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Thursday, January 27, 2005
Chiongbian: Blame it on the putt
By Edgar R. Chiongbian
Teetime
Tiger Woods is back to being himself and winning again. But now I’m really confused. When Tiger was not winning, I figured while watching on TV that it was because of the missed putts he needed to make. He would later blame that to his swing.
When he won the Buick Open last week, I thought he was really swinging good, hitting the ball straight and getting good yardage with his shots. Definitely my vote for the reason he won. Tiger would later say that it was his putting that made him win.
There is one way to explain this and the best way is to delve into the other side of midnight. We are talking about the good golfers in Cebu and especially the sandbaggers. Whenever these players hit a good shot or makes a long putt, they will always say “chamba” or luck. And when they are all over the place with their poor shots, they will blame their putting.
The small answer to this is that putting is almost always the last stroke to end the hole and therefore easy to remember. So, it gets the blame or credit every time. And the big answer is that the aforementioned golfers don’t really want anybody to know their game and keep that a secret until they can no longer play good. When that time comes, they will blame anything and everything for their misfortunes in the golf course, including other players and/or caddies. Heeheehee.
Good news for the Los Jefes de Cebu. Chester Cokaliong has accepted the Jefes invitation to become a member. And not only that, Chester has agreed to head our basketball team. After our meeting with him, we can definitely say that the big boat has finally landed in the Jefes. In a couple of months, there will be tryouts for the team, so watch out for the notice in the dailies.
Rey Hubahib will head the Jefes billiards team, so anyone interested can approach him to join the team. Gabby Leyson said that he will brush up on his billiard game and show the field the expertise he learned while skipping classes with me to shoot pool during our college days.
Have you ever seen Luis Velez play golf lately? He is playing good, even winning many golf tournaments in the last quarter of 2004. His problem, he says, is that he has now reached the Peter Principle and the more he practices, the worse he gets.
Basically, I don’t agree with him. I think that playing solo practice rounds is the culprit. Playing two to three balls at a time can put pressure on one’s game especially when you can use one ball in the tournament. But then again, maybe it’s a bad idea to practice with a plan to win tournaments, right partner?
ET, not the one that rode a bicycle to the sky, gave us an insight about an incident in the tee house on the 10th hole. Our favorite bachelor, JS, was so peeved when he found out the bananas were too hard. Evidently not the right fruit for the occasion, so without any conviction and not a macho man, JS wants his nanas soft not hard.
This Saturday is the monthly medal tournament at CCC. Our fellow Rotarians Edward Gaisano and Joe Soberano from the Rotary Club Cebu will be the host for this month. So, make sure to sign up, join the fun and win some prizes.
GOLF TIP: The key to conquering short putts is in the pre-shot routine. Standing over a putt can produce anxiety but can easily be equalized with a simple, effective, and most importantly, a repeatable pre-shot routine. After all sinking a five-footer is not a complex feat. Maybe there is a little break, but the bottom line is when you hit the putt, it either goes in or it doesn’t. Don’t make yourself crazy.
Think like a minimalist and line up the putt from one angle – behind the ball – step to it, take one or two practice strokes, and then stroke the ball. Don’t give yourself too much time to consider all the things that could go wrong. This quick and easy routine will keep you focused on making the putt.
(erc@skyinet.net)
(January 27, 2005 issue)
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