Going Low

Yesterday I shot the second lowest round of my life, a nifty little 4-under 68 on the Greenback Course at Heron Lakes.  My lowest round was a 7-under 65, but that came at Colwood, where I drove two of the par 4s and was hitting mid-irons into the par 5s.  Thus, the 68 I shot yesterday feels like the best round of golf I’ve ever played.  There are no drivable par 4s on the Greenback and I failed to hit any of the par 5s in two shots (in fact, I only birdied one of the par 5s).  Furthermore, the greens were punched and sanded, so I really didn’t make any putts.  Of the 5 birdies I made, four of them came from stuffing an approach shot to within 3 feet of the hole (I had to make about an 8-footer for the other birdie).  In other words, this was not one of those rounds where I went low by making everything on the greens.  I didn’t realize until after the round that I had hit 17 greens in regulation (the one green I missed came after my drive ended up directly behind a tree).  Indeed, I put on a ball-striking exhibition.  While I technically only hit 9 of 14 fairways, I was literally one foot off of the fairway a couple of times and all but once I had a clear second shot.  Not only was I was fairly accurate off the tee, I was also launching the ball well.  The wet, misty conditions meant heavy air and no roll, but I was still averaging about 250 yards off the tee.  However, I’ve definitely had rounds where I’ve driven the ball just as well, if not better than yesterday.  Yesterday’s round was special because of my approach shots.  I’ve never experienced anything quite like it- just about every single shot from the fairway started on the proper line.  I couldn’t believe how many iron and wedge shots were right at the pin.  When I judged the distance properly, I was giving myself tap-ins for birdie.  Otherwise, I was within 20 feet of the pin either short or long, but almost always right on line.  My out-of-this-world performance from the fairways meant that I had no 3-putts, 4 tap-in birdies, and makeable mid-range birdie putts all day long.  The punched and sanded greens meant that everyone in the group left at least 4 or 5 putts agonizingly short of the middle of the hole, and I was no exception.  Indeed, I hit the ball well enough to shoot a 63 or 64, but I just wasn’t making anything on those sandy greens.

This round came out of nowhere.  Leading up to the round, I’d been inconsistent with the driver and have been downright struggling with my short-iron and full-swing wedge shots.  In fact, I played 9-holes the day before yesterday’s magical round and I was routinely missing greens with wedges from the fairway.  This got me thinking, what did I do differently yesterday?  

For one, I warmed up before the round by hitting about 20 range balls and then spent about 20 minutes on the putting green.  I almost never warm up before I play.  Usually my first tee shot is the first ball I’ve hit all day, and oftentimes I don’t even practice putting before I tee off.  Maybe it’s worth showing up a little early and spending another $8 on range balls before the round....

Secondly, I changed my swing thought and mental approach to shots from the fairway.  I decided that I was going to play a little draw on EVERY approach shot and that I was going to take a FULL SWING on every approach shot.  I should mention that these two swing thoughts go hand-in-hand, as I tend to hit a draw when I make a full swing.  This really helped simplify things: on every single shot I lined up just a bit right of the flag and then I swung hard.  The image in my head when I was over the ball was that I was going to swing like Rory McIlroy.  If you’ve ever watched Rory, he takes a pretty good swipe at every shot.  In fact, I read an interview with him where he said his only swing thought when he’s on the course is to swing hard.  For me, swinging hard leads to two things: a draw and a higher ball flight.  The amount that the ball moves from right to left is directly related to the club I’m hitting.  A hard swing with a 5-iron means a good 10-15 yards of right to left curve in the air, while an 8-iron only curves 5 - 10 yards.  With my wedges, I was aiming right at the flag.  

I only really “missed” two shots from the fairway: I blocked a PW on the second hole, and I pulled a PW on the 11th hole (both “misses” managed to find the green).  In other words, I absolutely pured 16 approach shots, each with a little draw.  After hitting yet another laser on the 16th hole, a tough par-3 with a force-carry over a water hazard, it dawned on me how straight I was hitting the ball.  I realize now that this all goes back to my entire philosophy on how to play golf.  I’m a bit of an old fashioned golfer, complete with an old fashioned golf swing and a work-the-ball-both-ways mindset.  When I step up to a shot, I automatically “see” the shape of the shot that I want to play.  One of the main reasons I played with blades for so long was that they were the easiest clubs to curve.  Now that I’ve switched to cavity backs, it might be time for me to also change my mindset.  Perhaps I should just hit a draw on every shot since my natural shot shape is a draw.  Perhaps I should only play for a baby draw now because my cavity backs don’t curve as much as my blades.  Perhaps I should swing hard at every iron shot and play every shot with the resulting higher ball flight.  Perhaps....

But on the 18th hole yesterday, I hooked my tee shot into a clump of trees off the left-hand side of the fairway.  My only chance of hitting the green was to hit a high slicing 9-iron.  I thought about just punching the ball back in play.  I also thought about just playing the ball up the left side and trying to get the ball into the bunker on the left edge of the green.  But my old school instincts took over.  I lashed at the ball with an exaggerated over the top move and held the face open for as long as I could.  Out came that high slicing 9-iron.  Two putts later I had carded a 68.