Zimmy

May handicap seldom rises above 3, and usually falls to scratch by the end of the year. Last year in our match play tournament I ran into a 15-handicapper who played off the senior tees. With three holes to play he was just 5 over par, he did blow up on the last three holes, letting me back in the match, but he closed me out on the last hole by halving the hole with a bogey after he had a tremendous shot out a greenside unmowed area. I played one of my best rounds of the year, shooting a net 69, and still couldn't take him. I played with him recently again in our regualr weekend group. I hadn't played with him since last year. He was awful. Probably didn't break 100, let alone 90. I hate to play the high handicapers because their games are so erratic. You just never know what you're going to get.

I think we can all feel your pain on this one. I've been playing in a lot of tournaments lately, and my ultimate goal is to one day feel as comfortable in a tourament round as I do when I out playing a practice round with myself. It would be safe to say that I'm not there yet. Here's an "a-ha" moment I had in a tournament round last Sunday. I got off to a pretty shaky start, bogeying 2 of the first four holes. Standing on the tee box of the 5th hole I resolved to stop playing in a tournment, and start just playing golf. I love to golf. I absolutely love it. And I hate it when my nerves get in the way of having a good time on the course. So for the next 12 holes or so I was able to just focus on the fact that I was doing something I enjoy. I played those holes 1-over, which, with two holes to go, got me thinking again that I might be challenging for the lead. Not surprisingly, when I started playing in the tournament again I ended up bogeying the last two holes, missing makeable par putts on each of the holes. I know that sometimes the mind is a hard thing to trick. I have taken many putting lessons, and the least valuable one was when the instructor told me to tell myself to not care about whether the putt when in or not. I know where he was going with that - just focus on the process, and not the outcome. But my brain won't let me think like that. I can't tel myself not to care about the putt going in when I do. Still, if nerves are getting the better of your in tounament situations, try to focus on the golf part, and de-emphasize the tournament part.

Bunkerputt, You asked me, "what does the foot pumping do for you?" That's a good question,which means that I'm not sure what the answer is, other than it satisfies some mental itch that I'm not able to understand. The pumping doesn't allow me to acquire proper foot alignment, because I just basically keep picking it up and setting it down in the right place every time. While I'm doing this I really don't have any specific swing thoughts going though my head, other than to try and hit the ball toward my target. This weekend I played in a 2-day tournmanent. I played decntly, shooting a 79-78 from the tips on two courses that I hadn't played before. The beginning of the round usually starts off ok, but as it progresses, and especially if I'm contention (I finished second in the tournament) I know the foot stomping gets worse. Really, the only thing going through my head at the moment is "for chrissake, swing the F*&^%$G club." I would imagine my playing partners are thinking the same thing. At this point I'm surprised that someone hasn't said that to me already, and I really couldn't blame them if I did. Due to our shotgun start, I finished the tournament yesterday on the 16th hole. My two playing partners didn't want to play in from there, so I played the last two holes alone. With the stress of the tourmanent gone, I didn't do the foot-stomping at all. There must be something about that I find to be calming, but it's driving me nuts. There have even been times where I've been tempted to walk off the course, as opposed to further exposing my playing partners to this odd quirk. If I were to ever quit the game, with I sometimes consider, this would be one of the main reasons why. Again, thanks to all for the suggestions. I do appreciate, and will try to use them to break this habit.

Brandon, It's hard to say. I don't think my entire foot comes off the ground. And frankly, it's more of a problem with the left foot than right. It's just starts pumping up n' down, but I doubt if the foot actually comes off the ground, and if it does, it's only by fractions. Like I was stomping ants or something. (You know, everytime I write more about his I'm more and more convinved I'm a basket case of some sort.) I played last night, and I think it was better. It really gets bad if I'm under stress. Like with an approach shot on the final hole with he match on the line, or when confronted with a difficult shot. Though, even though sometimes on the range I can be just swiging away, and the left foot will start pumping like it having it's own grand mal. Weird. Really weird.

Thanks for the suggestions. First of all, I don't want to give the wrong impression. I did break 70 recently, but that is far from the norm. Over the course of a year I might do it 5-6 times. My point was that all this foot stomping I do doesn't seem to effect my game. I'm not actually sure how long I take over the ball. To me it seems like it's a long time, but Stretch maybe right in that it only seems that way to me. I've never had anyone refuse to play with me, or even comment about after a round. Mainly I chalk that up to golfers generally being pretty nice people. Thanks again for the suggestions.

I'm a good player. I currently carry a 2.1, and would expect it to get down to near scratch before the end of the season. I'm consistent off the tee, hit a lot of greens, and make my share of putts. One thing I can't do though, and that is pull the trigger. Remember when Sergio went through that phase of gripping and regripping? Well, I've got a similar problem, but it's more with my feet. Virtually everytime I stand over the ball my feet start pumping like pistons. I CAN'T get them to stop. After extended time of leg and foot pumping, I finally get settled in enough to make a swing. It's not only maddening for me, but know it has to be frustrating for my playing partners as well. No one has ever said anything to me about it, but I know it must drive them half-crazy. Each time before I address the ball I tell myself that I'm going to just give the club a quick waggle or two, set my feet, and go. And each time I feel my legs and feet start pumping like an oil rig on crack. It's hard to explain what's going through my head, but it's like there's a physical wall that won't allow me to draw the club back. When I practice I work on this more than anything else. Though it's not as bad on the range, everytime I actually get on the course I start pumping and wiggling those feet like I'm standing on hot coals. The weird thing is that it doesn't seem to effect how I play. My last three rounds have been the lowest of the year; a 69, and two 71s on a course with a rating of 70.7 and a slope of 132. Still, I would appreciate any advice forum members could offer that would help me just step up to the ball and give it a whack. Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

Like most of you on here, I have a regular weekend group I play with. It's a great group of guys. We usually just play skins and greenies, which is fine, but the group wheels off the lowest handicap, which is mine. I usually start the year at about a 4, and am able to work my day down to sratch over the course of the season. I'm currently 2. Our group, which is usually about 8-10 players, uses thef full handicap. The next lowest handicap is a 4, but most of the others are in the 9-11 range. I know there are larger issues in the world, but this doesn't seem like a fair game to me. I seldom win any skins because my birdies will usually get covered up with somene who parred the hole, but then got a stroke. In our last six games I've won exactly two holes, even though my highest score was a 77, and I shot two even par rounds, and a few just one over. I'm not always the low round - we've got some guys who are certainly capapble of beating me on any given day - but I'd say I'm low at least 7 times out of ten. I just don't have anything jingling in my pocket to show for it. And it's not a money thing. We don't play high stakes by an means. We usually throw $4.50 into the pot for skins, and $2 for greenies. My kids aren't going hungry, but it's more a principal of the thing. I'd be fine with using handcaps if we used stroke-play, but this system seems to heavily favor those with the higher handicaps. I've got two questions: One, is this a fair way to run our game? And two, what type of games do you play with your group. Thanks.