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Australian tour
player Grant Waite had a streak of great golf at the end of
the 2001 season. He has always been known known as a
premier ball striker, but his putting is suspect, as he
readily admits. But during his 'streak', he putted
beautifully.
I heard him during an interview give the reason for his new
found putting excellence; he said that he had watched Brad
Faxon on the practice green just hitting putts nonchalantly,
not particularly aiming at anything. Waite asked Faxon,
who is known as the best putter on tour, what the heck he
was doing. Faxon's answer was, "I'm practicing not
caring!"
This rang a bell for Waite, who realized that he was putting
allot of pressure on himself to perform. In short, he
was trying too hard.
A great putter on the Ladies tour was Kathy Whitworth.
She offered a slightly different take on the notion of
trying too hard; her method was to let go after every putt.
For example, she would line up, go through her routine, and
do everything in her power to prepare for success. She
then made the best stroke she could, but after the ball left
her putter blade, she would disregarded the outcome.
If she made it, great. If she missed it, no big deal.
She did the best she could, then let go. Focus, let
go. It's like a runner in a relay race; do your best,
then hand off the baton. After you've given it up,
there's nothing you can do. Don't sweat the small
stuff for golfers.
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