That's awesome Jason. I finished T1st at the first ever TCC New England. I ended up losing in a score card playoff, but it was an awesome time. I've never played a singles stroke play tournament before but I'm sure it won't be my last.

Congrats Josh - that's great, sounds like a lot of fun!  I couldn't believe how nervous we all were before the final round.  My guys never warm up, they usually run from the car to the first tee, and they were at the range that morning before the sun came up!

I really want to get my handicap way down and play in some serious amateur tournaments - down the line that's my goal.

Jason

I'm with you on that one Jason.  I've played in some money matches, but there's no describing the amount of pressure you feel on that first tee.  Unfortunately for me I hit a banana ball that landed on the 10th fairway.  The first tee shot is always the most nerve racking IMO.  After that I'm good.  What do you do to calm the nerves?

I really like the idea of the Fed-Up Cup thought. A little season long race of your own.  Well done!

Hey Josh,

Yeah - I think it's very important to have something on the line to make things interesting and to get you focused. I mean I always want to shoot a great score but having a competition going adds that added edge to really get you going.

The 1st tee is a nerve racking place - everyone is different, but what I do on the 1st tee and throughout my entire round, is focus on the target by asking myself "what is my target and what kind of shot do I want to play to get the ball there?" - then I let it go - no swing thoughts, no worrying about my swing at all, just target oriented golf - sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.  But if you keep doing it, the results become more and more consistent.  When you ask yourself these questions you get your body ready to make the swing necessary for the shot you envisioned, and it drives away negative thoughts that we all combat. 

I shot two of my best rounds ever, a 79 and a 77, after studying and implementing these tactics from Dr. Gio Valiante's book "Fearless Golf" - I highly recommend it.

Jason

That is brilliant! 

Thanks Ryan - it was a blast, and I have to say that the competition (and the prospect of losing $50) really made me focus on shooting a good score out there, as opposed to worrying about my swing - I became much more target-oriented, and I know that really helped my game over-all.  It also highlighted the fact that I need a lot of practice on my short game (from 100 yrds in).

Cheers,

Jason

That's awesome.  Congrats Jason.

My Sunday group (about 16 players) does the same thing.  We have a spreadsheet that keeps up with each man's points average.  We use the highest five points totals/scores out of the past 10 rounds to get a points average.  Each week, we try to hit our points quota.  We do 1 point for a bogey, 2 for a par, 4 for a birdie and 8 for an eagle.  The guy that get the most over his points wins the pot each week.  It really makes the odds fair across all the different handicaps that play in the group.  And it's more fun/interesting than playing straight handicaps.  We have 2-man points tournaments too.  It's fun.

That sounds great!  Yeah - and with the points system, even if you're not having a great round, you can still rack up some points here and there and stay in it.

Thanks for sharing.

Nice!

Well out here in AZ there is no "END" to the season but I have won my Mens League events 4 times in a row with my new set up. It has been alot of fun to hit the ball well finally. I dropped from about an 8 to a 3.9 this year.

That's awesome Dallas - way to go!!!

Jason

Congrats Dallas.  That is good movement in your handicap.

great to hear, we won regionals for our high school time but didnt advance through sectionals, good year, tough courses= lots-o-fun

Great Cathi!  It's a lot of fun and the competition really got the four of us focused on our games instead of just knocking it around.

Hope you win!

Jason

That's beautiful Peter - congratulations!!!

I think we have a few more weeks here - we'll see.

keep on keepin on!

Jason