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.

Addressing the Setup

I took the last two days off golf and spent the time instead relaxing, working out, stretching, and the occasional slow motion swing to keep the feel I've had lately.

The thing that really hurt me this past weekend was my shots off the tee. A pull/hook started to develop in my swing in the week or two prior to the tournament, and with the rain and all I never had a chance to try to work it out on the range. In retrospect, I should have spent time thinking about my setup and double checking everything there. Something didn't feel right about how I was swinging with my driver and occasionally my 3-wood or 5-wood, and in the end it cost me quite a few strokes in the tournament - at least 6 strokes from hazards or OB alone, which would have easily put me ahead of the pack.

So in the last two days I've re-read some material on the golf swing, doing some mirror work, and put some thought into my feels, leading me to ultimately consider how I've been setting up. I know that a big contributing factor to the pulls/hooks has been that I haven't been able to get my weight shifted to my left side prior to starting the downswing. This is leading to one of two things - I either completely spin out, come over the top, and get a straight pull - or I end up dragging my legs through during the downswing, letting my arms get behind my body, and end up basically slinging everything through the ball, leading to the hooks.

This is a persistent tendency of mine and a habit I've been trying to break for a while now. After doing my research and thinking about it, I'm pretty sure the problem starts at my setup before I even start my swing. I'll find out today when I go play, but from looking in the mirror I may not be getting enough axis tilt at address with my spine where the upper spine and lower spine are setup in a straight line, my left hip is setup slightly higher than my right, ultimately setup in what's called the reverse-K.

The reverse-K makes it extremely easy for me to turn and weight shift, both of which I struggled with this past weekend. Most of my swings during the tournament felt rigid and out of place - I never really felt good and easy swings out there. So today I'm going to make sure I have the proper setup before hitting my shots. I likely just got away from this the last few weeks as I started to think more about target practice than mechanical practice, which is fine, but now that the tournaments are ramping down for a bit I can focus a little more on my mechanics. Sooner or later it will just become habit, and I won't have to think about it as much.

We'll see how it goes today. I expect to feel a little off anyway just because I've had two days of nothingness, but if I see better results with the longer clubs then I'll know I'm on the right track.

Good Weekend - T2

I placed T2 at the event at PGA National this past weekend. I was in the running to win all the way through but came up a little short. It was a great learning experience to be in the position where a good round could win the tournament. It's interesting how your perspective changes in that position where you know every shot counts and determines whether you win or not.

At times I had to make 10' putts to save par, and knowing the situation I was in I knew I had to come through (and did). Other times it was a 3' putt, but I was just as aware of the situation and treated those 3-footers no different than the ten-footers.

Probably the biggest situation and one that I'm particularly proud of was a really bad tee shot that was headed out-of-bounds. Amazingly the ball hit a tree and ricocheted off some branches and bounced back out into the fairway, which left 200 yards to the pin on an elevated, small green.

While assessing the shot and making my decisions I recognized the importance of that moment. We were on the 3rd to last hole, and a bogey at this point would hurt any chance I might have to win or place top 3 in the tournament. While walking towards the ball to get into my setup I even said to myself, "This shot is going to determine where you finish, so you have to execute."

The lie was slightly downhill and slightly ball above my feet. The wind was blowing hard left-to-right and slightly hurting. I trusted my swing and let it rip.. the ball took off in a piercing ball flight, landed on the front of the green and bounced hard right and into the rough just off the green, stopping about a foot short of a bunker. I'll take it. I chipped up to 4'. At that point I knew I was going to make the putt. There was no other option.

It was a great experience to go through moments like that, and I had quite a few of them. I can't say I always came through, but as each moment of adversity came I continued to dig deep and do everything in my ability to win the moment.

To top it off, I've now achieved both of my golf goals for the year. The first goal was to win a single day tournament, and I did that in February. The second goal was to place top 3 in a "major", or a 2 day event, and I did that this past weekend. Time for some new goals!

3rd Tournament Win

Well, I won the tournament at the Ocean Hammock Conservatory course, shooting a 76 (+4). As my third win of the year that should qualify me for the GCAT National Championship, but I'll find out for sure. I didn't play my best, but it was good enough. The score definitely could have been better, but I took some unnecessary risks and paid for them.

Mentally I also got ahead of myself. After 9 holes I was even par and started thinking about how I was in contention. I noticed that I started to play more afraid. Not so much in course management because I was still playing aggressive targets, but I started to get tentative in my swing. Generally this happens when I'm trying to control every shot to make it perfect - unfortunately golf is not a game of perfect.

A lesson from today is that when I'm in contention I remember to stay aggressive. When those feelings of excitement and adrenaline kick in I need to use them to make even better shots. Swing hard, swing free and see what happens.

That tentativeness even got me on the greens on the last few holes. I had birdie putts I should have made and I had a few par putts get away from me.

On the positive side I was able to win and shoot well without having my best stuff. The pulls and hooks were back again today - right off the first tee in fact, but rather than fight them I started to just go with them and recognize that I was going to pull or hook the ball most of the time. It worked out well - if I didn't and the ball went straight than I was on the right side of the fairway or green. If it did the pull or hook, then I was close to my target.

Some quick stats on the round:

• Fairways - 4 of 14 (29%) - that's pretty low, but it's reflective of my struggles off the tee with the pulls/hooks. Plus it was windy and wind is not friendly to side spin.
• Greens in Regulation - 11/18 (61%) - not bad, but lower than I'd like. Even so, that means my short game and putting kept me in contention, which is a great sign given my recent struggles in that department.
• 3-putts - 3 - too many. That's 3 strokes I gave away. Looking back I also know that those 3 strokes were more mental than anything. I don't think I was in the right frame of mind when I made/missed those putts.
• Total putts - 34. Way too many. Ideally I'd like to get that to around 28, although my ball striking being off today didn't really help this stat.

Despite my critical nature of my 3rd win today, I'm happy about how I kept my head in the game and never let a bad hole blow up into a big score. I had nothing worse than a bogey and did everything I could to keep it that way. In fact, on the last hole (a par 5) I hit my drive in the water off the tee (bad idea to use driver), hit my third shot to the right of the green, chipped it up to about 15' from the hole for my 4th shot, and ended up making the 15' left-to-right 3' break, downhill putt to save par. I wasn't about to give in.

And even though my game wasn't great, most of my bogeys were because I took unnecessary risks. I got too aggressive on those holes and paid for it. But that's okay. I get better from those failures. For instance, you won't find me going for greens on par 5's with hard right-to-left wind and with water on the left of the green on days I'm hitting hard hooks again!

Tomorrow's another golf day - playing with the members in the morning and probably another round in the afternoon. Yeah, I'm playing a ton of golf right now.

Maybe later I'll update the post with a picture of the scorecard and my shot-by-shot recap.