Chisag's Tip Of The Day #25

[chisag]

Learn to Love what you Hate

... When I was in the 3rd grade I played lots of sports with my older brother by 2 years and mostly his friends. They loved playing Kill The Man With The Ball where they tossed a football in there air and someone picked it up and could run around in a designated area and everyone tried to tackle him. They would force me to pick it up even though they were all stronger and bigger than I was and loved hitting me ...hard! Yea, I cried a few times but at least they were silent tears. I learned pretty quickly to use my speed and developed quick cutting moves and spins to minimize the contact or avoid it all together. I started out hating carrying the ball but I grew to love it. I did lots of spinning off furniture in the house while holding a football as well as quick cuts and side steps that drove my Mom crazy but it was invaluable by Jr High when I played QB because scrambling was a strong part of my game. 

... I was also able to play basketball with my brother and his friends but was not yet strong enough to shoot jump shots so I was not allowed to shoot or they would throw me out of the game if I did it more than once. But I HAD to shoot once because my brother and his friends liked to laugh at me for missing and I hated shooting. So I attacked shooting with a vengeance. My neighbor had a hoop in his yard and his kids were grown and gone so he allowed me to use it as much as I wanted. I put in hours and hours just shooting and got pretty good, but still didn't shoot in any games. When I got to where I could make 10 jump shots in a row from free throw distance I started shooting and soon became the first one picked in games. It took me almost 2 years of practice before I started shooting in games. Playing in the Robert McAdoo league I hit 10 of 13 from 3 point range in the championship game and was invited to a try out with the Carolina Cougars of the ABA. Never would have happened if I didn't hate shooting because I was bad at it but I turned it into a strength. 

... I took two things I hated and turned them into things I loved. I hear so many complain about how bad they putt or chip or drive the ball or hit poor iron shots and hate it. GOOD! Use that disgust and hate and turn it into a strength. Practice, PRACTICE, PRACTICE! Spend more time on what you hate than what you love and you might be surprised when it becomes a strength of your game. Spend some practice sessions hitting 100-200 chips, if chipping is something you hate. Keep 6 balls with your putter in the car and stop at golf courses to hit 100 putts on the practice green or as many as time allows. I'll admit in the late 50's and early 60's we had few distractions as there were no computers, cell phones, DVR's or even VCR recorders. There were basically only 3 channels that went off at midnight LOL! But if golf is important to you, really really important, you can make the time. Becoming really good at something you hated because you were so bad at it is one of the most rewarding feelings in sports. Just ask Michael Jordan who was cut from his high school basketball team and still used it for motivation when he won his 6th NBA Championship.  

[cksurfdude]

Great advice, as always!

Putting is not my fav part of the game - if Ben Hogan were around and I had the chance to meet him, I'd tell him I agree with his statement about "a game within a game".

But I *HATE* 3-putting ... so the past few years I've been doing a lotta work on putting - stroke mechanics, even stance and setup, and a lot on distance control.

Recently I've been giving more attention to short putts, too.

I cannot claim any 'welcome to the majors scoring records' but I am seeing incremental progress over time.....

[Sluggo42]

This tip applies directly to one of my absolute weaknesses, which is short chips around the green, for when your approach goes not quite how you planned it. I’ve got the new system to use which basically consists of using the iron that gets on the green the soonest and rolling to the pin, rather than trying to fly most of the way to the pin and using the same club for every shot. There’s a little math used to help you decide which club to use.

but the point is that I’m not practicing this, and only using on the course. It has been successful with numerous par saves, and I even sank one a few days ago for a birdie. But I’ve also chunked a few which proves that I haven’t practiced it. I’ve had enough par saves with it that proves it’s a viable method. It’s like when you watch the pros play, they get up and down a high percentage of the time, so why aren’t I practicing it?

id give you the excuse, but there isn’t one. And it will continue to be a weakness until I find the time and effort to actually practice it…

but at least now I have a correct method to practice with, and have seen positive results that would happen more often, if I would just PRACTICE…

its like the guy who asks the musician how he became such a great player, then claims 7 different reasons why, but after each one, the musician replies… practice