This was my final event of the 2016 season. Held at Lake Sunapee Country Club, this year’s event was a true test of golf. The weather was cold, windy, and greens that were the most difficult I’d ever putted on. The goal was to finish inside the top 10 in order to gain an exemption for next year’s state amateur championship. Unfortunately that goal wasn’t realized but valuable experience was still gained.
The big takeaway was to be confident and focus on targets rather than results. After being unable to ‘see the line’ of putts for most of the tournament, frustration set in early as well as a very negative/complaint-filled attitude. I’ve got some serious mental game work coming this ofseason.
The Good
Driving was on point during the entire tournament. On the whole, approach shots were also quite acceptable. Proximity to the hole left a bit to be desired, but it was still well within my acceptable margin of error.
The Bad
Chipping was average. Not really bad, but certainly not what I’d like. The actual execution of the chips were tentative and never ended where I was trying for. The frustrating part was that often the chips were landing on the indended landing spot – which means I picked the wrong landing spot.
The Ugly
Putting…was…bad. Going into this tournament putting was certainly already a problem point. Given the Donald Ross greens, there were undulations-a-plenty, hidden breaks, and phantom breaks. None of that added up to a good putting performance. Three-putts happened too much and a rare four-putt even snuck in.
The Scorecards
