Breakthrough

It's the end of the golf season and I am happy to report that I am playing the best golf of my life. I am -5 for my last four rounds, shooting 69, 71, 71 and 68 most recently. I also have a day job that doesn't permit nearly enough time off to justify these scores.

I last shot 68 earlier this year (blogged about it here) - which included a double bogey. Bogeys are blemishes, but double bogeys, as my friend Charles put it, are "moral mistakes" indicating a major flub (or flubs) in preparation, concentration, execution, what have you.

Last Sunday I teed it up and had (at least from a scorecard perspective) a blemish free round: no bogeys. I hit every green. In all, I wound up with 16 pars, a birdie and an eagle for a (-3) 68. The 68 included 34 putts, which, any golfer will tell you, is a remarkable round from a ball striking perspective. The only real blemish was a missed 3 footer on the 2nd hole after an accurate "chip" PW from 105 in the light rough.

I took the miss in stride and began a progression of good swings that didn't stop all day long. Front nine: 9 greens hit, leading to 8 pars and a birdie. My birdie came on 9 where I stiffed my 8i from 155 to inside a foot. I always joke with the caddie that those are the birdie putts I'm comfortable with.

On the back nine, I continued swinging well and hitting accurate, though not quite "lights-out" approaches, and continued, as usual, rolling the putter with profound mediocrity. While not every putt goes in, at my level, putts should nearly always be started on the right line, with appropriate speed, leaving your green reading ability and rub of the green to determine a miss or make. Too many of my putts nestle within or close to gimmie range but never really had a chance to go in. This is unacceptable.

I was still -1 through 15, as I approached the 16th hole, the 480 yard par-5. I struck my drive solidly into the headwind and was left with 215, playing more like 235 to the front left, accessible pin position. Usually this is a full 3w, but both my general strategy which I'll describe below and lack of confidence in my 3w led to a non-standard choice: the 3/4 full driver off the deck. As it turned out, I hit the ball a tad thin, but resultingly unaffected by the wind, the ball settled to about 15 feet above the hole, a putt which I drilled in the center and parred out for the 68.

On strategy, too often I see golfers, good and even very good players having one shot in their bag: the 100% full shot. If the wind is up, swing harder. If the wind is down, take one less club. If the wind is from the corner, just aim at the edge of the green and let the wind bring it in. I know this isn't the best strategy. More exertion means more can go wrong. Hit the ball harder and you get more spin, and the wind affects the ball more. Swing imperfections are magnified when you swing your fullest, and hell, you might even get tired at the end of the day after all that hard swinging.

Over time, I've learned the distance of shots, whether drivers, irons, chips or bunker shots, depends primarily on the length of the backswing, assuming you're swinging through the ball with the same amount of force. Longer backswing means longer for the club to pick up pace on the way to smacking the ball. I've figured out that in grooving a 60-80% (depends on the day) backswing, and consistently taking one or two extra clubs, for me, leads to better shots. It feels like I'm just chipping around the golf course when it's working well for me. Of course, the weakness in this strategy is that the ball spins less and has a lower trajectory, so to the extent that a green is firm or has to be approached from a high strike, alternatives need to be considered. In any event, this strategy advantages me over most competitors, I believe. Although I'm not immune to ribbing when I'm hitting a 6i 160 and my 10 handicap playing competitor is nuking an 8i.

But its not just a way of getting around the golf course, from a physical standpoint. The mental aspect is as, if not more important, and I feel as though I've made important breakthroughs in this department as well. My job, which requires toughness and stamina (among other things), allows me to train these muscles on a daily basis, which I view as positively impacting my golf game.

So the question is this: after fulfilling my golf related goals this year, winning the club championship and shooting in the 60's 3 times (so far...my goal was two), what for next year? Well, I'm still thinking about it, but preliminarily:

-Shoot a 66
-Win the club championship again
-Get to the quarterfinals of the Westchester Amateur
-Become a great putter

These are lofty goals for a working stiff like me, but I am completely capable and ready to kill it next year. Stay tuned. Time for ski season!

Low Round

I finally had a breakthrough a few Saturdays ago when I teed it up with some friends at Metropolis. We teed off at 7:30AM (so much for my Friday night) and within the first 40 minutes I was off to a great start - 3 under par through 5 holes.

I birdied the par 5 first by hitting a great 235 yard cut from a downhill sidehill lie that performed perfectly and nestled at the back of the green, my first ever shot on the course with my new TaylorMade Rocketballz 13 degree 3 wood. I blew my putt by but made the eight foot come backer. I then parred 2 and 3 routinely and sunk a 25 footer on the par 3 fourth for birdie and made another after hitting a poor drive into the trees on 5 but somehow hit my recovery/approach to inside a foot to go 3 under through 5.

It still didn't feel like a typical day even though I 3 putted the 6th for bogey and made a poor double bogey on 8. I drove the ball a bit too far right and settled behind a tree having to hit a low 165 yard shot to avoid branches to reach the green. I hit a good shot towards the green but it took a few hops and went into a swale behind and below the green to a short pin. I poorly got down in 4 from there (first chip didn't quite reach the green) for the double bogey but recovered by almost acing the 9th and made another birdie leaving me -1 going into the back nine.

I continued swinging well on the back nine, propelled forward by a new confidence in putting from a recent putting lesson and two (just two) chapters of Dr. Bob Rotella's book Putting Out of Your Mind. I made five routine pars in a row, and again, almost aced the short 15th for a hole-in-one eagle and made an easy birdie. I chuckle as I remember I failed to birdie the easiest hole on the course, the 480 yard par 5 16th after a poor drive. I got that quasi-missed shot back on 17 after almost holing (really) my approach shot from about 100 yards on 17 and tapped in the easy birdie.

On 18, I knew just a routine par would lead to a 68 and my best score ever. 18 was modified in the offseason - joining the 5th and 18th teeboxes, realigning the hole by lengthening and straightening it. Trees left, through the fairway straight and the range right are all in play off the tee and I was pleased to put one of the best swings of the day on the see shot to leave myself about 160 to the green.

The pin was in the rare front right location, just over a bunker and on a ledge (I wouldn't quite call it a tier). I took an extra club for safety and bunted the 6 iron on the green and it rolled a few feet too far leaving me a challenging 30 foot putt up onto the ledge and then downhill from there. Having played Metropolis many hundreds of times, I had never faced this putt. No surprise, I blew it by 15 feet and almost off the green. I then had a tough uphill right to left breaker for my 68. 69 would still have been a memorable round, but a 3 putt on the last would feel on some level like a failure. Golf is about facing mental challenges and withstanding - a 69 with a three putt on the last, tying my best score ever would always feel weak. I stroked the putt true and it went right into the center of the hole with the perfect speed for the 68 and I may have executed a low-key fistpump.

All told, I hit 17 greens and had 31 putts. I only left 2 legitimate shots on the course - the 3 putt on 6 and the double bogey on 8 (I could have made a five). As I start playing tournaments again, I will be looking to channel what I felt this recent Saturday at Metropolis.