A Legend In My Own Mind

Monday morning and I'm at the Downshire Golf Centre ready for the much vaunted and much needed short game lesson with my teaching pro Rhys ap Iolo. As you all know by now the short game has been a bit of a nemesis and I've been between a rock and a hard place in terms of finding a technique that worked for me. All in all it has led to a mind melt and I stood over every chip from a simple chip and run to a pitch over a bunker with the mind racing at a hundred miles an hour and none of the thoughts being particularly positive about the task in hand. The job Rhys had was to simplify the technique and more importantly install some self-belief and flush out the negativity.

Of course, the first thing to do was listen to the proud Welshman revel in the rugby result. Given the extent of the drubbing it was to be expected. By the time we wandered out to the par three course Rhys had finally stopped the onslaught. I hoped his good mood would give me an easy passage into the lesson. Not a chance. Take one flaky short game and give the pupil a bare muddy lie over a bunker to a short sided pin. "Go on and show me how you'd play that" Rhys says. The mind goes into melt down, the swing looks like an octopus in a tornado but the ball finishes three feet from the cup.

We got down to the nitty gritty. A tweak in the set up, utilise the bounce and believe. I dunk one in the bunker and stuff one over the green. Perhaps the flailing octopus was the way forward. Ball by ball it got better as Rhys made the lie harder and harder. Off the muddiest barest lie imaginable he said play it like a bunker shot. I did and it gave a much wider margin of error. The next was off a better class of bare lie and flushed with success I only holed it. I'm a believer.

It was off to the putting green then to work on the chip and run. Again I hoped Rhys would tweak the technique and give me something to pin my faith to. Instead we utilised the bounce but he was more interested on focusing on landing zones, not too specific, but to stand there and really focus on where I wanted the ball to learn. By really zoning in and then taking a final look just before pulling the trigger, it gives the brain a specific goal and it can't then wander and allow negative thoughts or technical messages to pollute the swing.

The longer shots with a pitching wedge or nine iron were fine. Where I've had room to make a fuller swing I've been more comfortable. However Rhys wanted me to chip to a close pin on a side hill lie. My absolute nightmare. The plan was as before. Pick a landing zone, trust the technique, focus and then pull the trigger. There was still tension and as we all know in golf, tension kills and so early results weren't setting the pulse racing.

Focus on the landing zone, trust, zone in and go. Ball by ball things improved. I have a long way to go. It is very much a work in progress. When I lose focus I get tense and it goes wrong. When I get it right I am becoming a short game legend in my own mind. My feel is is superb and it was no surprise that I managed to hole one of these side hill chips. I use to shy away from using my 58 degree wedge which limited my options but when you are at rock bottom you do what you can to get the shot over with as fast as possible and just hope it ends up near the hole.

I appreciate that the focus on the landing zone and getting the picture in the mind is very akin to the stuff Karl Morris has been saying in the apps I've been listening to. I have to say though that the mental imagery is a very powerful tool and I'm amazed at how much less tension there is this way. I need to go away and work on it and Rhys wants me to use the grottiest lies I can find and work on it. If I can master it from a bare, muddy lie, then I can play from a good lie with absolute freedom.

I will become a short game legend and not just in my own mind. Seve was my absolute hero and if I can muster 1% of the skill he had then I will be a very capable player. Until then I have to forget the bad ones and embrace the good ones. There will be good and bad days and as long as the arc of the curve is upwards and there are more good than bad then it will be a start. I will be focusing a lot of time this season on the short game and I will be having another lesson soon to build on the progress I've made.

Of course the crux will come the first time I get on the course and miss a green. Will I be able to dig deep and picture the shot, feel the shot and keep the mental image fresh and just let the swing flow, pop the ball close and put the club back knowing I can make the putt. Of course I can because I am a legend. Well in my mind at least.