Forceful Effort

This past Saturday I paid the price for using "forceful effort" instead of "effortless force" at the Wyndham Golf Club's infamous "Elbow" hole.

The hole dog-legs to the left and has traps on either side. On the left hand side is the local race course track, and on the right, the stop bank for a local river. Both are out of bounds and spell an instant 2-shot penalty.

Early on I used to fall foul of the right hand side stop-bank trap. My beginner's slice habitually saw my tee shots soar over the populars and beyond the bank. This past Saturday, however, I hooked my first shot and pulled it onto the race track. And I know why I did it! It was that mental thing again! Knowing the dangers of the hole, and trying to compensate for the buffeting southerly wind, put me on edge. I was over-anxious and "forced" my shot. My timing was up the pole and the result a disaster. My second shot off the tee wasn't much better, although it did manage to curl in the wind back onto the fairway.

That's what happens whenever I try to "force" a shot instead of relying on technique and rhythm. It has been well said that golf is not a game of "forceful effort" but rather of "effortless force." I think I know the difference. When my mind is in the right space, and I'm feeling relaxed and confident about a shot, I can more often than not slip into that seemingly effortless groove of swinging easily through the ball. There is effort there, but you hardly notice it. The whole swing is connected and flows smoothly and easily. And the ball typically flies straight, true, and far.

Under pressure, however, and when the jitters strike, rhythm seems to go out the door. Instead of that smooth, easy swing through the ball, there's the deliberate attempt to hit  - or worse still, hack - at it. When that happens the swing loses its connectedness and typically, force is applied too soon. What is more, it is the force of leverage rather than centrifugal - the force that makes for a smooth and effortless swing. Little wonder the results are predictably disastrous. 

Staying calm and playing smoothly and rhythmically when faced with a very long or challenging hole is one of the hurdles I've still got to conquer.