Anyway, onto the eye-opening experience. I had a horrible time getting off the tee. I hit a couple terrible slices off the tee on the first few holes (which I almost never do). The errant tee shots ended up in the thick, heavy, wet rough. Making the next shot near impossible. Not off to a good start. My confidence in my swing began to deteriorate rapidly. My swing thoughts quickly became…how am I going to screw this up…instead of visualizing the shot. I managed a birdie on the front nine on a short par 3, but for the most part, it was a miserable experience for both myself and my playing partner. Things began to clear up on the back 9, as I accepted the fact that it wasn’t going to be a glorious round, score wise.

It really is amazing how things can quickly spiral out of control if you do not put things into perspective. I really need to work on understanding that every shot won’t be perfect. That I must trust my swing and have complete confidence in my ability to hit shots I visualize. I started reading Zen Golf: Mastering the Mental Game and have already began to see (or as Homer would say, had an epiphatree) how destructive my thoughts on the course can be. My short term focus will be to clear my bind before my shots using sensory perception, while creating an image of the shot I am about to hit. Then have the confidence in my swing to be able to send the ball along that desired path to its intended target. I suspect I will continue to struggle with the negative thoughts at time, but at least I can see a road to clarity!

Reviews Coming Soon

• Nickent 4DX T-Spec Driver
• Nickent 4DX Fairway Woods
• Zen Golf
• Strike N’ Swipe (as seen on Fore Inventors Only)