Retrospective from last week’s tournament

Looking back at last weekend’ tournament, there is one obvious lesson. It’s so clear I don’t think it needs much attention outside of mentioning that having trust in one’s gear is crucial to performance. You can bat it around at your general skill level with a variety of gear no matter your sport/pursuit, but to really optimize performance it’s best to have the gear you trust which is fine tuned for you the day of the event.

I tried to find that fine tuning over the past month since returning from the Vokey trip with my new wedges, but no matter how many long sticks I tried I didn’t believe in what I was swinging. I was lacking the total commitment that I have with my wedges and putter. To remedy this, I am heading back to Carlsbad in late April to have a full club fitting done at Oceanside.

After the experience I had getting my wedges fit for my swing I can’t imagine going anywhere but the source for the rest of my gear. They did a superb job and I am very happy with the four clubs that I came home with and I want, no need, to have the same confidence in the rest of my sticks. The round trip flight to San Diego is just $175, a price I’d happily pay for total confidence. I’m not looking to belittle or discount the fitters here in town and specifically the TM fitter Jon at CECC, but I am sold on Titleist and the Titleist experience and am giddy to see what comes out of it all.

I’m not saying that the results from the weekend would have been different, but I am saying that there comes a point where you have to have confidence in your gear to mentally move on. It’s easy to blame other things in this wonderful game but you can only do that for so long until you start to sound like a broken record. I’m ready to move to what’s next and the best way to do that is to have someone you trust fit you for the right gear. I trust the Oceanside experience and want to play Titleist clubs.

Now that that is all out of the way, it’s time to do a little “good, better, how” exercise. Whenever you play a round, especially a tourney round or one where you have been building up to it, it’s important to reflect on what was Good, what could have been Better and How it could have been better. To optimize this, and your learning, try to stay positive. By focussing on the positives and journaling about them you reinforce the aspects of your game that you want to keep. Don’t walk off the course saying “I can’t believe I missed that 3-footer on 15 for bogey,” say “I made such a great 5 footer on 12 for par!” Relive what you want to remember.

Good: Scrambled like a mad man and got up and down like a clown. No matter where my drive was I shot birdie to bogey on every single hole except for one. I made a ton of pro up-and-downs from near-dead situations and rolled the ball like a champ with 25 putts the first day and 26 the second. My wedges were, for the most part, on fire and every time I had to punch the ball out I made it back to the fairway and in a good spot for moving forward. Also, on the second day I birdied a hole that had caused me the most trouble the previous day.

Better: Tee shots. the ball is sitting there with the best possible lie and I could do a better job of hitting more fairways to put myself in a situation to score.

How: Practice tempo, posture and pre-shot routine. It’s not always crucial to hit it with 100 percent of your might and when a fairway has to be hit have a shot that you know will land somewhere in the short grass at least 80 percent of the time. Develop a go-to tee shot for future rounds where even if a club or two may be causing problems you know you can get the ball in play.

It’s as easy as that. I dwelled more on the positives, but did acknowledged what I could do to improve without lingering on specific missed shots. I try and do this after every round and whether it’s by rehearsing the good, better, how in my head or through writing them down it builds confidence in your game.

The next tournament is April 13th at Langdon Farms here in Portland. It’s part of the NWGolfguys events and should be a blast. I won’t have had a chance to get to Carlsbad by then, but know a lot more about my game from this past weekend’s experience and am confident that I can score in it. If anyone wants to come out and directly challenge me let me know, it’s an open event and will be a great time. Here is the link: http://www.nwgolfguys.com/playersclub/tournament/schedule/

The first tournament jitters are out of the equation and by April 13 I will be able to figure out that go-to tee shot and plan on taking tournament play to the next level later this Spring by cracking through the 80 barrier. It’s not always good to focus on outcome goals and shooting below 80 is definitely an outcome goal, but by focussing on the process goals of developing a tee shot, building confidence in my sticks and continuing to improve the short game the outcome will naturally fall.

I am talking with my goal guy Stuart tonight. I am sure he will have a few things to say about my score as I was “supposed” to be shooting a 77 average over these two days. Judging by his emails he has some valid points and I hope that he will write a guest blog about it from his point of view soon. Until then, sign up for that April 13 tourney if you want some direct competition and hit them straight!

6 Responses to "Retrospective from last week’s tournament"

Jason says:

March 28, 2013 at 9:20 am

Didn’t you play with one of the Vokey guys in Carlsbad that had a lefty Titleist driver that you hit really well? I wonder if you could get the specs and try to arrange for something by April 13th? Just a thought!! Good luck Dan!!!
Garrett says:

March 28, 2013 at 9:52 am

Dan,
I hope you find confidence with all titleist clubs-they make fantastic equipment (will you get fitted for a Scotty Cameron?). I was wondering with such a focus on the right equipment, have you ever tried playing 9 or 18 holes with only one club? Say a 7 iron-Tin Cup style? In a recent episode of Feherty, Paul Azinger said he’d like to see Michelle Wie try that so she can get back to golfing rather then picking apart her game (if you’ve seen her putting recently I think you’ll understand what he was referencing). Good luck with your future progress.
Garrett
Dave Petersen says:

March 28, 2013 at 8:58 pm

I do believe in a club that fits well. I suspect that most competent fitters, using modern clubs will give you a well fit set of clubs, regardless of brand. I also expect that it takes some time to get comfortable. The longer the club, the more time. In my experience, the primary value of a club fitting I trust (i.e. I don’t think its just a sales pitch), is that I now trust the clubs enough to take them out of the “problem” category and focus on my performance. I really want to be at a place where I’m the problem. That I can work on fixing.
Tony Lawrence#Hacked Off says:

March 29, 2013 at 3:26 am

Hi Dan,

I seem to be your ‘opposite’ at the moment. I have absolutely no time on my hands, to the point that I have hit a golf ball – literally, neither on a course or range – since November 5. Work commitments, snow, a new addition to the family (a rescue greyhound, since you ask) have killed my golf. Except that I happily swing away in front of a kitchen mirror during every coffee break and every evening. I understand that gear matters, of course, but my total focus is on changing certain moves that make up my swing. For me, it’s first about the swing, then about the kit. I’m a 10.4 at the moment. I’ll never have the free time – or the commitment! – to match you, but I’m determined to get into singles for the first time this year… by not practising!

Keep at it!

Tony
Lawrence says:

March 30, 2013 at 3:19 pm

That is precisely the way to analyse and look back on your game. I think I can rest easy about you now.
And yes having confidence in your gear is vital if only because it is in your head. The boys at Carlsbad were good to you so by all means go where you are comfortable. I look forward to your next tourney.
Rich says:

April 4, 2013 at 11:32 am

Just wait until you hit a few bad shots with your fitted clubs and start to question in the back of your mind whether the fitter screwed up! Golf is a glorious game with fun mental hurdles like that to overcome. I hope the full on fitting does help your confidence in your equipment. Do yourself a favor, and make that the last thing you change for a while until something wears out or breaks. Equipment is important, but don’t get yourself into a cycle of endlessly changing your gear. You and the work you put in are going to be the biggest determining factors in your improvement. Unless you’re playing something that’s just a horrible fit for you, you’re going to find very little substantive improvement from equipment changes, and changing frequently will actually be counterproductive.

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