“WHAT DOES A PRO DO WHEN THEIR GAME GOES SOUR?”
We all know golf is the most frustrating of all sports. As weekend warriors we hit the course hoping this is the round where it all comes together. Last week you couldn’t putt but you hit it great. Each of the three weeks before that, you hit it sideways all day and couldn’t miss with the flatstick.
If only there was a day when all facets of your game would come together at once for that round. That round you can boast about for years to come. That round which becomes the benchmark for all future performances.
What if you had that round and that was as good as it will ever get for the rest of your playing days? I’ve no doubt, like me, you’ve been trying to replicate that round for years.
These days I’m just happy to get the ball out of the middle of the clubface.
My swing might have gone south for good sometime after the turn of the century but the passion for the game remains.
This is easy for an amateur to proclaim because you can chuck your clubs in the boot of the car at the end of the round, go home, whinge to the wife about all the bad breaks you got and by the time next opportunity arises to play you’re out the door in a flash.
But what does a pro do when their game goes sour?
Lydia Ko, for instance, pondered the progress of her game last year.
“I think if you keep going down a spiral of thinking like ‘what if’, it’s endless,” she said after returning to the winner’s circle at the season-opening LPGA Tournament of Champions. “I worked hard to give myself a better chance of winning.”
The 26-year-old now has 34 career victories, with 20 of those on the LPGA Tour. One more win and she qualifies for the LPGA Tour Hall of Fame.
But there were times last year where Ko had no answers In one event, she took four attempts to get a chip shot on the green.
“I struggled that day,” she said. “I think I came back to the room and I was like, I have no idea why I can’t back up like a good round after another one. I don’t feel like the game is miles off. Why can’t I put the score together?
“I was crying in my little room thinking, hey, what’s going to be at the end of this tunnel.”
For Ko, that round, or that tournament, probably hasn’t been played yet. At least, that’s what she’s hoping.