It happens to all of us: new golfers, expert golfers and professional golfers. One good shot followed up with a bad shot. Good one day, bad the next. Lowest round ever and the next time you go out it’s as if you haven’t touched the club in a year. Holing every putt on the front nine and then missing them all the back nine. A great front nine score followed up with a horrible back side score. It goes on and on!
If you have played golf for awhile you have gone through this probably several times. You have even come to know that this is part of golf, part of life. That’s the perspective that keeps you sane but it is still very, very frustrating. If you’re new to golf and you start seeing how erratic you are with golf, you might think this only happens to you. Well, it doesn’t. It happens a lot to everyone.
Rory McInroy can attest to that. He is the European and PGA Tour sensation that shot rounds in the 60’s at last year’s British Open and followed up with an 80. At the Masters just this year he shot three rounds in the 60’s and had a horrendous day on Sunday. Point is, we all do it and it’s frustrating and perplexing. Tiger Woods was being interviewed when this very subject was brought up. “Why can’t you play great all the time and hit the ball consistently well?” His reply was, “Too many moving parts in the swing to coordinate and time.” You remember Tiger Woods, best player on the planet who has, um well, taken a turn “backwards?”
Sports psychologists have had a field day with athletes who are trying to unlock these mysteries. I wonder if all the knowledge that they have and in all the wonderful advice they give if they don’t ever experience for themselves the ups and downs in performance that all athletes encounter? My guess is that they do too. They are human just like us. Not immune to emotions and challenges in their thinking that create changes physiologically.
I am not a sports psychologist but have met several. I have attempted plenty of times to understand why we go through so many rollercoaster rides and have befriended other players who have had tremendous success at the highest level in the sport of golf. I can tell you that it is mostly psychological for them and me, and probably you too. I believe the breakdown exists, for many, in the way they are thinking.
In a nut shell, here is what I do think happens when we start playing the “yo yo game.” Very quickly when you play a good round or front nine our expectations or hope rises. When this happens, our patience drops. We do this unknowingly. When things start going well we feel great, trust takes over, confidence rises and when all this “good stuff” happens, this is when we become vulnerable. Instead of staying in the moment we wander in our thinking. “I hope I can keep this up for the back nine; I could have my best round ever. Wow I can win this tournament because I am playing so well.” All of the sudden you are out of the moment. One mistake kills that momentum and suddenly you panic, and your patience goes next. You hear it a lot when players are being interviewed. They talk about staying in the moment; not thinking ahead; not thinking behind. Here is some advice: when you catch yourself doing this, stop it. Bring yourself back to what you need to do on the very next shot. Sound easy? It takes conditioning your mind and it’s the biggest challenge I have ever personally had with golf. You need to become aware of what’s going on in your head to ever have a chance of understanding where the breakdown is. Better control of your focus will lead to surges in your concentration and before long you will be sustaining that for longer periods of time. This is a huge challenge for all golfers but it’s what professional golfer’s do well most of the time.
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