I think the main thing this year, is now that I’m playing pro masters, I’ve got somewhat unrealistic expectations. Instead of taking my years of experience and incrementally building my rating, I’ve tried to do so much at once, that it’s backfiring.

At St Patties, the Memorial and the Master’s Cup I found myself doing things I used to chide am players about: Throwing low percentage shots to “make it all up in a couple of holes”, running ridiculously long putts, and then finding myself completely frozen with fear that I’m going to miss 15 foot putts. It’s a really weird feeling to completely forget how I putt. You know? Standing in front of the basket thinking “Wait, how much do I snap my wrist? How hard do I putt? At what point do I release the disc? What is this supposed to feel like?”

On the other hand — I’ve been playing really well in weeklies, monthlies, doubles and bag-tag rounds. The difference is purely the amount of pressure I put on myself. That’s it.

So with this in mind — I’ve done a bit of preparation for Worlds. The most important thing is that I had a practice basket drop-shipped to my mom’s house in Michigan so Steve Ganz and I can putt whenever we feel like it (instead of having to head to a course). I’ve also been doing my best to play in hot weather situations, go over my basic putting mechanics (so I can remember how to reset later if I get confused), and set what I believe is a reasonable goal of finishing in the top 1/2 of my division. Top 1/3 would be amazing (making the cut, etc) but I think top 1/2 is more reasonable at this point.

Oh yeah - and I’m going back to work at Yahoo the day after I get back from worlds. (more money, similar position, 6 months off)

See you in the Zoo!
Matt

Goodbye sloppy HTML out-of-date postings - Hello WordPress!