It is amazing that any golfer can go from playing well to playing poorly with just one swing. In my case, this downward spiral happens when chunking an easy chip. I am not sure exactly why this happens, but it definitely has something to do with my alignment. Additionally, it happens when I am trying to be ‘too cute’ instead of being aggressive. When this happens, negative thoughts creep into my mind and it is a struggle for the rest of the round. Does this ever happen to you?
Resetting my alignment.
After years of having the challenge of periodically chunking chips, I know the problem. It is all alignment or is it! I start moving this or adjusting that until my arms are working counter to my hips, which are fighting with my feet. I am playing my own game of twister as I prepare to chip my ball in the hole.
So, I fix things by aligning everything back to neutral. I clear my mind of all the helpful tips and head back to the basics. Once I have realigned myself, I just swing the club. But, all of my minor adjustments are just symptoms of a larger issue with my short game from time to time. It is overthinking the shot.
Yes, I realize that many of us have never been accused of over thinking 😉 however, that is the case. I try to be far too delicate for the shot and generally end up being short. Then, on the next shot, I make an adjustment to compensate for my poor mental approach and another mistake happens. Over the time of a few rounds, I am all messed up and need to restart. Of course, this only happens a few times a year, but when it does, it is very frustrating.
Moving forward into my tournament this week, I am on track to chip and pitch well. I reset a few weeks ago and I am firing on all cylinders. Therefore, I do not see my chipping woes creeping into my game from overthinking and I expect solid results from my short game.
Do you ever have this happen?
I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!
Written my Jim Burton from The Grateful Golf blog.
The Grateful Golfer 
Jim, we can all empathize with this dilemma! Amazing what can happen when you take it back to neutral and start the process over. Isn’t the fun of the game figuring stuff like this out though?
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Rick
Yes it is. And those days when evrrything fits together are priceless. Gotta locr golf for that!
Cheers Jim
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Jim, my chipping will start to falter if I put too much pressure on it from bad ball striking. Hit a lot of greens and the occasional chip is no problem but if I’m scrambling for 10 or 11 holes per round, I too will start of overthink things because of the variety of shots I’m required to play. Interesting dichotomy.
Thanks,
Brian
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Brian
Exactly! Normally, I hit 10 or 12 GIR, but when that falters, times get tough around the green. Most of the time I am too tentative and I need to stop this. It is a reoccurring theme that I need to fix. I am heading to my tournament tomorrow with a practice round on Tuesday, so I will be practicing my chips around the green just for fun. That is what a practice round is all about….right?
Cheers
Jim
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Jim, I have fought the chip yips and chicken chips for years, as you may know. Recently I was practicing my chipping and laid an alignment stick on the green to try and land my chip over the stick. I chipped a couple bag shags full with different clubs, making sure to carry the stick. This seems to work better than chipping at a coin or tee marking a landing spot and has freed me up to be more aggressive. Give it a shot if you have the time! Good luck in your tournament!
Brian
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Brian
Great advice. I have laid out similar tips in my blog. Thanls cor the reminder. So much to leep track of…. thanks for the well wishes.
Cheers
Jim
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Sure do. I can’t say it follows me around round to round thankfully but it sure can be trouble during a round sometimes. I combat that a bit by always thinking of each 9 being separate so a bad start on the front gets discarded with the start of the back in my head. That seems to help me clear my mind of worry about how I started which does seem to help.
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Kevin
Thanks for the tip. I try the same mental partitioning, however sometimes I am my own worst enemy. I think I get mad at myself and frustrated for not executing what I believe is a simple shot. I guess I need to take some pressure off to ensure that I do not carry my mistakes too long. Hope things are getting back to normal in Florida.
Cheers
Jim
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Yeah, power’s on so I’ve put the generator away yesterday and most of us including my family are back to normal or will be tomorrow when most businesses and schools will be back in operation. There are a few still waiting for power here and more across the state, but the crews working the problem are all awesome. We were really lucky. The storm was down to a Cat 2 by the time it reached us and the eye went by just far enough west of us to limit the damages we experienced here. I did lose a tree in the back yard, but it landed cleanly on the ground. In fact, I don’t think I could have dropped it so nicely if I had tried. I’ve got most of it chopped and piled up for the crews that will cart all the storm debris away and I just have the trunk to cut up to finish my clean up. I was able to borrow a bigger chainsaw from a neighbor tonight to help me get that done. My little electric one was fine for most of it but it’s blade is a bit too small to get through the trunk with one cut so this one will really speed up the process.
And for the really important aspect, I’ve received emails from most of the courses I play and they seem to all be back in business now, so I will be trying to get a round in tomorrow afternoon. It’s been more than a whole week and I’m having withdrawal symptoms.
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Kevin
That is fantastic news that all is okay! It is great to hear thst some normalcy is back. The fact that the courses are opening is a great sign. Hope you have fun and play well on your first outing in a bit.
Cheers
Jim
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