Where have all the grinders gone??
One of my pet peeves on a golf course is when a guy you are playing with “quits”. You know what I mean; he has had a few bad holes early and knows it’s probably going to be tough to post a good number and basically mails in the round. I find this so distracting and a bit disrespectful to the other guys in the group. Even if you think you are a mentally tough player it is pretty distracting to have a guy out there who is rushing through everything, not making a full effort on his swings. You know what happens, this guy doesn’t focus and hits bad tee shots, doesn’t watch where they go, spends 5 minutes trying to find it and it is a distraction.
What is even worse is when you are playing in a match; sometimes a small wager on the line but mostly bragging rights and your opponent starts off bad and packs it in. The reason they are doing this is so when the round is over and they have lost it doesn’t appear that they were playing there best game. I can’t stand this; maybe it is because I have been a grinder since I started playing golf. I think I was forced to be a grinder because I was never the best tee-to-green player but I usually was able to find a way to get the ball in the hole. No better feeling than turning 5 into a 4 by grinding. Its super easy to go out there and give up and go through the motions but if that’s the case then why are you even out there?
To be a grinder means to never give up on the shot, hole, round etc. I particularly like to think of grinding as something you do on a specific hole, I mean you could grind out a lot of holes in one round but hopefully you will mix in a few holes where you don’t have to grind.
Take this situation, you spay the ball to the right off the tee, now you have trees in the way no good shot at the green. You could be starring a bogey or double right in the face. Instead you find the opening that will allow you to put the ball in the best place to give you a chance at an up and down. You don’t take the hero shot that will cause you to make double or triple that’s not what a grinder does. A grinder plays every shot with full effort; they would hit that shot up near the green to allow them a chip and a chance to 1 putt for par. A grinder never quits, a grinder is a guy who’s scores is always a few strokes better than you thought it would be.
Grinders aren’t just your regular mid to high handicap golfers, a lot of grinders are low handicap golfer because they “know how to score”. Some pro golfers are grinders so its nothing to be ashamed of!! Padrig Harrington and Vijay Singh are world class grinders. Perhaps the best grinder in the world is Tiger Woods; even on his worst day of ball striking he can post a round under par because he will grind out every shot and knows how to get the ball in the hole.
This blog post goes out to honor all of the grinders who can put bad shots behind them and continue to work to get the ball in the hole.
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