​Golf Digest senior writer Alex Myers is on a one-year mission to see how good he can get at golf through daily training, practice and playing. Read more from his “Late Scratch?” series here.On a recent Friday, I was the talk of the town in Rye, NY—but not in a positive way. Despite an overall solid round earlier that day at Rye Golf Club that included three birdies, my performance had been boiled down to one bad shot. And for good reason.It’s hard to describe what happened on the fifth tee when I nearly whiffed with a driver while playing with three Golf Digest colleagues. It was jarring. It was hideous. And it was embarrassing. Even worse? Ben Walton happened to video it. In slow-motion.My initial reaction was to delete the video and, possibly, destroy Ben’s phone. But then I realized this could be a learning moment. So, instead, I took my personal experience—even one so shameful—and turned it into content. Here’s what I found out in the hope of avoiding such an occurrence again. ‘The Shot heard ‘round Rye’ The fifth hole at RGC is never a fun one (that’s being kind), but I had great visions of hitting a perfect drive there on my previous trip and good vibes after making a birdie on No. 4. It didn’t matter.RELATED: How different is tournament golf? I found outA lack of confidence that’s plagued me with the driver was lurking. And that only gets exacerbated when facing a difficult tee shot, causing my head to be filled with unhealthy swing thoughts. As I turned to the top of my swing, a sudden feeling of panic hit me and I knew I was headed for disaster well before my driver made contact with the ball. For educational purposes, let’s have a look: Your browser does not support the video tag. Told you it was hideous. That’s a golfer battling some demons right there. I’m actually surprised I made contact with the ball at all. And I was even more surprised when a playing partner said the ball had traveled far enough right to hit a house owned by one of my colleague’s friends, hence, why I, unfortunately, became such a hot topic of conversation at a high school football game that night.Minutes later, that colleague showed me a text he received with a picture of my ill-fated Titleist and a message saying it’s the first time his house has ever been hit. Fortunately, there was no damage. Other than to my ego, of course. The problem I’d like to say this shot came completely out of nowhere, but that would be a lie. Since earlier in the summer I had developed a habit of producing similar shots a couple times a round. Swings so bad that, as my friends can attest, I sometimes start laughing before I even make impact.These are not your typical blocks or slices. They are so grotesque they’d be impossible to replicate on the range. And, unfortunately, I had a long history with them, especially with my driver under pressure (usually on my annual golf trip). But while I’ve always thought this form of yips was all in my