Being in the golf media is not without it’s perks and one of the coolest is having access to some of the great instructors and coaches we have here in Canada.
As noted in earlier blogs, Clublink’s Sean Casey has taken some time to fine tune my swing and change my putter grip. The latter he may not even be aware of as it came about via an impromptu comment that he made while I was logging a few minutes on the Glen Abbey putting green prior to a media event. I have never had a putting lesson and it seems that I was gripping it similar to every other club in the bag. Sean provided some quick insight and a few simple drills which have really worked well — and the funny thing with this game is that once you witness a little progress it only makes you yearn for more.
I also had a few extremely informative minutes with another Clublink Academy instructor, Reg Millage, fresh off of his 18th place finish at the Jane Rogers (Canadian Tour) event held at Greystone. That event had some the fastest greens any of the Canadian Tour players had ever seen and they were the quickest of any event on the tour schedule. As for me, t the greens at Seaforth will be faster that what I am used to so the adjustment for me will be somewhat similar.
Reggie’s advice on fast greens:
- plan your approach shots accordingly (essentially, don’t put yourself in bad places)
- getting the ball into the right positions on the greens is imperative – fast greens mean you CAN make putts, you will make more from the right spots – give yourself opportunities
- stay aggressive (albeit with some caution) because you will miss a few but if you get intimated and overly defensive you certainly won’t make many
And I must admit that my tendency is to play at times with the water bottle half empty especially on the greens where a good defense is not always the best offense. The more I listened to Reg the more I realized that it is a very different mindset that these guys (really good players) take onto the course.
To add a little more emphasis to the mindset and perspective which go into competing at these levels I thought I’d pass along an excerpt from a blackberry ‘conversation’ with Canadian coaching guru Sean Foley. I’m not sure where Sean responded from as he is a very busy (and well traveled) guy — seeing that he is the coach to many big time PGA players including Stephen Ames, Trevor Immelman, Sean O’Hair and more. Wherever he was, he took a moment to respond (thanks Sean), then most likely returned to fixing things in golf swings that us mortals can not even see.
As part f the original email I asked Sean if he had one quick tip on playing in a tournament and here’s how it went:
Message From Steve
… also — i am playing, via media exemption, in a Canadian Tour event this week — if you can offer a sentence of advice or one thing that players should focus on when playing in a tournament atmosphere — i could add it to my story on the event — and also try to use of course
Message From Sean
Hi Steve,
Inside the ropes eh. Good for you it should be an awesome experience bud. My advice to you and anyone in general would be to just slow everything down, from the way you drive to the course to the pace of your warm up. From there the key is just to embrace the experience. Tournament golf is just an opportunity for us to see what we do well and where we need to improve. If all we do while playing golf is complain and get upset we have missed the whole point and learned nothing in return.
Message From Steve
sage advice my friend – i will do my best to heed the wisdom (unless of course i hook my first tee shot into the woods)
thanks again
Message From Sean
You have already hooked that first tee shot.
Does not get any simpler or clearer than that.
I will slow things down. And I will stay positive.
Just checked the Canadian Tour website. My tee time for Thursday is 2:40. That is the last group of the day (which would mean something if it were Sunday — probably means I am one of those names inserted in pencil — and the fact that my name is spelled wrong may be an omen of sorts — then again, ‘Woods’ is not that common a name in golf, right?.
Guess I’d better pack up some stuff. And make sure there are a few balls in my bag and maybe even a glove without a hole in it. Allergies are acting up — guess I better make sure I pack a few antihistamines. Maybe a checklist would help — better get to it. I’ll chat from the event.
And lastly, now that I am on the eve of this I’d be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the fact that this will be a very interesting experience. It is a privilege and I will enjoy every shot — even the ones I might like back.
