This is a final note about the previous post – Golf 101 Tips
So now you have the best of advice on golf techniques, equipment and mental strategies. Do you feel you have it in you now to play more consistently and put forward your best performance every time you are on the course? Do you think that you will be able to put in the efforts required to work on your bad strokes and improve on the better ones? Do you think you have the passion to go alone on a course and practice for hours to improve one stroke?
After reading these articles and going through the various tips, you may be easily tempted to say ‘yes’. You may actually be feeling very motivated and inspired to start taking immediate steps to improve your game. In fact, you may even manage to keep up a fairly good pace of learning and playing in the first few days of reading this book. However, gradually, you will start to take your defeats more to heart. You will be easily disheartened at how you could not achieve putting into a very easy hole. It is natural and no more different than someone trying to lose weight or quit smoking. You may start taking steps to improve your game but soon slip into old habits of not exercising regularly, or practicing regularly or not thinking about mental strategies. And not before long, you are back to your old handicap.
Sure, most of us are playing for the sheer enjoyment of the game and for the chance it gives us to relax on the greens. However, persistence in improving your game will only enhance this enjoyment and will create a healthy cycle. The more efforts you put into improving your game, the more success you will realize. The more successful you are, the more you will want to work on your game. What we should aim to do, day in and day out when we are playing golf is to get the most out of the golf round. You will never be able to hit the perfect shot every time you play but you should aim towards having more good strokes on any given day than bad strokes. If you do not, you need to practice some more. We should try and improve our game not just for the sake of winning a game but more importantly to realize our fullest potential.
One proven way of doing this is to keep a record of each hole – from the time you tee off to where it lands. This is not to measure the accuracy of the shot but to help you improve on the accuracy. It does not matter how often you play on that course – what is important is that you have a point of reference for every hole on every course. At times, you may get so caught up with reactions after the shot that you do not devote enough time in understanding what went wrong or right with the shot. While deep analysis at that point may not be helpful, you may want to just note down essentials. This will help you stay calm and focused and use even bad shots as learning experiences.
Usually on the golf course, every stroke is accompanied by conflicting emotions and it is difficult to chart out a course of action on the course itself. This is where your notes come in handy. You can note down what position you were in, the club you had used, how you stroked the ball, whether you could generate any spin or not, whether the weather affected your game and any other point you can think of. This along with a description of where the ball landed should give you enough information to plan your strategy the next time you play on that course. You can analyze what you think you did right, what you did wrong and what will always be out of your hand. This allows you to stay focused during your actual games and allows you to take good decisions irrespective of how your shots turn out. If you are serious about your game, learn to start taking control of every aspect of it and control your performance.
On a final note, playing golf certainly helps us to relax and spend enjoyable weekends with friends or family. It also helps us to enjoy it as a sport and challenges us mentally and physically. However, most of all golf teaches us to value some virtues that are important even in life. Not just honesty and respect but qualities like temperament, persistence, patience and self-control. Golf thus helps us to lift ourselves not just in the game but in life as well. And that is probably the most important tip of all!