The objective of the game of golf is to put the ball into the hole with as few strokes as possible using any of 14 clubs you have in the bag. Every shot you hit, whether its 300 yards with your driver or a 6-inch putt into the hole with your putter or with any club in between, counts as a stroke. Even if you hit the ball 200 yards with your 3-wood to 2 feet from the hole, which is an amazing feat, you still have to putt-out i.e. put the ball into the hole with your putter. You do not get exempted from holing out even if you hit a great long shot!
Many golfers, including pros, suffer from an infliction called “putting yips”. When attacked, they cannot hole a three-foot putt to save their lives. And once you are attacked, you can never be totally cured of the “disease”. It comes upon you at the most crucial moments in a game, most famously when Bernhard Langer missed a four-footer to lose the Ryder Cup in the early nineties.
I am one of those who suffer from yips in a chronic way. The long game is natural to me because of my tennis and hockey background. I don’t hit the ball super long but I hit it straight, seldom losing my ball in the roughs or hazards. But on the greens, I am really bad. In my early years at the game, I attributed my poor putting to my natural personality trait of not liking to finish off a task. I always start things off very well but I find finishing, like cleaning up after messing up the kitchen, pretty mundane. I also used as an excuse that having a killer instinct has never been a strong point of mine. I used to miss sitters in tennis quite regularly. But the real reason I believe is fear; fear of being embarrassed by failing to accomplish something even a five-year-old can. Gradually, this gets transformed to giving up even before I execute the stroke. “What’s the point of trying if it never happens?” In golf parlance, this is called defeating yourself. Eventually, you are overcome by complete despair. “Oh, God! Why is this happening to me?” Starting five years ago, I actually freeze over the ball, not able to move a muscle, getting out of it with jerky stabs at the ball. A 3-foot putt can end up 8 feet away from the hole. This, of course, compounds the agony.
I am actually a good putter but only on the practice green. I have a smooth, flowing putting stroke that many envy and my directional orientation is superb. On a flat surface, I can hit a one-inch target from 20 feet quite regularly. So the problem is entirely mental or psychological. It’s like one of those phobias people are inflicted with, like the fear of heights. How do you overcome it?
Late last year, I came across a book by a golf psychologist. Imagine that, an entire book on putting! I read it cover-to-cover and back again. I put into practice the advice contained and lo-and-behold, my putting improved. My handicap went down by 4 strokes in six months! Given that, statistically, one can only play to his handicap only 25% of the time, this is a remarkable feat indeed, even if I say so myself. And then, after the Ramadhan lay-off, the yips came back. In one game last week, I four-putted 3 consecutive greens, which is ridiculous.
This, of course, set me thinking again. Ironically, this is one of the recognized causes of yips: thinking too much. But then, how do you solve a problem without thinking? Even if the answer is to do nothing, it requires thinking.
The major advice in the book is that the most successful putters putt instinctively. Just decide in which direction you want to putt and stroke the ball. Don’t think about whether your clubface is open or close, your backswing and follow-through or anything technical about the stroke. Just let your natural instinct take over. To give up control is to gain control, it says. I was following that advice for six months with reasonable results and suddenly it deserted me. At first, I was stroking the ball well enough but was simply choosing the wrong lines. If I decide to putt straight, the ball breaks; if I decide to take a break (aim outside the hole) it goes dead straight. After a few such occurrences, I started giving up even before executing the putt; I approach the greens with fear of 3-putting and finally, the dreaded freeze set in.
After one such outing last week, I muttered to my playing buddy that the reason it’s happening to me is that I lack faith or “kurang iman”. Huh? You see, for years now, whenever my children are about to do something significant like taking an examination or entering some sporting competition, I tell them to say “Bismillah”, do their best and accept the outcome (Tawakkal). I haven’t been following my own advice. This, to me, is the meaning of Qadha and Qadar, one of the articles of faith. Things wouldn’t happen for you without effort (seldom at least) and even your best effort might not bring about the desired outcome. It’s all God’s will that you’d do well to accept. And, even in the face of the greatest of setbacks, you need to stay committed to do what you think you should do. One is not truly a Muslim until he is aware that he is dependent upon God in all his pursuits, no matter how trivial.
Now, will this reminder to myself improve my putting? Insha’Allah.
