What if
The final moments of chasing par
First, the calculation. Your eyes trace the line from ball to hole, reading the slope like a language you’re still learning. It breaks right. No, left. Definitely left.
All that confidence, all that perfect execution, and it comes down to this moment where your mind cycles through every possibility, every adjustment that might matter or might mean nothing at all.
What if.
We all remember that pivotal moment making par, birdie, even eagle. Hell, hole in ones. The moment stays with you. It’s remembered. You talk about it at the clubhouse, relive it with members who weren’t even there.
Moments tick by as you grip the putter and take your practice strokes. Then. That moment you commit, everything after the ball makes contact with the putter, you watch. You can only watch.
What if.
That chance. That feeling of tense pressure. Making par, making birdie, making eagle. It’s a feeling non-golfers, outsiders, don’t understand. I always say to myself before I approach: confidence is 80%, golf is 20%. Having that confidence makes all the difference.
Sometimes.
I remember my first time golfing. Couldn’t read the greens. My pace control was awful. Stance was just awkward. Nervous.
Practice, practice, practice.
Putting practice is like homework. Bad habits creep in. “I’ll learn on the round.” “It’s not the same on the practice green than it is on the course greens.” All these excuses make for bad habits that stick for a while. You try to avoid, even though you know it needs to be worked on the most.
But when you commit to the drills, you think to yourself hey, this actually works.
Over and over as you practice, you feel more confident become more relaxed with each scenario. Stance, pace, even reading slopes becomes second nature.
When I committed to practice, with the bad weather, the later nights, I was in my bedroom putting on carpet into a cup, or even two shoes side by side like goal posts. I can’t tell you all my secrets you have to figure that out yourself. You’ll make anything work.
practice.
What if.
Photographing golfers on the greens, I look for the capturing moments in-between. The emotions, the reactions, the waiting, the calculating. Observing the moments all share a different methods. Capturing it as a photograph shares that identity of how a golfer. Its interesting to see reaction it sometimes feels animated, you can feel the emotion explode. I understand victory, frustration. Images speak the language of narrative. I want to capture reaction the raw chase for par.
