In the Bunker He’s My Friend, On the Green I Hate Him!

Ah yes it’s wonderful. As your opposition ball sails into a difficult lie in a bunker you commiserate out loud and inwardly thank the golfing gods for visiting a little piece of potential misery on them. And as if that isn’t enough you are hoping they fail to get out in one and start losing it mentally.

It’s strange because while we gleefully witness the opposition’s difficulties we can feel no real hatred for them. And what happens if they play a remarkable bunker shot that rolls up to the hole and with the last atomic level movement, falls in? You go from glee and fractional pity to outright dislike and loathing. Well maybe this isn’t quite you but most golfers have at some time experienced similar situations and emotions to varying degrees. Depending how much you dislike your opposition in the first place those feelings of glee at their misfortune and resentment at their good play can be quite strong. (We don’t even want to mention the emotional surges of deep resentment if they have a load of really good bounces)

Here is a question I love to ask of any situation I am not enjoying. “What’s good about this?” Now at the time this can be a little tricky to answer because we don’t want to find anything good in a situation causing us anger. We want to be angry, react, whine, complain, blame and moan, but with practice this question can bring us back on the road we need to be if performance is the motivator.

What’s good about finding yourself experiencing these emotions? One thing is that it’s a reminder that we are not playing golf. We are playing the opposition and allowing ego to rule. Use this emotional reminder to get yourself back into playing your game, which should be about playing to your strengths, attempting only those shots you know you are capable of. Play against yourself and the course. The game against yourself is about emotional control and playing one shot at a time. It’s about staying in the present and not allowing past poor performances to enter your thinking during the shot. Example – “I sliced it out of bounds here yesterday, don’t DO IT AGAIN!” It’s about not allowing future results to creep in, like; “If I don’t hole this putt I will lose the hole!”

The game against the course is about managing your game to the course. It’s about balancing risk and reward and managing tricky situations so you end up with bogey at worst instead of doubles and triples. It’s about Red, Orange or Green lights on each shot. If a shot you are about to play is flashing big red lights in your mind you shouldn’t be doing it. Rethink your club and shot strategy until you have a shot you know you have a very high probability of playing well. In other words Green lights flashing in your head.

The mental game of golf and life is vast, fascinating and worth taking a serious look at because the payoffs for your performance are truly amazing. You don’t have to become a psychologist, there are lots of easy to understand and implement methods that have high value payoffs.

“It will always be the ball and me.” -Tiger Woods

“I am the toughest golfer mentally.” -Tiger Woods

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