Author: vet4golfing51

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The Goofy Game of Golf Searching for the Answer

The blog is coming from San Diego, and its been a busy trip with the grandkids and Halloween. Today I thought I would go through the things I tried this year to find an answer to the mental game. There were many things I did on a short term basis with little  success but there were two things that I did for about three weeks each that made me think that I might be on to something.

The first thing was what I called the “philosophy of golf”. This philosophy was to never feel that you are hitting the ball. You should think of putting the ball in motion with a smooth  controlled swing. This should be applied to all parts of the game including the short game, and putting. In the beginning this seemed to work very well. However, all I really proved was that Bob Jones was right, that you could swing too easy at the ball which causes as much problem as swinging too hard at the ball. It was a case of over control.

Next I abandoned my shoulder swing. What triggered this was my play in the South Park Senior Championship. I made a comment in the blog about fighting my swing during the round. You will hear players at every level talk about fighting their swings. So I thought why would you want to fight your swing.  I called this mental madness in the blog. What I tried to do was to swing as naturally as I could. This resulted in a swing that had a less than a 90 degree shoulder turn, somewhat flat, and very handsy, with a pretty big wrist cock. Well, the results very good, bordering on great. I did this for about 2 rounds with some pretty decent scores. Then I had an unbelievable ball striking day at Indian Run for about 15 holes. On about 12 holes not only did I hit the green but I was never more than 15 feet from the hole. I did not make many putts and I was one over par after 15 holes. Then on the last 3 holes I just started hitting it badly but managed to scramble for pars. For the next 2 rounds the ball striking was just horrible. Back to the shoulder swing I went.

Other short term failures: Not reacting to the results of the shot. Trying to play all shots the same, ie hitting every shot from right to left. Trying to stay relaxed.

On another subject matter, I think I can explain the phenomenon of the good round at the  beginning of the season or after a long lay off. We have all had this experience where early in the season or after a long lay off we shoot a really good round of one or two over par. One of the explanations for such a good round is we go into the round with very little expectations, so we are better mentally prepared for bad shots so they don’t have a negative affect on our game. I agree with this as far as it goes. On the physical side of the game our golf muscles are not quite up to peak performance at the start of the season or after a lay off. On the backswing our left side is stretched as we get to the top of the swing. In the beginning of the season this is going to be naturally shorter. So some of our short backswings from anxiety are really not that short and the resulting shots turn out to be pretty well. But as the season progresses those muscles become more stretched so our backswings become longer and that short quick backswing now results in some wayward shots. So as I said before I think the game is 50/50, mental and physical. Back in Pittsburgh next week and the weather is looking more than playable, so see you on the links.

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The Goofy Game of Golf Searching for the Answer

The blog is a day late because of a very busy weekend with dinner on Sunday night. This week I continued to play better despite less than ideal playing conditions. On Wednesday with 40 degree temperatures under a light mist and wind most of the day I shot 75 at Scenic Valley. On Thursday with about the same temps and a brief sleet storm that lasted a half a hole I shot 77 at Village Green. Yesterday at Scenic Valley with a little better conditions I had a real erratic day but managed to shoot 78.  I have a little 70’s streak going right now. Now it’s time to get serious. This has been the year to try and find the key to mental success in this game. While I have not been  successful in this endeavor, and it has caused by handicap to go from 3.1 to about 4.7, I feel that I have come to some important conclusions and have had a very productive learning experience. First lets get to some definitions.

The Physical Game: I define this as the way you grip the club, address the ball, and swing the club. The same thing can be said for putting. Its the way you grip the putter, address the ball, and stroke the putt.

The Mental Game: I define this as the way you plan your shots and what you are thinking when you make a swing or stroke a putt. It also includes the way you react to the results of each shot.

So the first question is, How much is this game physical, and how much is it mental. If you read instruction articles, one of the most common numbers put out there is, it is 90% mental and 10% physical. I do not agree. As far as I am concerned it is a 50-50 split. So lets look at the two sides.

1. Lets say you have a great mental game. Everytime you step on the tee you are focused on the middle of the fairway and are able block out the hazards right and left. You have complete confidence on the read of the green and think you are going to make every putt. But if your grip sucks, your alignment is wrong and you swing like a basball player, your going to put the ball all over the lot.

2. On the other side of the coin, your physical game is textbook. But if everytime you step up to the tee your thinking about trouble or doubting something, you are going to hit it  all over the lot, also.

A golfer in order to play to the best of his ability, must perfect the mind-body connection. The mind can not take over the body and body can not take over the mind. They must work together in unison. Obviously I have not perfected this, or the blog would have a different name. I will discuss in future blogs other reasons I think this is a 50-50 spit. The above 2 examples are extreme but you get the point.

In the coming weeks I am going to write about what I call the A’s of the mental game. The A’s are: Acceptance and  Awareness  Or what I call the good A’s    Anger and Anxiety or the bad A’s.  How you do with the first four A’s will affect the last A of the mental game Adjustment.

I will be heading for San Diego to spend Halloween with the grandkids, so there will be no rounds of golf this week. But there will be plenty to write about in the coming weeks.

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The Goofy Game of Golf Searching for the Answer

This week the weather was not very co-operative and was able to get only 3 rounds in. The scores were a little better this week with a 76 and 78 at Scenic Valley and a 79 at South Park in some really tough conditions with some pretty good wind and a mist with temperatures barely in the 50’s. As I look back on this season so far and it is winding down, I look at the one big mistake I made this year. Playing Golf. I should have gone back to bowling. I think I am going to try to live the life of the Big Lebowski. Bowling is much better than golf. First of all there is no waiting. You get a lane and go at it. There is no rain. The season is 365 days. When I was bowling I refused to bowl on February 29th. The crashing and the noise of the pins beats anything golf has to offer. You are always close to a beer. Just like golf courses no two lanes are alike. The only thing you have to decide in bowling is whether you have to take a 4 or 5 step approach. Bowling balls are too heavy to throw so you never have to worry about hurting anyone with a thrown club. You never have to clean bowling shoes. You can be perfect in bowling, the 300 game. Your are never going to shoot 18 in golf, even at the minature golf level. So with that,The The Goofy Game of Golf Searching for the Answer is coming to a close because the answer can not be found. I am going to start a new blog: The Beautiful Game of Bowling Where You Can Belch Anytime. I can’t wait to get my first strike.

 

 

 

 

 

GOTCHA SEE YOU ON THE LINKS ALTHOUGH THE WEATHER IS LOOKING EVEN WORSE THIS WEEK. THE SEARCH WILL NEVER END UNTIL THE ANSWER IS FOUND.   WHOOPIE

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The Goofy Game of Golf Searching for the Answer

The blog is a day early because I’m in Columbus, Ohio attending a veterinary conference. I just got back from 7 hours of lectures on dogs and cats skin problems. Whew! I will be getting home late tomorrow so I thought I would do the blog now, although I have this overwhelming desire to go to the bar. My play this week could also drive a man to drink. On Wednesday I played St. Clair which is a difficult track and I did manage to shoot an 80. I drove the ball pretty well and putted well but the iron game was a little off which led to some tough positions. On Thursday I went to my normal stomping grounds, Indian Run feeling pretty good but my iron game got worse and one horrific drive led to a double bogey and I shot 81. Even though the scores were not the greatest I worked more on getting my swing back and did some more things on the physical side, putting and chipping which seemed to help. I put the mental game on the back burner this week. Next week I should be able to get 3 to 4 rounds in. One of the mysteries of this game, which there are many, is why do swing thoughts or keys only work for so long. Bobby Jones wrote about this in the 1930’s. Golfers have always accepted this phenomenon as part of the normal ups and downs of the game. I think unlocking this mystery is one of the keys to the game. I don’t think I’ll be coming up with that answer any time soon. Well the bar is calling, and I am answering. See you next week.

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The Goofy Game of Golf Searching for the Answer

Even though this is a golf blog the Burgh is buzzing over the Pirates taking a 2 games to one lead over the St Louis Cardinals, in the best of five series. Tomorrow is game 4 here in Pittsburgh and hopefully the Pirates can win it and take the series to get into the NLCS. Its been a long wait after 20 consecutive losing seasons but we are on a roll baby.  BEAT EM BUCS AND THE BUCS ARE GOING ALL THE WAY, ALL THE WAY.  I just aged myself terribly with that last line taken from the famous 1960 season, when Bill Mazeroski hit the greatest home run in World Series history, to beat the Yankees and win the series in the bottom of the ninth. Well I guess I have to talk about golf now. The week wasn’t too bad until today. I shot 78 at Village Green and a 76 at Indian Run to break the 6 round streak of 80 and above. On Thursday I started to get a little cold. You would have thought I had contracted the Bubonic Plague the way I played today. In the first 13 holes I had 9, yes count them 9 double bogeys and not one was caused by a penalty stroke. This on my way to a 94. The second time this year I failed to break 90. Now if someone had bet me that I would not break 90 this year twice, let alone once, I would be a pauper today. The funny thing was I felt better as the day wore on. It was a gorgeous day too, in the 80’s with lots of sunshine. The game is definitely goofy. Next week will be a short golf week, thank God, as I have to attend a veterinary meeting in Columbus next weekend. I will be playing only 2 rounds of golf. Trying to come up with some mental key or process this year has taken a bit of a toll on my game. I have got to staighten out some physical flaws that have cropped up, and kind of get my swing back. Its supposed to rain tomorrow but the rest of the week looks good so I should get the 2 rounds in. Lets hope something inspires me this week and the Pirates are in the next round.

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The Goofy Game Golf of Searching for the Answer

An unexpected new course was added this week, as I was able to get in 5 rounds. We went back to Blackhawk in Beaver Falls, Pa. about a 45 minute drive. This is the course that has 36 holes and each nine is named 1 2 3 and 4. This is where we finished the front nine in one hour and twenty seven minutes and they told us we would have to speed up. I thought I would never go back but my friend Andy suggested we play there and this time the 36 holes worked out and we played nines 1 through 4. I have to admit I really liked playing the 2 courses and the greens were in great shape running a nice 7 on the stimp and were very smooth. This course features a lot of short par 4’s but has some nice par 3’s and a couple of really long par 5’s. Course 1 and 2 played 6100 yds. and course 3 and 4 played 6300 yds. They both played to a par of 72. Neither one of us played very well as I shot two 81’s and Andy shot 81 and 83. I had already had a hot dog there and really didn’t feel like having another one. Now let me take a deep breath as I write these numbers down, 81, 81, 80, 80, and one final 80. The definition of consistently lousy. I am through with mental madness and have replaced it with I don’t give a shit. This winter I will go through some of these mental experiments but lets just say for now they have failed miserably. It’s back to drawing board and another beautiful week ahead. At least we got course number 92 in and the search will continue, at least for now.

 

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The Goofy Game of Golf Searching for the Answer

Another rain shortened week, as it rained pretty much all day on Saturday. The three rounds I played were as up and down as the weather, with scores of 81, 73 and 84 today. Putting has been the big problem but ball striking today was not exactly superb. Since my game is in a state of limbo, I thought I would write about a subject that is strictly mental and certainly has nothing to do with swinging a golf club and that is green reading. Now I have read all the books and watched a lot of instruction on TV, concerning reading greens but it still can be one of the most mystifying and frustrating parts of golf. I can deal with over reading or under reading the break of a putt, but when I think a putt is going to break 3 inches to the left and it breaks right then that can really leave me bewildered and deflated. Now even though we see on TV, that the tour pros can misread a putt, one thing that they do, is they spend a lot more time than we can in actually reading the putt. They look from behind the hole, to the side, and from behind the ball. In fact, despite what you read about getting on the side below the hole to get a feel for the distance of the putt, the pros do a 360 around the line of the putt almost every time. If we took that much time to read our putts then every round would be of the 5 and 1/2 hour variety.   Now I don’t know if it would even help, if we took that much time in reading our putts. Your never going to read in any instruction book to take that much time in reading putts, because of the slow play issue. Let’s face it, that is where the tour game really slows down, when it comes to reading putts. Are greens that diabolical or are we making something hard that may not be all that difficult. No matter what method you use to read greens, when you are finish, there are one of three things that are going to happen.

1. You know how this putt is going to break and you are right, make a confident stroke and the ball goes in.

2 You know how this putt is going to break and you are wrong, make a confident stroke and miss.

3. You are unsure how the putt is going to break and you have to do something, so you try to commit to a line, make a tentative stroke and most likely miss the putt.

Now you can do 2 and 3 for only so long and you will begin to lose confidence and your putting begins to fall apart. Right now I do not see a solution to this problem. I’m not saying there isn’t one. I just don’t see it for right now. Yes, I know all the green reading rhetoric. Start reading the green from 20 to 30 yards out, it breaks toward the water, it breaks away from the mountain, there is a high point on the golf course and everything breaks away from that, and the grain grows toward the setting sun. My favorite is the one about water being poured on the green and you visualize where it is going to puddle and flow. Doesn’t that make you want to visit golf courses when it is pouring rain and take pictures of all the greens that are covered with water. So, green reading is a problem that must be solved if one is going to play to his full potential. The mental madness was more like just madness this week. Another week awaits and the weather is looking better. Maybe I will take 5 minutes to read every putt. How to become the most popular golfer in your group in just one easy lesson.

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The Goofy Game of Golf Searching for the Answer

Because of weather problems only three rounds this week, but added a new course this week. On Wednesday we went to Mountaineer’s Woodview golf course, about 6 miles south of Weirton, West Virginia, a 50 minute drive. The golf course was very tight and relatively short with very small greens and no sandtraps. It was 62oo yards from the blue tees and played to a par of 72. The greens ran a 6 on the stimp and were very smooth. Even though the greens were small they had quite a bit of slope in them and were a challenge to putt. The fairways and rough were just fair and the course for lack of a better a term had some real ugly areas. I have to say, I liked the course but it was not worth the trip. The hot dog at ther turn was one of those big fat ones, which I don’t care for, but it was cooked well,and tasted pretty good. They did not have any onions which was a downer. This course was a lay up course with many short but tight par 4’s and par 5’s but yours truly wanted to have “fun” and took the driver out on every hole but one and paid the price. I could only muster an 83 on such a short track and David didn’t do any better shooting a an 86. But it was a gorgeous day and we did have a good time hitting many punch shots under trees. Course Management F. The rains came on Thursday but Friday was cool and sunny and I shot 78 from the blue tees at South Park and with the help of a 40 foot par putt shot 1 under on the last 5 holes. Today after a poor front nine, I managed to shoot even on the back, for a 77 at Ponderosa, a pretty tough track. I am doing what I call mental madness. The results so far while not great are far from discouraging. If I continue to make progress with mental madness, I will explain what all this nonsense is, I am talking about. In order to help the mental madness along, I am going to play golf courses this week that I not only know but really like, just to see how I do. This may finally answer the question how much is this game mental and how much is it physical. Ninety one courses down and nine to go.

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The Goofy Game of Golf Searching for the Answer

A very busy week with two new courses added, a tournament, and a good round today. On Wednesday we went to two new courses. We went to Bedford Trails in Coitsville, Ohio about a 70 minute drive.  I had never heard anything about this course but it turned out to be a pleasant surprise. The course was about 6300 yards from the blue tees and played to a par of 70. The course was nice and flat with some heavily tree lined fairways. We had to start on the back due to some on course maintainance, and the back nine was much narrower than the front nine. To start off on the back it was more of a challenge than coming into the turn when you know what kind of state your game is in. The greens were very smooth and ran about a 6.5 on the stimp. This course had a great variety of holes with some being pretty tough but none of them were unfair. The fairways were very good and the rough did have some bare spots but was not overly long.  This course was very enjoyable to play and was well worth the trip and very reasonbly priced. The hot dog at the turn was nothing special but was tasty.  We played pretty well with David shooting an 82 and I came in with a 75. Then we went back down the road into Pennsylvania to Tanglewood Golf course in Pulaski Pa. This course was about 6100 yards from the back tees and played to a par of 72. Although I liked this course and the price was right here too, it just wasn’t quite as nice as Bedford Trails. The greens ran a 5 on the stimp and fairways were not as good. The design of the course was good with a good variety of holes and some that were quite difficult. But it had what I call the typical fake par 5 of 425 yards which was tricked up so it would play as a 5. It was a shame, because this would have made a great par 4 with water down the left and close to the green. But all and all this course was fun to play with a nice  flow to the course. Just to do something different, I got a chile dog at the turn which was quite good. Even though I thought this course was easier some of the holes were tough to play for the first time and both David and I scored a little worse. I shot an 80 with some erratic driving and David had an 85. Then on Thursday I played in the South Park Senior Championship and my day was a synopsis of my entire year. It was boring, some chip yips and a putter that was luke warm. I drove the ball pretty well, but my iron game was just so-so and wound up making only one birdie. I did not take advantage of the par 5’s just making 4 pars. Twice it took me 4 blows to get down from about 20 yards which led to a double bogey  and a bogey. Despite all that I managed to shoot 78 which put me 4th in my age group and about 18th in a field of 70. For some reason the scoring was not that good. There was a 3 under 69 and a 71 but no one else in the field broke 74. There was some wind and few tough pins but I really don’t know why the scores were so high. Today we went to Buffalo Golf Course, which is one of my favorites and shot a nice solid 4 over 75. I did something today that was pretty drastic on the mental and physical side of the game that has been evolving. Again, this could be just dust in the wind but we will see. Overall this was one of the better weeks with the weather being just gorgeous and getting to courses 89 and 90. So the original goal has been met. I have played 90 golf courses within 90 minutes from my house. It has taken just a little over 3 years. When I started this I thought it might take a little over a year. Maybe I should I run for Congress Ha!  I am still going to try to make it an even 100 and will still try to find the answer. I think I have a better chance of getting to 100.

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The Goofy Game of Golf Searching for the Answer

Decided to do the holiday blog since I played 18 today. It was an interesting week with some hope on the horizon. Played 4 rounds this week beginning with a 73 at Indian Run, an 80 at Fort Cherry, a 77 at Rolling Hills Country club my old stomping grounds back in the late 80’s and early 90’s, and finished at Highland Springs with a 78. The funny round was at Fort Cherry. After giving my big disertation on club selection in my last blog, I had some real issues with club selection at Fort Cherry. I hit short irons, a PW, 9iron, and a 55 degree SW all long on holes 7, 8, and 10. This definitely got in my head later in the round which made for the 80 on a fairly easy golf course.   I think what the issue was, I was not playing attention to some swirling winds. My short game made a vast improvement this week. Putting was my best of the week. Even though this did not translate into any spectacular scoring it was nice to see the ball go into the hole a lot more. My chipping is improving also. I think I may be making some progress on the mental game. Only time will tell.   For the four rounds I had 29, 31, 27, and 31 putts. My GIR’s were not that great 11,6,6, and 7 but I am not too worried about that. My chipping and putting are impoving simply because of a new mental process and one that I am applying to the long game as well. I am dividing the mental game into three sections and each one is pretty critical to playing decent golf. This has only been one week of success, so we will see if this will be worth revealing or not. This week I will be playing in the South Park senior championship and we will see how some of this holds up under the heat. I am going to add two new courses this week as it looks like the weather is going to be very nice. The search continues with new vigor.