I can't tell you how many times I've witnessed an amateur golfer get so angry after a poor golf shot that the rest of their round is ruined. The poor shot comes to define their whole day on the course and consumes them mentally.
If you ever want to be able to shoot lower scores, you have to realize that a round of golf is more like a marathon than a sprint. Even if you only play 9 holes when you tee it up, there's still so much more golf left after you hit a poor shot. Nevertheless, I think golfers have a low tolerance level for hitting these bad shots. They become way too over-critical and their game suffers because of it.
You have to learn to control your temper, first and foremost. You're going to hit poor shots, but remember...he (or she) who misses best, wins. That's why it's important to be your own best friend on the golf course. Imagine if you were playing in a friendly two-man scramble. If your partner hit a poor shot, what would you do? What would you say? It's probably fair to say that you would encourage him and try to remind him of the positives instead of the negatives. Well, that's the same way you should treat yourself.
Staying positive is the key. Golf is supposed to be a game that evokes feelings of relaxation. So don't let one bad shot take over your mind. Remember your fundamentals, try to find a good thing about the shot you just hit, or just move on altogether!
Keep it vertical and in play!
The Surge
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Comments
Being Your Own Best Friend
This concept worked for me exceptionally well this year, especially in a recent tournament. Regardless of what happened on previous shots I try to remember to include a little bit of positive thinking into my setup. It is a simple reminder to "just hit a decent shot". I even have many of my playing partners calling out good misses when ever someone hits a less than perfect shot.
Being your own best friend
The daily talked in terms of a single bad shot. How about the case of 17 in a single round? 6 bad shots on a single hole? 8 years of working on PPGS and watching your index go up a minimum of a stroke per year? One bad shot is a trivial case. I suspect that most of us can easily tolerate one bad shot. It is the cases when at least one shot per hole is bad that causes people to lose their cool.
Being Your Own Best Friend
Losing a shot per year for 8 years seems a bit odd. It sounds like there may a big difference in what you feel you are doing and what you are actually doing to incorporate the PPGS basics. I have gone in the other direction dropping 5 strokes off my average game over a 4 year period, 88 down to 83 even as I get further and further past the age of 60.
Every miss presents an opportunity
My short game has never been better. It is at a point now that I actually enjoy having the opportunity to recover from a bad shot. Scrambling for a good score can be a lot of fun. I have been playing for years with a fellow, who could outscore me most of the time with his amazing short game . I have always been a good putter but he was a much better chipper and pitcher. I found a way this year, to become far more consistent, by developing my own version of Steve Sticker's wrist less pitching.
Had my low round of the year today,with a crazy up and down round. 77 with 3 doubles, 3 birdies and an eagle pitch in. All 3 doubles were caused by terrible approach shots but at least the short game kept them from being triples.
"Attitude determines altitude"
Dave,
You and a few others that post are great examples of a positive approach to improvement and having an anticipation of learning to get better. Surge is right on the subject of how we treat ourselves, how we talk to ourselves. I have gotten much better recently learning to anticipate good outcomes while playing each shot. And then not over reacting at the results. I have been known to fly into a brief tirade after hitting a poor shot. What I have noticed is that I never hit a good shot after an emotional explosion and it can often follow me to the next hole or for several holes. Still steaming about a messed up shot or hole always results in unwanted stress and tension, the exact opposite of what produces good scores. Like I say, I have gotten much better as of late and in fact am applying the "what to say when I speak to myself" philosophy to all the other areas of my life and am a better man for it. Be kind to ones self:)
That's a good shot
I just played yesterday with a friend that I get with a couple times a month. I call him the glass half empty guy. he's a little better than bogey golf. No matter how good a shot he hits, it's never what he wants. If a drive is hit well, he always has a negative spin on it. Should have been higher. Needed to be 10 yards left of where it landed. Should have ran out more. If he hits a nice approach shot 20 foot from pin on the green, he wanted it to be 10 foot. never happy. I've given up saying nice shot. I heard Surge mention this before and I love it. He said something like you want your misses to be less bad to shoot a better score .Because you're going to have misses. That's golf. When I hit a decent shot now, or putt and chip. I always look at the result and think not too bad. My buddy will always say not good enough unless it drops in hole. I wish he could change that glass. I think he would have much more fun.