I read an article in the Boston Globe sports section last week that was written about golf, it was the "TIP OF THE WEEK", after reading it I couldn't believe how much it pertained to everything we try to do. The article was written by Michael Whitmer, its short and it starts, Getting a lesson can be the difference between producing the scores you think you're capable of shooting, and the ones you've been shooting. But there's a proper way to use the information suggested during a lesson by any teaching pro, says Don Daley, the head professional at Atlantic Country Club in Plymouth Ma. Daley writes "One of the problems that I see a lot of amateurs have is that after they take a lesson they are too technical on the golf course. The practice range is the place to work on the fundamentals from your lesson, and the golf course is where you go and play. When you are playing, try to free your mind of the technical part of the game and swing freely. You will be surprised how much better you swing when you clear you're mind. Between rounds while you are practicing is when you work on the fundamentals, and when you play is when you rely on muscle memory. If you do this, I feel that you will enjoy the game more."
This really hit home with me, it triggered many thoughts on the overall mental part of the game. I find that if I'm not of clear mind, comfortable, relaxed, rested, playing in good conditions and trusting my shot, my results are usually negative,and the opposite is true, I usually win. i've been playing the GTC way for almost 6 years now. I find my results are almost always positive when the mental part of my game is under control, which I've found is not always easy to do. Any thoughts, opinions, comments, I'd like hear them. Thanks

Replies:

Posted by: Guest on July 2, 2012, 5:44 pm

I have to agree - the statement is dead-on.

For the group of guys that I've played with on a regular basis, we've won a majority of times when we just went to have fun. We'd lose in our morning 'scheduled' sessions and then win it all back in our afternoon 'have fun' sessions where everyone was relaxed and no one was super focused on the technical aspect of the game.

As for a positive attitude - while this statement does not guarantee a win, I've learned that
Positive Attitudes = Positive Results, whereas
Negative Attitudes = Negative Results

Not to date myself, but back in the early 80's, I use to take an extensive amount of bowling lessons and easily practiced 40-60 games a week. With any long-term training process, you're going to have ups and downs and my training was no different. I spent week after week, month after month and years practicing and there were some low points that you feel you wasted all of this time and success was nowhere to be found. At points, my attitude sucked and it was evident to my instructor who explained to me that my poor attitude will have a negative effect on my game. Jokingly, we spoke about having to take 'attitude pills' to correct the situation and since that point, I used that metaphor for when I needed a boost and took a couple of those pills. As I learned, practicing a positive attitude is no different than the practicing the physical aspects of a sport you're trying to learn - it's just muscle memory for the mental part of any game.

Practice a positive attitude just as you practice dice control.

Good luck
Matt