WHEN I FIRST hit the links this summer, I was looking forward to this golf season with heightened expectations—more than any in recent memory. I wanted to and thought I would continue all my advances from last fall into swift action, with Scottie Scheffler–type results.
Muscle memory is a cruel bedfellow. Over the winter, my brain forgot all about my driver swing, which helped me hit every fairway in the final round last season on Eagle Creek’s Sycamore course. Poof! Gone. But back is my close friend and longest golfing compadre—the outside-in swing—which dooms my drives to the right rough. Another punch shot back into play and another shot lost. Ugh.
All this offseason, I practiced by hitting balls at the PGA Tour Superstore in Castleton, working on swing mechanics, ball-first contact, and distance control. Every session, over and over for the better part of an hour, I worked on the pace, control, and direction mechanics of my swing. After a time, the distance was there. My accuracy was surprisingly spot-on, and I hit the “green” 65-70 percent of the time. My grip and ball placement on address were comfortable. My contact was solid and my speed upon impact in the triple digits. When spring came, I was ready. Or so I thought.
I knew the practice would pay off, but, as I learned, hitting off carpet is vastly different from hitting off grass. As I stood at the first tee for my first drive of the season at Coffin Golf Course, I was a bit nervous. With my “grip it and rip it” style, the shot was dead center of the fairway. “Easy,” I said. Second shot, same perfect results, putting me in position A—20 yards from the pin on the opening par-5. Chip to 10 feet, miss the birdie, and two putts for par. Again, easy.
As I rode to the second hole, excitement and confidence were high. Reality has a way of sneaking up on you quickly and surprising you with a resounding slap to the face. Take the dead pull on my second drive into a trap on the left side as proof. As it turned out, that first hole—mechanics-wise—was the best of the day and one of few pars I scored that day.
Still, the rest of the round was filled with some surprisingly good to great shots and a few incredibly bad shots. The resulting score added up at the 19th hole and was just over bogey golf, so not too far off my goal score for the day. My goal last year was bogey golf. This year, I’m looking to trim an additional five to eight strokes off that. I am motivated to be more consistent from tee to green. By comparison, this year’s first round was seven strokes better than last year’s initial outing but still over the goal. I take this as an improvement.
It isn’t just the mechanics of my swing I feel I need to change this year; I seriously want to alter the way I approach the game mentally. I’m far too competitive for my own good, demanding that every shot be perfect. If history teaches us anything—and it should—we all know perfection is not going to happen every time on every shot. When it doesn’t happen, I lose sight of why I’m golfing in the first place—to chill out, not take myself too seriously, and enjoy the company of my buddies in the great outdoors. Score be damned.
I just didn’t think my swing would be damned too.
Golf is a funny game.
