This Game Drives Me Nuts!!

Just when I'm ready to give up this stupid game, something happens to pull me back in. I played Sunday morning, had to play the back nine first, and had a horrible 9 holes... probably my worst of the year. I almost quit, but decided I'd go ahead and play the front nine. And of course, I had my BEST nine of the year.

How many times does this happen? Most of the time for me, it's reversed. A good front and bad back. I must say, if it has to happen, I much prefer to go home remembering a good nine. What I have to take from it is that, with the good nine, I know I'm capable of good things. No, it's not that I was just playing above my talent level. That's not possible. It's not that I was getting lucky bounces. I simply played a solid nine holes. The problem is that most of the time I'm playing below my talent level.

I've been working on improving my short game, as I've mentioned in earlier posts. While I've not made any major progress, I have been able to work on improving my technique, which has improved my ball contact. I'm still going to have to work on distance control, but with the improved fundamentals, I at least have more confidence in my ability to get the ball on the green from inside 50 yards. Naturally, that takes a little pressure off the other parts of my game and I think that's what directly lead to my improved scoring on the front nine Sunday.

What about the bad back nine? Well, I think I was just concentrating too much on technique and not enough on scoring. "Stick with the swing that brung ya" is what Harvey Penick says, and leave the practice for the practice range.