Why I missed that putt

I missed an easy putt on Wednesday, as punishment Phil told me I had to go home and write a 600 word essay describing how I missed the putt. I had to do it though without using the words “the” or “ball”. Below is that essay.




Why I Missed That Putt

By

Bryan Van Diggele


It was a putt that never had a chance; it was going left as soon as I hit it. I had a good round but that putt was a bad miss. My final round score was nine strokes over par, if I hadn’t missed that putt, it would have been eight. When we approached hole three, which usually plays as a par four, it was shorted to a par three due to sprinklers being installed. They just picked a patch of fairway and called it a tee box. It wasn’t more than a pitching wedge’s distance now from tee box to green; yet I still managed to miss. I’m usually confident in my short game, playing a lot of smaller par three courses, I’ve had a lot of time to hone my approach and short recovery shots. Unfortunately on this hole you wouldn’t have known my short game was my strength. After hitting a not so good short tee shot, I didn’t hit my chip as well as I wanted either. I struggled with my short chip shots all day. I was on in two but had a lengthy putt for par. I misread how uphill my first putt was and didn’t hit it nearly hard enough. I left it short with about two feet to go to now save for bogie. I placed my marker down and picked up my Bridgestone Treo Soft. After taking a few steps back I squatted down, surveying this particular greens features. Fullerton has greens that I find tricky to read but it appeared to be sloping right to left and I was still going uphill. Put it about a half a cup right, hit it solid, and I should be happy. I picked up my marker, confident in my line. Stepping up to that putt I knew I could easily walk away with a bogie and still have a chance at my goal of shooting bogie golf for my round (Phil and I have been playing Fullerton golf course every Wednesday for the past month with the goal of shooting a round of bogie golf). This is a putt you have to make to be a successful golfer, foot and half to two feet out, you need to make these. I set up for this putt like I do every other putt. Get my grip, step in with my left foot, place my putter down, slide it towards me until it’s crisp white aiming line meets a Treo Soft logo with an arrow in front that now points a half cup right. My right foot moves into position, followed by my left. Once I’m set, I take one last look at my line, easy backstroke, no break in the wrist, and then a firm follow through. Only this time, I just pushed it left, plain and simple. I could blame an unrepaired divot or a stray leaf; I could even try and blame the wind. There are plenty of excuses to be made when you miss a putt from that distance. You never want to admit that you just hit a bad shot, especially with your putter, which has the appearance of being the easiest club to hit. But at the end of the day, I just pushed it left. Some times as a golfer you just hit bad shots. It’s better that I own up to the bad shots and learn from them, rather than try and fool myself into thinking it wasn’t my fault. I didn’t keep my putter on line and I paid the price, that bogie just became a double. Thankfully I didn’t miss my goal by a stroke, now I can move on and put that putt behind me.