Golf course.......Or, obstacle course ???????

I´m pretty sure about where I stand on this.

One of the great challenges of golf is to overcome the enormous quantity of obstacles that we face on every golf course and that affect every single shot we hit.

Let´s think about it a bit. We face trees, bunkers, tall and complicated grass (rough), water, out of bounds, very fast and complicated greens and, normally slopes of all types and kinds......and other obstacles such as wind, heat and humidity.

And what complicates matters even more is that 99% of the time we play "stroke", or "medal", play, where absolutely all the shots that we hit count and add up to our score.

This is so different to tennis, for example. In tennis one can lose a few games and win the set. Or one loses a set and wins the match.

Not so in golf. Every single shot is crucial and, therefore, two things become absolutely essential :

1. One has to have the capacity to hit the ball where we want it to go.

2. One has to have the capacity to "get around", or successfully overcome, the multiple obstacles we constantly face on the golf course with skill and a lot of physical and mental talent.

Jack Nicklaus, the best "golf course manager" that ever played the game put it very well:

Jack suggests that there is an enormous amount of quality teaching regarding the first point. There is, for sure, excellent quality instruction and tens of thousands of capable instructors all over the world.

But quality teaching about how to effectively plan one´s way around the golf course and how to manage the mind, is very scarce, indeed.
It has a lot to do with our frame of mind on the course and how we think.

In this respect I happen to be a great admirer of Jack Nicklaus.

Nicklaus tells us that the reason many consider him the best golfer that ever played the game has a lot to do with his realization, at a very young age, that the key to golf is the conservative and rigorous planning of ALL his shots.

Jack never, ever, hit a shot without knowing the area where he wanted the ball to go to.......and, with the knowledge that even if he didn´t hit a very good shot, he was sure to be in an acceptable position for the following one.

Nicklaus never directly shot at a dangerous or risky corner flag stick. He preferred to aim at the middle of the green where he could guarantee his par and have a chance at a birdie without any risk.

I have said it before and I will say it many times.

A key element of any on course Mental Method to assist us when pressure hits, is the strict, rigorous and conservative planning of all golf shots.

When we plan shots badly or we take on too much risk, the price to pay can me ferocious.

Not only because of the unnecessary additional shots we add to our scorecard, but also because of the negative impact to our mind.

A dumb planning error will "take us out" of the unconscious, intuitive or automatic mode, that is so essential for the mind/ body synchronization that allows us to hit our best golf shots.

Therefore, rigorous and conservative planning of ALL golf shots in a round of golf is essential.

This can be seen clearly if we examine the scorecards of pro golfers.

Almost all of them can produce the same amount of multiple birdies and occasional eagles in any given tournament. But the difference between winners and losers is the capacity of champions to limit bogies and the dreaded "others" (doubles, triples, etc.) to a minimum.

The conclusion is simple but fundamental.

The rigorous and conservative planning of all shots, including putts, is key to success on the golf course, or, better put, on the obstacle course.

Why USA lost the RYDER CUP 2012

At the start of Sunday morning very few people thought that the USA could lose this year´s version of the Ryder Cup.

A 10 to 6 point lead, after the Friday and Saturday foursome and fourballs, seemed impossible for Europe to turn around.

To win, Team USA needed to reach fourteen and a half points (of a total of 28), so they had to win only 4 and a half of the 12 up for grabs in the Sunday individual matches.

So, what happened ???????

Typically, when the best golfers in the world go head to head in match play, about half the matches are won comfortably by either of the contestants, and the other half of the matches tend to be very disputed and go down to the wire.

And this Ryder Cup proved to be no exception.

Europe won four matches with ease:

Donald beat Watson, McIlroy beat Bradley, Laurie beat Snedeker and Westwood beat Kuchar.

And the USA won three matches without a problem.

D. Johnson beat Colsaerts, Z. Johnson beat McDowall and Dufner beat Hanson.

Up to this point a normal Ryder Cup scenario that does not explain the American team´s disaster.

But when we look at the five "disputed" matches, those that were won or lost on the final hole, the USA players won none of them.

In fact, they lost four of them and only tied one. And, worse still, with two holes to go the USA was winning two of them and was tied in the other three.

Let´s see what happened:

Poulter and Simpson were tied after 16: Result: Poulter won the final two holes with a par and a birdie.


Rose and Poulter

Mickelson was one up on Rose after 16. Result: Rose finished with spectacular birdies on 17 and 18 to win by one.

Furyk was leading García by one going into 17. Result: Furyk made bogey-bogey versus Garcia´s par-par to lose by one.

Kaymer and Stricker were even after 16. Result: Kaymer makes a par-par finish versus Stricker´s bogey par and the USA loses another point.

Tiger and Molinare were also even after 16. Tiger wins 17 with par and, when Europe had already reached 14 points and retained the Cup, he loses the 18' th with a bogey to tie his match.

So, of the five "disputed" matches, USA was leading two and in a tie for the rest of them with two holes to go, and only was able to add half a point to their total. The European´s managed a spectacular four and a half points to accomplish a fantastic feat.

If we consider the scores of the ten players involved in these five "disputed" matches that went down to the final two holes, the result for the Americans is catastrophic.

The five European players were, in total, two under par on holes 17 and 18, compared to the American players that could only manage a miserable 5 over.

What on earth happened ?. European strength under pressure?. Mental weakness and poor shot planning by the Americans ?.

A bit of everything.......let´s see.

Poulter won due to his mental strength and his renown fighting spirit. He is a great match play golfer and when he faces big time pressure he rarely folds. Europe had practically lost the Saturday afternoon fourball until Poulter reeled off six straight birdies and turned around the match.

Rose, who works the mental side with the excellent Dr. Gio Valiante, was simply brilliant with his birdie-birdie-finish. Mickelson could only watch and congratulate Rose.

Furyk, unfortunately, choked as he has all year, when close to victory.

Simply put, he seems to know he will make mistakes in the final holes, as he did in this year´s US Open and more recently in one of the playoff Championships. I didn´t like his untimely celebration on the 16´th green, when he thought his birdie putt, to go two up, was going in, but just lipped out. He seemed devastated that it didn´t drop, a very bad and not recommended reaction from the mental point of view.

García did his job with a couple of solid pars on 17 and 18, but, once again, a disastrous bogey-bogey finish for Furyk to give the match away by one..

Stricker and Kaymer were tied going into the final two holes.

In my opinion, a catastrophic planning error by Stricker on the green at 17.

He was slightly over the green about 15 yards from the hole in some short grass. Kaymer already had made his two putts for par. A half a point would probably give the Cup to the USA because Molinare was very nervous and Tiger had the best chance to win that match.

Stricker´s decision to putt or to chip was absolutely key at this stage. The matches were tied at 13. The USA needed 14 and a half points to win (a tie at 14 would mean Europe retained). Only two matches were left.

The safe play was to putt. This would eliminate any risk of a "chunk" or a "bladed" shot.

Stricker made the wrong decision. His chip was slightly bladed and it went by the hole some twelve feet. He missed coming back. He was one down and now probably needed a birdie to tie the match.


Stricker, D. Johnson and Stricker

Tiger, as expected won the 17´th over the nervous and inexperienced Molinari and went one up, going into the final hole.

But, it was over. Striker didn´t make birdie and gave Europe the point they needed to retain.

And when Tiger missed a short putt to give Molinari the tie, it was irrelevant and the Europeans were already celebrating.

So, if somebody asks me why the USA lost this Ryder Cup, I think I have a very clear answer in my mind.

The Mental strength of Rose and Poulter, the Mental weakness of Furyk and the catastrophic planning error by Stricker on the 17´th green.