Last week saw the 101st NZ Open in Arrowtown, hosted by The Hills and Millbrook, and what a week it was, the weather was fantastic and the golf courses were immaculate and the whole event had an amazing feel to it.
A number of Tauranga members made the trip down to watch, support and volunteer and all those who I spoke to had a great time and even got to play Millbrook today in a special event for the volunteers. If you ever need an inspiration for a great holiday week I would highly recommend attending this week.
I was fortunate to be down there for two reasons, first and foremost to caddy for Luke Toomey and secondly to connect in with a number of the countries aspiring young players with my role as National Coach.
The format of the event is unique in the professional world, each professional is paired with an amateur partner who obviously plays with them (off slightly different tee's) and get to experience what the pro's go through, the pressure of the TV camera's, the galleries and of course testing their game on tournament standard courses.
To be able to caddy, be inside the ropes and talk with both the pros and the amateurs was brilliant as it gave me some good insight into what goes on inside their minds and also what it takes to win as well as an appreciation of how fickle the game is.
The first aspect I noticed was that they all get nervous, yip even the pro's are nervous on the first tee, though they seem more accepting of the nerves and dont try to fight them, they just accept the nerves are there and then remind themselves what they need to do. Lesson 1: We all get nervous, and its okay.
Secondly the professionals have immaculate short games and this is not always about a superior technique it is sometimes just about shot selection and knowing when to take on the risky shots and when to accept that they cant execute one. Lesson 2: Don't try to play the miracle shot, play the smart shot
Finally they are all great at reading greens,
aimpoint has certainly accelerated this part of the game with most of the pro's "mapping" the greens before they play the event so that they have an understanding of what the ball is going to do. You will hear caddies and players talking about putts being on a 2 or 3% slope which will give them a fair idea of the amount of break, again this is not that they are necessarily better technically but they have better processes. Lesson 3: Understand how to read greens.
If you would like to learn how to read greens and get excited about green reading I would highly recommend watching the video on this website
https://aimpointgolf.com/ and then attend the upcoming Aimpoint Green Reading Clinic this Sunday at 1:30pm.
Green Reading Made Easy
Tauranga Golf Club
1:30pm - 3:00pm
$45 Per person