My frustration took to new levels last weekend. And it had nothing to do with my own game (I’m quite satisfied with my play these days).
There’s a young bloke at my club who I’ve invested some time with. I can see the potential and I also see the errors of his ways. He actually reminds me of myself quite a bit, one reason I feel like I can help him.
Despite my best efforts he’s not hearing me. Not sure if he’s not listening, or my message isn’t hitting home in the right way. But it’s kinda frustrating.
His attitude stinks. He blames the course. He whines about having bad luck. Nothing is ever his fault. He isn’t much fun to play with.
His mindset is stuck in “event” processing. If he hits a good shot, if he plays well all is good. But a poor shot or bad bounce or a less than impressive score and his attitude is all over the shop.
Event thinking is very normal. Many of us are after the quick fix and want instant results. This is fair enough but it doesn’t work so well. Event processing sets you up to be a slave to how you play this very moment – and with golf being so unpredictable (and at times unfair) the chances of success are limited.
A better method is “process” thinking. With a process you have a system to deal with all the good and bad stuff that golf throws at you. You’re able to deal with reality and not get distracted by the good (and bad) shots that will invariably come your way. Let me give you example.
When the putting yips took over my game and made the thought of walking onto any green an uncomfortable one, I tried all sorts of remedies (event thinking),
– new putter (I changed putters almost every other day)
– different techniques (like looking at the hole when putting)
– training aides (only about 15 of them)
But nothing really worked. Everything was up and down, would work one minute but would fail the next. It wasn’t until I committed to the process of automatic learning (you can find out more here) that things started turning for the better. The hard part was sticking to the process and not letting the odd missed putt to shake my commitment.
Results didn’t happen right away. It took some time and many of you may be shocked to hear that it took close to two years before I think my putting issues where solved. But let’s look at the alternative…
You could waste years (like I has previously) chasing your tail, looking for the “secret”, changing equipment, feeling frustrated and jumping from tip to tip. And the sad thing is you never get there – in my opinion two years is a small price to pay.
Event based thinking is popular because we all think there’s a magic pill just around the corner. But it’s false thinking.
The perfect mindset is allowing yourself to play the game. And when you can tee up the ball and play free from fear, self-doubt and distractions you’re going to be just fine. Your golf will go to a new level when you can keep this (over and over and over) after a string of bad shots or scores. There’s nothing wrong with playing badly, it happens. The biggest mistake is being fooled by the shot (event) that doesn’t go your way.
If you’re keen to learn more about the proper mindset and get detailed instruction on how you can incorporate it into your game, please join The Ultimate Golfer website. Here, you’ll find over 150 lessons that will make you play more consistently and help you master your own game.