The Dreaded Yips!

Well...I had to convince myself that it would be fun out there on the course yesterday, due to the sporadic showers that were coming down. One minute it was dry, the next minute it was pouring. But, being the golf junkie that I am, it wasn't too hard to convince myself that I'd have a good time. I just rented a cart, and away I went. I had practiced a little drill to help me with my drives. It's called "Tap, Tap, Tap, Push, Push, Hit." You can see the video on YouTube. On the first tee, I pulled out my 3 Wood, and it hit the ball long and straight down the middle of the fairway. I was so happy with my stroke, and thought that I was on my way to conquering my tee-shot jitters. My second shot was equally long and straight (also with my 3 Wood). On my third shot, I was about a 9 iron away from the green (Hole One is a par 5), I took some practice swings, and then...shanked the ball into the rough. Then I overshot the green with my Pitching Wedge, but luckily chipped it to around 10 feet from the hole, and one-putted the ball into the hole.

The rest of my drives weren't as nice. After messing up my third shot, I couldn't get my calm back. I improved my putting, taking two more putts off of my total, but it took me too many strokes to get to the green each time, and I ended with a 63. But, even though I couldn't do well off the tee, I still felt good about my game, because I continued to improve my putting game. Now if I could only conquer my tee-shot jitters...the dreaded yips!