Golf Flow

the process of becoming a mastery golfer: “6 of 20.”

Chapter 15
Bryce Molder
    Playing Your Own Game
    David Allio/Icon SMI
    Bryce Molder is, statistically speaking, the greatest golfer in the history of college golf. During his four years at Georgia Tech, Bryce set records for the most number of rounds in the 60s, the lowest single-season scoring average, and the lowest four-year scoring average. He joined David Duval and Phil Mickelson as being one of only four golfers ever to be named a first-team All-American four times. Several players from his college team were sent to the PGA Tour, including Matt Kuchar, Matt Weibring, and Troy Matteson.
    As you can imagine, the expectations that people had for Bryce as he made his way to the PGA Tour were extremely high. Right out of the gate, Bryce was named one of the young guns of his generation, considered ready to challenge the established golf hierarchy, and expected to win right away. Bryce is so talented that he almost met those expectations, finishing second at New Orleans in one of his first starts on the PGA Tour.
    As that first year progressed, Bryce began hearing the whispers of swing instructors and commentators, who pointed out perceived flaws in his golf swing: “Your fundamentals are poor. Your swing was good for college golf, but it won’t hold up on the PGA Tour.” Imagine that! A golf swing that was good enough to break all those college records was not good enough.
    To an impressionable young golfer, those voices are difficult to ignore. And susceptible golfers who hear them enough begin to doubt themselves. The self-doubt creeps in incrementally. A missed fairway that used to be accepted now becomes an indictment of the golf swing. Every less-than-perfect shot becomes evidence of being too tall, too flat, laid off, stuck, supinated, or pronated. Rather than a bad shot being seen simply as a part of playing golf, it is seen as a fundamental flaw. Late into his first season on tour, Bryce became convinced that he needed to overhaul his golf swing from the bottom up.
    This occurrence is all too common on the Tour. Most of the time golfers overhaul their way into obscurity and are never heard from again. For example, Craig Perks, after winning the Players Championship in 2002, decided to use his two-year exemption to make serious changes to his golf swing. He proceeded to miss 40 of 50 cuts over the next three seasons and abruptly retired from the game. Isn’t it strange that a player who had such success—who had beaten the best golfers in the world on TPC Sawgrass, one of the most demanding courses in the world—would find it necessary to overhaul a swing after a few bad tournaments? Craig Perks is one of many to make that decision. During an era in which everyone seems to be in love with the golf swing, people forget that great golf has many features other than the full swing and that golf is not a game of perfect.
    As a junior at Oklahoma State University, Scott Verplank won the Western Open back when it was played at the difficult Butler National Golf Course in Oak Brook, Illinois, a Chicago suburb. Take a moment to think about that: A college player showed up and beat 139 of the best professional golfers in the world.
    Then, during his rookie season, Verplank became convinced that he needed to hit the ball higher to compete on tour. The message that Scott received was the same as Bryce’s: A swing that was good enough to earn All-American honors three times and win a PGA Tour event was not good enough. This sort of logic leaves me in disbelief. As a result of changing his swing to hit the ball higher, Verplank spent the next several years battling the yips with his driver and fading into obscurity. Only after he took control and played his game (low, penetrating ball flight) was he able to fight back and become one of the most consistent golfers between 1995 and 2011. Fortunately, Scott Verplank bounced back, but many golfers do not fare as well.
    The lesson is clear: A golf swing that is good enough to win at high levels should be changed only after a lot of careful consideration and deliberation. Far too frequently great golfers amplify the flaws in their swing and come to believe that it’s not good enough to compete with. What happens is that after they convince themselves that their swing is bad, that belief manifests itself as reality.

Rejecting the Expert Overhaul
    Because he’s a dedicated student, Bryce stuck with the process of