Conference

The past few weeks we have been preparing for Conference, our tournament this year is in Bradenton on the West coast of Florida. The course is famous its called Concession, and was designed by Jack Nicklaus and Tony Jacklin. The name is after the famous three foot putt that jack conceeded that made Europe and the USA share the Ryder cup. I cant wait to get out there this weekend and play it, everyone i have spoke to has said its amazing.
The keys this week at conference is to treat it like every tournament. The teams that trust their games and play to their strengths will be the victors at the end of the week. Looking at Bubbas performance last week its important to think about the way that he won. He previously would have reacted so poorly to a bad shot that he finished off the round angry and be out of the tournamnet. There are a number of videos on youtube of Bubbas spoilt brat attitude, which got him no where in the game it was only until he realized he was getting in his own way that he turned the corner. We must also realize that this game is all about bouncing back learning from mistakes and then never making them again. Nicklaus spoke alot about this saying that he faced as much fear as everyone but he learnt how to deal with it, the story of the pitch mark against Ben Hogan in the US Open stating he was extremely nervous and embarrased to ask if he could repair he missed the putt and lost the open. Bubba has been in the mix of a number of majors up until now, for instance losing the playoff at the PGA Championship last year and another of other events. It just goes to show that sometimes it takes a few near misses with little emotion attached and to keep putting yourself in position and eventually you will walk through the door sometimes un noticed.  Even at the Masters he came in under the rader with some fantastic shot making, it must be said that even the greatest players in the peaks of their games still do not perform under fear, look at his tee shot on 17 and the 10th in the playoff. Its not your misses because you will always miss, its the reactions and the ability to still trust yourself. He managed to put himself back in the situation and Seve his way onto the green.

On the first extra play off hole he hit his worst shot of his tournament, he realized instead of getting angry, anxious or fearful but to get freerer and let out his shot making ability and hit a marvelous snap hook gap wedge to 10 feet. Louis should have put the situation out his mind on the 10th tee and played the golf course not the player, so often we think about the situation. It is so hard to do but with good quality questions we can learn to make great swings under stress, whats the smartest way to play this hole gives us images of someone who is in control of his game, obviously easy said than done but maybe the three wood was a defensive play if you play to play the course you aim to make par on number 10.

This week we will attempt to regain our conference title like we did last year. However we must make this tournament the same as any other playing the golf course the best we can. All pros manage to make all major events the highest priority because they feeel like they are not trying if they dont think every minute about the performance. This week is about finding the best way to manevour the ball around the golf course in the simplest way possible.