Monday, January 31, 2011

Memory_5

Shanks at Stanford
There is a term considered to be voodoo in the golf world: shank. When you lose your swing and can't hit the ball right, it's called a shank. Missing your target by a few yards, or putting too much spin on the ball is not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the ball squirting off the blade of your club, minimal hang time, and no control of direction.

We were at a tournament in Palo Alto, CA, (home to Stanford University) during my junior year of college. I think I got the shanks toward the end of the front nine, and I became petrified to even stand over the ball. Stanford has a beautiful course, very hilly with lots of trees. My coach was speechless when she came around to check on me. I could NOT hit the ball! Unbelievable. On the back nine I started trying to figure out if I was even going to be able to break 100!

So, on a typical golf day you keep up with your score in your head, and you know exactly how much over or under par you are at all times. I was hacking the ball around so much that I had no idea what my score was. A funny addendum to the story is that my final score that day was a 99 by sheer luck. There was one hole that the officials deemed the pin placement unplayable, so each player was allowed to pick up the ball after 3 putts. (Who's ever heard of such a thing?) Anyway, the ruling was not made until after I'd already played that hole, so when we went back and adjusted my score for that hole I was able to claim the 99!

It was common practice for us to go to the driving range after a round, but I didn't want to swing a golf club for the rest of my life. I was so embarrassed and humiliated! Coach practically drug me out there with a 6 iron. As if I'd never missed a beat, I was hitting the most beautiful, straight, high-arc shots you've ever seen out on the range. She didn't know what to say, so she just sent me back to the van. Headcase, that's what I was thinking too! I'm thinking this might have been what prompted a later trip to the sports psychologist in Houston (that's a whole other story).

One good thing was that I got to pick the restaurant we ate at that night. Our tradition was that low score on the team got to decide where we ate. That was never me because we had some really good golfers on our team! I think everyone felt pity for the 99 that they let me pick the restaurant!!

1 comment:

Sara Graham said...

I just realized...I've had the shanks my whole life! Minus the humiliation and embarrassment. You know I just had anger!