Inspired (a photo story)

Last week I went to the PGA Championship in Atlanta, Ga:

It was the first time I had ever been to a golfing event as a spectator. Once back in 2004 I covered a Nationwide Tour event for a newspaper I was working for at the time, but back then I had no clue what it meant to golf, let alone be a professional golfer. This time was different, and I wasn’t sure what to expect, but decided it was time to see in person the level that I am striving for. So, my coach and I hit the road and left Portland:

Upon arrival, my first impression of Atlanta (where I grew up) was, of course, “it’s damn hot here.” I had forgotten what August humidity was like. I had also forgotten what the south sounds like in the evenings and was pleasantly surprised when getting out of the car to a hubbub of cicadas. We stayed in Marietta, Ga, known for, among perhaps other things, the “big chicken”:

On Wednesday, I got up early and headed to the Atlanta Athletic Club golf course to watch a practice round. I parked nearby and my coach and I got a ride in from a man who aims to break the world record for the most holes played in a single day. The current record is 22 rounds 9 holes, for a total of 405 holes. He is an ultra marathoner and low handicap golfer and has a very good chance of making it if he can figure out the logistics.

When I got inside, the first hole I saw was 18:

It looks tough and beautiful. Impossible in so many ways, yet strangely approachable. The green slopes something horrible towards trouble in all directions and has to be perfectly stuck. I stuck around here for a bit to watch a couple of groups hit their approach shots from about 240 yards out. Most of them were going for it and using the practice round to see which club would carry it, but a couple were laying up to see where was the best place to get an approach shot. I saw Ishikawa, Tiger, Bubba and a few others hit their shots. Lots of them were hitting water, lots were sticking the green.

After a bit, I met up with the production company that put together the most recent video on The Dan Plan website and they followed me around for a bit asking questions about my experience so far. They were good people. I hadn’t met any of them before, but we all got along and had a nice day filming in the blazing sun. We headed over to the dreaded 15th hole, a nice downhill par 3 from about 240 yards out that is surrounded by water and bunkers:

By this time we were following a group around that included Ernie Els, Steve Stricker and Oregonian golfer Scott Erdmann. My coach ended up caddying for Scott because his caddy twisted his ankle that morning. Here’s Scott hitting a fairway shot and my coach on the left:

And “the big easy” Ernie Els:

Such a smooth player this one. The biggest item of note for me was how good their short game was. No matter where the approach shot landed, all of them could get the ball to within five feet of the cup. From bunkers, rough, short grass, uphill, downhill, sidehill, underhill or wherever, they would get that up-and-down. This is, in my opinion, what separates the good from the great. Watching how smoothly they did this was truly inspiring. The entire day, all I could think about was getting out and playing.

I was asked if it made me feel daunted seeing them play and in all honesty it was completely to the contrary. If anything, seeing professionals play makes it seem that much more attainable. Perhaps it is because of how easy they make the game seem with their perfect mechanics, I’m not sure. I now know where I need to be and it’s nowhere near where I am, but I’m heading in the right direction and that’s all one can do.

On the next day, Christopher and I went to a training facility, Terminus, in downtown Buckhead. There I went through a 3D swing screening. This was a new experience as well, but was quite enlightening in that it showed me in some detail what was going on in my swing. All-in-all, it highlighted the issues that I have been working on, namely that I get too much rotation in my hips and not enough lateral movement. This has been an issue from the beginning of my swing and something that I have been working on. For some reason, though, seeing my swing in a rendering allowed me to better visualize what I was doing and what I needed to be doing. It’s all about building the right internal “feel” for the swing. Mine was looking a bit more like a tennis serve than a golf swing and I need to build a new feel for where I want to be.

Using this idea, I went out yesterday and hit the range hard. I know what I need to work on as well as the level I need to get to better now that I have seen all of this. It was a great experience and I know it won’t be the last time I see a golf tournament; lets just hope that next time I’m a bit more involved…