Friday, May 7, 2010

Crane's Ratings a Process

http://www.pgatour.com/2010/tournaments/r011/05/06/crane-limbaugh/index.html

Crane's ratings a process to solid 67 Ben Crane fired a 5-under 67 in the first round of THE PLAYERS Championship. He trails by one.May. 6, 2010

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Ben Crane had in the neighborhood of 20 fives on Thursday during the first round of THE PLAYERS Championship.

Not on his scorecard, though. He certainly wouldn't be one shot off the lead in the PGA TOUR's signature event if that were the case.

Actually, Crane rated every shot he hit in that round of 67 Thursday on a scale of 1 to 5 -- with 5 being the best. As he walked from green to tee, Crane quietly signaled his agent, Tommy Limbaugh, who recorded the numbers on a sheet of paper with his own thoughts, as well.

"I'll get into position where he can find me," Limbaugh said. "He'll give me a hand signal (with the number of fingers signifying the rating), in the order of the shots. ... Our goal each day is to have only 4s and 5s."

On Thursday, Crane, who won the Farmers Insurance Open earlier this year, succeeded on all but four shots, which he gave 3s. The ratings aren't made on a whim, either. There is a process to each shot that helps determine how Crane ranks them -- and it has nothing to do with birdies and bogeys.

"For the first time in my career I know exactly what to think about," Crane said. "I know exactly what I should be doing before, during and after each shot. It really has nothing to do with results and has everything to do with just sticking to what we set out to do before the year.

"So I'm better equipped than I ever have been."

Each hole is a program; the whole day a process. Every shot begins with the pre-load, a mental checklist of things designed to free Crane up to execute as well as possible. The actual load follows as he uses his left brain to pick a target and a club -- but the thinking should end as he hits the shot.

"Now the left brain really should be retired, and then the right brain you should just relax and try to execute through there,'" Crane explained. "So then it should be very quiet through my brain, just going through my alignment checks, my waggle progression -- hopefully that's not too long -- and then the imprint, which is just rehearsing as if I had done it perfectly."

Crane, who was two tournaments into this process when he won in San Diego this year, has a team of eight, including Limbaugh and his mental coach Lanny Bassham, guiding him this year. Limbaugh was a football coach at Texas Tech, Ole Miss, Alabama, Duke and Kentucky before he became an agent and motivational speaker.

During the Children's Miracle Network Classic, Crane stayed at Limbaugh's house and the two had time to talk about a variety of subjects. Among other things, Limbaugh feels golfers don't practice like most pro athletes. Golfers tend to be repetitive on the range rather than actually hitting the shots required for the round.

So Crane -- who Limbaugh likens to a linebacker in terms of his mental toughness -- asked his agent if he could help him learn to practice better. The team went to San Diego in November and Limbaugh did some old-fashioned coaching, complete with a slide presentation.

"If you watch him warm up tomorrow -- he changes clubs, he changes direction each time instead of just get a 7-iron and banging away at it,'" Limbaugh said. "... It's my opinion it's a good thing to do because you're processing your shots on the practice range that you're carrying on to the course. You're practicing what you're going to be doing in the game itself."

Ben Crane shot 5-under 67 in the first round of The 2010 PLAYERS Championship.
Tuesday at the Masters was a perfect example. Instead of playing nine holes on Augusta National, Crane did it on the club's state-of-the-art practice range that features a variety of greens as targets rather than yardage markers.

As he practiced, Crane tried to replicate the tee shot and second shot he would go out on Thursday and hit on each hole during the actual tournament. When he had "played" all nine holes, he went to the chipping area and attempted the chips on the ones where he didn't hit the green. Then Crane headed to the putting green to duplicate the putts.

"I thought it was important to rest his mind, his body and his spirit and really be mentally ready to go," Limbaugh explained. "... (When we were done,) we'd completed the entire hole that way where every shot was meaning something."

In his last two PLAYERS Championships, Crane has only shot two rounds over par while finishing in ties for sixth and fifth respectively. He knows he can go low on the Stadium Course, too, after opening with a 65 a year ago on a course he calls a "great test.

"If this is not the best golf course we play all year, I don't know what is," Crane said. "... The margins are small, and so I think that everything is amplified a little bit more on this golf course, mistakes, great shots, and certainly the way you think."

That's why the process will be so important to his success this week at TPC Sawgrass. Crane has only two goals for the year: No. 1 to glorify God and No. 2 to "execute the process as if it's primary."

Crane, who made eight birdies and three bogeys in the first round, hasn't been able to recreate the mindset he had at the Farmers Insurance Open. He took a big step in the right direction on Thursday, though, when he hit all but two fairways and 16 of 18 greens while using just 28 putts.

"Last year I had a great first day and then some solid rounds after that but nothing great," Crane said. "I think that I'm equipped now to just go out and do my best more than I've ever been. Just trying to separate myself from the results and living and dying by each shot certainly tends to free me up."

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