, and he pointed out immediately that I was aimed probably 40 yards right of my target.

So, in reality, I only pushed it about ten yards, which would probably have resulted in me being just in the right rough instead of lost on the 14th hole.

I played another ball from the tee with him helping me line up this time.  It felt really, really strange.  I would have sworn I was going to put the ball right in the creek.

The other main problem is that, at times, I get a little quick in my tempo and come slightly over the top.  I don’t tend to slice a lot, but instead my miss is more of a pull hook because my hands close the club face quickly to compensate.

Unfortunately, these little problems intertwine to cause bigger issues.

For instance, I start pull hooking a little, so I aim a little more right.  But my misses are bigger hooks, so I aim even further right.  On top of that, I stop releasing the club correctly and end up holding the face more square through impact which straightens the shot out some.  At that point, I’m aiming way right and holding the club from releasing just to hit a decent shot.

I’m not too concerned, though, because I know exactly what’s going wrong and what I have to do to fix each problem.

My pro warned me at the end of the lesson that if I want to truly fix these problems (and not just patch my swing to get me scoring better in the near-term), that I need to prepare for some setbacks.  I’m OK with that because I’m in this for the long term.  I don’t want any short cuts.  I want solid fundamentals.

I’m going to schedule my next set of traditional lessons shortly and get to work on these alignment and other issues immediately.  It’s kind of a grind right now because of the heat and humidity, but I need to dig deep and get through it because the end of summer is near and the amount of time left this year to work on my game will dwindle quickly.

Many weekend players aren’t big on practice and like to show up on the weekends, knock the ball around, and have fun with friends.  I think that’s great.  The game is what we make of it, and hopefully we concentrate on keeping it fun.

But there are many of us that put in work to improve.  In many cases, it’s a significant amount of work.  That’s great, as well, but it’s painful to see people working so hard, all the while setting themselves back by not practicing effectively.  I’ve been guilty of it myself.

Dave Pelz is a big proponent of (and as far as I know, coined the phrase) “practice doesn’t make perfect, practice makes permanent”.  Bad practice will groove bad habits which can take years to erase.

Here are some areas where bad practice habits could hurt your game. I’ve done some of these in the past, so if any seem familiar, you’re not alone.

The Problem of Putt-Putt-Putt

I bet a lot of you are guilty of this one.  Tell me if this sounds familiar.

You grab three balls and head to the practice green.  After finding a putt you’d like to practice with a certain distance and break, you set the three balls down in a line perpendicular to the direction of the hole, maybe 6-12 inches from each other.

You step back, read the putt and then address the first ball.  You make your stroke, taking note of whether you had the speed and line correct.  You then shuffle forward to the second ball, and stroke it toward the hole, trying to adapt to what you learned the first time.  Finally, you repeat with the third ball.

All the while, you never step back and re-read the second and third putts.

Let’s pretend for a moment that the area between your three balls and the hole is perfectly flat and level, which is almost never the case, but let’s say it is.  At a minimum, you’d need to adjust your aim line a few degrees to account for the fact that you moved a little way around the circle around the hole that you’re standing on (think of spokes in a wheel – each successive one points toward the hub, not parallel to the previous one).

To illustrate that better, step forward a yard instead of a few inches, keeping your shoulders parallel to the line you putted along first.  Your second putt would finish a yard to the right of the first one.

Sure, you could shuffle a few degrees to the left as well to account for that, but are you used to aligning yourself that way?

More likely, you’d be playing some break and it wouldn’t be precisely the same for the subsequent putts from a slightly different spot.  This means that to have any chance of making those putts, you’d probably have to make subconscious compensations.  Further, that means in the best case, that you’re really not learning anything on the second and third putts, and in the worst case, you’re learning some compensations that you won’t even realize.

You’d be better of if you dragged the second and third balls over to where you hit the first one from, but you’d be infinitely better off if you go through your entire putting routine for each putt.

This seems all seems incredibly obvious, but I see it regularly.

The Power of Routine

That brings me to the power of the pre-shot routine.  The pre-shot routine, whatever yours is, is not about much more than comfort.

When the pressure is on, whether it’s a putt to win the Masters or overcome a personal scoring barrier, a long carry over a dreaded hazard, or two putts to win your league title, your body won’t comply the same way it does when you’re standing on the driving range or practice green.

Butterflies abound and maybe your hands tremble.

This is where your pre-shot routine demonstrates it’s worth.  At that moment, when you begin your routine, your body and mind fall into a comfort zone where you’re just going to do the things you’ve done a thousand times before.

If you don’t use your pre-shot routine when you practice, however, your comfort zone will be empty.  You might sort of have a routine that you kind of follow, but really it probably changes from shot to shot.  Maybe you even have to consciously think about it.

When that happens, you’ve robbed yourself of that comfort zone.

When I go to hit a shot, this is what I do:

Stand behind the ball looking at my target, envisioning the shot I want to hit.  I walk up and take a couple of practice swings about six inches away from where my stance will be, mimicking how I want to hit the shot.  Step back and then walk up to my ball and face it while still looking at the target.  I start to step forward and take my stance, right foot most of the way in, then left foot, then final adjustment with the right foot.  If I feel like I’m not aimed correctly or the ball isn’t where I want it to be relative to my feet, I shuffle a bit to get to where I need to be.  I waggle, tap the ground with my club a couple of times, move my feet a little, look at the target, look at the ball, waggle, look at the target, look at the ball, and then pull the trigger.

Every.  Single.  Time.

I do this when I practice, with one exception:  I usually skip standing behind the ball and just start at stepping into the ball because it saves a little time.  It’s not optimal, but I find it keeps me in a good rhythm at the range.

As a funny aside, I actually had to address a ball to be able to verbalize my routine for you above.  It’s so automatic that I’m not even consciously aware of all the steps.  On the course, that nearly automatic routine provides a familiar place of comfort when the pressure is on.

If you don’t have a set routine that you follow, I highly recommend that you not only develop one, I recommend that you do it when you practice, as well, so that play feels as much like practice as possible.  If you don’t do it when you practice, you’re depriving yourself of a happy place that you can go when the pressure mounts.

The Rake and Beat

I didn’t come up with that phrase, but it certainly describes many of the players I see in my regular trips to the driving range.  They dump a basket of balls, step up, beat one down range, rake over another one, and repeat until the balls are gone, occasionally pausing to switch clubs.

As we talked about above, it’s important to develop and go through your pre-shot routine so you’re prepared for pressure situations.  But the rake and beat mentality goes way beyond that.

You’ve heard me refer to this as practicing without purpose. The purpose of practice is, well, to practice. That is, to hit shots that will prepare you to play golf well. To do that, it’s very important to make practice conditions as similar as possible to those on the course.

We already talked about the importance of pre-shot routines during practice, but really, there’s much more to mixing up practice a bit.

How many times on the course are you faced with hitting 25 7-irons in a row?  I’m not saying that there’s never a time to hit 25 in a row on the practice tee.  On the contrary, if you’re working on a specific shot or swing technique, you might hit many in a row.

But, if you’re preparing to play or just keeping sharp, then practicing like you play means that sometimes you need to mix it up and do things differently. That means switching up clubs and shot types, because that’s exactly what you’re going to be doing on the course.

There are tons of ways to do this.  Play an imaginary round on the practice tee.  Pretend you’re standing on the first tee and hit the exact shot that would be called for from there.  Pay careful attention to the result and then imagine where you’d be if you had really hit that shot on the course.  Next, play the shot you’d have to play next if you were on the course.  Repeat this all the way through an imaginary 18 holes.

Or, challenge yourself to hit very specific shots to very specific targets.  Pick up a 7-iron and hit a high fade, followed by a low hook, followed by a punch, followed by – you get the point.  Do the same with your driver.  Select random clubs and visualize and hit random shots.  This will help prepare your mind to switch gears on the course since each successive shot is normally very different from the previous one.

Putting it All Together

These are just a few examples of many that show how ineffective practice might harm your game.  In a way, these things are a little more dubious than many kinds of swing flaws, because you may not be having trouble making flush contact with the ball, but maybe you can’t seem to score or you wilt under pressure.

Nonetheless, failing to adopt – and practice with – a pre-shot routine can not only affect your mental game, but it could introduce technical flaws or simply a lack of consistency in address that randomly affects the outcome of shots.

It’s a similar trap with practicing like you play.  If, on the course, you face perfect 7-iron shots from tight, level lies, then you’re golden.  But, if you need to hit a half shot, knock-down, high draw, or controlled fade, are you prepared? If you play these shots on the range, and thoroughly mix up your practice sessions (except maybe when your plan is to work on something very specific), then you probably are. If you typically hit comfortable, vanilla 7-irons for an hour, then you’re probably not ready for the challenges of the course.