The practice range is one of the most stressful places on a tournament day. It can set the scene for the entire round. The more you see Daddy Caddies making wildly exaggerated swing motions in the air the louder the arguments become and when the videoing begins and the swing stick comes out ……… it moves from relaxed warm up to an ill-timed coaching session and probably a frustrating round to follow. That was not Rob and I, we’re cool, But it was some. More than a few!
As good as we looked on the practice range we had a very shaky drive off the first tee and an even worse second shot into thick bushes. I got him to back his body into the pointy leaves and sticks as far as he could to give him the best chance to punch it into more playable rough. Having positioned him I backed off myself straight into Caddy Mom who had rushed over with notebook and pencil to make sure she recorded every futile stab at the ball by Rob. Of course Rob swings and does not connect, then manages to dribble it a few feet, then finally into rough that he could take a big 5 iron swing at. In my bewilderment and rising panic I miscounted his missed and fluffed shots but her clearly tallied diagram showed a resounding 10. Hole 1.
Rob showed some serious mental fortitude and went on to shoot a Regional tournament personal best of 84. He sank some magnificent putts, drove well and slammed his 3 wood to around or on the green most holes. Could not be more proud of the boy who did it all pretty much on his own. We talked about shots and lies and targets but he made all his own decisions and kept himself very light emotionally.
It’s a good thing we are in good shape too as we did our fair share of running between holes! We played with a Daddy Caddy who discussed each and every shot and putt ad nauseum then sprinted between holes and played ‘ready golf’ regardless of who was ‘up’.
I am not a fan of running on a golf course. The game is played best with a slow and steady heart rate. Regardless, great day for Rob !