Powering through…

Golf is hard, but golfing while ill is even harder!

Welcome to 54 to Scratch, the irregular blog of someone who is trying to learn how to play this amazing sport, starting at beginner and hopefully developing into something resembling an actual golfer.

Since my last post, I have played my usual amount of golf, when considering both playing on courses and practicing on the range/at home.

Everything has been going really well. Last time out, I talked of thinking that I was on the verge of something special. My scores were stabilising again, my swing has suddenly developed and conditions were starting to get better - surely I was going to start seeing a drop in handicap soon?!

Then a week ago Friday I started coming over a little funny. A kind of dizzy feeling that wouldn’t quite go away. On that day, I couldn’t focus and scored poorly, but I put this down to playing with a mate who I hadn’t played with in a while.

The next day, I had a lesson with Mark, focusing on Woods. The lesson went really well - I was striking the ball lovely both in the lesson and on the range. However, I went to play 18 on the course later in the day and the dizziness came back, along with an overwhelming fatigue.

An extremely poor score followed. I couldn’t concentrate at all and easy putts were missed. Striking became inconsistent as I was a little up and down with the energy levels.

Then I became further ill with coughing etc. A cold bug that’s been doing the rounds (not covid) had gotten me and it’s a doozy. Aching, coughing during the night and general exhaustion have been the symptoms - but not consistently.

I’ve been playing golf and practicing at home a fair bit - playing a round at Leeds Castle and another round at Kingsnorth, neither of which went well.

Don’t get me wrong, there have been flashes of the player I can be. Since that lesson, for example, my 3 Wood has become an important club in the bag. On more than one occasion, I’ve been pulled out of a bad shot by the extra length I can get from that club.

Some of my approach play has been amazing too, putting too.

But the flashes have been only that at the moment. Again, lack of sleep for 5 to 6 days has resulted in me being unable to concentrate. My muscles are taking time to recover as well, I guess due to the lack of sleep, so that’s affecting my swing consistency.

Which leads me onto the point of this article. Golf. Is. Hard.

Jack Nicklaus once said that “Golf is 80% Mental, 10% ability and 10% luck”. The past week or so has really highlighted this to me. I know that at some point I will feel 100% again and then the grind begins again in earnest to get back where I was - but I will get there.

Crunching the numbers, I averaged just under 1 shot over handicap PER HOLE over the past week. Now, this has of course been largely down to being under the weather, but as we all know, being ill comes in many forms. You could have a cold but equally you could have other stuff going on. Don’t pile expectations on yourself to perform when going through these things.

Equally, if you have a bad hole, forget about it. If you don’t, 1 shot per hole over par is going to become an irreversible score to overcome very quickly.

One thing I have used this period to do though is to try a couple of different approaches off the tee to normal, especially on Par 4’s.

And by doing this, it’s made me realise that I need to change my planning for games. The lightbulb moment came on the par 4 13th at Kingsnorth. I normally use a driver off the tee, trying to get to the green and inevitably fade it and it doesn’t make the green. This time, the crosswinds were a little crazy, so I used a 5 iron to ensure I didn’t go in the rather evil rough that is developing…

This ended up putting me exactly 100 yards away from the hole. Perfect distance for my PW and I landed the ball within 6 ft. I didn’t get a birdie, but it highlighted where I could approach my game differently - working my way back from the hole.

That will be the plan next time, work back from the green to each point and go from there. It will likely mean less use of the driver, but I just want to try something different to get a lower score!

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