Golf Lessons I Continue To Relearn

/ The Grateful Golfer

The past two days I played an early bird round at my home course of Mattawa Golf and Ski Resort. Each round I focused on different aspects of my game in order to prepare for a scramble tournament on Wednesday. Although Wednesday’s event will be mostly a fun round, I like to be ready nonetheless. As I worked on various aspects of my game, a mental fault kept cropping up that would cost me strokes if I was keeping score. It is a lesson I continue to relearn and one I would have thought I mastered by now…..I guess not! The reason I call it mental is because it my actual stroke is fine, but my tentative nature while chipping is forcing me to either make long putts or to chip again!

If you have not figured out the golf lesson I continue to relearn is being tentative on my chips. I am selecting my landing area as I should, I am focusing on how I want to hit my shot (high or low) and I feel balanced when making contact. For some reason I am tentative hitting through the ball leaving it short more often than not. I noticed this chipping fault yesterday and worked on fixing it today.

For some reason I am worried about hitting the ball past the hole when chipping. The greens at my home course are not fast, hence worrying about skating by the hole is not really a factor. I would rather hit the ball 2 feet past the hole than leave it 10 or 12 feet short or worse (like I was doing). Therefore, during today’s round I focused on hitting the ball past the hole regardless of the distance. I am happy to report that my efforts paid off.

I chipped in twice using my 7 iron and only hit the ball past hole farther than two feet during this morning’s round. I did, however, leave the ball short twice outside of 4 feet. One was a mishit and the other was mental error. Overall, I was very happy with the results of my efforts.

Chipping the ball short happens from time to time. This mental error is something I try to avoid and hopefully on Wednesday I will be able to stay focused and hit my ball to the hole when chipping. It is a lesson I relearn from time to time, but now that I am aware it will happen less or not at all.

I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!

7 thoughts on “Golf Lessons I Continue To Relearn”

      • Jim, going good. I seem to have stumbled on a minor grip modification that has improved my ball striking over the last week. Hope it’s not a WOOD band aid. Trying to prep for a scramble myself. Playing in the Folds Of Honor tournament at Tidewater in Myrtle Beach on Labor Day.

        Hope you bust it long and make all your putts!

        Brian

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      • Brian,

        Glad to hear you game is working out well. We finished third. My ball striking was not the best, but that happens sometimes. Play well in your tournament and back at you for busting it long and sinking all the putts.

        Cheers Jim

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  2. Two things. First the most reliable solution I would say is the clock system. If you’ve done the work, have the numbers and use them you can’t come up continually short by much even with tentative judgements.

    I’ve done the work only partially and still rely way too much on just feel so I understand and start off that way myself sometimes. But I have some numbers to fall back on and can solve it quickly.

    My earlier solution was stop using the pitch and use the bump and run. That too helped a lot as it reset my brain. Just having a different kind of decision tree seemed to be enough to get my feel dialed in better fast.

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    • Kevin,

      I use a combination of clock method and feel. My greatest success is when both are in the mix sometimes I just fail mentally. I too try to bump and run as much as possible. I have the greatest control on distance, however not all shots are possible with this type of short game shot. This is why I love golf, it is different most of the time we play.

      Cheers Jim

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