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.

Visualization

We've had a lot of rain the last few days as Tropical Storm Beryl passed through the area, so I wasn't sure if the practice facilities would be in decent shape or not. While still a little soggy, the course handled the rain well and was actually in great shape.

I only had about 1.5 to 2 hours to practice after work, so I decided to break it out into 30 minute chunks of short game and putting followed by time on the practice course.

At the chipping green I chipped around 100 balls of various lies, distances, and angles to the pin. For the first few balls I focused purely on mechanics to make sure I was using my shoulders properly and wasn't getting handsy with the chip. Lately I've started to put my hands a little lower at address - for several reasons I won't go into here - so I was also making sure I got that feel during my setup.

Once I found my mind wandering from repetition on mechanics, I switched to some up-and-down games. Basically I threw 9 balls down with random lies and locations, chipped 3 balls to each of the 3 pins on the green, and then had to make each of the 3 putts at the 3 pins. First time through I got 5 of 9. Second time through 7 of 9. Third time through 8 or 9.

While playing the up-and-down game I realized I could hit my spot on the green if I focused on the spot with my mind's eye while executing the chip. And when I say hit my spot I mean from about 20 feet I could hit a spot on the green in the air within a few inches of a spot the size of a quarter. I'm completely speculating, but I wonder if my years of playing baseball, particularly as a pitcher, has anything to do with my ability to consistently do the same sort of thing with a golf club. After thinking about it I decided it was worthwhile to practice this skill, much in the same way I would practice hitting spots as a pitcher in baseball.

For the rest of my time chipping I played a variety of shots with a focus on visualizing a spot on the green where I wanted the ball to land. I didn't think about anything during the chip except to have a picture of this spot in my head while my shoulders started to turn. I varied the landing spot depending on the lie, distance, and type of shot I was playing - lob versus rolling chip, for example. While execution wasn't perfect every time, it was both exciting and interesting to realize I had so much control over the golf club. I'll work on the same until my next competitive round with the hopes of carrying it there.

After chipping I moved to the putting green. My focus there was again on visualization of the ball going into the hole while executing the putting stroke. I tend to get too mechanical with my putting stroke, and that approach really hasn't been working for me lately, so the focus now is to free all thoughts once I get my read and address the ball. Overall, putting went pretty well.

For the last hour or so I went to the practice course where after hitting my tee and lay up shots on the par 5 I hit wedge shots into the green from 70-100 yards out. A setup change I made recently was to lower my hands slightly at the address position. I had recently discovered that during my backswing the clubhead was being sucked back inside the plane, and during my downswing I was re-routing the club at the top to bring it down on plane. After some experimentation I believe that move was at least partially due to my hands being too high at address, where it's easier to roll the wrists and forearms over. The net result is higher but straighter and more penetrating ball flight with less hook/draw and less deviation from the target due to wind. My miss is a big 20 yard push right. In fact, I feel like it's impossible to hook the ball right now - it's almost as if I have to do it on purpose.

Anyway, it was around the time I was hitting wedge shots that I realized I'm very confident in my swing now. I started working the 9 ball flights from that yardage - draw low/med/high, straight low/med/high, fade low/med/high. While not every shot was close to the pin, everything fell within 20-30 feet. I'll take it.

At this point time was running out so I moved on to the par 3 and par 4. I played the par 3 with two balls and shot par with both. The par 4 I played with one ball and also shot par. For both holes I had a tough chip that I executed well, again focusing on visualization of the ball landing on a spot on the green and rolling up to the pin. It was a great way to end the session.

One other thing to note is that I forgot to take my golf shoes so I was practicing in my Skechers that are sort of like sneakers. While not optimal, practicing in these shoes forced me to stay balanced through the shots. Out of all the swings I took I only slipped once - with my driver on the last par 4. Balance is something I've put a lot of focus into the last 6 months, and getting more balanced has drastically changed my swing, so I'm happy to see that I've passed the test of playing in wet grass while wearing sneakers.