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Down the home stretch
Leta Lindley, 28, is in her sixth season on the LPGA Tour. She had her best year in 1999 with a tie for second, as well as four other top 10 finishes. In 1997, she finished second at the LPGA Championship, losing to Chris Johnson on the second hold of a sudden-death playoff. She was a four-time All-American at the University of Arizona and set an NCAA record for lowest 54-hole score (nine under par). Check out Lindley's diary each Wednesday on CNNSI.com.
August 30, 2000
Springfield, Ill.
It's Tuesday night. We finally made it here. It was a long day. I got up at 3:30 a.m. Pacific time to get here. But I'm raring to go, I think.
It was a tough week working with Lud. I wasn't better instantly, which of course was what I had hoped for. It was a lot of hard work, a lot of sweat and almost some tears.
You can go from being so confident to instantly thinking you're the worst player in the world. But then it can come back again quickly. I feel like I'm in a better place. I'm trying to have a winning attitude.
The situation right now is I have five regular-season events left and I'm 32nd on the money list. One of my goals from the beginning of the season was to be in the top 30, which would get me into the Tour Championship. That's my mission, and hopefully it's not Mission: Impossible. So here I am, at the State Farm Rail Classic, excited to go.
It's difficult to explain what Lud and I were doing. To keep it simple, we made some adjustments to my posture at address. Then we worked a lot on my takeaway, which would help me get into a better position at the top of my swing. To cap it all off, we worked on my first move down from the top of my swing, my first transition. If I can do those three things right, the golf ball will go straight, which it hadn't been doing.
At the beginning of the season, I was doing some bad things but managed my way around them. I can see now that I wasn't doing those three things right back in February, but somehow I was getting away with it. But it caught up to me.
Recently I was hooking it and sniping it, which I continued to do during my first five sessions with Lud. So we did a lot of videotaping and, watching tape, I did a lot of getting mad. I work so hard, I figured I should be able to do this.
It was very frustrating. I know it's difficult to work with me. But at the same time that frustration and desire make me the player I am. Lud calls me "The Perfectionist".
But things are better and a lot of what has been better is my timing. Sometimes when you're working on your mechanics, it's hard to get into a good rhythm because you're thinking so much. You just can't have great tempo when you're thinking so hard. So I would hit some good shots, then some not so great shots, but that's timing.
As soon as I start getting the hang of it, I'll get into a groove and hit mostly good shots. I think I will hit more good shots now. I had a good final session with Lud and I feel much better with where we're at. I just need to go out with a positive attitude and let myself hit those good shots. I can't hold back.
This is a good course to ease back into. It's hard to get into trouble here. We call it a birdiefest. You must have a hot putter and make a lot of birdies. It's usually the lowest cut of the year. My goal this week is just to hit some solid shots to build my confidence back up.
I really want to see the ball go straight. It would be good if I can come away feeling better than I did this past week or the week before. I think I can.
-Leta
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