Friday January 29th
The beginning of the 2010 season is underway, and I haven’t been this excited and have has this much joy playing as I do now. Everyday I go to the course embracing the whole process. Whether it’s practicing, playing a practice round or a competition round, every shot is purposeful and had intent. That intent is simply to execute the shot, ultimately put the ball in the hole.
In November last year I started working with a new swing coach, Sean Folley. I was at a point where I wanted to get a different perspective to be able to understand my swing better. It was one of those things that intuitively felt necessary. After spending several sessions with Sean, the changes I have made have felt very natural and easy to execute where I can trust it now on the course in competition. That itself is so exciting to see the constant improvements each day.
One of the other huge contributions to this sense of excitement has come from a breakthrough in how I think on the course. It’s easy to read books and listen to sports psychs and think that you understand what you are supposed to do. It’s not understanding these concepts on an intellectual level that makes them effective. But rather experiencing it on the course, living it! I think that’s the biggest difference, and this experience hit me only a couple of weeks ago. I guess one way to describe this experience would be to imagine the feeling you get when you sink a long put, chip in or hole out a shot. The excitement that rushes through your body when the crowd roars. Hold that feeling inside. Now feel that before you hit every shot likes its already been done. The shift comes from, instead of being uncertain about the outcome to confidence that cannot be taken away. If you can hit every shot with confidence instead of impeding thoughts, you will always get the most out of your game.
As for how this is all translating in to my game. I’ve played 5 competitive rounds experiencing this. Some shots it’s very easy and it comes naturally, others when maybe in a difficult situation or one that would previously make you uncomfortable it may be slightly more difficult but what I have experienced is that you can always get there. And the more you get there that becomes your first instinct and reaction. I played a Hooters Tour winter series tournament two weeks ago where I shot 5 under par and finished around 30th. The last two weeks I did the PGA Tour qualifiers on the west coast, I didn’t get into the tournament but was playing with a lot of fire, having 6 and 7 under par holes. But a couple lose mistakes prevented me from advancing.
I’m learning new things each day, and can’t wait to tee it up again to see what kind of great things I can experience.
I will play a Gateway Tour event at home next week (www.thegatewaytour.com), then I will be heading to Colombia for tournament held by the European Challenge Tour (which is the European Tours Nationwide Tour), the Tour Los Americas and the Canadian Tour. You can check that out on www.cantour.com
All my best!
Andrew
The beginning of the 2010 season is underway, and I haven’t been this excited and have has this much joy playing as I do now. Everyday I go to the course embracing the whole process. Whether it’s practicing, playing a practice round or a competition round, every shot is purposeful and had intent. That intent is simply to execute the shot, ultimately put the ball in the hole.
In November last year I started working with a new swing coach, Sean Folley. I was at a point where I wanted to get a different perspective to be able to understand my swing better. It was one of those things that intuitively felt necessary. After spending several sessions with Sean, the changes I have made have felt very natural and easy to execute where I can trust it now on the course in competition. That itself is so exciting to see the constant improvements each day.
One of the other huge contributions to this sense of excitement has come from a breakthrough in how I think on the course. It’s easy to read books and listen to sports psychs and think that you understand what you are supposed to do. It’s not understanding these concepts on an intellectual level that makes them effective. But rather experiencing it on the course, living it! I think that’s the biggest difference, and this experience hit me only a couple of weeks ago. I guess one way to describe this experience would be to imagine the feeling you get when you sink a long put, chip in or hole out a shot. The excitement that rushes through your body when the crowd roars. Hold that feeling inside. Now feel that before you hit every shot likes its already been done. The shift comes from, instead of being uncertain about the outcome to confidence that cannot be taken away. If you can hit every shot with confidence instead of impeding thoughts, you will always get the most out of your game.
As for how this is all translating in to my game. I’ve played 5 competitive rounds experiencing this. Some shots it’s very easy and it comes naturally, others when maybe in a difficult situation or one that would previously make you uncomfortable it may be slightly more difficult but what I have experienced is that you can always get there. And the more you get there that becomes your first instinct and reaction. I played a Hooters Tour winter series tournament two weeks ago where I shot 5 under par and finished around 30th. The last two weeks I did the PGA Tour qualifiers on the west coast, I didn’t get into the tournament but was playing with a lot of fire, having 6 and 7 under par holes. But a couple lose mistakes prevented me from advancing.
I’m learning new things each day, and can’t wait to tee it up again to see what kind of great things I can experience.
I will play a Gateway Tour event at home next week (www.thegatewaytour.com), then I will be heading to Colombia for tournament held by the European Challenge Tour (which is the European Tours Nationwide Tour), the Tour Los Americas and the Canadian Tour. You can check that out on www.cantour.com
All my best!
Andrew
About Andrew Parr
Andrew Parr of London, Ontario is a graduate of Texas A&M. He grew up playing Greenhills Golf Club in London, and later the historic London Hunt and Country Club. He also plays the challenging and exclusive Redtail Golf Course in nearby Port Stanley.
Parr was on the RCGA team that finished second in 2007 in the World Amateur in South Africa.
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