Local pros big proponents of being prepared
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By KEN HAMBLETON / Lincoln Journal Star
The skulled wedge flies over the green ... again.
The low line drive 3-wood screams into the trees ... again.
The three-foot putt stops short of the hole ... again.
Those missed shots were probably predictable.
“It’s amazing how many mistakes are made before the swing,” said Jim White, one of the all-time best golfers in Nebraska history.
“Guys step to the tee on a 340-yard hole and pull out the driver because that’s what the guys on TV do,” he said. “They only need 190 yards but they don’t think it through. A hybrid club might be the right choice to set up a 150- yard shot to the green from the middle of the fairway.
“Instead, the guy hits the driver into the trees or the rough or the water,” he said. “A guy will wave the putter back and forth with much more of a swing than he’ll use to hit the actual putt.”
Mike Schuchart, who is arguably on par with White as one of the state’s best golfers, also relates to preparing before you hit the ball.
Schuchart played on the PGA Tour. He coaches many pros, amateurs and beginners at the Golf Academy at Wilderness Ridge. He still wins more of the pro tournaments in Nebraska than anybody else.
“I see golf as kind of a game of pool, where you think through a shot to set up the next shot,” he said. “It’s like chess, too.
“You can relieve a lot of tension if you make a plan before you hit the ball,” he said.
For instance, when he was in the playoff for the Nebraska PGA Pro championship, which he won Tuesday for the fourth year in a row, he figured a drive to the left side of the fairway would set up his easy 148-yard 8-iron shot to the green. His approach shot landed 20 inches from the cup. He made the putt and won the tournament for the sixth time in seven years.
Schuchart builds an approach to each hole.
“That keeps you in the moment,” he said. “If I consider the shot I’m going to hit, I’m not concerned with the last hole or the next hole. I think about the shot I am going to hit. That includes setting up the next shot.”
His concentration was so intense that he didn’t realize that he had made up a stroke on the leader and was tied for the lead.
“I love that part of golf, where I don’t know my score or where I stand,” he said. “I am concerned with getting on the green and getting the putt down for a par or a birdie. That cuts down on the bogeys and it keeps me playing my game and not worrying about the other guys I’m playing.”
White described a three-step process to setting up the shot.
“See the shot. Make your practice swing — not 100 percent of the effort, but 100 percent of the motion. See and feel the target line and hit the shot,” he said.
“Remember, not even the best players in the world hit every shot perfect but they go through the same routine before every shot.”
To get over the negative thoughts that creep into your head, “which happens to everybody,” White said, “try different approaches to a problem area.
“If you are psyched out about a hole or haunted by a shot, try something new. Instead of hitting the driver, try a 3-iron. Keeping the ball in play is better than having to hit out of the trees,” he said.
“That might get you over the hole that always gets you. Then, you can go back to hitting the driver,” he said.
White also said players need to be realistic.
“If you hit your 5-iron 175 (yards), and your distance to the hole is 175, you need to account for the carry of the shot, the roll and the conditions. Courses get firmer later in the day and you’ll get more roll. Are you downhill? Has the wind picked up? You might need a different club.”
He said putting takes the same mental approach.
“Too many people are result-oriented and not process-oriented in putting,” he said. “Practice the putting stroke you’re going to use.”
Finally, White cautioned against self punishment.
“Never get too down,” he said. “You might have missed a bunch of three-footers and then the 10-footer rolls in. If you get too down, you can’t relax and hit the shot. Stick with the pre-shot routine and it will help you bring yourself into the moment.”
Reach Ken Hambleton at 473-7313 or khambleton@journalstar.com.
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