War and Peace

I felt great about my chipping last night. Especially I had the chipping green to myself for nearly an hour.  I felt so at peace with the chips I was hitting. My visualization of my shots was awesome and no struggles with mechanics or mechanical thoughts.

The inner war was with pitch or semi flop shots.   I was practicing a shot where I had to pitch it to a pin placement five yards off the green. A tough shot because you can hit a decent shot but it will roll 10 feet past.  

You have to hit a shot with a good amount of spin on it so It can check and stop near the pin. The first ten minutes were frustrating because I hit good shots and sure enough rolled 10 feet past the hole or hit the fringe an stop half a foot on the green.  

As we all know the frustration gives way to doubt then doubt into fear. That's the constant war inside, isn't it. Instead of letting the frustration build I took a deep breath and thought about what I was doing causing the frustration.

Then I focused on what I needed to do. I noticed was taking the club too far inside and I was releasing the club which is a death move when your trying to loft the ball and creating spin.

After that I hit the ball better but not great. But the. I was at peace again because I accepted the good shots and realized its not healthy to try to be perfect in one night.

I remember  former major league all star said when he played in Boston for the Red Sox, he said that they felt they had to win but when he played for the Yankees they felt like the where going to win. In the past I would feel like "am I ever going to be consistent with this shot?". When I left last night  I felt, "I'll learn to be consistent with this shot". That's the piece of mind that is the difference between failing or succeeding at this game.