The power of suggestion…
I was playing this morning and came out of the box hot…the first three holes were all fairways and greens with tap in pars…I hit the tee shot on the 4th with good distance to the center of the fairway and as I was walking up to the ball I started to reflect on how well I was playing…writing the headlines so to speak, one of my mental no-no’s…I further teased the golf gods by making a comment to my caddy while pulling a club for my approach about what a good day it was going to be…his might as well have been the voice of the gods because he answered with a single word, which translated means “not yet”…I should have kicked him for that one as it planted a seed of doubt…I hit the approach well enough, but under clubbed and caught the front of the green…it was an 8 iron and I loaded it with spin, a little overconfident thinking that I was going to stick it next to the stick…the seed of doubt took root…anyway, no release and a long way to go to the back pin position, I walked away with a disappointing 3 putt after pushing my 5 foot par putt over the right edge…I actually had some nerves on the putts as the thoughts in my head weren’t about getting the ball in the hole but about living up to myself proclaimed prophecy …I hooked the ensuing drive and approach…took a penalty for a lost ball in the rough right of the green, and it continued from there…gone was the good groove and I battled through the next 4 holes taking 3 more strokes until I righted the ship and got back on track finishing out -1…stiff price to pay for foolish mental behavior and nothing I can really say about it because I know better and I had the game today, just figured out a way to mess it up…I guess I was a little fragile today; been working on some things and I don’t really trust them yet, but everything was running smoothly until my mental blip, and then smoothly again after I got over the deer in the headlights feeling…it can really be between the ears sometimes…
Another terrific insight from BNR i do the same thing all the time to myself its cost me many a good round only thing worse then having doubt in your head is trying to hold on while thinking about your score on every hole.
That mental side hits all of us. I've ruined more rounds than I care to remember when my rotten brain grabbed ahold of my swing. And I would have fired that caddie.
That mental side hits all of us. I've ruined more rounds than I care to remember when my rotten brain grabbed ahold of my swing. And I would have fired that caddie.
I've got to agree with you all the way on that.
My brain is my best friend AND worst enemy on the course.
Lovely story and I am sure it has happened to all of us.
I try to avoid this sort of danger by clearing my mind and concentrating on the process rather than the outcome. it doesn't always work of course because the golf gods know I am trying to circumvent them!
Wonderful post. This phenomenon applies to all of us to varying degrees based on our skill level.
There are very few times that I travel from hole to hole, ignorant of how my swing is at the moment, just enjoying being out there and going for a walk.
Same thing happens to me. i was 2 over throught 5 holes at my local muni and then got really excited about how i was gonna shoot a 38-40 on 9 holes and then i blew up and triple, double, triple, bogey i always have a good first 3-5 holes and then its down hill from there
August 8th, 2008, 11:39 AM
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