Golf

Age before Beauty

December 20, 2020 by admin

By: Tim Graves, PGA

Reprint from a few years ago…. was reminded of this story when answering a few questions in our last school.

For many of those who have attended our schools, you know how much I like to tell stories. First, hopefully they are a little entertaining and for most, we’ll remember stories and maybe the point we are trying to teach…

This past week I played in our annual Pro / Pro (partner) South Central Section PGA Tournament. The tournament is a partnership tournament where you can choose any partner (PGA) from your section (Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kansas). The format is a 36 hole event – 18 holes best ball and 18 holes modified alternate shot. Low total for 36 holes wins.

As you can image, there are many teams of 20 somethings playing together… and most of the PGA members who are over 20 will pick a “young gun” to help them in the format. I know better…

The partner I choose is George Glen – he is a 68-year-old retired professional from Tulsa. (He was the head professional at a Tulsa municipal course for 30+ years and has worked in the business for close to 50 years… now running the Tulsa Golf Association).

Some of you may have read past e-tips about me and George – but I wanted to give the most recent story – as it is a good lesson for many…..

The first round (best ball) went okay… The section sets up the tournament for everyone. 50 years of age and younger play the back tees, 50 to 65 years play 20 yards up and 65 and over play another 20 yards up. The reason is they expect all to hit their drives in about the same position (and typically plays pretty true..).

We shot a 64 – leaders shot a 62 (there were about 50 teams in the field, believe we were in 3rd place after first round).

The second round is a modified alternate shot. Both partners hit off the tee, and then they choose the best shot and alternate from that point on. Give an example – Hole number 1 – 430 yard par 4 (390 yards for George) George and I both hit drives in the middle of the fairway about 150 yards from the green. Chose George’s drive – I hit the 2nd shot on the green, George hit the first putt, I hit the 2nd…

The interesting thing about the 2nd round was who we got paired with. It was a pair from Tulsa (Patriot Golf Course) who were each 25 years old. George made the comment – their combined age wasn’t even close to his age… Was the youngest group vs. oldest group. They had shot a 63 the first round, we had shot a 64. One of the partners was Martin Martinez – an assistant pro who is actually going back to pay on the European Tour in 2 months – and he hit’s it a mile……. a consider myself to have decent distance – he out drives me by 30 to 40 yards most of the time – well over 300 every time.

First nine of the 2nd round was pretty “usual” – one under for both teams – nothing spectacular – but not bad for alternate shot.

Then things started to turn on hole # 9.

# 9 is a par 5 that we play as a par 4 in the tournament. 480 uphill (downwind a little).

We all teed off.

I hit my drive to 200 yards from the Green, George hit his to 210 yards from green – Martin hit is a drive to 110 yards from the green – yes he out drove me by close to 100 yards. (To be honest, even amazed me….. was a joke how long he hit it….)

We chose George’s drive as I would be able to hit a long iron into the green vs. a 3 wood for him. I hit a 4 iron about 25 feet right of the hole (not a bad shot from 210..).

Martin’s partner hit a sand wedge…. yes, a sand wedge to about 10 feet above the hole – good shot.

We got to the green – George pulled out his long putter – lined up the putt – and dead center….. birdie. Martin’s partner (Tyler) got over is putt – missed to the right – we were one up on them (didn’t really know about the rest of the field).

Hole # 10 – very tight par 4 – tree-lined dogleg left. I hit my drive in the rough left side of fairway. George hit his dead center 140 yards out. Martin and Tyler hit their drives in left rough (next to me).

I hit the 2nd shot 10 feet below the hole – Martin punched to the front of the green. George lined up the putt – again, dead center. Martin and Tyler – par.

Hole # 11 – long par 5 – 570 yards. George and I hit our drives down the middle – about 300 from the green. Martin hit drives 220 yards from the green…… HUGE. I had planned on George hitting the 2nd, I’d hit the third and let George putt again…. he was hot. But, then again, I was playing with the “expert” and wasn’t going to get in the way of experience. George looked at me and said, hit the 2nd shot to 100 yards to the pin, not 99, not 101 (he was kidding of course) – he said to hit 100… So I got the 2nd shot, calculated I’d need a 210 shot to get to 100 yards from the pin (pin 10 yards back of center) – hit a 4 iron.

Tyler hit their 2nd shot from 220 – hit a hybrid just short of the green – was a good shot.

We went to our 3rd shot, was 102 from the pin (not bad). George looked at me and said “I’ve got this”. He pulled out his wedge and hit it 2 feet (a tap-in birdie).

Martin chipped to 5 feet, Tyler missed the putt.

In 3 holes, we were out driven by close to 100 yards, couldn’t get home on a par 5, and played one of the toughest holes on the course – and had gone 3 up over the “young guns”. No question, experience was winning.

The next 2 holes we both parred, then number 14.

A short tight par 4. George played a driver off the tee (about 220 yards lay up to a creek) – I hit the 2nd shot to about 40 feet, missed clubbed short. Was hoping George would hit the putt close so I wouldn’t have more than a couple of feet left on the 2nd putt….. yeah right. George made the 40 footers dead center. By now the young guys were pretty much done….. they made par from 15 feet and you could see in their eyes – George was wearing them out with his putter and playing as steady as any great player.

Long story made short – we ended up making birdies on number 15 (short par 3 – George hit 7 iron to 5 feet, I made putt) and hole number 18 – average par 5 – George chipped to one foot on our 3rd shot.

We ended up winning the tournament with a 2 round total of 12 under. It is the 3rd time we’ve won the event in a row…. and as I can tell you first hand – EXPERIENCE RULES!!

So, what can you take from this story…

First – Quit getting tied up in all the talk about how long everyone hits it. It is MUCH more important you know your distances (like how far you hit your wedges) and to be VERY accurate with your wedges / low irons than hitting it a long distance. Knowing your distances with your wedges is the key to good scoring. When George got the shot from 100 yards, he wasn’t trying to get close – he was trying to make it…. he has that much confidence in his yardages with his wedges. Figure out a way to practice your yardages. Maybe hitting shag balls in a field, maybe playing extra shots into greens (when practicing), etc.. KNOW YOUR YARDAGES – especially with the “scoring clubs”.

Second – as the old saying goes and is ALWAYS true. “Drive for Show, Putt for Dough”. If you want to score good, you must putt well. As I have always said, “I have never seen a good player with a bad short game (putter) or a bad player with a good short game (putter).” Give your putter some extra time. I have NEVER seen a driver save a round, but I have seen MANY putters save many rounds. Next time you are on the range and are thinking you need to spend the last few minutes of your practice time working more on your driver – GO TO THE PRACTICE GREEN – give your putter some more time.

Third – don’t be intimidated when you play with those that out drive you. There will always be those that are longer than you (and shorter than you). I consider myself pretty long (actually have held over a 300 yard average on the Nationwide Tour) and have played with many who have bombed it past me. If you are going to be intimidated, it should be by a player’s ball striking (accuracy) and short game. The player who is the most consistent/accurate and the best short game wins a majority of the time. Accuracy and short game is the key to GREAT golf. When / if you are playing in a tournament or against friends, you will be the best player when you can honestly say and have the best short game in the field.

Finally – probably the biggest lesson here… never, never, never let anyone tell you that age is an issue with this game. Should George have been playing the back tees – no… but giving him the “slight” advantage to even out our drives – there was no question George was one of the best, if not the best, players in the field.

As I have told many of my fellow PGA pros in our section (who have wondered how we’ve won this event 3 years running..) I will take Age / Experience over “Beauty” every time!!

Remember – Always Practice with a Purpose.

Also, Remember – A little improvement every time you practice adds up to a lot of improvement over time.

The Essence Game

January 8, 2011 by admin

By Dr. Ron Cruickshank, Golf Mind Coach & GGA Director, Canada

Technique: Play the Essence Game

In a recent blog I wrote about the Essence Game and defined true simplicity as the process of crunching complexity to the point that we can take action without losing elegance or functionality. True simplicity allows us to capture the essence of a subject while giving us increased understanding.

It turned out this idea resonated with people and I’ve had several requests to write more about this self-revealing game. The game is designed to stimulate your thinking about what is MOST important about any subject, mostly yourself, and to be a vehicle for sharing or discussing this insight with others.

Why Is Insight Important? The presupposition inherent in playing this game is that self-knowledge or insight is a valuable tool in managing ourselves, especially our emotional selves, and optimizing our performance when it counts. “But I already know myself”, you say. Well, maybe yes and maybe no.

Behavioral science research over the last decade has demonstrated that as individuals we are absolutely terrible at predicting our own reaction to a variety of life’s experience. In fact, it turns out that our friends and even casual acquaintances are much better at predicting our behavior than we are ourselves. It appears there is a significant gap between our self-image and the behaviors we will actually exhibit.

For example, we might like to think of ourselves as brave and ready to confront a dangerous situation with bravado. Yet, when the situation actually presents itself, we don’t act in accordance with our image. Unless the situation is dramatic or meaningful, we often, after the fact, ignore the behavioral choices we made and continue with our illusion that we truly know how we will act in a given situation. So, if you want to find out about yourself and others, try playing the following game around the dinner table or driving in the car.

How to Play The Essence Game

Tell your friends you want to play a little game to learn more about them. It is called the Essence Game. I find most people like being asked about their selves.
Ask each person – What is the ONE word that most clearly defines who you are? Alternately, you might ask what is the ONE word that best represents your world-view? If possible, ask them to write it down on a slip of paper so they won’t be swayed by anyone else’s comments.
Lead by example and tell the group your own word. The first time I did this exercise I came up with the word synthesizerto describe myself. I still use it.
Then, explain yourEssence word. In my case, I shared that I see myself as a gatherer and teacher of knowledge, and that I believed my talent was in synthesizing information and making links with other subjects in an innovative way. I also told them I thought this came out in my teaching and asked for their feedback. Was this true?
Poll the group one person at a time and have them share their word, and then ask them probing questions as to why they came up with this word to represent themselves. Watch the awareness develop.

The benefits of the game will quickly become apparent, as you will find that in the process of coming up with the ONE word you will crunch the complexity of whom you are down into the ESSENCE of who you are. Of course, this process causes you to generalize; but if you do this exercise thoughtfully you will find that the ONE word will be representative of a prevalent theme and value set in your life. This knowledge is valuable.

Next, ponder your word and ask the following questions:

How does this self-view impact my behavior?
If this is my strength, do I give myself the chance to use it as often as possible?
Does this cause me any problems in life that might require me to have more behavioral flexibility?
Does this self-view support my happiness? If not, why not?

Powerful and consistent performance is invariably linked to effective self-management. Whether you are managing your body (knowledge & technique into feeling), your mind (emotional maturity and self-management) or spirit (your relationship to the universe) you can benefit by understanding what makes you tick. Give this game a chance and pay attention!

IT

January 6, 2011 by admin

As the story goes, I was playing the Canadian Tour – and we had reached Toronto, the East Canada swing. I usually only hung out with Moe on the East side of Canada because he was there in the summer. This particular time I was playing the tournament at the Royal Woodbine Golf Club, a golf course very near the Toronto Airport.

Moe showed up the day of the practice round as I was warming up on the driving range. I asked him to hit a few balls as all of the players on the tour gathered around to watch. After he hit balls for about an hour with a crowd of 25 CPGA tour players, we decided to have lunch in the clubhouse.

At the time in my career, I was struggling with-Moe’s swing – my clubface was closed at the top of the backswing and, as a result, I often hooked the ball. Moe seemed to know what I was going through and as we were eating our sandwiches he said, “You won’t believe your eyes when you get it – you won’t believe your eyes”.

At the time, I really didn’t understand fully what he meant. I obviously knew that he saw a problem in my swing and I understood the “It” part but I didn’t comprehend what he meant by “won’t believe my eyes”.

Many years later, after a bit of frustration of still hooking the golf ball that I changed my lead hand grip to a fully neutral position (I struggled with this for a long time). Of course it felt horrible and I hit the ball terribly for a month or so. My swing, however, looked very good on video but because of the grip change the clubface was in a perfect position at the top of the backswing, however, I struggled with squaring the face at impact and fully releasing the club. (This is very common if you have a strong lead hand grip).

After taking some time to practice, fighting through the frustration, and working on the feeling of the lead hand position for a few months, (and to be truthful I really can’t even understand how exactly), one day the ball began to sound different than any time I had practiced before.

What was even more exciting was that my shots began to have the most incredible flight. I was hitting a 5 iron and I can honestly say I had never seen my ball fly so high, pure and straight. Since then, I have never had a problem with my grip and I have never lost it. Later that year, when Moe he saw me hit the ball he said ‘I told you so, you can’t believe your eyes- can you?” – He remembered our lunch in Toronto.

So what was “It” that Moe was referring to?

The “it” Moe talked about was simply the feeling of great swing mechanics, which resulted in great ball flight. More specifically the perfect movement of the golf club AND the movement of the body that created it.

If you had the privilege to see Moe strike a golf ball in person, you would have immediately noticed the sound and flight of the golf ball. Moe often described it as “pure”. This pure sound and flight were the result of great swing mechanics. Moe had “It”. “It” is similar to making an apple pie. You have all of the ingredients but it only tastes like apple pie when all of the ingredients are correctly mixed and properly baked.

“It” is when a child learns to ride a bike. At first, riding requires training wheels then, eventually he feels how to balance, pedal and steer. Suddenly, when the training wheels are removed, he is riding the bike. He gets “it”.

“It” is the result of having all of the right ingredients in all of the right places, at the right time resulting in a perfect result.

In my case, “It” was years of hard work, trial and error, studying Moe’s move, talking with Moe, making changes, plenty of frustration and hours and hours of practice. These were my ingredients.

“It” happens when you, at the subconscious level, are able to perform the given task without thinking about it. It just happens because, at a very deep subconscious level, that can only be reached through practice and repetition, “It” is the only way you know how to do it.

So, what are your “It” ingredients and how do YOU get it.

Well, this is what we (the Graves Golf Academy) are all about. Helping you get the ingredients you need to get “It”. The ingredients might vary for some however, there are definitely certain things that are the same for everyone.

One thing that I recommend is to do your best to “shortcut” this process – one way to do this is to use video analysis and get consistent and frequent instruction in the process while you are developing and changing your swing. If you do this, you can speed up the process and with a little hard work and practice, you won’t believe your eyes either.

Come One, Come All

November 5, 2010 by admin

The focus of my blog is to present ideas and suggestions about how we can improve our golfing performance and enjoyment of the game by intelligently applying mental approaches and techniques that optimize our mental, physical and emotional states. To this end I’ll report on a variety of techniques that have proven themselves or seem to have promise.

However, over the years I’ve found that many of the best techniques surface from talking with golfers like you about what you actually do to improve your mental approach to the game. I like this approach because your ideas and techniques are ‘field tested’ and not hypothetical.

So, come one, come all. We request your input. Write and tell our SPA community about the mental techniques you employ to improve your performance on the course or during practice.

Conversely, if you have a specific challenge or problem, tell us about that also and we will try and offer helpful suggestions.

Ryder Cup Pressure

October 7, 2010 by admin

There is one thing for certain, golf is a difficult game no matter how good you are. Just ask Hunter Mahan where it became glaringly obvious during the final matches of the Ryder Cup where, when the entire Tournament seemed to come down to him flubbing a chip.

How could Hunter, who has hit that chip shot thousands of times, duff it like he had never chipped before? In my opinion, its easy. Its Golf.

Golf has the same qualities of a lie detector, revealing the untruths in everyone and their game. In Hunter’s situation, by flubbing a simple chip, he showed that the Ryder Cup meant so much to him that he couldn’t perform what would normally be routine. Golf is a truth serum.

Golf brings out the best and worst in all of us. I remember reading an article in a business magazine where the executives used golf as a way to measure attitude and personality as a way of screening potential clients. You can learn heaps about a person by watching them play a round of golf. We can also learn about our ourselves.

So what can we learn from Hunter’s experience?

First, we must realize that Golf is a game to be played but at a deeper level, it is a judge and a jury. We can’t fake a good round or pretend to be good. Second, we can use golf to master ourselves by letting it help us attain discipline where we overcome obstacles and move past failures. This is what great champions do and I am sure Hunter will do the same.

And Finally, we can learn that practice and experience do not always mean success. This is why we must always step further into the abyss of the unknown and practice more than we think necessary and try harder because, there most likely will be a time where you will need to be over-prepared and, most importantly, there is always risk involved. You just never know if any of your work will have a “payday” but you must still persevere, practice and prepare.

Hunter will recover. All champions learn from their experiences and use them to bounce back. He will be better from the Ryder Cup just as you and I can learn that sometimes it takes a million mistakes to have one success. The answer is to always persevere, even when it seems impossible.

Practice Tip: Age before Beauty

July 1, 2010 by admin

Hello Everyone –