Looking Forward To...

It's Spring 2014.  My last 50 or so weeks as a 20-something.  This year I am looking forward to:

Golf: tournaments, club championships, personal bests, becoming a better putter and a better teacher, playing my best under pressure

Tennis: continuing to improve, winning points at net, increasing first serve percentage, beating my brother Rick (maybe?)

Body and Mind: cross-fit and yoga, working toward my mid-term goal of L-sit to handstand push-up = 1 rep (good luck, right!), flexibility, clarity of mind, eating and living healthfully.

As someone I knew stated brilliantly:  '2014, I have faith in you.'

2014, I have faith in you.

Next Year...

I lost in the first round of the club championship this year, disappointingly. Without going into too much detail, the round went like this: I lost each of the first holes to birdies and won the third. Then I lost the 4th to a bogey by missing a very short putt. My opponent and I tied the 5th and 6th holes with bogeys and the 7th, 8th and 9th with pars. That left me 2 down through 9. On the back nine, my opponent and I tied the 10th and 11th with bogeys, and I lost the 12th badly. That left me 3 down with 6 to play.

I began to play a bit better, winning the 13th and 14th holes. My birdie putt on 15 lipped out and my opponent made a great putt on 16 to tie. At that point, I was one down with two to play. I birdied the 17th hole and walked to the 18th all tied up, the first time the match had been tied since the 1st teebox. On 18, I hit a great drive while my opponent hit his into the left rough. Hitting first, I hit my 4i onto the green about 30 feet away. My opponent stiffed his approach shot to about 4 feet and sunk his putt in front of a large gallery, while I missed. Game over, thanks for playing.

I learned a good lesson this time around. Recreational golf, even while playing a match for $20 or even $200, is very different than playing a tournament, even a small club tournament. The fairways seem narrower, the trees more burdening, the greens slicker. It made no difference that I was playing the best golf of my life in the weeks approaching the club championship. I wasn't prepared, this time, for playing under the pressure and expectations that I faced.

After losing this year, I've now won the club championship 6 of the past 9 years. The three times I've lost, I lost in the first round as the defending champion. The psychology behind these matchups is key. As the defending champion playing the individual who qualified in last place (shooting 84 or so), the pressure's squarely on me while my opponent, probably just happy to have made it in the tournament, enjoys all upside with low expectations to win. I will have to do some thinking at how to attack this situation, but won't have a chance to face it again until 2015, assuming I have it in me to win next year.

As I wrote in my first post this year, "playing poorly affords me valuable perspective." It's true. It's frustrating but enduringly instructive going out on the golf course, expecting greatness and producing turds. It helps me realize just how lucky I am to even have the opportunity to pick up a club and play, to walk the course and compete. It may be a bit premature to say (as its about 82 and sunny outside currently), but I'm looking forward to ski season!

Who's with me?

July 2013

I had a mini breakthrough and a simultaneous setback yesterday, playing 36 holes at Metropolis Country Club. I shot 70 (-1) in a morning game, bogeying the 18th hole to just miss shooting 69. I went back out there in the afternoon with my friend Dan and had a nearly remarkable round. I found myself with a straightforward 20 foot putt to shoot a (-5) 66. This would have been the finest round of my life and one of the best rounds played at Metropolis, the course record being 65 in a tournament and 64 more recently in a weekend game. Unfortunately, I hit two poor putts, including a complete bonehead miss of a 2.5 foot par putt. Making that putt would have secured a 67, and a new record for me. Instead, I "settled" for the 68. Still, my best 36 hole performance to date, and I seem to be hitting my stride just in time for the club championship which begins this Sunday...

Back from Scotland

I shot 68 (-3) last Saturday, tying my all-time best. This after I almost missed my teetime by getting stuck in a 7AM traffic jam, only having time to hit 3 practice putts before my group was on the tee. The 68, strangely, felt like the highest I could have scored: I missed five putts of five feet or less. I hit solid drives and sharp approaches (11 birdie opportunities under 15 feet) and I stayed away from trouble by hitting the right clubs and sticking to routine. I made some, but not all, my putts.

I now know exactly what it takes to go out and shoot in the low 60's, but I know enough that I could just as easily go out next time and shoot 81. I hit 17 greens and the one I missed on #2, I nearly holed out a tough bunker shot. I missed a 5 foot birdie putt on the par 3 4th, and another on the 8th which turned into a three putt. But then I birdied 10 and 12, two of the hardest holes on the course and the two easiest 15th and 16th, just missing a 4 foot eagle putt on 16. I then missed two more very short putts on 17 and 18, leaving me stunned but still pleased with the round. I could have really gone low.

I returned from a golf trip to Scotland a few weeks ago with friends and played some of the historic/best/storied golf courses in the world. In a week, we played St. Andrews The Old Course, St. Andrews Castle Course, Kingsbarns twice, Carnoustie, Troon, Prestwick and Turnberry. Golf is much, much harder in Scotland. Part of it is the weather conditions, where 30 mph winds and driving rain describe some of the nicer days; part of it is the difference in turf, where the ball just does not sit up nicely on Scottish fairways as it does in calm Westchester or Long Island courses; some of it is the fescue which can swallow balls hit even slightly offline. Whatever it is, it's same game, but golf in Scotland is more complex and requires more creativity than stateside golf.

During the back nine at Carnoustie (the site of Jean Van de Velde's epic meltdown at the 1999 British Open), on a 460 yard par 4, downwind, I hit a Driver and 9-iron on the green but well past the pin, approximately 480 yards. On the 17th hole, playing into the wind, I was unable to reach the green with two of my best drivers on a 380 yard par 4. Forgetting about how a 30+ mph wind makes your swing unstable, you need creativity and trust to hit a 5 iron 130 yards into the wind or a 9 iron 175 yards downwind. Small mistakes are magnified and many of the best shots are not rewarded.

(Carnoustie 18th)

I went from playing unfamiliar courses in tough conditions back to where I've played hundreds of times in near perfect conditions. We will see if I can continue this momentum into the club championship starting in just two and a half weeks.

Turnberry

Turnberry

Troon

St. Andrews Castle

The Road Hole

Well Hi There 2013

I've shaken off the snow, blown away the dust, bought a new pair of shoes and of course a new driver. It is time for golf season.

I ended the season last year playing the best I've ever played. The first two rounds this year, though, I've struggled to an 84 and an 83. Not the golf I'm used to playing, and nearly a stroke a hole worse than the back end of last season. This level of play leaves me with mixed emotions. I dislike playing poorly. A lot.

Yet playing poorly affords me valuable perspective, and after I finish gritting my teeth, cursing under my breath and looking to the sky and asking "why????" I feel strangely gratified. Yucking it up around the course (two grounders on Saturday, one of which was a near w..wh...whiff) makes me realize just how difficult golf is. You can't figure it out. You can only appreciate the game when it's going your away, and respect it when it's not.

Golf's best moments are fleeting, and play out in moments, not minutes. So even as I struggled, missing short putts (back to back at least once), slicing drives and skulling chips, I approached a 35 yard pitch on the 11th, over a bunker to short pin, opened the face of my 62°, put a smooth swing on the back of the ball and knocked it right in the hole. No words were necessary, just a shrug, high fives from my playing partner and caddie, and onwards. I continued to struggle for the rest of the round.

I don't know what this golf season will bring, but will appreciate the ups and downs even as I struggle or perform.

DS

May 6 EDIT: Speaking of golf's best but fleeting moments, last Thursday, I hit the second best shot of my life. The 18th at Meadow Brook Club is a difficult par-4 dogleg to the right that goes steeply uphill to a diffcult and severely back to front sloping green. After a good drive that left me on the edge of the rough with 130 yards, I "chipped" an 8 iron in the hole for eagle! While the pitch I mentioned above might be a 1 in 200 shot, the shot last Thursday is probably more like a 1 in 5,000. Before last Thursday, I'd never holed out to finish the round. Sadly (on a relative basis) this time, I didn't see the ball go in; instead, I saw it seem to stop about 25 feet past the hole, and missed the ball trickling back off of the slope and into its home.

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.