Monday, August 31, 2009

tremendous breakthrough

today i had an amazing breakthrough with my chipping. ever since i've played golf, i never really knew how to chip. i'd know the theory of it all (take the club straight back, try to be consistent with the shots etc...) but never really knew what it meant to be done in practice. and ever since steve taught me to chip properly, i still didn't really know what he meant. so all this while i've been trying to cheat my way through.. *naughty naughty*

we were talking about how good golfers find it so natural to chip that they just look at the distance and do whatever they do to make it go that distance. obviously that is after hard practice. but the key is that they are able to judge the distance by looking and knowing.
(hmmm this sounded easy when i said it but seems funny when its typed out)
all this while i've kind of had a discrepancy between how much i wanted/knew to chip the ball and how far the ball actually went. often its at least 5 to 10 meters away from where i want to be.

so we went to practice looking at a target and just hitting at it without thinking about the distance. just letting my body trust my eyes in telling me how to hit it to where i want it to go.
and again, i tried to fluff my way through it- not really knowing how to do what steve was telling me to.

the reality of this suddenly struck me, and i had the realisation and ability to say it out. something i never thought of doing before. it seems so silly not to do it
well, steve patiently guided me towards what i should try to feel and how to go about it. "today, i can go home a very happy coach" those were the words he said and i felt so proud of myself that i didn't want to stop practicing until i could get it right.

with the sandwedge, hit the ball with a half swing at half speed. try to repeat the same shot 10 times.then hit with half of what u did. repeat that 10 times. then try to make variations with the length and speed of the swing to make it go abit shorter or longer. making the shots come out at different heights seem a bit much for me to handle at the moment but i'm sure i'll be able to do that too in due time

so proud of myself that i practiced for so long today. reached the range at 1230 and was there till 5 - had to go home cos i was feeling very hungry. 400 over balls can make u very hungry indeed.

although this kind of practice is very foreign to me, i'm gonna have to start doing it more often. (every mondays miss). playing professional golf is a 9 to 5 job.

i think i'd really like the kind of lifestyle where i play golf for a living. its gonna be a lot of hard work but it will really pay off.
it seems like a very long way away for me to dream of being a female professional golfer but i have to remind myself that i'm doing the best that i can and that everything will happen in it's own time. i need not compare myself to other people. we all have a different path in life and i believe that if i just focus on myself. on doing the right things and what is best for me. then i'll definitely be able to achieve my dreams