One of my golf buddies asked me recently, “How does attitude affect your golf game”? I told him that for most amateurs their attitude during the round affects just about every aspect of the game. You know as well as I do that if you have a snotty attitude going into the round that it probably ain’t gonna go too well that day. Pardon the southern speak but, hey, that’s who I am.
Let’s say that you and your buddies go out for round of golf on a beautiful day. There is just a slight breeze and the sun is shining with not a cloud in sight. So far so good, right?
You bogey the first hole and then you tee off on the next hole and hit too much of a fade just to the edge of the woods. The tension begins to rise inside of you. Your next shot is just short of the green and your chip shot scurries all the way across to the other side of the green leaving you with a 25 foot putt for BOGEY! Yes, the tension and frustration is at full steam inside right about now. Dare I say it….you miss the putt and it’s a double bogey on the card. Yikes! How does attitude affect your golf game? At this point I would say not very well.
The next hole is a par 3 with water on the right side from tee to green. What kinds of thoughts are going through your head? Well, from the results of the first two holes, they’re probably not very pleasant. Are you beginning to see how your attitude affects your golf game?
From my experience of playing the fickle game of golf for around 15 years, I can tell you that the best course of action when you hit a couple of bad shots is to Forget About It.
If you dwell on the bad shots it will undoubtedly affect your play. You will begin to have bad swing thoughts before every shot. Don’t throw your club in the pond or bend your wedge over your knee, just relax, take a few comfortable practice swings, step up to the ball and hit it without “thinking” it through. It works for me and believe me, I’ve hit my share of terrible shots.
So, how does attitude affect your golf game? Attitude, both good and bad, are just as important as your driving, chipping or putting and it can affect them in positive or negative ways. Take a deep breath, suck it up and just have fun playing the grand old game of golf.