Allegheny College senior golfer Chris Moore blogs occasionally as part of the College Connection project. His first entry:
Well, we finally made it through five long rounds of tryouts. I must say it is amazing how quickly things can change in the game of golf. It seems like yesterday that I was a nervous freshman standing on the first tee of Meadville Country Club waiting to hit my inaugural tee shot as an Allegheny College golfer. Although my stomach was full of butterflies, I was still able to perform at the level I expected myself to perform at all because my mind was free of any negative thoughts. My swing was natural and unrefined. I had no swing thoughts because my swing was built almost entirely on feel.
As it turned out this unrefined swing held up nicely under pressure, and produced four tournament victories that year. More importantly, my good play combined with the good play of my teammates, gave us a conference championship and a berth to the national championships.
My, things sure do change quickly. I have since made a dramatic swing change, the specifics of which I will not bore you with. The problem is I not only changed my swing but also the way I think. As I said earlier, I had no swing thoughts due to the fact that my swing was based on feel as opposed to strict mechanics. After taking a few lessons I was no longer able to trust my swing under pressure. I was too focused on where the club was during my swing, which made it impossible for me to make a free flowing golf swing. I have since gone from a scoring average of 71 my freshman year, to now struggling to break 80 under the pressure of a tournament round.
Even after all the heartache and frustration I have put myself through the last two years, I still know I have the talent to return to the form I showed in 2005. The question is, will I ever get out of my own way enough to allow that talent to resurface?