Khamelion
Tour Winner
Actually managed to finish a round for the first time in a few weeks, so was nice to get a card in and stop the rot of my HC going up.
When I did the self assessment from NGT, three areas showed as areas I need a little focus, 'Bounce-Back', 'Freshen-Up' and 'Rise-To-Occasion', all three in the past have plagued me at one point or other during a round. I've walked up to holes stood on the tee box and thought, "Bogey hole, this is going to go right", the first question in 'Freshen-Up' and sure enough I've done just that, then during rounds I've been playing well, then I'll start to worry get the jitters that something is going to go wrong and end up screwing up a shot, these two are questions 4 and 3 in 'Rise-To-Occasion' and then that would inevitably lead to things going from bad to worse for a few holes, question 3 in 'Bounce-back' So it was brilliant yesterday that I was able to put these things out of my mind very quickly.
The round started well, my usual first tee shot didn't go right towards the 9th green, I may have taken a little off the tee shot and concentrated on getting it straight as the lady who does the half way hut had her car parked next to the hut and in line with my usual shot. I didn't really want to have to ask her if I could play my second from the back seat of her Ford Focus. In hindsight while I write this, thinking about not hitting the car, took my mind off my usual shot and I just hit the ball with a good result. Second was a pulled 5 iron, pin high but on the wrong side of the wall which runs the length of the hole. You get a from drop from the wall (local rule) which afforded me sufficient space to get the ball over the wall, or I hoped it did. Recently my short game had gone to hell, I couldn't buy a chip or pitch, so with only 5 feet from a 3 feet high wall and the ball in a fluffy lie, I took my LW, got under the ball, up and over it went on the green but short of the hole. It may have been a shorty, but the chip wasn't duffed and more to the point the ball cleared the wall which previously it wouldn't have.
The next 5 holes were played one over, the last the 6th is where NGT really came to the fore for me. I'd played my tee shot spot on, even though I say so myself. The 6th is a 90 degree dog leg left, if you are very long you can cut the corner over the trees, but the sensible play is to get you ball to land on the corner and let it run down the hill, which is what I did. My FC played his right and then played his second right again where it ended up under a tree in the rough. My second ended up short left on the green, which in NGT terms is a shorty but an improver. My FC took his third and left it 18inches short of the flag a very good shot considering where he was and the lie he had. I took my third scraped the hole, just went past, 4th dropped for par. My FC with an 18 inch par putt, pulled it left and missed dropped it in for 5.
It was then though that my FC started the whinging, moaning and whinging, he really let it get to him, his next tee shot was pushed right, in fact for the rest of the round he pulled, hooked, pushed, duffed tee and fairway shots, lost a ball, and continued to miss short putts. Just about all I heard from the 6th onwards was, "I've never done that", (well yes you have, you did it on your last tee shot), or, "Stupid bloody game", or "I hate this %&%£^$ game", or "Why's it done that? this is game is crap"
All those comments on any other day would have got to me, but I heard them once, then all I heard was the birds singing. In some respect they helped me a little, in that I'd hear what was being said and it took my mind off my next shot, so I just played the shot without over thinking it.
But getting back to the start of this long post, in previous rounds what was happening and being said by my FC would have got to me and I would have started to play badly, but having read though the 'Bounce-Back', 'Freshen-Up' and 'Rise-To-Occasion' parts of NGT, they certainly helped yesterday.
I played my best round of the year to date, shot a gross 86 net 68, no cut but the improvement over previous rounds was vast. So I know I can play, yes there is improvement to be made on that front, but the thanks to NGT what was happening around me, didn't affect me.
When I did the self assessment from NGT, three areas showed as areas I need a little focus, 'Bounce-Back', 'Freshen-Up' and 'Rise-To-Occasion', all three in the past have plagued me at one point or other during a round. I've walked up to holes stood on the tee box and thought, "Bogey hole, this is going to go right", the first question in 'Freshen-Up' and sure enough I've done just that, then during rounds I've been playing well, then I'll start to worry get the jitters that something is going to go wrong and end up screwing up a shot, these two are questions 4 and 3 in 'Rise-To-Occasion' and then that would inevitably lead to things going from bad to worse for a few holes, question 3 in 'Bounce-back' So it was brilliant yesterday that I was able to put these things out of my mind very quickly.
The round started well, my usual first tee shot didn't go right towards the 9th green, I may have taken a little off the tee shot and concentrated on getting it straight as the lady who does the half way hut had her car parked next to the hut and in line with my usual shot. I didn't really want to have to ask her if I could play my second from the back seat of her Ford Focus. In hindsight while I write this, thinking about not hitting the car, took my mind off my usual shot and I just hit the ball with a good result. Second was a pulled 5 iron, pin high but on the wrong side of the wall which runs the length of the hole. You get a from drop from the wall (local rule) which afforded me sufficient space to get the ball over the wall, or I hoped it did. Recently my short game had gone to hell, I couldn't buy a chip or pitch, so with only 5 feet from a 3 feet high wall and the ball in a fluffy lie, I took my LW, got under the ball, up and over it went on the green but short of the hole. It may have been a shorty, but the chip wasn't duffed and more to the point the ball cleared the wall which previously it wouldn't have.
The next 5 holes were played one over, the last the 6th is where NGT really came to the fore for me. I'd played my tee shot spot on, even though I say so myself. The 6th is a 90 degree dog leg left, if you are very long you can cut the corner over the trees, but the sensible play is to get you ball to land on the corner and let it run down the hill, which is what I did. My FC played his right and then played his second right again where it ended up under a tree in the rough. My second ended up short left on the green, which in NGT terms is a shorty but an improver. My FC took his third and left it 18inches short of the flag a very good shot considering where he was and the lie he had. I took my third scraped the hole, just went past, 4th dropped for par. My FC with an 18 inch par putt, pulled it left and missed dropped it in for 5.
It was then though that my FC started the whinging, moaning and whinging, he really let it get to him, his next tee shot was pushed right, in fact for the rest of the round he pulled, hooked, pushed, duffed tee and fairway shots, lost a ball, and continued to miss short putts. Just about all I heard from the 6th onwards was, "I've never done that", (well yes you have, you did it on your last tee shot), or, "Stupid bloody game", or "I hate this %&%£^$ game", or "Why's it done that? this is game is crap"
All those comments on any other day would have got to me, but I heard them once, then all I heard was the birds singing. In some respect they helped me a little, in that I'd hear what was being said and it took my mind off my next shot, so I just played the shot without over thinking it.
But getting back to the start of this long post, in previous rounds what was happening and being said by my FC would have got to me and I would have started to play badly, but having read though the 'Bounce-Back', 'Freshen-Up' and 'Rise-To-Occasion' parts of NGT, they certainly helped yesterday.
I played my best round of the year to date, shot a gross 86 net 68, no cut but the improvement over previous rounds was vast. So I know I can play, yes there is improvement to be made on that front, but the thanks to NGT what was happening around me, didn't affect me.
