September 15th 2007
TUPPER CUP SCUPPERED
The “twilight” zone is here. The part of the year when you know that the summer is over and that whatever you hope to achieve over eighteen holes for 2007, you had better manage in the next three weeks, because that’s all there is left. There’s only the Lifeboat Spoon and the Jackson medal (a qualifier and the final) to play for, and then that’s it. Midweek golf is over (not enough light after work), most of the match-play finals have been completed (more news next week), and the appearance of the entry sheet for the winter league on the notice board means only one thing.
As sure as a cuckoo heralds the beginning of spring, this sheet proclaims, if not the end of summer or the beginning of winter, then whatever we want to call the “bit” in-between. Judging by last Saturday’s washout, the very wet bit. Again we lost our weekend ”fix” of golf, and the Tupper Cup was washed out after 12 hours torrential rain overnight.
Having given myself a severe talking to between Wednesday night and Saturday morning, I was looking forward to my game; after all, things couldn’t really get worse. Getting rained off with so little of the season left soon had me thinking differently.
Wednesday saw young Alex Nicolson claim the Caledonian Medal with an excellent nett 64, winning by a single shot from Davie “Coachy” MacLennan. Alex prevented a family double last week, Jan MacLennan having scooped the Ladies Medal on Tuesday evening.
I know it’s a bit late to start analysing where things have gone wrong this year, but after a bit of soul-searching, and some discussion with others, maybe a good start to the round is important? On our course it’s very important, and for those of us without the ability to recover, it’s essential.
There is far too much stuff to be taken care of between the ears, if you are playing badly, to bring to the first tee and your first shot of the day. When the first tee is the beginning of the most difficult of all of the eighteen holes on the course, then the focus required to hit “the gap” (a small target area some 170yds in the distance and out of sight, over the brow of a hill) can cause many of us to panic.
These days, and I get the feeling I am not alone here; if my panic at the first doesn’t undo my hopes of a decent round, then the subsequent panic at haemorrhaging most of my handicap before the “turn” (the ninth hole) surely will.
Sometimes when our game is going badly we try to focus on all the advice we have been given over the years, “Try to swing the club, not hit the ball”, “Swing down, then around”, “Clear the hips and swing using your legs”, “Have a one piece take-away” and “Keep it wide on the back-swing” being just a few of many. As the game falls to pieces, the head fills with all the bland “mantras” we have been force fed since we first attempted to play the game, and to be honest, the brain begins to throb. I know one of the best player in the club, who has been struggling of late, looked to one of his peers (a golfer of similar abundant ability) to help him analyse what had gone “wrong” with his game. After several holes of scrutinising his swing, watching his address position and assessing the “situation”, he asked if there was anything that could be pinpointed which might solve his recent dip in form. Having watched as his friend postulated and pontificated about what might be causing his current “woes”, he offered an honest and startlingly forthright analysis and opinion “Why don’t you stop thinking about it and just (expletive deleted) hit it”.
Now this is not an original thought, but many of us have forgotten how to simply go out and play the game, without over-complicating it with theories, science and, to be frank, a healthy dose of what made the grass grow green in Texas.
I may be wrong, but I’ll hazard a guess here and suggest that many of us club golfers prepare to play too poorly, if at all , ( and come a cropper early in the round), try too hard and forget to relax and enjoy ourselves, and give up too easily when things begin to go badly.
Many of us turn up at the club, head to the bar, then the locker room, before shambling onto the first tee ( hitting a few practise putts on the way) then shrug our shoulders, wonder how long before we implode, and trudge forward into the trees to look for our first ( or second) tee shot .
The golfers who can dispel negative thoughts before they arrive on the tee, look forward to their round, and believe they will play well, are generally those who do. The rest of us tend to do so by accident.
We avoid any disasters on the holes which usually catch us out, manage to keep it reasonably “steady” till the closing stretch, and have enough shots left of our handicaps to see us through the treacherous closing holes.
Too many of us have had no such “accidents” this year, and have seen our handicaps steadily rise as a result. We are in the group at the bottom of the rankings where we are counting the remaining weeks and praying we can squeeze in just one decent round before the summer season is behind us. Unless of course we are mercenary bandits, and looking to advantage ourselves (and our playing partners) for the Winter League. That would never happen would it? ….people protecting their handicaps for the Winter League…surely not!
I don’t know about you, but the thought of “Winter League” already sends a chill down my back.
Maybe if we re-named it?
If there is anyone out there wanting to sponsor a “league” of their own, which will get mentioned every week for the next six months, then please get in touch with the club.
Mr Trump? Mr Gates?
Alex Nicolson
Jan Maclennan