The Steve WenPetren Project, Parts 7 and 8

For those who missed it, check out Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 and Part 6 of my series on how to stop being a terrible golfer.

So where has my golf blog been the past two weeks? I can ask the same thing about my golf game, which decided to abandon a couple of weekends ago as I shot a crowd-pleasing 117 which included at least a dozen penalty strokes and a few missing sleeves of golf balls. The one positive to that 117, and really when you shoot a 117, it’s important to find that silver lining, was that I didn’t have a single three-putt until the 18th and final hole.

And that in essence is part of the true beauty of the game, it’s unpredictability. They say in football, any team can win on any given Sunday, but in golf, you can shoot a 117 on any given Sunday (or Saturday in this case). Heck, on any given Sunday, a cigar smoking, over-40 Irishman can win the British Open for his first major championship. But I could just as easily shoot a 97 the next time I play that course, as easily as I shot that terrible triple-digit score. So while it was easily the worst scoring round I’ve had since starting lessons, it was also the best putting round I’ve had since starting lessons. Ironically, putting hasn’t been covered yet in my lessons, so I’m self-taught for the time being.

But thank you to readers Kevin Low and John Sheeler for inviting me out for a fun time, even if I did a fantastic job of embarrassing myself. I will have a much better showing next time out, I can guarantee that since it couldn’t get any worse.

LESSON #7 – IF THE CLUB DON’T FIT, YOU MUST ACQUIT

The Steve WenPetren Project, Part 6

For those who missed it, check out Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5 of my series on how to stop being a terrible golfer.

Before delving into last week’s lesson, let me enlighten you with a story.  Hours before my lesson, I left work early to play 18 holes of golf at Herndon Centennial with a co-worker.  It’s not the most challenging of courses, but when you’ve got a “work-in-progress” golf game, these courses are appreciated.  After opening with a devastating triple-bogey, I hit a nice 3-iron off the 2nd tee, a short par-4, right into the middle of the fairway, about 145 yards away.

At this point, there was a foursome ahead of us on the green, which consisted of a guy so old he might have been around when golf was invented, and a teenager who obviously had studied my original tapes on how to swing a golf club prior to my lessons.  They signaled for me and my buddy to play thru, so we took them up on that.  Knowing that all four of them were watching added a little extra pressure to the shot.  If I flubbed it, which I’m still prone to doing occasionally, will they re-think letting us play through?  Will the old man beat me over the head with his putter and call me a whippersnapper?  Long story short, I hit a perfect 7-iron to within four feet of the hole!  From there it was a matter of making a knee-knocker of a putt, which felt like it took forever to go from off my putter to the hole, but sure enough it made it then and into the cup for my first birdie in over three years!!!

It was my only birdie of the day (although I did lip out for birdie on the next hole, a par-5), but it didn’t matter, because I felt alive on the course the rest of the day and knew that Steve’s lessons were really doing the trick.  Thankfully I didn’t get too arrogant and think I was ready to turn pro and showed up for my lesson later that day with Steve.

LESSON #6 – ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT

The Steve WenPetren Project, Part 5

For those who missed it, check out Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4 of my series on how to stop being a terrible golfer.

As we reach the halfway point of my lessons, I think there’s two essential things that I’ve taken from this whole process.  First and most important, is my new-found love of this game.  Prior to my lessons with Steve, golf was an expensive recreational activity that I played sparingly whenever I had some free time and the weather was nice.  But now, my mentality is to get out whenever possible, wherever possible, for however much possible, and in whatever weather conditions.  I’m proud to call myself, at the very least, a weekend golfer now (and the occasional mid-week golfer).

The second essential thing I’ve noticed is how I can actually (finally) become frustrated with this game.  Again, prior to lessons, golf was purely recreational and I was just happy to be swinging a club as opposed to doing yard work or sitting through some terrible chick flick (ok, who am I kidding, I love terrible chick flicks).   Now though I actually have some sort of expectation when at the driving range or on the course.  It’s no longer only about “just happy to be here” syndrome, now it’s about that AND trying to improve on every swing.  Interesting dilemma, curious to see how my mental approach to the game progresses, but just in case, I have a slew of f-, s- and c- words in my arsenal waiting to be yelled.

LESSON #5 – HIPS DON’T LIE