Brian Shubrook: Ultimate Game Makeover
With his game well and truly under reconstruction, Brian continues to play and discovers that it's not all plain sailing
Following on from last week's improving rounds mixed with a lot of practice, I was entering the new week really looking forward to my golf and seeing if I can even step up another gear.
I started the week mainly practising my short game and bunker play. It was still the main weakness where a good short chip or bunker shot was not maintained through the whole round. Even though I am trying to follow the philosophy of Steve and James to clear the mind after a bad start, my overall confidence is still low and not positive enough.
Bunker shots are a continuing souce of great frustration a short greenside bunker shot might finish a few feet from the hole, only to be followed by a similar shot which is either thinned or left in the sand. To be fair, I have not even started to look at this aspect of my game with the pros, but it is difficult to stay focused after a bad shot especially if it ruins my card.
I played a round at Royal Westmoreland on Tuesday with friends Gunter and Clive Wiseman. Clive has just flown out to Barbados for a two-week break and plays off of 19. I struck the ball with new assurance and held my concentration, finishing with an 84 12 over. My driving and iron play was very consistent but I was dropping most of my shots around the green... again, and I missed a few makeable putts.
I practised again on Wednesday trying to focus on the set definitive routine on set up. I felt relaxed and had a good session, particularly in the bunker where I spent a good hour hitting from a variety of lies.
Thursday was then the rematch of last week's game with my friend Dave Button and his scratch partner Carson. This time Gunter was my partner. As I won 2 & 1 last week, I knew they would be 'up for it', and felt more tense than usual on the first tee.
Carson birdied the first six holes........and despite us both playing well, and I was 6 over at the turn, we were 3 down!
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It was fantastic golf and a pleasure to watch but it left me feeling that I had to improve somewhat to stand a chance of getting the match back. I then tried to overhit my drives for more distance to compete,and my round fell away, finishing at 15 over and losing the match 5 & 4. Carson shoot an amazing 63!
There was a good lesson learned here... stick to your own game and do not be influenced by other players!
I will be trying to get back on track next week as I head over to Miami for a few days.