Preperation

Most are familiar with the idiom "the calm before the storm." In my case I am not calm at all. The past seven days have been filled with rehearsal after rehearsal. I felt like I was in a play with how much I was memorizing my lines and making them come to life. So far we have seen the majority of the presentations and I feel like they have all been good except for a few that were quite horrendous.

In this last week aside from preparing for the presentation I came back around to the biggest part of the golf game. As I said I had difficulty with making putts at Hasentree so I felt like I needed a refresher.

When I played the round of nine at Hasentree down in North Carolina I missed a significant amount of putts. I did not two putt once. A two putt is the standard to follow for most golfers except the ones on the tour. It means that once your ball is on the green it takes two putts to get it into the hole. I usually three putted and for one instance it took me more than that. It should never take more than three putts to get the ball into the hole.

I recently read an article that I found fascinating on PGA.com. I have read multiple articles and watched videos on PGA.com in the past because they have PGA professionals teaching the skills. Rory McIlroy has proven to be one of the most clutch short putters recently. Tiger Woods is a name that comes to mind with clutch winning putts. The signature fist bump and roar as the crowd applauds his win.

The article I read this week is written by PGA professional John Crumbley. He discuss putting and he breaks down the short putt into three sections. I, as mentioned earlier, struggle with 6 foot putts. That shouldn't be the case. Mr. Crumbley taught me Hit, Hold, and Look. This is something that I now use when I am on the course attempting these short range putts.

Hit is the first part of the putt. You must strike the ball with enough force but not too powerful to have it roll over the cup. Make sure you are aligned correctly because you might be aimed at the side of the cup.

The second part is what I have most difficulty with. Hold your head still and keep your eyes focused where you struck the ball. I always look up because I want to see where it goes. This usually causes my putter head to draw up a little and I catch the very top of the ball. This drives the ball straight into the ground and doesn't go as far as intended.

The last part is Look. This speaks for itself. Once your stroke is complete you may look up to see where your ball ended up. Hopefully you don't see it because it is sitting cozily in the hole. Today I went downstairs in my basement and practiced my putting. I took 50 shots from six feet out and I made 40 of them. That makes my percentage 80% which is not bad but, it could definitely use some work.

Wish me luck at my presentation. I'm all prepared to share a story about golf and a story about life.