The Sunday Pin Golf

Back nine blow ups. Double bogeying the last. Slicing your last 3 drives on the way into the clubhouse. We all know the feeling. Myself the last one maybe more than anyone…

Regardless, we all know the pain. We start strong and optimistic. The spirits are high, and our mentality is right there with us. We reel in a couple of pars to start, maybe a bogey or two but nothing serious, perhaps even a birdie.

We start to hit the snacks we brought; our drink is still cold from the fridge, peak gluttony. The fourball is working in harmony, you are acting like the coach in a high school underdog sports movie. Fist going red from the number of bumps you’re giving.

Suddenly, you’re on hole 8 congratulating yourself on the hell of a round you’re about to have.

By the 18^th, it seems as if the wheels have come off our already fragile golf game, and the scorecard looks like a basket of himing and hawing. That dreaded feeling runs us over with the weight of a school bus, the weight of another botched round of golf. We carry it with us on the drive home, perhaps even into work the next day.

But why does that happen? Why is it that we can play such solid golf for the front nine, and then revert to a form of golfer none of us have seen in ourselves in years? (or most likely the last time we bottled a round).

Well, I’m here to try and help you fix it.

(Warning – I am a 9-handicapper, use tips at your own risk)

1. Your Brain Abandons You Around Hole 12

There’s no doubt that golf is not just a physical sport, it’s a mental warfare. We’ve all been there, stepping over a shot almost afraid to start the swing for fear of what the result would be.

Golf is possibly the only game that will have 60-year-old fortune 500 CEOs telling themselves ‘New nine, New me’ as they walk onto the 10^th hole in an effort to sooth their mental states.

You may think you’re just mentally weak, I’m here to tell you you’re not. You’re just going about it the wrong way.

Many golfers think too far ahead on the golf course. In fact, it’s probably the biggest cause for a breakdown in the amateur golfer’s game. Believe it or not but telling yourself on the 12^th hole that you’ve got a good score in the bag and that you just need to bring it home, will not help you bring it home.

Chances are by the 13^th you’ll be wondering if you’ve always hated golf or if today is just special.

Don’t let one bad hole snowball into the next. I could sprout on about how you wouldn’t let a single bad minute of your day effect your whole day, but I think I’ve a better way.

Have you ever seen the videos of Sergio Garcia raging against the sand traps he is indeed trapped in? You should have, there’s a few.

I’d like you to take a guess what scores he shot after an action like that? What kind of state of mind Sergio would be in after attacking the bunker for his poor shot? I’ll let your imagination run on this one. I’ll give you a clue.

It’s not good.

When you hit a bad shot next time, don’t let it snowball. You were thinking clearly on the 8^th hole, lining up putts like you’re on tour, hell you might even have tried your hand at aimpoint, by the 10^th please don’t debate about whether to hit the hero shot with the 3-wood you haven’t hit since 09’. Keep it level.

2. Course Management? Never Heard of it

Course management – the bane of many our existences. Often a pseudonym for ‘put the driver away’, it can seriously make or break a round.

Have you ever played with someone really good, and I mean significantly better than you? They do everything correct – 300-yard straight drives, a drippy wedge game and some silky putts. A downright good golf player.

The Sunday Pins very own Mr. Murray, a writer and Co-founder on the blog is this very person to me. One day, while playing golf together, we walked to the tee box, him with a wood in hand, me driver in hand. You can guess which of us parred the hole and with of us ended up having to hack it out of the fescue.

The point is, be smart in golf, not everything is bombs away playing, sometimes golf requires respect. We cannot play like Tiger Woods with the game of Happy Gilmore (at the start of the movie).

You don’t need to hit driver on the driveable par-4 surrounded by water, just don’t do it. You are not Bryson.

• The Short Game is Where Scores Go to Die

You’ve hit a banger of a drive on the 13^th. It’s a par-4 with a very approachable green. You have a short enough wedge in your hand. Your mouth is watering with the taste of a par or better. Ten minutes later you’re telling your buddy to ‘knock you down for a 7’ because it ‘feels right’.

Why?

Your short game has a personal vendetta against your scorecard.

But then again how could it not? The putting and chipping green are strangers to you. Well not exactly, they watch you bomb-slice drives off the range next door for hours on end. Forever neglecting it. And now it’s come back to bite you in the ass.

Sure, it’s the more skilful parts of the game, some people just have the short game touch of a jackhammer. If so, get some lessons for the love of God. But, if your chipping is okay, not good, but okay.

Please go to the chipping green, it doesn’t bite. Just a few chips every time you go to the range, maybe even hit a putt or two.

Because when it gets to that pressure chip on the 14^th where it’s the difference between a par save and your 4^th bogey in a row, it’s nice to have some trust in your wedge, to feel like it’s an opportunity rather than a risk of double.

Next time you hit that big drive down 13 with a wedge in hand, you won’t be hitting unintentional trick shots or knifing putts by the hole, you’ll feel dialled. And there’s no better feeling.

It’s not you, it’s golf (but it’s definitely kinda you.)

Golf is hard, really hard in fact. You can hit perfect shots but still end up in a bush debating whether to fake an injury. But that’s the beauty of it. It’s the battle, the thrill of it all that keeps us coming back.

Every time we overcome the game, maybe even our own games, a feeling that’s not found in any other facet of my life overcomes me. This feeling keeps me coming back.

Hopefully after reading this, you realise you don’t need to finish poorly, you can fix it. Just concentrate on the next shot ahead of you, plot your way around the course and hit a few chips every now and again. Simple.

And if that doesn’t work, just play 9 holes and hit the club house. I heard the burger there is nice.

Written by

E.J Ganaza

The Sunday Pin