Getting Close To Panic Time

It's been a turbulent week golfing wise. I hit the range on Tuesday determined to banish the poor swing path that has blighted my game in the last few weeks (way too flat) and lets just say the session was a mess. I went to the range at Blue Mountain on Wednesday hoping a change of scenery would help and it got even worse. I was in such turmoil that I even got the wife to call in a favour at Sand Martins (where she works) and get one of the pros to book a 30 minute quick fix session in before his main teaching lessons for Sunday. I went to Maidenhead Golf Centre on Thursday more in hope than expectation to give it one last go and fixing the problem.

Well blow me down with a feather and call me Fred. What a change in fortunes. I've no real idea what I was doing different but it felt so much more controlled with a better hip turn (not slide) through impact and ball after ball actually going where I intended. Even my normal teaching pro giving a lesson in the next bay but keeping a crafty eye on my progress gave me the thumbs up on the swing.

I hit the Saturday roll up this morning in high hopes. Well I did until I hit a few looseners on the practice ground beforehand. Not a pretty sight and any flimsy charade of confidence in my game floated away like leaves in the breeze. It came as no surprise then when the opening tee shot was a stabby sliced effort right that sailed perilously close to the out of bounds. A nice double to start.

I wrote about the dangers of the 2nd hole the other day and I didn't even get my drive over the ditch some 180 yards away off the white tee. In fact it didn't make the bloody ditch. I was chopping it like king of the choppers and was playing like a rank beginner. Double at the second was followed by double at the third after the recurring nightmare that is my short game manifested itself (it would be a repeating problem throughout the day). I finally found a fairway and green in regulation at the 4th for a welcomed par. However as per normal when I did show a rare semblance of ability like hitting the green on the 6th I'd find a way to nous it up again, in this case three putting. I even went "off piste" at the 7th. I blocked, pushed or sliced dependant on how charitable you are, my tee shot and was blocked out by the large oak near the ditch that runs across the fairway and by some large trees about 100 yards in front of where my ball finished.

I didn't fancy the low running shot under the oak fearing it turning into a hook and going into the environmental area left or not clearing the ditch. Instead I saw sanctuary towards the 8th. The group playing the hole were still on the tee and the green was clear so I decided to aim over the green, hopefully missing the greenside bunkers and landing on the light rough between the tee and green. I didn't catch it cleanly but it made it far enough out to give me an iron in and two putts later I made an adventurous 5 (nett par).

I scrambled 15 points going out. My tee shot on 10 was horrid though (a low duck hook) but I managed to salvage a 5 (nett par) and another 4 (nett 3) at the next. Playing the hardest hole on the course (according to the stroke index at least) I decided to hit a 3 wood in an attempt to get some elevation and find a fairway. Job done. A pretty well struck hybrid and suddenly I'm putting from eight feet for birdie. I made par.

The nightmare that is my chipping came to a crunch at the 14th where I hit one chip so fat the ball went about a foot and then hit another ugly fat to follow. I am pleased to inform blog readers that I am a scratch club thrower. It flew pretty well and I recommend the helicopter method. Actually I'm not proud to have done it and it is pretty rare these days for me to lose my rag that much. Its usually a sigh of resigned indifference but today the red mist finally descended.

Ironically, playing the 18th I pulled my approach way, way left and had a tricky 20 yard chip from the rough and hit it pretty well. I ended up about five feet away and I converted the putt to save par. And therein is the issue. Anything from 15-20 yards away that requires a bit of momentum and I "usually" commit to the shot and make a passable effort. Ask me to chip from around the green or hit a high soft shot or something that requires only a short swing and it opens up a host of possibilities none of which are appetising. The current favourite seems to be the fatted shot although the thin through the green or even the dreaded shank are no more than a breath away.

Chipping is simple. I know that. Stand there, hands forward, weight forward, ball in the middle or slightly back of that. Rock the shoulders keeping the hands in front and the weight forward and your a short game god. How hard can it be? It's got in my head now and like a Trojan virus on a pc its corrupted all my short game files and I can't do it. It's getting to a stage where I'm scared to play the shot as we know it's not going to be great and will cost me. How can you hope to achieve when the confidence is shot so much.

I'm getting really stressed about it all now. The hard work and lessons I put in over the winter particularly before the snow came seem like a distant memory and although the ball striking at the range is showing definite signs of improvement (hitting down and compressing it much more than I use to) I can't find a trigger to capture the good range work I'm doing and transfer it onto the course. Once I'm out there, I feel I need to find every fairway to give me the best chance of hitting the green so that I don't need to chip. You can't play like that.

I'm fed up of everyone telling me to relax and just hit it. I'm doing just that. I've not got any mechanical thoughts going through my head (or much of anything going on in there truth be told) as I swing or walk round. I'm not thinking about my score or next shot as I walk towards where my ball has gone, which isn't taking very long on some holes. I've always been analytical about my game even from those halcyon single figure days back at Wimbledon Common. That's just me.

So what's the answer. Well I'm cutting right back on the range work for the long game. I'm going to trust what I have for a few weeks and see where it goes and then look at a lesson if it doesn't improve. It has to be short game, short game, short game. I have a practice aid called the V-Easy ( designed by a good friend of mine off the Golf Monthly Forum called Bob MacArthur) and I'm going to dust it off and give it a whirl.

It's designed to keep the hands quiet for putting and chipping and to promote that simple rocking motion. You'll probably be seeing a lot of me on the putting green at Royal Ascot over the next few weeks standing there like a numpty with this thing wedged under my arms. Don't laugh at me but take pity on a poor unfortunate soul too stupid to understand the basic mechanics of the simplest shot in golf. If I'm not there then look for me on the practice ground where I'll be trying those short pitches. You'll know I'm there by the low flying clubs as I duff another.

Of course the people you should really feel sorry for are Butch Cassidy, aka Bash (Martin Davis) although probably not too much sympathy for this bandit, and new member and good friend Mike Stannard who have both been lumbered with me as partners in upcoming competitions. I think both will be in the transfer market soon (is there a transfer window in golf?) after carrying me.

At least I didn't lose a ball today! Right I'm off for some Valium and a lie down