Tag: lessons

Choices Come with Consequences

Golf can be one of those ventures that has big rewards and payoffs for taking certain risks. Yet, it also has some real simple consequences for taking other types of risks. That’s just some conventional wisdom for the course for you to nibble on to start out right now.

 What I really wanted to dig into was the multiple hole playoff between Kiradech Aphibarnrat of Thailand and rookie sensation Jesper Svensson at the Porsche Singapore Classic. Those powerful drives amid strong gusts of wind along with those clutch putts made for stellar drama on the 18th hole. however, even that storyline had to take a back seat to what I witnessed among the LPGA players at Fir Hills for the Seri Pak Championship.

Ruoning Yin added a whole load of drama to the uneventful closure of the third round at Fir Hills. Everyone seemed to make more of a thing about former USC golfer Malia Nam returning to LPGA play and standing out among the top players at Fir Hills, but it appears that Yin was intent upon taking big risks to finish the day off. And that’s one thing that stole the spotlight from Malia Nam’s steady play for remaining in contention for a share of the lead and a potential shot at victory.

Leading the Pack Since Round 2

Yin was ahead of her fellow players at -11 coming into the 18th hole. Her tee shot landed her in the rough amid some trees with low-hanging branches. That left her with a decision to make. And this is where many of us recreational golfers could both readily and easily empathize with the Chinese golfer’s agonizing decision. She decided on a low punch shot between the trees rather than a high percentage shot like a pitch back into the fairway from the rough.

As I watched on, I recognized the predicament. No one was within any closer to her than 2 strokes. She had the outright lead and her game seemed to be working for her.

Yin Pays the Price

Yin drew back and made an attempt at punching it, and then all you heard was the thud of a golf ball striking bark. Anyone who has played on a course with any kind of woods on it knows that sound. It’s so distinct that it’s almost haunting.

In fact this sound was merely the awakening of a steady dwindle on a downward spiral with little to no chance of return or even redemption.

And that’s putting it lightly.

Consequences continued to come against her as she and her caddie sought some relief from her ball ending what looked like a drain and within a club length of a work shed. But even with that drop and hitting 4 from the rough, Yin ended up short of the green on the 18th. That left her pitching upward to try to finish up the hole.

Things didn’t work out well for her at all on 18. She finished the hole with a triple bogey. She finished the round even at 71 for the day. She ended up tied for third at -7 after holding onto the lead most of the day.

Look at the Lesson

Yin isn’t by herself.

I’ve been there before.

How about you?

Have you ever had that one hole that just tore up everything that you have put together throughout a decent round? I bet it burned you intensely. I would imagine how badly it would feel to have everything going right and then BOOM! It all just falls apart.

Yin is the defending champion for the tournament. She even had a better understanding of the course layout and structure from the prior year’s victory. Hopefully, she recovered and can make the most of this final round at Fir Hills today. But, like many of us, she took a high risk and it cost her enough strokes to shock her. Either way, it surely caught my attention away from Svensson and Aphibarnrat battling for a new Porsche and $450,000.

Who knows? If given the opportunity again, I might try to punch it through the trees, too.

Golf is anything but easy.

5 Lessons Learned on My First Round of Golf since the Pandemic

I learned some real valuable lessons on my first round of golf since the pandemic hit our nation and the entire world. I wouldn’t really consider the golf tournament that I participated in this fall as a round of golf nor anything that contributes to my goal of breaking 90 consistently. It definitely helped to boost my confidence, but it was just not one for the record books. I felt that this was my first outing and I learned plenty along the way.

My outing included some lessons learned on two different courses positioned at opposites sides of East County San Diego and at opposite ends of the day. Morning started with me walking the back nine at Carltons Oaks Golf Course in Santee as clouds of mist began to subside to the rising sun. That afternoon had me facing the par 3 18-hole Pine Glen course at Singing Hills Golf Course (Sycuan Resort) in the middle of threats of rain and mild Santa Ana winds. Both courses offered me some extremely timely and useful lessons on engaging in golf since the pandemic as I walked each round with my golf bag slung across my back.

1. Walking the Course Has Advantages Over Riding

I find that walking a course toting your bag on your back can give you all sorts of lessons alone, especially when you consider issues such as lower back pain and overall fitness. The game of golf has its own lessons and walking the course teaches us plenty, too.

  • Much like running or jogging, walking the golf course during a round allows you to listen to your body.
  • You quickly have an idea of just how fit your are (or not) as you walk the golf course during your round
  • You try to keep your shot selections more selective and strategic when walking more than while riding in the cart
  • Downsizing is a practical pathway, whether it be the number of clubs or other items in your bag.
  • You feel a bit closer to nature while walking the course during your round of golf. It can be the ducks by the water hazards or the rising mist from the grassy fairways in the morning, but it is definitely a sense of serenity that comes over you as you take it all in step by step.

2. Technology Helps Track Stats More & More

I used to keep scorecards stuffed and tucked away in my golf bag’s pockets. They would come straight from the back pocket after the final hole and into a hidden place in that bag and remain there until they slip or drop out by mistake. That’s not what I am doing now.

I used Garmin’s mobile golf app on both my smart phone and my Garmin Vivoactive 3 watch. My preference is the mobile phone app for just tracking strokes, but the watch allows you to track distance to the pin as well as the distance of your last shot. Course information can be downloaded in advance for usage on the watch during a round. Another option is MyScorecard and its mobile app. The technology kept me on track as I improved my score hole by hole.

3. Muscle Memory Works Most of the Time

I hate to admit it but it’s true that muscle memory is not an absolute. It tends to fail when your nerves get the better of you and those first tee jitters get to jumping around like nervous butterflies in your belly. Yips can override any personal yearning for swinging for big yards and open fairways as I realized the reality that played out before my eyes unlike some things I read when I browse the blogs and sports articles. I definitely learned that some things are slower to change as it initially took me 3 holes to warm up at Carlton Oaks.

4. Every Round of Golf Offers Surprises

It almost goes without saying that nearly every single time I play golf that I am provided some kind of surprise. Previously playing Oak Glen at Sycuan, I learned how a wayward duck can disrupt the perfect flight of a line drive from a hooded 6 iron. While playing at Chula Vista Golf Course, I discovered how a fairway wood recovery shot could simply be shortened and cutoff by low-hanging electrical wires threaded across the otherwise wide open fairway.

This time around did not displease. Hole #16 at Carlton Oaks gave me an unjust and cruel fate handed down when my approach shot was cut short by grazing the peak of a jutting mound of earth, forcing me to chip as close as possible to the green with an explosion of sand in my face upon impact. Faced with a par shot off the fringe of the hole, I elected to use my putter as opposed to any wedge play and struck paydirt for par even to my own surprise. Like I said, I’ll take that all day long.

5. Your Game is Usually Better Than You Expect

Put all of the b.s. aside for a moment. I am not always walking the course, and I am most certainly not always one who undergoes a regimented routine of arriving at the course early and ensuring that I have things in order to have a productive and positive round of golf. Maybe that is a profound lesson learned for me, too. Things can be more productive and more positive when you decide to do more preparation for your round than just popping up and playing without a plan.

My results speak for themselves. I was +13 on 18 holes of par 3? Anyone who has played with me over the years know that I dread almost any par 3 hole. For me to make multiple pars on that course, I knew that my morning round had helped me build some confidence and recognize where I lacked strength. Prior to teeing off at Singing Hills that afternoon, I smashed range balls with my 6 and 8 irons as a warmup and a reinforcement of my own potential with my irons.

You have to understand that despite being +9 on the back nine at Carlton Oaks those irons were not my saving grace that morning. Every time I pulled them out of my bag it seemed to my detriment. I even went so far as to using my hybrid to work anything between 150 to 100 yards out and my pitching wedge for anything within 100 yards of the pin.

Knowing that I was facing 18 holes of par 3 challenges, I knew that I needed those two clubs to get my scores down and conquer those par 3s. And they delivered well and allowed me to keep pushing even when I had to use the same club where I had just flubbed a tee shot to pull off a high risk recovery shot. I learned that my application of hooded tee and approach shots with a 6 iron and sharply-chopped 8 iron rolls were enough to keep me in contention for par at nearly every turn.

I value all of the lessons that I learned playing golf again since the pandemic arose. I am eagerly awaiting my next outing this week most probably on New Year’s Eve. I am going to reference my notes and try to compensate for where I allowed my game to lack focus and get sloppy. I mean what do you call it when your second shot on a par 5 places you squarely 155 yards from the pin and your 6 iron sends a rocketed misaligned third shot approximately 25 to 30 yards off target to the left of the green? I think sloppy is a euphemism for such a thing, but it all taught me a clear lesson on the power of consistency making things easier for myself than forcing risky and remarkable recovery shots. Thank God for walking the course, bitterly condemning myself as I walked from one shot to another to regain my composure and play it strategically to keep things under a double bogey.

Until next time, keeping swinging and having fun.