I played a round of golf the other day with a group of friends in their annual outing. This was my second round this year, and effectively, my second round of golf in FIVE years.
My last round of golf was about a month ago, and it wasn’t pretty, but I had made some progress. That day, I also realized that my days of being a long bomber were over, due to the physical issues I deal with (neck, low back, hips, shoulders, etc., but nothing too serious).
After that ugly round, I ventured to the driving range a couple more times, and really made some good progress. In fact, the last range session really gave me some confidence.
That was about three weeks ago though.
When I notified my friends last week that I was going to play in their outing, I figured I would get out and practice a few times.
Didn’t happen. I’ve been working on a new business project related to golf travel, and just wanted to keep plowing ahead with that as I have a couple trips coming up this month.
So, I went into the round having not touched a club in about three weeks. And, I was a bit nervous.
When I played a lot of golf, I always felt like I needed to practice a lot. This was because I was always trying to find a swing that would work consistently, and because I had no knowledge about my own swing.
It was only between 2009 and 2011 that I really learned about the golf swing in general, and my own swing.
But, it was only more recently that I really learned what makes my swing work, with the abilities that I now have.
Anyhow, we started in a reverse shotgun at 8:30 am. While it was plenty warm, there is no range at the facility where we played, so my body was nowhere near loose when I stepped up to the tee on my first hole… a 172 yard par 3 with water about 50 yards short.
I pulled out a 7-iron and damn near topped it, and the ball barely cleared the water. I now had a 40 yard pitch straight uphill. Hit that to about 10 feet, and made the putt…easy par!
This went on for the first four holes. After four relatively easy holes (this was not Augusta National by any stretch, just your basic local public track), I stood at 2 over par and had yet to hit a solid shot and had not hit a green in regulation.
Finally, I was about loose, and I hit a pretty solid tee shot on a dogleg right par 5, my fifth hole of the day. Unfortunately, I drove it well through the fairway so I had to lay up.
I hit a solid 8 iron to do that, wedged it up to about 10 feet and just missed the putt, which had about an 18 inch break, right to left.
With three solid shots behind me, I started to get into a rhythm. From there on out, I played the rest of the round 1 under par, with three birdies and two more bogies.
At no point did I try to get more out of my swing than normal. I simply focused on good rhythm and tempo, and hardly missed a fairway. As the day wore on, my tee shots become more solid.
When I missed a green, I hit some decent pitches to give myself a shot at par. Admittedly, the short game was not great, but that is to be expected when you haven’t played.
However, I focused on letting the club do the work, and that resulted in solid contact on all of my short shots.
This was probably only the second round in my life where I played completely within myself. The other such round was in a tournament over 30 years ago when I was playing with an injured left hand.
My goal was simply fairways and greens. I hit one shot that I would describe as wild… a blocked 5-iron on a par 3. However, I know my swing and what caused that shot, so it didn’t affect me going forward.
I’ve always had a grip it and rip it mentality. I got a huge ego boost from outdriving most of my playing partners over the years.
I’m 52 now, so those days are gone. However, I still have more than adequate length to play from the tips on most courses. I just won’t be hitting many short irons into par 5s anymore.
The fact is, I wish I had the knowledge I’ve gained from learning how to teach, when I was competing in college. I had all my physical abilities back then, but virtually no idea how to actually play golf.
As we watch these tour pros hitting 6 irons 215 yards, and carrying their drivers 320+, we often think that’s how to play golf.
But, when you watch a Champions Tour event, that’s where you’ll really learn how to play golf.
Those guys all stay within themselves. They keep the golf course in front of them, and constantly shoot low scores, because they can still make a ton of putts.
Bernhard Langer, who will be 61 in three weeks, is the best example. He is still a dominant player on the Champions Tour, and is even making cuts in majors on the regular tour. Yet, he is far from being one of the longest hitters.
That’s really what it is all about…putting yourself in position to make short putts for birdies and pars.
My other takeaway from this recent round of golf is this…don’t spend all your time on the practice range…go out and play!
That’s IF you’ve learned about your swing and have developed pretty solid ball striking. If you aren’t there yet, and you still want to improve, then yes, go practice.
But, once you’ve developed that solid ball striking, and you have learned about your swing, spend more time playing golf…it’s much more fun!
