Gambling, a Guide to Better Golf

I've been on a roll since the beginning of the year. My game has improved significantly, and as it improves I try harder. What happened? The easy answer is the new putter I treated myself to for Christmas. However I've been around this game long enough to know that at the level I play, it's not the putter it's the puttee.

I go back to the first Saturday in January which was a cold and gloomy day and only about half of our group showed up to play. Another way of looking at it is that only half the competition showed up and those that did weren't the best. I got lucky and won two holes and suddenly I'm leading the money list for the first time ever. Of course that lead was lost the next week when everybody, including the scratch golfers, showed up in the So Cal sun and promptly blanked me.

But I had tasted what it was like to win and the taste was sweet. Since then the sole mission was to win the bets. The group as a whole has three bets and the most you can lose is $8. Our foursome plays skins that could cost $5 or $6. Lastly I have a modified Nassau bet with one of the guys with a maximum loss potential of $10. So before I leave the house on Saturday morning I check my wallet to make sure there's enough cash to cover the "perfect storm" scenario where I lose the max on everything. Up until last Saturday that's never happened.

Lee Trevino has always been one of my heroes. He grew up as a scrappy Tex-Mex hustling rich white guys on courses that he would never had been allowed to play if they hadn't invited him. As a Pro he was interviewed about the pressure he felt when putting for the win with a large purse at stake and a 1 stroke lead. Recalling his days as a hustler, Trevino said "That's not pressure. Pressure is when you've made a $50 bet and you only have $30 in your pocket." And that my friends is what I call a great golf tip.

Gambling gives you focus and gets your competitive juices flowing. I think it also allows you to organize your game more effectively. You tend to plan the way you're going to play the hole knowing which one's you can attack and which ones you have to be more conservative. In other words, you are focused enough to know to play within your game and you are not taking long odds shots. And why do you play this way? Because you want to win. You want to be at the or near the top of the money list.

Several years ago I worked at a place that posted the gross revenue of each salesman in the organization on a whiteboard in the front of our office. The last thing you wanted was to be at the bottom; even though our performance as a whole meant the guy on the bottom was well above what the company required. So if you're meeting expectations, why bust your butt to be at the top. Validation. You want recognition that you're one of the best.

In tournaments you get a trophy. With our group you get cash. That's the validation. That generates the environment conducive to a laser like focus. If you're winning it's easier than if your losing.

That's what happened to me last Saturday. It wasn't that I forgot about the game, it was I forgot about the gambling. I had other things on my mind and by the time I snapped out of it I was well behind on all the bets. When you're losing it takes (at least for me) a Herculean effort to get the focus and confidence back. I still have to work on that part of the game.

So if you're having difficulty right now, put some pressure on and get a little game going.

That Little Game We Play

This Saturday I got to the course earlier than normal so I could hit a bucket of balls. Normally I don't practice on the range as all it seems to do for me is confirm my lack of confidence in any club I pick up. Why spend $4 when I can crush all positive thoughts about my game by simply recalling the last one I played?

This time was different though. This time I was armed with my iPod and a newly downloaded track that was going to give me tempo, tempo, tempo. Actually it seemed to be working. There were a few miscues but I was thinking my $4.98 purchase was a pretty savvy buying decision.

Then two of my buddies show up at the bays just to my left and the first thing out of one of them is "Smith, you look like a 16 year old teenager with that iPod hanging out of your ears." I was pretty sure he was not commenting on my youthful appearance but rather on what he thought was my less than fully mature mental capacity.

So I turn the thing off and begin to explain the science behind the rhythm of the music and the click signals for takeaway. downswing and impact. I then demonstrate by turning the track back on and skulling the first ball. The big banana slice the second ball produced actually was a thing of beauty to watch. Plenty of hang time. So I'm bearing down on the third ball when it hits me. This is just like in the game!

On the range there's no pressure. It's just you and the ball. Unless of course, you allow pressure to join you like trying to prove your $4.98 purchase wasn't really a folly.

About the time I said "screw it" and packed up to head to the club house, J.K., the guy with the comment, whips out a piece of paper where I, as the webmaster of our little site, had screwed up the posting of his total winnings.

Let me explain. Our group has about 25 people in it and on any given Saturday 18 to 23 will show up. We have three bets; closest to the pin, low net and team score. I keep a running total on who won what that week and what their cumulative winnings are. That J.K. was so concerned that he wasn't ranked as high as he should be that he wrote a note describing where my error in posting was, speaks volumes about the pressure of the little game we play.

I mean it's just a game right? Actually it is just a game if you're winning. If your losing it takes on a more sinister aura. My friend Dave describes it like this:

"Is that my good buddy and best friend Chris in the two foot rough? Or is he the worthless SOB on the green next to the pin?"

I played with a guy for a couple of years in a 25 cent skins game. Every time someone was putting to win the hole he would take the pinky finger of his right hand and point it away from the hole hoping that would make the putt miss. If the putt did miss he yell "Aha!" and mumble something none of us understood. He was from Louisiana however, so maybe he bought some kind of Voodoo Golf training tape.

But when it's all over and the scores are in and there's nothing left to do but read 'em and weep, everyone reverts back to best pals again.

How do we get so warped over this little game we play?

Hey Sergio, Your Mommy Says It's Time To Come Home.

What a piece of work the number 3 golfer in the world is. I really didn't want to join in on the Sergio bashing that's been going on since last Sunday, but the guy is just so irritating.

Up until now I thought the most disgusting thing I've seen done by a professional golfer was the YouTube video of John Daly, bare chested, bare footed, gulping beer and giving a reporter a tour of his new golf course in, where else, Branson, Missouri. But in retrospect, Daly is just an Okie Alkie who is lucky he took up golf rather than NASCAR racing. What else can you expect?

Sergio however, has some amazing golf talent and the potential to be number one. So when asked why the poor performance at the Masters he bashes the course not his own inept play. "I don't think it's fair" and "the course is too tricky".

Too tricky? What, did the Tournament Committee give Padraig a secret course decoder ring so he could figure out the tricky spots?

Everyone knows the first rule of amateur golf is that bad shots can be blamed on the equipment. While it's not quite as acceptable for a pro to use that excuse, if you have to whine, do it about something that is unique to yourself like equipment, or your shoes were too tight, or your caddy is blind, or you tied one on the night before. Don't blame it on something that is common to all of your competitors like say, the golf course.

Everyone played that tricky course and all but seven played it better than Sergio. Sergio, maybe your playing just sucked.

When asked what he would like to see changed on the course he responded "I don't care. I just come and play and then go home."

Sergio, your Mommy's calling!

How You Look At Success

From the 10th tee box of our course you can easily see the practice green. Over the past two years there has been a quantum leap in the number of four foot golfers with chopped down putters. It is refreshing and amusing to see these kids either gleefully wailing away with the putter skidding the ball 30 feet into an elderly Asian guy who doesn't see the humor, or scrunched over a 3 foot putt with faces screwed up in concentration like only a kid can do. If they sink one, by accident or skill, they turn on an expression of achievement and a 10,000 watt smile.

That's the four and five year olds. By the time they hit the ripe old age of six, showing that kind of uninhibited joy just isn't cool. What's cool is to do the golfer stud walk over to the hole, pick up your ball, casually drop it back on the green and putt it again. Aint no big thang. Inside I know that kid is screaming YES!

And that brings me to Heather. She's the cute gal in the photo. Heather and her boyfriend (now fiance) Jeff joined our group about two years ago. Jeff is a pretty competitive golfer (until he screwed up his rotator cup) and Heather was just learning how to play.

This past Saturday Heather shot a 65, her best ever. Now understand we play at Westchester in Los Angeles which is an executive course with 15 holes and a par round is 52. This may sound like a miniature golf course to some of you but the greens are sweet and the ocean "breeze" makes it pretty sporty.

So the thirty something Heather is standing on a picnic table bench doing that little dance you do and it is obvious that she is not suffering from the same inhibitions of the six year old mentioned above. She breaks out into a "I beat Geoff by 9 strokes" chant repeating it over and over with enthusiasm. Geoff is the "Commissioner" of our group, and if the truth be told, beating him by 9 strokes aint no big thang. Out of 23 golfers that played the round, 21 beat Geoff by a combined average of 15 strokes.

However, it put a big grin on my face to see an adult demonstrating the same exuberance as a five year old. It made me feel good just seeing it and I wondered why can't we, as adults, be that open all the time.

Coincidentally, I also shot my personal best round that day, a 2 over 54.
I however, did not dance on the bench chanting I beat Geoff by 20 strokes. No, I was regretting the missed birdie and the scuffed par putt that would have put me at my goal of even par. Why is that I wonder? Is it the glass half full or half empty syndrome? I don't think so. I think that Heather blasted past her expectations and I didn't quite get to mine.

And then there's Geoff who shot a 74. He was just happy that he beat Tom.

The Fine Art of Golf Ball Marking

While not required by the rules of golf, it is highly encouraged that you mark your ball in a distinctive manner to enable you and your partners to easily identify the little white thing buried in the four inch rough. We've all seen the typical two red dots or two black dots or the occasional rebel who puts three dots on his ball. There are also those, who in giant font, inscribe their initials or first name if it can be spelled with three letters or less (Joe, Bob, Duh).

Several years ago I received a ball marking machine from my in laws. It was designed to imprint three initials. With a little work and a lot of time I was able to mark three balls with "Mine Not Yours". I promptly lost two of them and one of my partners hit the third one into the pond. Ah well.

I follow a golf blog Brads Wonderful World of Golf who is sponsoring a ball marking contest in the month of April. Pop over there for the details. I really can't wait to see what works of art respond to the contest and I'll be sure to report on the winners when they are decided in the first week of May.

OK you may have noticed the photo of a Nike marked with three dots two eyebrows and a tongue. Yes that's my entry. No I don't play with it. For some of you sharp eyed readers, you may have already picked up on this ball being a Nike "practice ball". A nice euphemism for X-Out.

I got a box of these things from a well meaning but cheap co-worker who was my Secret Santa many years ago. Really nice gal but she was into Phillipean ethnic dancing not golf. She can't pick out golf balls and I can't pick out jewelry. Fortunately she can. We were both in Huatulco Mexico as winners of a sales contest (along wit the rest of our sales team) and she picked out a beautiful necklace for my wife. It made an excellent guilt gift.

Hualtulco has one golf course and a unique design philosophy that trees should not be removed even if they are in the middle of the fairway. But that's another post.

So check out the ball marking contest or maybe even enter it. Good luck.