2015 In 6 Achievements

It is that time of year when it seems every magazine and television program does a review of the year so I have decided to join in. This has been my best year yet and here are what I consider my most important golfing achievements from 2015.

• My handicap has dropped from 5 to 3 and while I always want more this represents solid progress. My main goal this year was not to lower my handicap but to play more competitions and to gain experience. Due to this I have played a lot of rounds at courses I have little experience of and in some cases I had never played before. If I had stayed at my home club as I have in the past I may have got to a lower handicap but I know I would not be as complete of a player.

• Towards the end of the summer I set the goal of getting to scratch. Prior to this I doubted I would be able to get anywhere near scratch. Sports have never been an area where I have excelled in the past and I had let this affect how good I thought I could become at golf. For me just setting the goal and committing myself to it required a level of belief in myself that I had never had before.

• This summer I was able to win the club championship at my home club. I have never been a particularly competitive person so for me winning represents what I can do if I put my mind to something rather than showing I was better than other people. While getting a trophy and having people recognize the effort I put in is great, the real victory was proving to myself what I can do.

• I am also proud of the way I have started entering open competitions this year. This has not really been a golfing achievement but an achievement in pushing my comfort zones. I have always been a quiet and anxious person so I am pleased that I was able to enter a completely new environment and become comfortable in that situation. I can say that I am a more confident person having done this and I can use that away from the golf course as well.

• This year marked the first time I have played rounds under par. I had shooting an under par round as a goal coming into the year and looking back that was probably not the best idea because it put a lot of pressure on me whenever I got into a good position. This goal is one of the few things that has frustrated me this year, particularly after I lipped out twice in the same round to shoot my first under par round. Ultimately though the pressure and frustration made my first under par round more rewarding when it finally came.

• Helping my club reach the final of our county scratch knockout competition was another proud moment this year. As a team in division 3 this was definitely not expected of us and along the way we were to play against some very good golfers at some of the best courses in the area which is always a bonus.

There are many other moments I could have put on this list but I feel the more I pick out the less special each one will become. Following over the next few days will be a post about my plans and goals for 2016 when hopefully I will be able to reach a scratch handicap!

Transition into Competition

Over the last two years I have begun to play in more serious competitions for the first time and I would like to share my thoughts on how this is different to casual play. I would also like to reflect on if this has changed my approach or enjoyment of the game in general.

I started playing golf just before I turned 7 and I first joined a club when I was 10. For a few years after joining I did not play in club competitions and it was not until I was 14 or 15 I began to play competitions at my club regularly. From being 12 I started to play on my club's junior team which was always a great experience. The junior team organizer never put any pressure on me to play well and the focus was always on having fun over the result. As I have grown up my joy for the game has strengthened and I decided I want to try playing competitively. In 2014 I played some matches for my club's scratch team and I played in a few opens at local clubs.

When I played my first open events I was playing off around 6 and I was nervous. I was playing with people I did not know for the first time and at courses I did not know. This was also the first time I had to drive myself to somewhere I was unfamiliar with which was something else I was not used to. With all of these changes it is not surprising I did not play my best golf in these first events. Despite how uncomfortable I felt at times I knew I wanted to play competitively again this year.

At the start of this year I decided to push myself by entering a few county level events. I took it slowly at first, entering a couple of events at a time and seeing how they went. I mainly entered these events for experience knowing I had little chance of winning. For example one event I played had a handicap limit of 5, exactly what I was playing off. On the start sheet I saw the county champion was playing. It was his home club and he was off plus 3 but I was keen to play just to gain experience. I measured my success in events not by score or finishing position, but by how much I had learned.

After a few events I discovered I was not as out of place as I thought and my nerves began to drop. I had always felt lost on the practice range at these competition before because I somehow felt my swing and routine did not fit in. As I got used to the environment I realized that what I was doing was just as effective as what most people were doing and my nerves began to drop. I started to play to my full potential and I had a degree of success. To some people finishing 8th in the county Under 25s Championship would not be a big achievement but I was incredibly pleased with this because it showed me I had been able to adapt to competitive golf.

My approach this year has been to slowly get used to competitive golf. I did want to rush and lose confidence but at the same time I wanted to keep pushing myself. It was a fine line to walk but I think this was the right way to go about it. It was important for me to have friends and family who understood why I was playing competitions. I needed the people around me to understand that I was not interested in the results but in what I had learned. They understood that regardless of score if I thought the competition had been a success then it was.

Part of me was worried that as soon as I introduced competition I would lose the love for the game I had as a child. Golf had always felt the same to me from when I first started and I knew I risked changing that. When I went out to play I did not have care in the world; It was like I was transported back to being a 6 year-old first picking up a club. Fortunately playing competitions has not changed this. I believe this is because I do not make a big deal of where I finish in the field. I use competitions to challenge myself and see how good my game is as opposed to playing to win. By doing this I have been able to keep the same attitude I have always had to the game. The only real effect competitive play has had on is to motivate me because I want to go back to these events next year and beat how I did this year.

Competitions have also had a positive effect on both my physical and mental health. Most of the events I have played have been 36 holes in one day. During the first of these events this year I really struggled during the final 9 holes and my score reflected this. At first my posture went, then later I lost power and accuracy. The final competition I played this year was 72 holes over 2 days with a cut after the first day. I arrived at the course just after 8 am and due to weather delays did not finish the second round until after 8 pm. It was 9:30 pm when I got home and having missed the cut I was at a different course at 8:30 am the next day to play in a match for my club. While I was tired after this it was a long way from how I felt during my first 36 hole event of the year despite having done no training for stamina other than playing in competitions.

Over the summer my concentration also improved dramatically. I still occasionally lose focus on the golf course but this happens far less frequently than it used to which I believe is purely because I have been training my mind to concentrate for long periods of time in competitions. This has lead to far fewer mistakes during a round and I believe more consistent scores as a result of this.

Hopefully this has been helpful to people because taking the plunge into competitive play can be very daunting. There was definitely a temptation to not even try competitive golf for me but I am glad I have done because my enjoyment of the game has increased. I enjoy being able to test myself and it has provided me with an extra source of motivation. I would urge anyone who is thinking about trying competitive golf to give it a try. This could mean entering just one small event at first and seeing how it goes. The most important lesson I have learnt is that I do not need to be the best player in the competition to have fun.

Working On Strengths

I am sure we have all been told at some point that we need to work on our weaknesses. This is common advice not just in golf but in most disciplines. We are told we are not going to improve by practicing what we are already good at and instead we should focus our efforts elsewhere.

In my goal to get to scratch I decided I should take on board this advice for my golf game. As it is currently the off-season I decided now was the perfect moment to focus on my weakness. In recent weeks my driving has been my weakness so I decided this is where I should focus my efforts for maximum improvement. What I learnt surprised me and is not what I expected to happen.

After devoting a larger percentage of my practice time to my driving I was confident I had improved when stepping onto the course for my next round. I hit more fairways than I had in previous rounds but my score was higher. I was sure I had improved because I had worked on the most inconsistent part of my game so I figured this score was an anomaly. But it then happened for the next two rounds and I decided I needed to reconsider my strategy.

Not only had my scores increased but I had enjoyed my rounds much less. This was a sure sign for me that something was wrong in my approach because the only reason I have been able to get to the level I am at is by enjoying the game. I realized I had neglected practicing my strength which was my short game. I had been so intent on improving my weaknesses I had forgotten the part of the game I enjoyed the most.

One of my strongest memories of watching golf on television is watching Luke Donald become world number one in 2011. He was able to do this through his incredible short game which I have always wanted to emulate. In 2011 he actually finished down in 127th in Total Driving on the PGA Tour. Over the last few seasons Keegan Bradley and Henrik Stenson have consistently wanked high in the total driving category and I had started to try to emulate them. Logically this seems like good idea but it felt wrong because I had moved away from the area I enjoy the most.

Instead of trusting my short game to score I was focusing on hitting fairways. I had forgotten how I naturally play which is to get the ball near the green and rely on my short game. Instead I was trying to play the way I was told would be more consistent and it was not helping me. While it will help if I hit more fairways focusing exclusively on that was a mistake.

From now on I will spend more time practicing my driving but I will also maintain my focus on the short game. I want to maintain a playing style that is natural to me because I know that will give me the best results in the long run.  Instead of learning to drive the ball like Keegan Bradley, I will learn how Luke Donald played to reach world number one. That is, I will learn how to drive the ball like Keegan Bradley through learning to play like Luke Donald.

The Low Handicapper View on Handicaps

How often do we hear words to the effect of "It's not fair I have to give away all these shots"? I know this is a common view among the low handicap players I know. This interests me because in my opinion the handicap system is one of the best things about golf.

In a recent match at my club I had to give my opponent 17 shots. Some of the low handicap players thought I had no chance in this match because I was giving my opponent nearly a shot a hole. As he hit a long and straight drive down the first hole there were even some laughs. The match turned out to be one of the most enjoyable and closest I have played. Neither of us were ever more than 1 hole ahead and it finished on the 18th.

I was able to enjoy this so much because of the handicap system. The truth of life is that most people do not like being significantly less able at something than others and in many situations this leads them to quit. I often wonder how many 20 handicappers would not play the game without the handicap system. So many people are competitive and if they are finishing 20 shots behind someone then they are going to question why they are trying. Part of the reason I enjoyed this match was because I got on well with my opponent and without handicaps he may not even be playing the game.

I also enjoy handicaps because they provide a track of how I have been improving over time. I love feedback on my progress and a handicap provides just that. I got my first handicap aged 10 and it was 36. Each time I think about that I realize just how much I have improved over the last 10 years. I can not think of any other sports where there is hard evidence of how much a player has improved which is just another great thing about handicaps.

Handicaps also enable the game to grow with the player. 5 or so years ago I was playing off around 20 and due to handicaps I had just as much chance of winning something then as I do now even though I am playing off 3. If I was a tennis player who started at my local club, as I have with golf, I may have needed to leave to seek stronger opposition elsewhere once I became one of the best players in the club. While I do go out of my way to play with scratch or near scratch golfers it is for different reasons and I have not had to leave my local club because of a lack of challenge.

I think a lot of the dislike for the handicap system among low handicaps is caused by competitiveness. I understand that it is not nice to be beaten by someone who has shot 10 shots higher than me. I have been in that situation too but I am not angered by it. I am a very competitive person but I do not mind losing because I am only competitive with myself. I play competitions to test myself. I always want to do better than the previous time, that could be putt better, hit more fairways, or even just enjoy myself more. I every time I am beaten by someone who has taken more shots than me I just hope they are enjoying winning as much as I did when I was in their position.

I would be really interested to hear other people's opinion on handicaps so please leave comments. I know I will continue to enjoy the level playing field they offer.

Unconventional Golf Tuition

Some of the most common advice for people who want to get better at golf is to see a professional. This is advice I have given myself and is something that I do myself. We hear about how the best players in the world have access to the best teachers in the world. I have begun thinking about this and how I can have the best tuition in the world.

In the modern world we do not need to be near someone to learn from them. We have the telephones, television, and the internet. The golf world is only just waking up to this in comparison to other industries. There are hundreds of online courses online for learning how to write computer code but so little practical information is online specifically for golfers. This got me thinking; Can advice from other areas of life apply to golf?

I have long believed that golf is one of the most diverse games so I am sure I can learn from other areas of life. People have long looked for similarities between the golf swing and movements in other sports. A clear example of this is seen in the swing of Tommy Gainey, who says that he based his swing on a baseball movement.

If movements from other sports can be used to great success in golf, then what about mental approaches? What if lessons can be learned in other areas of life, not just sports, that can then be applied to golf? The benefits of this are clear, a technique only has to been learned once and it can then be used in different areas of a person's life. For example, maybe a person is learning a new language and they find a method that helps them speed up their learning, they could then use this same method to learn new ideas in golf more quickly. I am not aware of this idea having been explored deeply so I intend to use myself as an experiment. From what I watch on television to what I read, I will see if I can find something that I can apply to golf.

This Is Easy...Oh!

I was fortunate enough this past weekend to play the beautiful Burford Golf Club. For the 1st November in the UK the weather was fantastic too with sunny skies, warm temperatures, and barely a breath of wind. Despite this I was not feeling well when I arrived at the course and only made about 5 full swings in my warm up. Ultimately I think this helped me because I was not worried about playing well and I forgot about swing mechanics.

With not a care in the world I played the first two holes perfectly and was stood on the tee of the long par four third at 2 under. After pushing 2 shots I found myself in the greenside bunker. I immediately liked the look of the shot. I looked at the target, made the swing, and watched as the ball disappeared into the hole.

At 3 under I badly hooked my tee shot on the 4th but worked hard to save my par. I lipped out for birdie of the 5th and despite pulling my drive on the par 5 6th and being forced to lay up, made another birdie. I got away with a bad tee shot on the 7th and hit another iron close to go 5 under. I just missed my birdie put at the par 3 8th and was able to find the green in 2 on the par 5 9th despite driving under a tree. I left my putt short but tapped in for a 6 under front 9 30! This is by far the best I have ever played, particularly as I was not on a course I know well. I was not worried about protecting my score at this point, I wanted to keep going and see how low I could shoot.

Good up and downs at 10 and 11 meant I stayed at 6 under headed to the par 5 12th. A simple birdie there after a good drive and reaching in 2 took me to 7 under and the lowest I have ever been. I decided to hit driver on the short par 4 13th because I wanted to stay aggressive. The drive I hit would not have been a disaster in the summer but with the autumn leaves it resulted in a lost ball and a double bogey. A few poor drives and near misses with the putter meant I only managed to finish at 2 under but I was still pleased with a 69 at an unfamiliar course.

Dropping 5 shots in the last 6 holes looks like a bad collapse so I feel like I need to analyse why that happened. I do not feel like it was a mental issue in this case. I did not think about mechanics at all during the round and I do not think I changed my attitude or my strategy from when it was going well to when I started dropping shots.

I think it is more a case of I stopped getting away with my mistakes and I misjudged a few putts. On the front 9 I only hit 3 out of 7 fairways but got away with those mistakes, whereas on the back 9 I was punished for a similar number of misses. From this I know I need to work on my accuracy off the tee. As this was not a long course having a shot I could have gone to with a shorter club would have really helped so that is something I will work on during my next trip to the range as well as practicing my driving.

While most people would probably be disappointed with my finish to this round I am thankful for it. As strange as that sounds I am pleased that this happened in a round with nothing on the line instead of during a competition. I feel a reason a lot of people get frustrated at finishing a round the way I did is because they fear they may never be in such a good position again. I have a lot of confidence in my approach to the game so I am sure that I can improve and be in the same position or a better one at some point in the future.

Initial Progress

I now have some progress to show for taking the first steps towards my goal. When I started writing this blog I was in a rest period where I was practicing less and instead focusing on enjoying the success I have had this year. I have always found it important to remember to enjoy my achievements as opposed to simply moving straight on to the next target. As I came back from my short break my game was not quite where I wanted it to be and 2 relatively poor rounds saw my handicap increase to 3.4 from 3.2.

2 weeks after these rounds I went out to play the final medal of the year at my home club and what followed was one of my strangest rounds of golf. Reflecting on the round it appears that the 1st hole sums up the whole round fairly well.  The hole is a par 5 that on this day was probably just on the edge of my range for reaching in 2 shots. I pushed the drive into the trees on the right but decided all I had to do was hit a fade with a 5 iron to get back to the fairway and leave a wedge into the green. I hit the 5 iron very fat and still had 230 yards left to the green. I then hit a fairly good shot with my hybrid next to the green and chipped in to start with an unlikely birdie. The 2nd is a drive-able par 4 and I came up just short with my tee shot. I have a lot of confidence in my chipping and I used this to help me hit the ball close for a tap-in birdie. I then played the 3rd perfectly and hitting a drive round the middle and wedge to 8 feet, resulting in another birdie. After being 3 under through 3 I bogeyed the 6th and the long par 3 9th. At the halfway stage I pleased to be back under par after my 2 previous rounds. I lost a ball on the 10th and was able to make a long putt to save a bogey before making my 3rd straight bogey at the 11th. At this point I was not disappointed because I knew I had just hit a few stray shots and was still playing well. This is something I often tell myself after a few bad holes and it helps me remind myself that I can still shoot a good score. Following this thought I bounced back with consecutive birdies at 12 and 13 before another lost ball on the 17th resulted in a double bogey. I kept calm after this and made a birdie at the 18th for an unusual round of level par.

During this round I lost 2 golf balls but due to the 6 birdies I was able to shoot level par. The reactions to this round have been very interesting to me because it would appear there are two very different viewpoints on this type of round. My view on this round is that I did well to keep calm and come back from the mistakes to still shoot the score I shot. However it would seem the more common view is that I threw away the chance to shoot an incredible round. I simply do not see the benefit of thinking like this, I would much rather praise myself on what I did well then go back to working on my game rather than being hard on myself and risking a loss of motivation. I am far more interested in looking for the positives than thinking about what could have been. I do not believe that being harder on myself would help me identify my weaknesses as certain people have suggested. I can analyse the round and know what to work on without beating myself up for my mistakes. The way I see it is I always come off the course knowing I have done my absolute best on that day so there is no point in wishing it could have been a different result.

A few days after this round I played again and shot another round of level par albeit in a much less adventurous fashion. I had 2 birdies and 2 bogies this time with no particular element of my game being significantly better or worse than it normally would be. The main manner in which I was able to learn from this round was in comparing it to my previous round and discovering for myself that there are many different ways to get the job done. The 2 rounds together also confirmed something I already knew; it is almost entirely useless to try to analyse a round using just score. Another example of this would be a round from my club championship where it looked like I had played very consistently as I had 16 pars, 1 birdie and 1 bogey. The reality was I had managed to get up and down 7 out of 8 times and I had not hit the ball as well as most people thought from looking at the card. Moving forward I will definitely pay more attention to stats such as fairways hit that present more information about an individual part of my game.

As result of these 2 rounds my handicap dropped from 3.4 to 2.9 in under a week. While for a higher handicap this may not even be seen as an achievement for a lower handicap player it is a breakthrough. It is nice to have some evidence that my practice is working early on because while I am convinced that I am doing the right things, I can use results to support that.