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Another Look At Golf and BiorhythmsThursday, October 06, 2005I was reminded at Cypress Ridge Golf Course yesterday, after my worst round in years, of a quote made by Tiger Woods, "I don't know whether our biorhythms get out of sync, some muscle memory is depleted or that computer between our ears suddenly crashes, but every player has days when consistent ball-striking is a foreign concept. I know I've had my share."As I've shared once before, I'll sometimes check my biorhythm chart on days when I play extremely well or extremely poorly. A curious look at the charts today was initiated after shooting a 98 (51/47) at Cypress Ridge Golf Course yesterday. As far as I can remember, this is the worst round I've shot as an adult! So what happened? As I posted earlier, I took my first-ever golf lesson last week. Essentially, all that I changed as a result of that lesson was my grip. Prior to playing yesterday, I'd had the opportunity to practice at the range with this grip change 3 times. I actually felt pretty confident with the change and seemed to be hitting the ball longer and straighter. My ball striking on the course yesterday was pretty consistent with my results on the range. I was hitting the ball well, with only a few exceptions. What I think contributed to my poor play most was a mental and emotional breakdown I experienced due to a horrible start with my putting. I played extremely well on the first 4 holes, hitting each fairway and landing each green in regulation with good tee and fairway shots. However, I three-putted each of those 4 greens! On the 5th, I hit another great tee shot in the middle of the fairway, but hit my approach shot a little fat and came up short - missing my first green in regulation. I chipped up close, but 2-putted to continue my string of bogies. The round was still under control, but I started getting discouraged with my putting. I could have easily been even at this point, but was instead, 5 over. Things started to unwind on 6. My long drive faded well right, potentially out-of-bounds or lost. My provisional did the same. My next provisional was long and right down the middle. Amazingly, I found both of the 1st balls in bounds and played my first ball, which was found in the dirt surrounded by some tufts of long grass. I duffed that shot and left the ball under some chapparel, still right of the fairway. The ball was unplayable, so I dropped it and left the next shot short. I then chipped close to the pin, and finally 1-putted. Even though this was only my first double bogie, I felt discouraged and let it sink in that the chance of shooting a good round had gotten away from me. This proved fatal on 7, where I put my drive out-of-bounds left. My provisional landed in the fairway. My wedge to the green was then too strong, and landed inches from a rock in some tall grass behind the green. I managed to place a wedge on the ball, but left it short of the green. It took another chip and 2 putts to finish this par-4 hole with an 8! I then finished 8 and 9 with double bogies, both with great drives landing in the fairway. The 9th was particularly horrible. I hit a huge drive followed by 3-wood that drifted right, but remained on the fairway. I then hit this par-5 green in regulation with a wedge, but left it at the back of the green on the shelf above the pin placement. I then managed to 4-putt for a double bogie - finishing 9 with 23 putts! This resulted in my first post-50 round (51) for nine holes in years. After my string of 5 bogies to start the round, I finished the last 4 holes with a quadruple and 3 double bogies! And this was done missing only 2 fairways on the front nine and hitting 5 greens in regulation. Amazing! The back nine was even crazier. Even though I managed 5 pars, I experienced 1 double, 2 triple and another quadruple bogie to end the back with a 47. Another amazing outcome - shooting 11-over for 9 with 5 pars - argh! I played 10 and 11 well, coming up with a bogie and par. I hit another good drive on 12, followed by one of my best 8-irons ever. However, the 8-iron hit the deep bunker in front of the green due to a strong headwind - a significant mental error in club selection. The ball was plugged and took 2 shots to get out of the sand. That 2nd shot flew over the green and required another chip and 2 putts to finish the hole. I played 13 well and parred, but added another triple bogie on 14. I hit a huge drive on 14 that cleared the fairway bunkers on the left by a mile, but ended up 1 foot out-of-bounds - due more to power than to direction. I just hit it too far! To continue my inconsistent play, I parred 15, then added my 2nd quadruple bogie on 16. This was my biggest blow up. I hit my drive left into the eucs. My only option was to punch my second shot back into the fairway. I then pulled my 4-iron just a little left, but hit a tree and bounced further left, landing under a bush. I managed to climb into the bushes and punch the ball sideways back into play, but then landed my subsequent shot in a bunker short of the green. A chip and 2 putts resulted in another 8! I parred 17 and 18 to keep my score under 100, but still left the course in a bit of a state of shock ;). Looking back on the round, I have to feel good about my ball striking. A few errant drives were costly, resulting from a lack of concentration. My short game was horrid, but should have still resulted in a round no worse than the high 80's. It was my mental and emotional game that sent the round south. I let my poor putting at the start rattle me and lost the ability to stay focused over many of my remaining shots. So, as I mentioned, after such an unusually poor round, I found myself checking my biorhythm chart this morning to see if it showed anything that mirrored my play yesterday. It turns out it does.  My physical cycle shows it's near a peak. This is consistent with the good results I had striking the ball yesterday. I really hit some huge drives. All this physical energy may have even contributed to my putting performance, messing up my speed control just enough to throw me off. But most telling is that my emotional and intellecutal charts are near the bottom. I can't overestimate how important those aspects are to the game of golf. You can hit the ball long all day, but if your mental game is off and you let your emotions take over, your round is finished. That's exactly what happened to me yesterday. I managed to let some "just-missed" putts and one errant drive at the beginning of the round ruin the entire round. If I'd managed to remain focused and controlled my emotional response to some poor shots, I could have easily finished with a decent round with how well I was striking the ball. Anyway, this was a good lesson. Even if these physical, mental, and emotional cycles do influence us, they don't have to rule us. When our mental and emotional states are at a low, we can simply be more aware of the need to take control of those aspects of ourselves. Instead, I just let them take over yesterday, to the detriment of the strength I did experience in striking the ball. Check my recent entry about biorhythms if you'd like to learn more about this theory that we are influenced by physical, emotional, and intellectual cycles. |
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