PRACTICE MECHANICS - PLAY TARGET

One of the most challenging temptations to overcome while playing a round of golf is to not think about mechanics but focus solely on the target of the shot.  But focusing on the target while playing a round puts the golfer on the same powerful "human hand eye radar" performance as a basketball player shooting a three pointer.  That star 3 point shooter is not thinking of mechanics as the player flushes the net over and over.

When on the practice tee with or without an instructor it is perfectly fine to focus hard on swing mechanics.  But come to play a round, it is time to trust your golf swing and start swishing golf shots toward the target by focusing intently and soley on getting the ball to the target, wheter that be a fairway target or a putt.

BREAKTHROUGH IN GOLF: RORY AND BOBBY JONESFirst and foremost congratula...

BREAKTHROUGH IN GOLF:  RORY AND BOBBY JONESFirst and foremost congratula...:  RORY AND BOBBY JONES First and foremost congratulations to Bryson DeChambeau for a marvelous final sand shot and historic victory at the U....

 RORY AND BOBBY JONES

First and foremost congratulations to Bryson DeChambeau for a marvelous final sand shot and historic victory at the U.S. Open.  He is a deserving champion for sure!

Rory's heartbreaking missed putts on Holes 16 and 18 were painful to watch, and fans all over feel for his plight.  

The putt on No. 16 looked like he gunned it right through the break.

But Rory's putt on No. 18 missed on the low side and he either babied the putt and fail to stroke it throught or else he misread the break.  

I hope Rory learns from this and takes something postive away. He is an all time champion with 4 Majors, and if he does learn something positive he can bounce back, like he so courageously did in 2012 at the U.S. Open following his back nine meltdown at the Masters that year.  He can certainly bounce back again and all of his fans will be pulling for him to do so.

I am not sure whether Rory on the No. 18 putt babied that putt and failed to stroke it through or not.  It looked like he played too little break.  He might take solace from Bobby Jones who used to say on fast breaking putts, he like to barely tap the ball and watch the putt literally die into the side of the hole.  By doing that you play more break, and trust that the ball will roll out rapidly.  That "die putting" method is not for everyone.  Arnold Palmer found success running the ball with less break into the back of the hole.  All I would observe is that on U.S. Open very slick greens, it is almost impossible to leave it short, so the Bobby Jones method of trusting more break and just getting the ball rolling so that it does die at the hole will tend to prevent missing on the low side.  

Only Rory can decide how to address this issue for himself, but hopefully he looks to other great players and learns somethig new.  The other idea would be to talk to someone who never missed short putts down the stretch in Majors, like a Lee Trevino and asked him what he did to make them all in the last 6 holes.  Rory may get a piece of competitive wisdom for the ages.