Hi all,
Long time lurker, first time poster.
I need to thank @jon, @Adamyounggolf and all you posters on this forum for the advice I have gleaned over the years from both Jon’s and Adam’s sites and the insight from the community.
This was instrumental this past weekend when I won our club championship for the first time.
I am not the longest hitter, nor the most accurate, but what I have learned is this can be made up, in part, with the mental side of the game and course management.
Course management in taking my lumps with poor positioning with a drive and not going for a hero shot.
The mental side in not dwelling over a bad shot - just putting it behind me.
The mental side was apparent on the final hole - I was 2 up coming home (36 hole stroke play) - with a hard dogleg left par 4. My only thought was to keep the ball in play with a grove of trees and bush on the left and trees on the right. I put my tee shot down the right side of the fairway, leaving a 125 yard shot to the green. I left my second shot short and then hit my worse chip of the tournament to 30 feet past the hole.
Previously I would have got upset with that - instead I said put it behind me, don’t worry about it, there is nothing you can do now to change what just happened.
I walked up to my putt and slowed my thoughts down - and took several deep breaths (through my nose as I have read here) to calm my nerves and slow my heart rate - it was beating like a jackhammer!
Putt was tough - uphill for 25 feet with a right to left break followed by a slight downhill breaking left to right. Lined it up, a couple of more deep breaths to relax and calm down, then make the putt to within 18 inches of the cup for a tap-in bogie and the championship.
So again, I need to thank Jon, Adam and the PG community for the invaluable advice that was instrumental in my win.
Cheers and look forward to offering my insights more on the forum!