After the Qld Open I made a dash nth to Japan on Monday only to arrive in Tokyo to news my connecting flight on Tuesday morning had been cancelled due to a massive typhoon in Fukuoka, my final destination. After rescheduling to a late flight Tuesday we finally hit the air hoping the typhoon had passed through and that we could land safely. I have to say it certainly wasn't the most enjoyable flight or landing for that matter and I was one happy camper to be on the ground safely and in one piece.
Due to the weather the week was very disrupted and the JGTO decided to make a great decision and make the pro am only 9 holes allowing most of the field to at least get to play 9 holes in practice on the Wednesday. I did that and found the course to be a little challenging. Whether it was actually hard or the fact that my head cold had reached "man cold" proportions I wasn't too sure. Either way I wasn't feeling awesome. I walked the other nine and headed home for bed
I woke this morning to a head that was pounding and eyes that were aching!! My call for "lemsip" was not answered and so I was left with no option but to get up, shower up and man up!
My warm up was exactly that, it was hot out there making my head cold feel even more awesome. Fluid was the key today and my little legend of a caddy made sure that I had it in abundance.
It was week two with my short putter in the bag and a definite step up in tournament size. Fortunately I had a great chat with Murray Lott last night and was sharing with him all that has been happening in my golfing world the past month. Murray has been away in China coaching so it was great to catch up. He has always been a believer in the fact that I have all the skills and that I need to just let them come out. I haven't really known how to do that and probably hadn't believed it either. The past month has seen me research certain aspects of the game and analyze some of the greats and why they have gone off the boil when at the peak of the world. What I have realized is that players at all levels, even world number ones are searching for perfection in a game where perfection isn't possible. Well maybe that's a little harsh, maybe they are just trying to get better.
I have come to recognize that I have all the skills needed to be successful at my chosen sport. What I can do is kick a footy. I learnt as a kid and have never had to be taught the skill again, I have just kicked the ball and never given the technical side of that another thought. Why is it then with golf do I do that? I have learnt all the skills, I have all the skills, so surely it's just like kicking a footy, look where I want to "kick" it and kick it!! No thoughts! I know I can hit any shot required of me. I know my limits and talents. I know which of those shots I'm really good at and the ones I'm not so good at. Surely it's just time to play golf and choose my good shots more often and allow them to shine. I am not saying I'm finished learning but I'm not sure I need to learn new tricks. How refreshing to just be able to practice what I already know and get better at that!!
All that being said, that is what I did today, I saw the shot practiced the feel and hit it! For my tee shots I struggled to get it right and I'm not sure that wasn't just my inability to stabilize due to this flu, but my irons were great, superb even. I found the thick rough often, very often and made my day so difficult for myself. I managed my game so well from there though, I played with respect for the course and gave myself chances at pars on those holes. I threw in a couple of birdies and an eagle to go with my 2 bogies and was pleased to sign for a 2 under 70 breaking my run of 4 71's from the Qld Open.
My putting journey continues and my caddy James got to see the short putter for the first time. I made a couple of putts but missed a couple too. I still am having my great putting holes where it feels easy and also the holes where I'm glad to move on to the next! Headspace is going well though and I am trying to simply hit the putt accept and move on, what more can you do?
An early start tomorrow so looking forward to playing well with the skills I know I have. Check out some pics from the course and the video showing this weeks rough that I have had the pleasure of playing out of an aweful lot today. Hopefully far less often tomorrow!!