“The only expectation that you can bring into a golf shot – the only expectation that works – is expecting yourself to pick a target with complete focus and clarity, and commit to that one, single golf shot. This is a Yes Mind-set, a Proclaiming Mind-set, not a hoping or questioning way of looking at your golf swing. You are going to have to accept your results and your scores for what they are. You have to start thinking about your success on the golf course as whether or not you gave your best effort on each and every shot, one at a time.” – Dr. Bob Winters to Tom Coyne, Paper Tiger.

My clubs arrived from UPS a day late but fortunately not a dollar short. As soon as I cleared out work for the day I was chooglin’ towards the World Cup Driving Range in Hudson, NH, eager to see if my golf clubs and my swing remembered each other after 2,000 miles of travel via diverse means and different directions.

I needn’t worry.

From the first swing with my sand wedge I was painting the 85-yard flag stick, one after another, so much so that the stick hitting balls in the area next to me (I found out he was preparing for a Nationwide Tour qualifier) challenged me to a gundown from various distances.

“Don’t let these shots fool you, I’m a 27.1 handicap”, I tell him.

“That’s OK”, he replies, I need the challenge. If you don’t want to that’s OK, I didn’t mean to interrupt your session.”

“That’s OK”, I reply, “Tee it up. I’m in preparation too, and I can use the challenge.”

So there we are, a 1-handicap stick and me, picking out various flags and distances to see who can get it closer. Of course, I’m nowhere close to where he can put the ball – he’s got a swing and a finish you just want to drool over – but the most important fact is that I wasn’t intimidated – I gave it my best shot and, in fact, on one 7-iron from 134, I bested his pitching wedge by maybe a foot or two. We had a good laugh over that.

Today was an important session for me, because it not only showed my swing found its way eastward along with my clubs, it also showed just how much work I need to do on my chipping on New England greens that are nowhere near as fast as the greens I’ve been playing in Arizona. Still, it was magical – the green driving range, all the big green trees, the humidity and the thunderclouds that hung over us threatening a rain that didn’t some until I had stowed my clubs back in the trunk of my rented Ford Focus.

Tomorrow I’ll be playing one of my favorite courses, Trull Brook, a course I’ve played dozens of times before but never with the swing and game that I’m bringing to it this year. As I continue preparations for Goodboys Invitational weekend the lessons I’ve learned from Dr. Bob Winters in Tom Coyne’s wonderful book will be both an inspiration and a strategy to employ going forward.