Article #7
Featured Teacher: Hardpan
(to meet this week's teacher go to www.oneputtpress.com/teachers_hardpan.cfm)
Everybody has a hole they hate to tee off on. C'mon, admit it.
No matter how well you happen to be driving the ball, whenever you get to that one particular hole, you're overcome with a sense of doom. Then, sure enough, you make a bad swing, and now you're mad at yourself for having given in to what is obviously just a case of negative thinking.
On the sunnier side, we've all got that particular hole that, no matter how poorly we happen to be hitting the ball, from this one tee box we always hit a good shot.
Isn't that odd? The bad hole, regardless of how careful we are and how in the moment we try to be, we can't conjure up a good swing. But, on the good hole, no matter how reckless our approach, there's no two ways about it-we're gonna hit a good shot.
Now, I'm not a psychologist, so I'm not gonna ask you about your childhood and suggest that you think back on that great day your family had at the county fair every time you find yourself facing a difficult shot. But, I think I can help.
For years-probably my entire life-I've always hit a good shot on the 12th hole at Munie. I live for that tee shot! Long, straight and confident; that's what it is for me on the 12th hole at Munie.
So, when I get uncomfortable over a tee shot, I simply pretend that I'm on the 12th at Munie. That's it.
Now, you might be saying, "That's impossible. Golf holes aren't enough alike to imagine one being the other."
I disagree. Let me tell you, if your eyes can wander, so can your mind. In other words, when you look down at your ball to hit it, that teed up ball looks exactly like every other teed up ball, including your favorite one. Everything about it is the same. You just gotta take an extra second to imagine that ball flying into your favorite fairway.
That's this week's tip. Short and sweet, but I think, worthwhile.
Later On,
Hardpan