Lessons from Nationals

Placed T-3 in my flight at the GCAT Nationals. My goal was top 10, so I achieved that goal, although I truly believe I could have won it if I had been able to get comfortable with my swing. It wasn't until the last day that I started to feel comfortable and could hit the ball where I wanted. My putting wasn't too great the last two days either, so I definitely left some strokes there too.

Anyway I wanted to document what I learned from playing in the four day event, especially while it's fresh in my head.

1. Clear the mind. I think part of my problem the first 3 days was that I was having trouble clearing my mind of distractions and focusing on the moment. I'd be standing over the ball for many shots or putts and have what I consider a scrambled mind - I wouldn't be thinking about any one thing in particular, but I was thinking about 10 things at once. The last day when I scored very well I was able to focus on what I was doing at that moment and only that one thing.
2. Think through the situation of every shot. Know the lie, know the risk/reward, know the shot shape you need to hit, know what the green is really doing, know the weather. For the most part I executed very well through the week - I got in trouble typically because I didn't consider one aspect of the situation I was in. The best example is an 84 yard pitch shot I had with a downhill lie on the 15th hole of the last day. I focused on the swing I needed to make and forgot about the downhill lie I needed to compensate for - the result was a chunk on a relatively easy pitch. That led to an awkward 40 yd pitch to a small green, a bunker shot, and 2 putts for double bogey. That double bogey was the difference between sole 2nd and T-3.
3. Light putter grip. I caught myself with a tight putter grip numerous times throughout the week. That may be one of the reasons I struggled with my putting so much, including missing many short birdie putts.
4. Short game (chipping and pitching) can make or break your round. Everyone "knows" this, but I lived it. At TPC Sawgrass Stadium I spent most of my 2nd shots on par 4's and 5's punching out of trees (or worse) and back into the fairway, meaning I had to try to get close to the pin on the green and make my putt to save par. Most of the time I was able to save par, and that saved my round. Also if I didn't get on the green in regulation, most of the time I was able to get up and down.
5. Golf is not a game of perfect. That's actually a book title, but it's so true. As mentioned in #4, "most of the time" I was able to be successful in recovering from bad situations. You have to accept that bad situations are going to happen, and then you have to accept that you aren't always (100% of the time) going to execute the way you intend. But the idea has to be to put yourself into a position where you have a chance. In fact, all week that's how I would make decisions - "what is going to get me into a position to have a better chance for the next shot or to score?"
6. High probability choices. Since golf is not a game of perfect, you have to play a game of probability. You may have also heard this as "play your game" or "stay within yourself". Really what that means is you have to make decisions and pick shots that give you the best chance at being successful for the next shot (or score). And this may vary from day to day depending on how well you're swinging or putting. I know I had a slightly different swing each of the four days of the tournament, with some clubs working better for me than others, and I made decisions according to the state of my game at that moment. Targeting pins is not always the smart thing to do. Play your tendencies - if you're having a tendency to pull or hook the ball left that day, then don't aim right at a pin tucked on the left side of the green - go middle and if it hooks you're in better shape, while if it doesn't you're safe. If hitting a Driver meant that water or bunkers (or both) come into play while hitting a 5 wood meant I got another 30 yards of fairway to play with even though it put me back 40 yards, I went 5 wood. That extra 40 yards might be the difference between a GW approach and a 7-iron approach, but it also meant I took away the opportunity for the Big Number, which leads me to...
7. Stay away from the Big Number. I know a number of guys who took a big number on just one hole the entire tournament, but that one hole kept them out of contention. By Big Number I mean worse than double bogey - not that double bogey is all that great either, but in this particular tournament's situation with the windy conditions and course setups it wasn't a number that was going to destroy your chances at contending. However, taking a 10 on a par 4 or a par 3 certainly digs a deeper hole to climb out of.  Now generally speaking I try to limit my mistakes to no worse than bogey. I've reached a point where I hate bogeys, but I know they're going to happen. I really hate double bogeys, but for this particular tournament I knew that they would likely happen too just with the environment we were playing in. The trick was to keep things from getting out of control and to minimize the number of double bogeys that would happen. As I get better I'm sure that mentality will shift into minimizing bogeys, regardless of the environment conditions I'm playing in (it IS my mentality for weekend rounds).
8. Shot shaping is crucial (and fun). Fades, draws, high shots, lows, punches, traps, etc. All important to know how to do. The wind this week was brutal. 20-25 mph sustained winds, and a lot of people suffered because they didn't adjust. Hitting a cut into a right-left wind can help keep the ball straighter, just like hitting a draw into a left-right wind. Keeping it under the tree line is useful to minimize the affect of wind. Trapping the ball when you want to spin it back off a slope and have it suck down to the pin is a helpful skill to have (did this to 2 feet on Stadium #18). Plus, it's fun to execute these shots, and when you know you can't perfectly control the ball when you're trying to put some kind of spin or height to the shot it takes some of the pressure of executing a perfectly straight shot out of the equation. "I tried to cut the ball to that right pin location and it didn't cut? So I'm in the center of the green, no problem" or "I tried to cut the ball to that right pin location and it landed 2 feet from the flag. That was fun to watch." When I practice I mess around with shot shaping all the time - it's fun, and as I've found in tournaments, very useful. I did realize I need to learn how to hit a low Driver/3w. That's one area that did hurt me a bit.

Wet Week and a Test

It was a wet week in the afternoons around here, so I didn't get to practice at all this week since getting back from the tournament. I did play 6 holes on Wednesday evening until the lightning made me too nervous to play anymore. I stop enjoying golf or having a club in my hand when lightning is around.

With rain hitting again Thursday I got the mirror out and setup the webcam with the V1 software in my living room to get some looks at my swing. I spent about 30 minutes doing some dry swings and working various feels, checking those feels against the video to see how well I was on or off plane, what my body was doing, etc.

Turns out I've been moving my head too much during the downswing. I had the same sort of problem with hitting when I played baseball, although I learned to control it with pitching. Anyway, my head has basically been moving down to the ball and left, or down the line toward my target. The end result is that I don't get a proper hip bump, the club goes outside the line from my shoulders starting their turn too soon, and the clubface closes too early.

I had an opportunity to work on that today, actually, and I love how my swing feels and the ball flight I get when I keep my head from moving all around. I went up to TPC Sawgrass to play the Stadium course today. I played decent (+6), considering my forecaddie made a few mistakes on yardages that led to a few big numbers. I also played much more aggressive than I typically would (hitting Driver when I'd normally hit 3-wood, for instance), which led to me getting in trouble I would normally avoid and further inflated the score. Putting was awesome. Didn't miss a putt within 6' and made a few in the 8'-20' range for birdie. Again, the visualization stuff I've started to do is making a huge difference. Perhaps I need to start taking that to the full swing.

I also wish I could play the course longer, say where the Tour guys play. Playing from the blue tees was too short for me. Granted, it's my fault - I should have played the 3 or 5 wood more often. My distance is getting stupid long for an amateur that's only been playing a few years, and getting in unnecessary trouble with the driver is starting to be a recurring theme if I play tees less than 7000 yards. That's a recent thing for me, so I'll adjust.

Probably the best moment was the eagle on the par 5 11th. I had a monster drive, albeit on the right side of the fairway, which left about 235 to the flag in the front of the green. The wind was helping and left to right, so we decided to play to 220. Worst case if I came up short I'd have a decent bunker shot, but I wouldn't go long and be in more trouble. Well, I took my 4-iron out, focused on doing nothing but treating my head and spine as an axis around which I turn, and the ball took off with a high trajectory and a maybe 5 yard draw. The ball landed just on the green and trickled up to about 8 feet away from the pin. I made the putt to sink my 4th ever eagle.

I enjoy playing the Stadium course. It's such a great test. You get punished for every mistake, and while it's possible to recover, doing so requires a lot of focus and good decisions.

This weekend I'll play a bit and practice. I need to get some reps with the no-head-movement feel, and I'd like to put in some good time with bunkers. They kind of killed me today at Stadium (and last weekend at the tournament), and I haven't felt comfortable in a greenside bunker in weeks.