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From Bob Rotella: “Golf Is Not a Game of Perfect”

“I find it amusing and ironic that …(some of the) best ball strikers in the world…can learn to accept their bad shots, while the high-handicappers…often cannot.”

After hitting a bad shot, “getting angry is one of your options. But if you choose to get angry, you are likely to get tighter. That’s going to hurt your rhythm and your flow. It will upset you and distract you. It will switch on your analytical mind and your tendency to criticize and analyze anything you do that falls short of perfection. It will start you thinking about the mechanical flaws in your swing and trying to correct them.

“You will very likely play worse.”

I chuckled when I read this: “I’ve had guys in pro-ams turn to me after a tee shot that wiped out two squirrels and a woodpecker and say, ‘I don’t hit the ball that way.’ To which I am tempted to reply, ‘That’s funny, I thought I just saw that you did.’”

I’ve been on both sides of this fence. Have you?

In Minnesota we are forced to take a four to five month hiatus from the game of golf, so when nice weather returns, we are wild to get back out on the golf course. I find that the first round of the year is different from many others. It’s exciting; it’s free-flowing; it feels comfortable; it’s just fun. Why? Because I approach it with NO EXPECTATIONS! I’m just happy to be swinging the club again, to be taking a nice, long walk, to be outside in warmer weather, and to be with my golfing friends. In my mind, what happens with my game is secondary.

Expectations can really mess you up. They crop up after playing a round with few mistakes (“I’m going to golf this well every time!”), after breaking through a score barrier, i.e. breaking 100 (“I’ll never shoot another score of 100+!”), after taking a lesson (“I’ve got it figured out now!”), after reading a great tip (“Now I know how to get out of a bunker!”), or after a good practice session (“I’ll never shank another shot!”).

That’s just not how golf works. We need to have goals, and we need to take lessons, read tips, and practice in order to reach those goals. But the ascension to those goals is not a steady upward path. There are peaks and valleys. What’s important is what you do/how you react to those times when you slip backwards.

Dr. Bob Rotella in his book, Golf Is Not a Game of Perfect, says that “expectations are great i you confine them to long-range considerations. It’s fine, for example, to expect that if you work at your game intelligently for an extended period of time, you will improve. But expectations can hurt you if they are narrowly focused on the results of a particular stroke, hole or round…. You have to put expectations out of your mind by the time you get to the first tee.”

Breaking 100 is a big deal! It represents a whole new level of play. Once you’ve crossed that barrier, you find yourself

looking for more scores in the 90’s. Once you’ve made 90-something, you know you can do it, and you want to do it again. You set your goals and expectations to a new level.

Breaking any barrier is the result of several things: practice, regular play and a positive attitude. A friend of mine just emailed and shared with me that she shot 96 last week – a personal best for her. She was so excited, and so am I. Another friend shot 85, her personal low. What fun!

Expect the best. Accept the worst. Look for new barriers to break!

We’re now playing golf in Minnesota! And with spring golf comes the question of “winter rules,” that nebulous privilege of being able to move your ball in your own fairway if you find it lying on a bare spot.

Harvey Penick, one of the game’s all-time greatest teachers, when asked by his college team players whether they would be playing winter rules that day, replied with this: “Well, are you going to play golf or some other game?”

There are a number of reasons I choose not to play winter rules even if others in my group are doing so. The most important is just what Penick said above. It’s not real golf. Secondly, moving the ball can develop into a very bad habit to the point where you mentally can’t get past a bad lie. If you never practice hitting off a bad lie, you’ll never be comfortable with that shot.

Finally, there are all kinds of things that might keep you from hitting a good shot, including wind, rain, a loud noise, an uphill lie, a sore toe, etc. etc. Don’t make a big deal out of a bad lie. Mind over matter….

Instead of bemoaning a bad lie or a bad break, look at a difficult situation as an opportunity. What you perceive as bad luck may actually be the chance you’ve been waiting for to try a new shot you’ve been practicing or it may give you a chance to be creative.  Whatever you do, be sure to make a shot that gets you out of trouble and back into a good position.