My perseverance with putting paid off yesterday. I shot my first par round ever at Monarch Dunes Golf Course!


Monarch Dunes 15th by Aidan Bradley

As I shared last week, I've struggled with my putting over the past few weeks and have felt that my putting really hasn't improved since I started playing golf. I decided it was time to take action.

I spent time putting in my living room last week and immediately became aware that I was thinking too much. Instead of focusing only on the target and intended path, as I do before striking the ball, I realized I was thinking about things like taking the putter back slowly, taking the putter back on a straight line, and following through down the line I'd chosen. I also noticed that I decelerated through the ball when I was indecisive about the break, or when I lost my focus on the hole due to letting my mind think about the mechanics of the putting stroke.

It occurred to me then that I should try putting the way I take a snapshot in hockey, taking the club or stick back a short distance and then accelerating through the shot. I gave it a try. I focused on the hole, took the putter back slowly, then confidently stroked the ball down the line towards the hole. Right away I noticed a difference. Everything about my stroke felt better. I became confident with this putting stroke after only a little practice.

As if life was confirming my newfound (and rather obvious) discovery, I then received a comment to my recent post about my putting struggles from a reader, Alexis, who shared what she had learned in a lesson that helped her improve. She was instructed to "make sure your backswing is shorter than the follow-through. You should tell the ball where to go, by hitting it, instead of letting the putter head fall on the ball."

I got a chance to try out her advice over the weekend in my monthly Men's Club tournament. I noticed a vast improvement. Although I made a couple poor lag putts down the stretch due to some competitive pressure, I didn't miss a single short putt. I even made a 40-foot putt for eagle on the par 5 ninth! I finished with a respectable 5-over 77.

Yesterday, I got another chance to try out my new "snapshot" putt. My weekend golf partner had the day off work and asked if I'd play. I invited another friend who I play with during the week to join us. This was the first time I'd played a round with both my weekend and weekday partners, and the first time they'd met.

The windy round got off to a good start with 4 straight pars and a birdie on the par 3 fifth. My ball striking and putting felt solid. On the par 5 sixth, I missed my only fairway of the round, landing in a eucalyptus grove along the right side of the fairway. My only feasible shot was to aim between two large trees and try to carry a large lake to get back to the fairway. This would leave me an easy approach to get on in three. I hit a perfect 5-wood through the trees and carried the lake with 10 yards to spare. My wedge from 105 yards in landed about 15 feet past the hole. I made the putt for my second birdie in a row.

My good fortune ended on the par 4 seventh. I hit a good drive, but it faded slightly and a strong crosswind carried the ball over the fairway into a large tree. The ball luckily bounced 90 degrees left back into the fairway, loosing only distance. My approach from there landed the green about 15 feet from the pin, leaving me a decent chance for my third birdie in a row. I got the putt to the hole, but it ran about 2-3 feet past. I was left with a breaking downhill putt for par. I hit it firm to take out the break, but lipped out and ended up 4 feet below the hole. I missed the return putt and ended up 4-putting for double bogie. Instead of getting to 3-under, I was back to even. I learned a valuable lesson though - to aim inside the cup on a firm putt within 3 feet. I had aimed right at the edge of the cup, thinking it would at least break a fraction of an inch. A costly lesson.

I put it behind me and made a good par on eight and bogied nine to end the front 1-over. Even though I recorded 18 putts on the front, I putted well other than the 4-putt on seven. The ninth was the first green I missed in regulation. I landed the front of the green from 175 yards out, but it still rolled off the back.

I saved par on the long par 4 tenth, playing especially hard yesterday into a strong wind off the coast. I then parred the next 4 holes as well. On fourteen, I duffed my 3-wood off the tee, but hit it far enough to land the beginning of the fairway, leaving me 200 yards out. I hit my hybrid to about 12 feet and sunk the putt for my first birdie on the back. I was back to even!

After another par on fifteen, I hit a 300 yard drive on the short sixteenth to 50 yards out and made par. I followed that with my best drive of the day on the 480 yard par 5 seventeenth to 170 yards out - a 310 yard drive! I then struck a 6-iron to the edge of the green and rolled up left of the pin and 2-putted for birdie. Now 2-under on the back, I teed up on eighteen at 1-under for the round, my best ever round after seventeen.

I hit decent drive and left myself inside a full sand wedge to the green. But I duffed the approach shot so badly, the ball only traveled about 10 yards! I got on with one more try and nearly sank a 15 footer for par, but ended with bogie. I had shot my first-ever even par round at Monarch Dunes, lowering my index to an all-time low of 3.7!

This was not only one of my best ever rounds striking the ball, it was without doubt one of my strongest rounds putting. I made 4 birdie putts and only missed one short putt, which lipped out. For the first time I can remember, I felt relaxed and confident over every putt. What a breakthrough!

Thanks again to those of you who shared your valuable putting tips in my previous post!

Labels: Awareness, Disciplines, Monarch Dunes, Perseverance, Putting, Rounds

A good practice session yesterday paid dividends today. I worked on becoming aware of the errors I've been making in my swing and putting stroke in order to improve them.

A large component of my goal to shoot scratch golf is to do so without instruction, in order to prevent the endless cycle of depending on others to find and fix my problems. This goal requires that I develop a keen sense of awareness.

Many golfers resist awareness since no one really likes to look at his weaknesses. In fact, the more you develop your awareness, the more weaknesses you find and the more it appears that you're getting worse instead of better. But awareness also highlights and develops your strengths, resulting in increased confidence, inspiration, motivation, and satisfaction.

Dan Millman explains in Body Mind Mastery that "life is a great school, and nature is the ultimate teacher - but without awareness you can't hear the "teacher." Awareness transforms life's lessons into wisdom; it can translate confusing circumstances and events into useful knowledge. Awareness, then, is the beginning of all learning.

So I headed out today to my great school, Monarch Dunes Golf Club, and joined up with a threesome including a father and son. I was eager to try out a few things I discovered during my practice yesterday that I hoped would improve my putting.


Monarch Dunes Golf Club 9th

I started strong with a par on the very difficult opening hole, another par on 2, and birdie on 3 with a nice 10-foot putt. I hit a wayward wedge on the approach to the par 5 4th and recorded my first bogie. Another par on 5 kept me at even par. I hit a fairway bunker on 6, then mishit a 170 yard approach shot and bogied.

Now 1-over, I parred 7, then put a 6-iron on the par 3 8th to 5 feet for a great birdie attempt to get back to even, but left it short dangling on the lip of the cup. However, the tap-in par began a streak of 9 pars in a row. I made several key putts to save par during this streak.

I stepped up to the par 4 16th still 1-over for the round and cut the dogleg with a great drive to 65 yards out. I began to consider that this might be the round that I beat my best-ever round of 75 at this 135-slope course. I'd had one other opportunity not long ago when I got to 17 at 1-over, but choked with a triple bogie on 17 and double bogie on 18 to finish with a 6-over 77!

Letting myself leave the present moment cost me again. I scalded my sand wedge to the back of the green and failed to get up and down for par.

Now 2-over, I launched a drive on 17, but pulled it and rolled across the fairway into a lake bordering the left-side of the fairway. I nailed a 5-wood after taking a drop, but landed the huge bunker guarding the green. I got on from there, but lipped out my short 2nd putt, resulting in my first 3-putt and first double bogie for the round.

Refusing to finish with another 5-over on the last few holes, I buckled down on 18 and finished with a par to get in with a 4-over 75 round, tying my best round at Monarch Dunes.

Letting my mind leave the present moment cost me a stroke on 16, and letting myself try to make up for it on 17 by over-swinging cost me another stroke and poor putt on 17.

At least I got another glimpse of the kind of round that's possible if I can learn to stay present and finish strong. Most importantly, I met my immediate goal of improving my putting. I only missed one putt that I should have made, and that was due to my mind lapse at the end of the round when I got preoccupied with the outcome.

Labels: Awareness, Body Mind Mastery, Books, Dan Millman, Disciplines, Monarch Dunes, Rounds

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