The golfing conundrum

I've often wondered why only one half of my golf game turns up at any one time. Yesterday is probably the best I've ever hit the ball off the tee. Though I did face some challenges with club selection and adapting set up to the terrain, on the whole my approach play was pretty good as well. By stark contrast my short game was generally off the boil with occasional glimpses of promise. Then this morning, like a bolt of inspirational lightning it struck me.

When my long game is hot I am loose, almost carefree. My swing is smooth, my tempo is slow and though I'm focused I'm not intense. I pick a spot to aim at and my sole focus is on getting the ball to that position. By contrast my short game is best when I'm aggressive and attack the hole. There is less chance of me quitting on the stroke and I occasionally get a bit of check spin. I don't think about landing zones I just think about the hole or flag and let my brain do the calculation. The two mindsets are sufficiently different that the short game one generates tension in my swing and the long game one leads to careless chips and putts. At times yesterday I managed to flick between the two almost effortlessly and that resulted in my best golf. Definite food for thought.

What helped with the long game yesterday was the brotherly banter and camaraderie on course. It's a real shame we live so far apart that we cannot meet up more often. My one poor drive of the day flirted with the ladies tee at which point one of my brothers told me about this YouTube clip. It made me chuckle so I thought I'd share...