When putting becomes your bogeyman

CHENNAI: At the Open last month, all eyes were on Shubhankar Sharma, who finished T6, with a commendable bogey-free last round. Barring a handful, amateur golfers in most clubs are double bogey players, meaning bogey is their point of reference. Hence, Sharma’s feat drew even more eyeballs.

HEAT ON CHENNAI WEATHER: July is when holiday travels are done and recreational golfers are back at their home clubs, hitting the range and gearing up for a long season of club and inter club tournaments.

The weather again played poker this July in Chennai. Trust me when I say, it was discomfiting. A glorious sunny day, good golfers were hitting up 8, 9 pars and a couple of birdies, happy to have their handicap index down. Days later came the unexpected rain, and the same golfers were parched for pars. When you card six, seven pars, and then end up with a mere couple post rain, it’s frustrating to say the least.

For a few golfers like me, ordered off the course by the physician due to heat induced unwellness, returning to the game after a total break of a couple of months, was tougher. You know the feeling when, after carefully building your portfolio and planning to book profit on Wednesday, the market crashes on Tuesday. That’s how I felt when I was three and four putting, on my tentative return. A line caddy kindly pointed out to me that even pros miss given putts. He had overheard players discussing Rory McIlroy’s bad hair day with putting at The Open last month.

TACKLING THREE PUTTS: It is well established that starting from 35 feet or more, Tour players are likely to three putt about once in ten attempts. From the same distance, amateur golfers end up three putting about half the time. A three putt represents a truly missed opportunity at any level. Ok, no one single putts, all the time. But given that putt is where your dough is, I tried to apply the above statistics to my game. Instead of attempting to hit the green, I tried laying up, hoping to wrap it up two putts, max.

ADVICE, LASER AID ET AL: There is plenty of well-meaning advice to one struggling on the course, from all quarters. Fellow players, pros who gave you lessons once and of course the caddies, the infallible lot, if you went by the way they talk and behave. From the equipment you use to the stance, the grip and the swing, everything requires to be changed if you add up all the suggestions. Today you can even order a putting laser to help you putt as per the line.

Ultimately, elan and a bit of nonchalance does the trick. Whether it improves your putting or not, you can definitely handle the outcomes better.

Putting Odyssey apart, the city is gearing up for the next tournament season. The Caddies tournament at Madras Gymkhana Club Golf annexe saw E Hariharan wrapping it up in style, once again. At Cosmo TNGF, the two-day TNGF Championship marks the start of the season. Hitting the practice range regularly has become the norm for many. Quite a few golfers are turning to health food and pumping irons to ramp up fitness levels. Let’s go, folks.

RESULTS: Madras Gymkhana Club – Golf Annexe Guindy hosted the VGS Cup / VSD Cup for Men & Padma Saravana Cup for Ladies on July 30.

Results of this individual Stableford format is as below

Open Category

Winner – Nikhil Cherian (34 Points)

Runner-up – Hemant Kumar Sinha (32 Points)

Gold Category

Winner – Nandakumar Natrajan (35 Points)

Runner-up – Darshan Veeraraghavan (32 Points)

Silver Category

Winner – Karun Jacob (38 Points)

Runner-up – Duraisamy A (37 Points)

Bronze Category

Winner – Prakash N (34 Points)

Senior Category

Winner – Peter Paul L (33 Points)

Ladies Category

Winner – Prema Latha

Ramraj Rao (29 Points)