Form Review and putting it all together.

[crushboi]

So I've been having the problem in tournaments where I will get second in ma2 then I will go the the skills competition and win every skill which includes putting, distance and accuracy against the pros. Why is this happening? And how does my throw look?(this throw is 570)

 

[BenjiHeywood]

Hard to say without watching you play the tournament. But there's a couple of fairly obvious possibilities that leap to mind.

One is that you aren't executing well in the round, due to pressure/expectation, but you're more comfortable in the skills bit and therefore able to execute better. You will probably know yourself if this is the case or not.

Second, if you think your execution is similar in both skills and tournament play, then there presumably has to be a (pretty major) issue with your gameplan. Are you getting lots of birdies but also lots of triples? What's actually going wrong in the round?

A third possibility. Are you comfortable in controlled, repeatable situations (flat ground putts, tee pad shots etc) but bad at things like standstills, bad footing shots etc that happen in an actual round?

 

[crushboi]

I would say it's a mix of 1 and 3 because I'm fairly comfortable with the shots that I'm throwing but I'm not super comfortable in the wind with the courses that we have in WY because they are very short and I lean on straight putters for most shots. Point two I used to struggle with but now I just get pars most of the time.

 

[BenjiHeywood]

I only know what you've told me, so I'm not in a perfect position to advise, obviously. But it sounds like, if you want to score better in tournaments, you'll need to practice the shot shapes, stances and distances that come up regularly on the courses near you. 570 feet is more than enough to turn pro, so if that's not getting you the win even in ma2 then it's safe to say that any more practice you do on full send throws is virtually wasted at this point.

Throwing far is fun. But you're way into diminishing returns on that. Practice the other stuff, I'd say.

 

[crushboi]

That's an interesting take. Most of the work that I do is shot shaping with putters at about 340 and I'm getting really accurate. I think the biggest weakness is putting my putting together because I've just recently became a good putter.

 

[BenjiHeywood]

That's an interesting take. Most of the work that I do is shot shaping with putters at about 340 and I'm getting really accurate. I think the biggest weakness is putting my putting together because I've just recently became a good putter.

Sorry, no insult intended! I was just going off your suggestion that '3' was part of the issue.

'1' is hard to fix, but it'll largely fix itself over time (more and more tournament experience, more and more confidence that you have all the tools you need etc). Unless you have real anxiety or the yips etc then that tournament execution will eventually come. It's just a hard thing to practice outside of the actual pressure environment.

So i was just suggesting working on '3', forcing yourself into tough stances or tricky scramble situations in your practice. But as i said, i only know what you've told me so it's hard to speak with much confidence.

 

[crushboi]

No your good I didn't take offense by that at all.

 

[BenjiHeywood]

No your good I didn't take offense by that at all.

Lol, no worries. I read the first sentence, particularly with the emoji, as 100% sarcastic. Says as much about me as anything, i suppose.