It’s Time To Get Up! Step Up! Man Up!

“The game of golf is 90 percent mental and 10 percent mental.”
– Henry Beard, from his book Mulligan’s Laws of Golf

I have posted five scores in 2019, varying from an 82 on one of our club’s new combo tee setups to a four-double bogey 89 from our regular tees. That’s not an awful start given the fact that I hadn’t touched a club since Dec. 19.

Unfortunately, I see trouble on the horizon. My usual reliable wedge game has become haphazard due to sporadic rocket shots that scream to the right. And my sand game, which after a fair amount of work last year was reasonable, has now become a horrifying prospect. In fact, it got so bad last week that my friend Charley loaned me his Callaway SureOut, which actually worked three times. Why it worked, I am not sure, which is almost as frustrating as not getting out of the bunker with the 60-degree wedge that did its job last year.

I went into this year optimistically. I was bound and determined to slow down my backswing, turn my back to the target and start my downswing with my hips and stay behind the ball. Well, all of those good thoughts are now being undermined by my fear of turning TWO (OR THREE) SHOTS INTO FOUR SHOTS. Once again, the best word to describe my game is: FRAGILE.

In 2015, I was invited by a good friend Greg to play a round with two-time Major winner Fuzzy Zoeller on his home course in Indiana. After the round, I asked him what his best piece of advice was for the average amateur and he said, “Take one more club when going for the green. How often are you short of the pin versus being past the pin? Go for it!”

In essence, he was saying Man Up! Be gritty, spirited and spunky. In order not to be FRAGILE , I need to think differently. (That and take a couple of lessons from our head pro Andy.) Bottom line, I am convinced that a golfer like me has to go to the whip periodically. This weekend I am going to go to the course armed with reminders and warnings that are energetic and forceful!   

 

Play Away!