Stanters
Trinket King
- Aug 13, 2006
- 1,096
- 1
So there I was, chugging along playing ok in the early part of the summer. I broke 80 and shot a few low 80s until 3 weeks ago...when it happened.
I play mainly stableford comps in a saturday morning group - shot 13 pts on the front 9, not great but not awful as the front is much tougher than the back. What is awful is just 7pts on the back. Not a good day.
Next time out I shot a mighty 7 points on the front....11 on the back and nothing was working. I had a lesson, which seemed to go ok and went back out. Another shocker, again nothing felt right and my confidence was totally shot.
Nice timing for the Club Championships.
I lasted 8 holes of the 36 scheduled. Par is 444 353 454 - I went 755 774 16,11 and home.
I couldn't hit a wedge let alone a 5 iron or a driver. I was absloutely shattered by it - it felt as if someone had put my brain in someone else's body. I was really wondering if I woul dever be able to play decently again; which may sound melodramatic but I really did.
Ok so a crisis (relatively speaking of course) so it's back to the Five Fundementals and concentrating on tempo. I checked the grip, the address/set up and went off to to the range where I promptly managed to hook a 9 iron 60 yards off target. Man, that was a real low.
Back to Hogan I went and practiced, practiced, practiced his drills. I also watched Manzella's youtube video on driving (courtesy of The Woat) and went out this morning.
Some green shoots started to poke through on the front 9. I shot 50 but had no disasters - I drove the ball really well but still struggling with my irons, which is easy to do when your confidence is so low - zero in fact.
Then on the 10th I just adjusted the clubface a fraction and made par. It had been a while and it was a huge relief. The 11th brought another and the par 5 12th a birdie. Back to reality with a triple at a par 3 after another tugged iron and an over compensated 2nd shot from the tee. 14th I made a par and then more par 3 woes as I made a sad 7. 16 and 17 lead to solid pars and a bogey at the tricky 18th. But all of a sudden I could hit irons again from the 16th onwards. Both 16 and 17 are tight tee shots and I nailed them both which felt so good after so much struggling.
I'm not there yet but certainly an improvement and I believe I can hit a good shot again which wasn't the case this morning. That means a lot, believe me.
So if you ever find your game as bad as mine got - don't give up but have a think, work at it and keep going, it won't be gone forever. Three weeks may not sound like a long time but when you don't know where your next decent shot is coming from it's not as simple as that - it's a terrible feeling but it can be overcome.
á la Shawshank - Hope can set you free.......and a bit of good old fashioned work.
I play mainly stableford comps in a saturday morning group - shot 13 pts on the front 9, not great but not awful as the front is much tougher than the back. What is awful is just 7pts on the back. Not a good day.
Next time out I shot a mighty 7 points on the front....11 on the back and nothing was working. I had a lesson, which seemed to go ok and went back out. Another shocker, again nothing felt right and my confidence was totally shot.
Nice timing for the Club Championships.
I lasted 8 holes of the 36 scheduled. Par is 444 353 454 - I went 755 774 16,11 and home.
I couldn't hit a wedge let alone a 5 iron or a driver. I was absloutely shattered by it - it felt as if someone had put my brain in someone else's body. I was really wondering if I woul dever be able to play decently again; which may sound melodramatic but I really did.
Ok so a crisis (relatively speaking of course) so it's back to the Five Fundementals and concentrating on tempo. I checked the grip, the address/set up and went off to to the range where I promptly managed to hook a 9 iron 60 yards off target. Man, that was a real low.
Back to Hogan I went and practiced, practiced, practiced his drills. I also watched Manzella's youtube video on driving (courtesy of The Woat) and went out this morning.
Some green shoots started to poke through on the front 9. I shot 50 but had no disasters - I drove the ball really well but still struggling with my irons, which is easy to do when your confidence is so low - zero in fact.
Then on the 10th I just adjusted the clubface a fraction and made par. It had been a while and it was a huge relief. The 11th brought another and the par 5 12th a birdie. Back to reality with a triple at a par 3 after another tugged iron and an over compensated 2nd shot from the tee. 14th I made a par and then more par 3 woes as I made a sad 7. 16 and 17 lead to solid pars and a bogey at the tricky 18th. But all of a sudden I could hit irons again from the 16th onwards. Both 16 and 17 are tight tee shots and I nailed them both which felt so good after so much struggling.
I'm not there yet but certainly an improvement and I believe I can hit a good shot again which wasn't the case this morning. That means a lot, believe me.
So if you ever find your game as bad as mine got - don't give up but have a think, work at it and keep going, it won't be gone forever. Three weeks may not sound like a long time but when you don't know where your next decent shot is coming from it's not as simple as that - it's a terrible feeling but it can be overcome.
á la Shawshank - Hope can set you free.......and a bit of good old fashioned work.
United States
