The Month I Stopped Working on My Game
A busy month, a sore back, almost no practice, and yet, I accidentally found myself playing some of my best golf. Is there something to be said for stepping away for a bit?
Setting the Stage
Let me just go ahead and set the stage for you. It's been a chaotic month, work has been hectic, I'm getting married in less than a month (which I can't wait for but planning gets chaotic), and the icing on the cake? I tweaked my back about 2 or 3 weeks ago. Now, I'm on the younger side of 30, and thankfully (read knock on wood) I haven't had any major back issues. I've always done my best to make sure I'm lifting properly, taking enough rest, good posture, etc. So when I tweak something, I take it seriously right then and there because one day, I'd love to play this game with my kids and grandkids. So I took it easy the last month; went to the range maybe once and practiced some chipping with foam balls around the house but that's about it.
The Round in Question
Two weeks ago, I had to bail on a round with my friends due to my back, but come last weekend, I couldn't bail on my buddy's 30th birthday round. It had to get done. Now I'm coming off of tweaking my back and I definitely don't want to make anything worse so I went with the time tested strategy: swinging smooth, the classic 'old man swing'. Where it's just dead straight, in the fairway, but a bit less distance than usual. Here I was thinking number 1: I'm actually capable of hitting a ball straight and number 2: my ego won't get in the way when my friends are pumping it 270+. But I was willing to give it the good ol' college try.
We started off strong actually, range was a great warm-up; making decent contact, straight (ish), and no pain; all good indicators of a decent round. My wedges specifically felt good, which is always nice. Come to the first tee with a slice, a recovery shot and decent approach later, I left with a bogey. Second hole, perhaps my strongest drive of the day, great approach, 2 putts later and I walk off with par. I generally followed this for the whole round, just bouncing between pars and bogeys. Par 3s seemed to be my mortal enemy that day, I couldn't find a green off the tee all day. I did, surprisingly, manage to secure a birdie on the back nine. However, in a classic turn of events, I followed it up with a blowup double bogey on a par 3. Somehow on the 18th hole, I find myself putting for a birdie and in a position I haven't been in this year: break 80. About 8 feet between me and breaking 80, just staring me down. We've made these before, why should now be any different?
We all know what happened, I missed.
But I did tap in for 80, and while it's slightly disappointing, I was honestly still happy with the result. Surprisingly, I didn't walk off the 18th feeling like I had blown the round somehow. Usually a missed putt with that much mental weight behind it would stick with me. But that day, I was just happy with the overall round. It was the only round this year I didn't feel like I was fighting my natural swing every step of the way.
What I Took Away
Interestingly, this was probably my best round this year. Not just score wise (it tied), but just overall feeling. I was so focused early in the season; I spent SO much time at a simulator over the winter working on the technical side of my swing. This continued well into the spring and early summer. But as I mentioned earlier, I got busy later this summer. I couldn't dedicate tons of focus and energy on the really technical stuff. Couple that with trying to take it easy on my back and it set the stage for, what I think was a well put together round. It wasn't anything special, just swinging easier, smoother, focusing on tempo and really not hurting myself. But this opened up the door for a few things: sticking with the shot shape the day provided, not trying anything fancy, but really just enjoying my time out there. I was relaxed, it was my buddy's 30th, I hadn't played a round in around a month, and I was just there for fun. It reminded me to just enjoy the walk, the beautiful course, the laughs with friends, and everything in between. So that makes me ask the question: Did taking time off help? Was it because I was going easy on my back? What actually happened that I put together a good round? What was different? At the end of the day, who knows? All I know is that after spending almost a year chasing trackman numbers and trying to get into manufactured positions, one of my best rounds came from not trying to improve at all.
Enjoy the walk
-- Jack