My recent progress in lowering my index-to 4 is largely a result of improved putting. My scores are getting lower and more consistent - I've scored between 77 and 79 in my last 7 rounds at my home course - even though many parts of my game remain inconsistent at times. Making more putts has increased my number of birdies which help offset those ongoing double or triple bogies, and has helped me save countless pars and bogies. This new confidence with my putting keeps me open to the possibility that I can score good rounds even after shooting a string of poor shots.



Fred Shoemaker in Extraordinary Putting says to consider "that the way you are in putting is the way you are in chipping, is the way you are in your full swing, is the way you are with your family, in your business, in life… Imagine that putting can show us our relationship to learning, how our actions and behavior are shaped by our point of view, how we view and relate to our body, and how the depth of our awareness is the only thing that will develop us. Putting can show us the assumptions and beliefs that we have come to take for granted. It can reveal the interference - the doubt and fear that stop us everywhere in life. It can also show the genius of our body and provide a pathway to performance and enjoyment that we can take to any part of the game, or to any situation in life... Consider the possibility that you may be far more able than you think and that when you let go of self-interference and increase your awareness, you will see exceptional ability emerge."

I've definitely found evidence that my strengths and weaknesses on the green are similar to ones I'm aware of in other parts of my life. Time will tell if my efforts to address these putting weaknesses and to find my own body's "inner genius" - to open up this pathway to performance and enjoyment through increased awareness - will translate to the rest of my game, and life.

Regardless, my increased awareness, resulting from being focused in the present moment, has transformed my putting from the worst part of my game into a part I am confident in and can depend on. I can actually now say that I love putting!

Labels: Awareness, Books, Extraordinary Putting, Fred Shoemaker, Putting