As much as I wish to break 70 this year, my biggest goal is to play as many beautiful golf courses in the U.S. and around the world as I can in the next few decades. Above all, I'm a nature lover, and I'd love to discover more courses located in scenic natural settings.


Pebble Beach by caterwauler at flickr.com

My wish list already includes some expected locations such as Pebble Beach, Bandon Dunes, Whistling Straits, Kidnappers, Ballybunion, etc.

I'm hoping those of you reading this entry will contribute your own suggestions by adding a comment. Please let me know what courses you've played that I just have to add to my wish list! Thank you in advance.

Labels: Golf Destinations

"The golf swing, no matter how memorized, is a creative act born out of the conditions of the moment, no two of which are ever the same. Whereas you can reduce the swing to it's individual pieces, you cannot reduce the game to science. It is an art and you are the artist." -- Lynn Molhan

If in fact, there is a secret to playing artful golf, I'd have to say that it's taking the game one creative shot at a time, while letting go of all expectations and judgments before and after each shot. I finally got back in that mindset for a short time this week. After struggling lately to even break 80, I realized I was simply trying too hard to regain my past success. I decided to let go of expectations and just play the game. Better results followed immediately.


Artful shot by konderminator at flickr.com

During my 9-hole Tuesday night league this week, I was matched against a scratch golfer, 20 years younger than me. He had to give me 2 strokes. We both missed the green on the first hole and left our chips too far out to expect par. I 2-putted for bogie. He lipped his second putt and gave me the first hole. The next hole was a long par 5 which I've never seen anyone hit in two. My opponent missed doing so by hitting slightly left of the green with a 3-wood after an absolutely huge drive. I got on in three and 2-putted for par. His chip went a little long and he missed his birdie putt. Still up one. I stroked on the next hole which we both bogied. Up two. We both missed the green on the following par 4, but my pitch from behind the green ran past the pin and went off the green on the other side. He had a slippery downhill putt for par. I chipped in from 15 feet for par! He missed his 10 foot putt and bogied. Up three! We both parred the next par 3. Still up three.

My driver kicked into gear on the following par 4. I hit a 300 yard drive to 60 yards out. He followed with a huge pull left. He got on in three. I put my second shot about 15 feet beyond the pin, leaving me with a difficult breaking putt, but an easy par. He was looking at a makable par putt. I aimed about 3 feet outside the hole and watched the putt trickle in for birdie! I'd closed him out - up four with three to go! We finished the round since we also compete for strokes. We both bogied the next par 5 and parred the following par 4. On our final hole, the course's most difficult, I stroked again. He led off with a monster drive into the wind, leaving himself with a 130 yard approach. Rarely does anyone get inside 160 yards! I surprised all of us with another huge drive and was amazed to find myself only 5 yards behind his ball when we arrived in the fairway. We both made good shots in and 2-putted for par. I won 5 holes to his zero and shot 38 (net 36) to his 42.

The next day, I took the afternoon off to play another local course to practice for an upcoming tournament this weekend. I started off like I left off the night before. I chipped and 1-putted for par on the par 4 1st. I managed a sandy par on the par 3 2nd by sinking a 30 foot putt. My drive on the par 5 3rd went behind a tree. I punched out, but landed a fairway bunker. I left my third shot short and left of the green, but again, I chipped up and made a 10 footer for par. I parred the next 3 holes to remain even par after 6. Then I birdied 7, 8 and 9 to go 3-under on the front, shooting my first-ever 33 for nine holes! I did it with only 12 putts and 5 GIRs.

I started the back nine trying to stay present in the moment and not start thinking about the potential outcome. I missed a 10 footer for birdie on 10 and a 15 footer for birdie on 11. Still 3-under after 11. I hit a good drive on 12, then hit a wedge quite a bit left of the pin to avoid going right over a deep bunker guarding the right-side pin. My long lag putt stayed right on line, but went past the hole about 4 feet. On the front nine and during my round the night before, I sunk every putt within 5 feet. That streak ended on 12 when I 3-putted for my first bogie of the round. Still 2-under.

I got greedy on the following par 5 and tried to get on in 2 with a 3-wood after hitting a long drive. I landed the frontside bunker. The pin was back, so I took a big swing from the bunker, but didn't take enough sand and ended up well past the steep sloping green. I pitched on and barely missed my 15 foot putt for par. Another bogie and back to 1-under. I pulled out a par on the par 4 14th after missing my first fairway on the back. On 15, I hit an incredible drive, leaving me with a short pitch to the green. The pin was back behind a mound which I barely failed to carry. My ball ended up near the top of the mound, leaving me a pretty good chance for a 2-putt par. But while I was walking up to remove the pin, my ball rolled back down the hill about 10 feet! Still, I made a good putt over the breaking mound, leaving another 4 footer for par. I missed. Now back to even par!

With 3 holes to go, I started thinking a little more about what I needed to do to come in even or better. The par 4 16th is the hardest hole on the course, but 17 always proves to have the highest scoring average during tournaments. However, I can usually reach the par 5 18th in 2, providing a nice birdie opportunity. So, I guess I let my mind start getting ahead of the shot at hand and began to focus on the desired outcome. Regardless, I parred 16, then landed the par 3 17th with a nice tee shot. However, I left my 1st putt short and gave myself yet another 4 footer for par. I missed one more time and went to 1-over. I still had my birdie opportunity at 18! I hit another great drive and landed the green in 2 as planned. But again, I was left with a difficult putt over a huge mound. I picked a good line, but came up 3 feet short. I lipped out my birdie putt and 3-putted for the fourth time in last seven holes!

I'd ended the front nine 3-under with 12 putts and 5 GIRs, but managed to go 4-over on the back with a whopping 22 putts after hitting 8 GIRs! Nevertheless, I really had fun during my last two rounds and am excited that my game is going back in the right direction!

One artful shot at a time! One artful shot at a time! One artful shot at a time! Okay, I think I got it.

Stay centered in the current moment with the current shot. The past has slipped away, the future will take care of itself. Remain centered in the artful now.

Labels: Centeredness, Disciplines, Rounds

I've been in a bit of a fog lately and have just played horrible, gradually working up to my worst score in a year last week, shooting 88. My lack of confidence reached such a low last week that I finally seeked professional help and took my first golf lesson. Fortunately, the lesson was more of a coaching session, and I found it very helpful. My shoulders are more square to the target and my posture has improved. In my horrible round following the lesson, although I played poorly, I hit 4 drives further than I've ever hit a drive before! Just incredible. I'm pretty sure I can work the changes I made with my driver all the way through the bag.


Fog no Itaara Golf by Claudio Marcon at flickr

But my swing isn't the root of my stuggles lately, it's my attention. It's transferred from simply taking aim at a precice target to just trying too hard to get my scores back down. Fortunately, I ran across a helpful article by Chuck Hogan this morning titled "Energy follows attention", which I hope inspires my play today. I've shared an excerpt from his article below.

When you are playing golf, your attention is supposed, and meant to be on ball-to-target. Now those are NOT three words! That is one comprehensive image. And the image includes, by definition, the hit, the trajectory, flight, landing bounce, roll and completion. This is NOT for study by the conscious mind. This is NOT visualizing as the industry has suggested. This is NOT for figuring out. This is simply a look at the ball, target and conditions and LETTING your experience do the figuring for you. You do the same thing in walking, driving, typing and a million other things. Simply allow your attention to do the doing. You do want to deliver this ball to that target don't you?

Without doubt, the golf instruction industry has lead golfers down the road of incessantly interfering with your attention. We golfers are the victims of our own "smart" minds. We somehow got the idea that bringing every nuance of the swing, chip, pitch, sand and specialty shot to the attention of the conscious mind is going to help. In fact, it is the highest form of interference.

Every golfer of experience knows that the best scores and shots "just happen" and "I didn't even think about it". The misinterpretation is that we didn't think about it consciously. The fact is that we temporarily forgot to think consciously and turned the "thinking" over to the subconscious to play the shot (instead of all the concerns of the conscious mind) and low and behold, energy followed the subtle directions of the subconscious. A golf shot was born.

Labels: Articles, Attention, Chuck Hogan, Disciplines

I just began reading Every Shot Must Have a Purpose by Annika Sorenstam's coach Pia Nilsson and Lynn Marriott, cofounders of GOLF54, rated as the #1 golf school by Golf Magazine.

In the little I've read so far, I've learned that, like me, they don’t believe in prescribing the same stance, grip, and swing to everyone. They believe we are each unique, that golf can be simple, that we all have extraordinary golf within us, that we can become our own most reliable coaches, and their success has proven to them that a great game begins with a great vision.


Golf Stream by swatzo at flickr.com

They share that, "you don't need a new swing, you need a more defined sense of purpose. You have hit good shots with the swing you have." They focus on teaching you how to make those shots more often by improving the way you approach the game. Essential to this approach is the notion that you should only concern yourself with the things that are under your control. Not only should every shot have a purpose, but every action should have a purpose as well. And the purpose of golf is to get the ball in the hole. To get the ball in the hole as efficiently as possible, you must channel your energies only toward those things you can influence, what they refer to as "controllable goals". Your score, winning, bad bounces, and bad weather are not under our control. Keeping your mind centered on the shot at hand, and swinging free of tension, are controllable goals.

The core of their philosophy is that extraordinary golf begins with great vision. Without vision, we tend to set our expectations too low and limit our potential. Our vision must stretch us and expand the beliefs we have about ourselves. Nilsson and Marriott tell us to "imagine the impossible, and then figure out how to make it happen." They suggest as an example, envisioning that we can shoot a birdie on every hole in a single round! You may not be able to achieve a score of 54, but you can stay committed to a process that can make it possible. The commitment to the intention of shooting 54 is the secret.

Whatever you envision for yourself, they urge us to "dare to be as good as we are, believe in the potential of yourself and others, stay open to possibilities, and remember, your past is not your future." Sounds a little like something Fred Shoemaker would say!

For some inspiration in finding your vision and following your dream, make sure to listen to Steve Job's commencement speech at Stanford University, made available here by John Richardson at Scratch to Scratch.

Pia Nilsson, Lynn Marriott, Steve Jobs, and John Richardson have inspired me to step back and rededicate myself to playing extraordinary golf. I've drifted a little lately because I've lost focus on my original vision and goals, resulting in practicing and playing without purpose. Look for that to change!

Labels: Books, Disciplines, Every Shot Must Have a Purpose, Lynn Marriott, Pia Nilsson, Purpose, Vision

Although I try not to place too much focus on scoring when playing golf, I do enjoy keeping statistics to track my improvement (or recent lack thereof). I didn't keep track of all my scores during my first 9 months of playing golf in 2005, when I played weekly, but have recorded every score since. I began to develop a handicap towards the end of 2005 and lowered my index to 10.4 by the start of 2006. Since then, I've been averaging 10-12 rounds per month and reduced my index to a low of 3.3. After enjoying 6 months in a row now with an index under 5.0, I've drifted back up to the high end of this range in the past month due to a lack of practice.


Handicap history for past 12 months

After only breaking 80 twice in all of 2005, I began to break 80 in 1 out of every 8 rounds in the first quarter of 2006, then 1 out of every 5 rounds in the second quarter of 2006, then 2 out every 5 rounds in the third quarter, and improved to better than 1 out of every 2 rounds by the last quarter of last year! Then, during the first quarter of 2007, I began breaking 80 in 2 out of every 3 rounds! I've also avoided a single round in the 90's for over a year.


History of scores for past 16 months

But in the past month, I've regressed to where I was late last year, and am back to shooting in the 80's in half of my rounds. Due to what I hope is my recent lack of practice, all parts of my game have lost consistency and it's costing me strokes. I think I know how I'll spend a few more lunch breaks this month!

Labels: Disciplines, Practice