Golf games for Windows Archives

An Archive of Early Microsoft KnowledgeBase Articles

All of which led to some big questions.

Could he win in his 40s, like Fred Funk, the 2007 winner here? Could he reel off multiple wins, like Vijay Singh? Could he reach 10 or even 15, or was all of that wishful thinking?

Kuchar imagined hoisting more trophies, but also couldn’t be sure he wasn’t done winning.

“I’ve thought the other side,” he said. “I’ve thought, man, kids are getting younger and stronger and it’s more and more challenging for a guy that plays my style of golf to win and win multiple times.”

He came to Mayakoba without knowing exactly where his game was. He’d worked hard with his instructor, Chris O’Connell, leading into his only other start of this season, the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas, but finished T57. He was hitting the ball well, but not scoring.

He did both in Mexico, where he stayed in a casita on the beach with his wife, Sybi, and their two sons, Cameron, 11, and Carson, 9. Kuchar shot 64-64-65 over the first three rounds, leaving no doubt as to the state of his game. Even with his relatively ho-hum 69 on Sunday he broke the tournament record at 22-under and broke a win drought of four and a half years.

It was also his best 72-hole score on TOUR.

After wiggling in that final three-footer, he hugged his caddie, Ortiz, tossed his putter to the turf and embraced his sons. He kissed Sybi, who caddied for four holes in the first round after Kuchar’s playing partner Zach Johnson lost his caddie, Damon Green, to illness (heat).

The family savored the moment together.

“My kids have now gotten into it,” Kuchar said. “And so we do a lot of kind of family afternoon time on the golf course. It’s really been kind of one of those great, you know, father-son and even the whole family, even Sybi will come along and we’ll cram four people in a cart and just go out and play nine holes or six holes or four holes, whatever we have time for.

“I’ve really enjoyed those sessions,” he added. “My life has evolved. I used to only go out and be by myself or with a competitive match, and now having some kids to bring along, it’s really been rewarding. Fun times for me on the golf course.”

He still wants to win a major, and to play on the U.S. Presidents Cup next year. He even spoke of potentially reeling off multiple victories in 2019. First, though, Kuchar was headed to this week’s Australian Open, followed by the World Cup. His season of frustration, the doubts about his future, the existential angst of a milestone birthday—all of it had been wiped away.

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You have too many swing thoughts

By all means, head to GOLF.com and steal a swing thought or work on that tip your local pro has helped you with, but don’t overthink it. Too many thoughts are not good for the average golfer. Keep it simple, focus on one key element and go from there.

You hit only drivers on the range

Wow, that’s awesome watching you scare the range netting with your 14th straight blast with the Big Dog, but you’re still only hitting that club maybe 15 times, max, when you get to the course. Mix in a couple of wedges, will ya? You might need them.

You don’t practice lag putts

You never want to three-putt, and one of the best ways to avoid this is improve your lag putting. This doesn’t mean launching a dozen 90-footers aimlessly across the putting green, but you could benefit from rolling two or three 30-footers, just to get a nice feel for the speed of the greens. More often than not they’ll roll at a similar speed once you get on the course.

You don’t practice the important putts

Lag putting is key, but so is canning the putts that will make or break your round. Those putts are the ones right outside gimme range but inside about 8 feet. It’s the distance where you stand over a putt and aren’t intimidated by the look, and it’s close enough where if you miss you’d be annoyed. Putts from 4-8 feet are crucial, but not that easy to make. Ian Poulter leads the PGA Tour in conversation rate from 4-8 feet at 86 percent, but only 14 players on Tour make 3/4s of those putts. The worst player in that category, Paul Casey, makes 1/2 from the range. So focus on that tricky distance. Once you see one drop the hole will start to look bigger, and a strong putting day from that range — like making 7 of 12 instead of 2 of 12 — can shave five strokes in a heartbeat.

You didn’t eat or hydrate

Plan ahead! Grab a bottle of water. Eat at home, on the go or make sure you have enough time when you get to the course. But don’t jeopardize a promising round due to a lack of food fuel. (Here are some ideas for what to pack in your bag.)

You don’t know anything about the course

You may think you did everything right to get ready for a course you’ve never seen — hit balls, roll putts, etc. — but did you know the first four holes have tight fairways and doglegs and your best bet might be hitting a hybrid? Now you probably wish you would have striped that 17-degree more than twice on the range, huh?

You are too focused on other things

Stop worrying so much about your foursome’s betting game, what tees you are playing or that epic playlist you’ve been cooking up since the car ride over. Put the phone away and check out Twitter later or respond to that work email when you get home. None of it’s going anywhere. And plus, making sure your game is ready for a par-birdie-par start is way more important.