Re: From swing thoughts to target golf.

Date: 22 Mar 2003 12:44:05 -0800
Newsgroups: rec.sport.golf
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email-address-deleted (Asbjørn Bjørnstad) wrote in message news:<email-address-deleted>...
> Had a horrific round of golf a little while ago.
>
> The bad: Scored 124, which is even worse than usual.. (117 is my PB.)
> The good:I had a 5-hole stretch that was 6 over par. 9-hole stretch of 14 over.
> The ugly:34 over in 8 holes?? Yikes.
>
> So I bought Rotellas "Golf is not a game of perfect", based on
> recommandations here and my belief that that good stretch is where I
> should have been the whole round.
>
> I've read halfway through, and his recommandations is to change the
> way I approach golf drastically. No swing thoughts? No analyzing my
> swing? Trusting my swing? You gotta be joking... Not to think about
> mechanics at all during the round sounds harder than hitting a 4
> degree driver blindfolded and with a bad case of diarrhea.
>
> Do you people manage to do this, or do you treat it like Pelz short
> game advice: Sound, but I only use 3 wedges.
To trust your swing, you have to have one to begin with.
If your personal best is 117, you probably have a consistent
swing - but, unfortunately, consistently wrong. You probably
give up a lot of strokes in the short game, as well.
You need to fix your problems, and that requires paying attention
to what you are doing, at least initially. But you have to make the
changes on the practice tee, not the golf course. If I were you
I'd quit playing for a while, and take lessons. I'm serious -
at your stage, playing just gets in the way of improvement. After
you develop a sound swing and short game with the help of a
pro, THEN you can play and learn to trust your swing.
Rotella is right that swing thoughts get in the way of
scoring. But slices don't fix themselves by ignoring them,
and you always have to take the long term view. Scores
you post today won't mean squat to you next year, so
work today to improve next year's scores.