The game
hands you nothing but the courage to play and enjoy the process of doing
instead of complaining. First round 74 today at Fargo Country Club Bobcat North
Dakota Open, a respectable round I might add (scorecard), there were considerable higher
scores than average on this tour for the opening round, one reason might be the
pace of these fast greens as most player are accustom to firing at pins and
firming their putts to the back of the hole. It has been a few month’s since I have
played on greens as fast as these the San Juan Open is always a memorable event
because the greens are very fast and role true off the face of the putter.
Fast
greens are my favorite to putt on, they enforce urgency to pay close attention
to dominant breaks towards the river and factor in other elements in some cases
the wind direction causing an overly breaking putt to hold its line;
Florida and southern golf courses
instill awareness of grain not so much attention is needed up here.
This
first round with quick analysis of the game played this far into the round I
have determined that my mentality of guarding against not being in a certain
pressure state of mind; the only way to maintain a flowing mindset is executing
a plan of added focus energies on key scoring hole for tomorrow. It was easy to
come to this decision as for the round I played today I made four bogeys on
three of those easier scoring holes today. My first one came on our front nine,
hole number 14, and a shorter par four that call for a position in the fairway
to a tucked back right pin location. Bombing driver can and most likely will
end up behind the tree on the right side of the fairway closer to an elevated
green. Intimidating as the hazard is all along the left side hitting driver is
too aggressive when my goal for the day was to gain momentum and make way for
key scoring holes. I hit 3 wood carrying
my momentum from the start on ten. No birdies recorded but I had makeable looks
at them with nothing but confidence, sometimes in this game the putts just
don’t drop when you felt like you did all you can do to make it happen.
In all
honesty that’s how the day went on from the horrendous low hook left 3 wood
that came to rest in the hazard. The course was not set up with ridiculous pin
placements either, the damage from the flooding early July allow the players to
lift clean and place through the green on any of the holes that were affected.
A few
holes later driving into the green side bunker on the short 325 yard par 4 as
the fairway doglegs right, the tee shot calls for a very high driver with a fade
that will land softer on or before this firm green. As I waited our fellow
playing partners where struggling tee to green, one player caught the tops of
the tall trees off the tee and ended up in the water, similar result watching
his approach from his intended drop and this time the ball landed just beyond
the tree line. Player two from the left hand rough landed his approach pin-high
only to watch it bounce hard over the green short siding himself to a near
impossible up and down for par to this elevated green. Several minutes went by
before I could play my bunker shot to make a score of three and walk away
feeling like I have something going again. Heartbreaking as the bogey was, I
ended up making my thought of trying to hard and feeling tension from trying to
control the shorter shots from the bunker and landing the uphill chip short,
causing it to not roll out, I needed to play free and search for good rhythm.
Committing to this mentality I changed my attitude and filling my mind with
positive imagery, not just golf shots either, missing my family when on tour I
get to wonder how much fun and all the smiles my children have when they are
with mama, I hear my wife’s voice encouraging me to not to limit myself in
belief but to know that I have the tools to play well. This past weekend’s
title defense in Prince Albert SK has validated my level of confidence for this
moment.
Making
the turn, I gladly accept my one over par performance till this point heading
into our back nine. Game plan had stayed the same with a couple or errand shots,
my mental awareness striving to be free with my swing the positive
reinforcement of attitude no longer need adjusting. Josh rolled up the push
cart next to my soon to be second shot on hole 3 and said “there is a difference
in playing the game with your mind and playing it with your heart!” I
acknowledge his expression before I step into my pre-shot routine and those
words rung in tune with what I have been trying to accomplish from the start of
the round; now I won’t get all mushy and detailed like how the sky is so blue
and the birds were signing at that moment. Those words were a positive affirmation
to greater achievement.
Putting
, in the past, primarily at the start of each season would be the less free of
mechanics and under pressure of total control, in tournament golf this is a bad
combination and not just for putting but for any component of the game (drive,
approach, short game etc.). To the defense of the putting game the round of
golf requires almost 44% of all your strokes regardless of how good (or bad)
your score turns out to be. I bring this point up because in my game the
putting part has improved immensely as the pressure continues and for this
opening round my mentality for putting is poised to executing great putts with
chosen reads and feeling pleased assuring myself that I played that shot the
way I imagined it would and the result did not match my creative reads in the
breaks.
Today’s
round in 29 putts is what my stats showed – 14 putts on the front and 15 putts
on the back nine. Three different holes I can remember not being in the right
frame of mind to save par costing me added strokes, some short game shots had a
similar outcome promoting downer level of confidence. I am fortunate to come this
far in the tour and have the skills and mental ability to change my attitude to
any unpleasant situation so it does not destroy my spirit. That last line you
just read came from the word of Napoleon Hill himself as I listen religiously
to “Think and Grow Rich” his book on audio, while driving in the car during the
longer hauls of travel. I am grateful to the economic philosophy expressed in
those pages because it gave me the urgency to have self-discipline and use the
god given power of thought.
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Thank you and have a great day.
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