I pulled a Phil today. I'm such an idiot! Yes, I learned what it feels like to totally choke on the 18th coming in with an easy win.

Okay, this was just a men's club tournament, not a U.S. Open., nothing really on the line but some script money, but I still feel like an idiot!


Cypress Ridge Golf Course, 15th hole

I started today's round a little more tense that usual. I got paired with some good golfers that I haven't played with in over a year. Last time I played with any of these guys, I was about a 10-12 handicap at this course. These golfers are all long-time low handicappers. Now that my handicap is down under 4 and I'm currently leading the men's club in point standings, I feel like the "real" players who haven't seen me play in a while are watching me closely to see if I can really play, or if my index and standings are just a fluke.

So, a little tense, I was happy when I at least hit a decent drive off the first tee, but I came up short on my approach shot. I then hit a poor lob wedge over the green to the back fringe, and 3-putted from there for double bogie. I took a deep breath on the next tee and was rewarded with a perfect 7-iron right at the pin, but I hit it so well that it bounced off the back of the green. I couldn't imagine that an 8-iron was the right club for this 163-yard downhill hole, but apparently is was. Still feeling my nerves, my first thought was to just forget scoring well today and enjoy the round. But the guy with me in the cart then gave me a smile and reminded me there's a lot of golf left. I needed the reminder. I then hit a lob wedge to just 4 feet past the hole and made the return putt for par. Whew! Just hang in there.

I then hit 3 great shots into the par 5 third and 2-putted for par, but I still felt tense. I then hit an 8-iron over the green on the uphill par 3 fourth and chunked the resulting chip back, but managed to roll up to the fringe. I then smashed my putt from the fringe 6 feet past the hole. The putt was so bad, one guy asked me what I was thinking! Good question. I collected myself, focused, and sunk the return putt for a much needed bogie. Now 3-over after 4, I just made myself settle down. I just reminded myself to get back to playing my game, one shot at a time. Forget the outcome, have fun.

I succeeded. I went on to shoot 2 birdies to finish the front just 1-over, then birdied again on 15 to get back to even! I started crushing my drives and hitting quality irons into the greens. My putting just kept improving too. I sank some pretty impressive par and birdie putts. I then parred the difficult 16th and 17th and walked up to 18 still even par, 4 strokes ahead of anyone else in the group! I felt pretty confident at this point. I was striking the ball well and can often give myself a decent chance to hit a fairway wood into this par 5 to get on in two and get an easy birdie.

Again, I crushed another good drive, but pulled the shot slightly left and landed a deep fairway bunker. No problem, I can still layup and play for par. I picked the ball out perfectly with an 8-iron, probably one of my best-ever shots out of a deep bunker, leaving me only 95 yards in to the green, and over a lake. Oh, did I mention the lake? Yes, I did. Splash! I dropped next to the lake. Splash again! Jeez, I now was sitting 6 and not on yet.

Still a little rattled, I got the third one over, but nowhere near the pin. I really wanted to make this long putt for triple bogie, but missed by a fraction of an inch to the left and left the ball above and past the hole. I didn't even leave myself with an easy putt for a quadruple bogie! I took another deep breath. Thank God! I made the slippery putt and ended with a 4-over 76!

Turns out, three golfers including myself shot 76 today to tie for the lead, but our club uses the score on your back nine to break ties. My 39 was the highest. I went from 1st to 3rd simply by getting a quadruple bogie on the last hole when all I needed was a triple! I hope Phil feels better now. One guy tried to make me feel better by telling me Tiger shot 76 today too, landing a lake on 17 AND 18. Funny, that did make me feel better.

Oh well, I'll chalk it up as another learning experience. It appears that Phil has begun to recover from his mishap and I will too. But to be honest, I sure would have loved to shoot my first par in a tournament round! I'll get more chances though. I played extraordinary golf today for 16 holes, going 2-under between the first and last holes. Hard to believe I went 6-over on the other 2, but I'm not going to wine about a 76. I played some good golf today! And I'm pretty sure my playing partners now know my game is no fluke. They were even routing for me!

Labels: Cypress Ridge, Rounds

I am now a member of three men's clubs at two different local golf courses. Last year I joined my first men's club to get some experience playing competitively. I quickly got down to a 10 handicap and progressively improved all year, getting down to a 4.2 towards the end of the year. I even won the Net Club Championship!


Cypress Ridge 8th Green

This year I became a charter member of another men's club at a new local course that just opened last year. Both of these men's clubs play monthly tournaments on the weekend and fortunately don't have any conflicting dates. I also just put together a team for a third men's club that plays 9 hole stroke and match play tournaments every Tuesday night at our new course.

Things are off to a great start. I'm currently ranked first in points in the first men's club after playing 5 tournaments and just won the gross competition in our first Tuesday night event. I tied for 3rd gross in the first event of the season at our new course.

We have our sixth tournament at the first course on Sunday. I haven't played this course but once since last month's tournament and it's greens are significantly slower than the new course I now play more often, so I headed out today for a practice round to get the feel for the greens. Boy, did that turn out to be a good idea!

I 3-putted the 1st 2 greens and again on the 5th! My lag putts were just coming up way too short. However, the rest of my game was incredible. I hit a personal record 15 greens in regulation, hitting every green on the front nine, and hit a respectable 12 fairways, barely missing the other 2.

After getting to a quick 3-over after those 3-putts in the first 5 holes, I then recorded 10 pars, 2 birdies, and 1 double bogie to end with a 3-over 75. I nearly eagled 2 holes. I drove the par 4 7th green and came up a few inches short on my 10 foot eagle putt. I then hit the long par 5 13th in 2 with a 3-wood (which I've only done once before), and missed that 15 foot eagle putt by an inch. Those were my 2 birdies. I missed an easy 6 foot birdie putt on the par 5 9th and another on the par 3 11th.

I only had one bad hole. I hit a good drive on 15, but plugged my ball in a green-side bunker on my 9-iron approach. I got the ball out with a sand wedge, but it ran across the green into a bunker on the other side. I then got on and nearly made my bogie putt. I almost got another eagle opportunity on 18, hitting a 5-wood over a lake onto the green from 210 yards out, but barely bounced over the green into another bunker. I got out and 2 putted for par, ending the round 38/37/75 with a whopping 37 putts! If I'd 2 putted those first 3 greens and made just one of the eagle putts or easy birdie putts on 9 or 11, I could have easily gone under par.

Regardless, I had more fun playing this round than I have in a while. I played aggressively and gave myself a lot of quality eagle and birdie chances. I really only hit one bad shot all day, the one which ended up being plugged in the bunker on 15. That wasn't even that bad a shot. It was a very rewarding and fun round which I hope prepared me for a great round on Sunday with better putting.

What I learned today is how well I play when I don't over emphasize scoring. I truly enjoyed my company today, playing with a friend and a couple we hooked with from Southern California, and simply took pleasure in making good shots. I didn't even react one bit to any of my 3-putts. I just picked up my ball and walked to the next tee, happy to be playing golf!

Labels: Cypress Ridge, Rounds

Some of my best shots come immediately after duffing the previous shot or blowing the previous hole. I've learned to put bad shots and bad holes behind me, refocus, and move on. Dealing positively with negative events is key to playing artful golf.

But more importantly, I've learned to enjoy my good shots. Celebrating your good shots and letting yourself truly feel happy about making them reinforces that behavior and helps harnesses that energy. I'm not suggesting you go around doing fist pumps and high fives all day, using up valuable energy and irritating your playing partners, but that you acknowledge the great shot with some form of internal self-congratulation. Be grateful that your focus on learning and enjoyment is improving your shots and your game.


Cypress Ridge Golf Course by golfslo at flickr.com

Just over year ago, I had the privilege of playing a round of golf with PGA golf instructor, Jim DeLaby, awarded two-time Teacher and Club Fitter of the Year by the PGA of Southern California Northern Chapter. Jim stressed to not only to enjoy your good shots, but to imprint those good shots into your mind, helping to reproduce them more consistently.

Replay it again and again so you can see, hear and feel it. Maintain this simple routine until you can relive the whole sensation of the shot and all the senses it unleashed at the flick of a mental switch. DeLaby suggested that I hold my finish just a second longer on those good shots to help anchor and reinforce the shot in my memory.

He even suggested I replay one of those good shots in my memory immediately after making a poor shot, to help flush the bad shot from my memory and replace it with a successful one. When you are faced with a similar shot in the future, you can rewind to that great moment and ask yourself to do it again.

I had this opportunity yesterday in a round at Cypress Ridge Golf Course using my 3-wood from the fairway. I've only recently begun hitting this club well with any consistency on the range. I had the chance to try it out on the course on two par 5's yesterday.

On the 516 yard third hole, I hit an average drive into the wind, leaving myself with a long shot to carry three fairway bunkers and leave myself with a wedge in. Most players would have chosen to lay up in front of the bunkers, but I felt confident I could get everything out of my 3-wood. I visualized the swing path and ball flight I'd executed on the range and let her rip. I killed it, landing in the fairway, just carrying the bunkers. Nice shot!

Then on the 531 yard par 5 thirteenth, I hit one of my best drives (second only to a 325 yard drive on six where you get a nice downhill roll if you carry the top of the hill), leaving myself with 245 yards to the center of the green. In all the many times I've played this course, I've never reached this green in two. I've only seen one other player do it. Even from this distance, it is wise to lay up since the green is so well guarded with bunkers. There's no room to run up to the green, you have to carry the entire distance. I decided I'd try to reproduce the shot I made on the third and go for it with my 3-wood. I visualized the shot again, and let her go. My ball landed on the left edge of the green and rolled to the back, pin high! What a shot!

Even though I didn't record a very good round, I walked away satisfied. I hit some great shots, and celebrated in doing so.

Labels: Cypress Ridge, Jim DeLaby, Rounds

This winter, I've spent most of my available free time playing golf instead of practicing golf. With flexible hours working from home, I can usually sneak out for one or two rounds of golf during the week and once over the weekend. But I haven't been making time for practice, assuming I can maintain my current level of play just being on the course. Instead, my index has drifted from my recent low of 4 back up to 5.

Last fall, I spent many of my lunch breaks at Cypress Ridge Golf Course working on my chipping and putting and hitting balls on the range. I was using my practice sessions to not only improve my ball striking, accuracy, putting, and touch around the greens, but also my concentration and visualization skills.


Cypress Ridge Golf Course 18th

My game began to improve quickly. I started hitting more fairways and greens in regulation. I succeeded in getting chips close to the pin and making putts for birdies and pars far more often.

During the last three months of last year, I not only scored my first round of 75, but recorded a total of nine rounds of 75 or lower and shot my first hole-in-one! My index quickly dropped from 7 to 4. In the nine months prior, I'd only seen a gradual decrease in my index from around 10 to 7.

Although my game has become pretty consistent now without practice, with nearly 80 percent of my rounds under 80, I haven't recorded a single round below 77. Those low scores just don't happen unless you're hitting greens in regulation and making a lot of putts for birdie and par. As should be expected, that part of my game has slipped a little without practice.

Looks like I'll be spending a little more time back on the range and practice green.

Labels: Courses, Cypress Ridge, Disciplines, Practice