College Golf? This one was a little disappointing.

I have to admit I attended my very first collegiate golf tournament at King's Mill yesterday. I can certainly stand by my statement that kids that play golf are better kids. I did not see one participant throw their golf clubs, (all though I saw some shots that warranted a temper tantrum or two) and when spoken to they were very polite and just all around good kids.

I was a little disappointed at the level of golf especially being there were some nice golf swings out there. There was however a lack of playing maturity that needs to be addressed.

One, I didn't see even one, not one, player pull a yardage pad or notes before hitting a golf shot. That is one of the first things you'll see on tour. The note pad comes out of the back pocket with not only yardages but reminders. Maybe you have notes like finish your backswing, tempo, whatever key you are focusing on. Important notes on how the ball will kick from a given landing area.

I used to think I had a great note pad when I played until Angelo let me see Jack Nicklaus's book. He had drawings of the green that looked 3D and showed the kick on every landing area of the green and fairway. Jack already had his decision whether to hit a 3 wood or driver on a given hole and would not change his decision no matter what the score was. I saw several holes out there yesterday that warranted teeing off with a three wood or one iron. Do they still make those?

When you get down to improving your score from 75, to 74, to 72, to 69, it's the little things that good players do well. It is the little disciplines that add up to a lot in the final analysis.

In summary a saw a lot of golf shots wasted Monday on poor decisions and poor preparation rather than poor golf swing mechanics. I saw poor club selection and a lot of putts wasted with poor judgment in green speed, not the best club face control on short putts.

It's not all bad. A couple of young men out there shot a very good score of 69 and there were a couple of 71's. However they were the ones that were playing beyond their years in discipline compared to the others, not because they necessarily had a better golf swing.