One of the things that I remembered from the Couples article in Golf Magazine was that he said that he would take about 10 minutes and think about what happened over the course of the round. So as I was waiting for my car to cool down from that oppressive Valley heat (high 90’s), I thought about what went on during that round - what worked, what didn't work.
1) My irons need work
If I am sitting in the middle of the fairway after my tee shot, the very worst I should make is Par. I need to start aiming for the middle of the greens. Once I become better at my accuracy from the fairway, I will then focus on aiming at the stick – but for now, I should just aim for the middle of the green and try to 2-putt for par. Sometimes, I'm sure I'll stick it close and have a good birdie chance, but by all means, aim for the middle of the green. Focus on making the best shot that will make it safely onto the green given all of the factors - the rough, the lie, the wind, the slope, the hazards, etc. As an aside, three measurements that I have found that I really like is what the yardage is to the front, middle and back of the green. My next round, I will be aiming for the middle of the green with the yardage that puts it to the middle given the factors. I found that during the round, I was more often short than long, so if I am ever in between clubs, I will make sure to club up!
2) My short game needs lots and lots of work
I took 2 out of a green side bunker, which led to a snowman (aka 8) on the scorecard. I can not say that it ruined my round because I missed at least 5 birdie putts when on in regulation - granted some of those GIRs had me far away from the hole with a putter in my hand.
I also fluffed a couple of chips. Those are fun. It's almost worse when your second chip after your fluffed chip is perfect with a beautiful swing. Why couldn't that happen the first time?
But more importantly, I did not chip it close enough to 1-putt.
If you miss the green in regulation, you need to be able to chip it close and save par. Most holes, I chipped it and although the chip wasn’t atrocious, it still left me out far enough where I did not make the first putt and then tapped in for bogey.
3) My driver was pretty good actually.
Did I hit it as far as I wanted? Not all the time, but my driver did not hurt me today. In the ‘olden days’, my driver used to get me into a lot of trouble, but not anymore (see what I am doing here? I am ridding the old swing from my mind). I will continue to get better with this club. I need to continue to groove in that swing and when I am comfortable with the proper mechanics and solid ball contact, I will add more power. I would like to make my driver swing ‘one louder’.
4) My putting was a little weak
I could use some more oomph in my putting stroke. I relied too much on downhill slope and I left a lot of putts short. However, I did make a couple nice medium length putts with a fair amount of break in them. I feel like I am reading the greens pretty well, but the stroke needs a boost of confidence.
Do I dare say this? My Driver needs the least amount of work at this time.
I am happy to see that focusing on improving something (driving) has paid off, however I have let the other facets of the game go unpracticed. I need to figure out a routine where I touch on all parts of the game in about 1 hour.
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