When your best effort fails

Then what do you do?

I used to get angry. Curse and slam the odd club in the ground. All pretty childish really. Used to think it would hide my fear and show people that I really care. But everyone knew I was doing my best.

Connecting anger and emotion with failure is a dangerous game. It’s not good because we do everything we can to avoid those emotions. Unfortunately to play your best you’ve got to walk on the wild side every now and then. You can’t always play safe.

It’s ok to try hard and stuff things up. These are your most important learning experiences. Successful golfers reflect on their mistakes, make any necessary adjustments (usually to their game plan or expectations) and then get back to playing the game.

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6 Comments

  • Lukey

    Reply Reply November 26, 2011

    Cam
    Reading through my latest golf magazine I came across a great little quote from Lee Westwood about his young son.
    I heard this thing that Greg Norman said: Try 110 %,but play like you don’t have a care in the world.And I like that.I like that a lot.I’m just playing like my son ,who stood over a ten foot putt on the last green of the par 3 (contest)at the masters and just rolled it in.He wasn’t thinking about whether (the club head)was square or if he was taking it back far enough.That’s just how kid’s do it,and I’m trying to get that feeling into my game.Just freewheeling.Now is that not auto golf?
    Cheers Lukey

  • Cameron

    Reply Reply November 26, 2011

    Lukey: This is not Auto Golf but actually playing golf. And playing golf is the entire point of the exercise. If a 10 year old can do it then it should be easy for the rest of us.

    Tradition and the mindset of the industry says we must practice hard and get the perfect swing. Maybe things are slowly changing?

    Thanks for posting. It’s a great quote.

    Cameron

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