Some day the moons aren’t aligned. You don’t feel quite right and you sort of know you’re in for a tough day. Pesky, that little nuisance, has a field day.
“you’re useless”
“you can’t play”
“you’re an embarrassment”
What to do?
In a perfect world I’d be able to give you a few tips and tricks and show you the path to magically unlocking your A-game. But, it’s far from a perfect world.
You can’t do anything. On those “bad” days there isn’t much you can do. Sure, you keep playing (that what real golfers do) but deep down you accept that golf is hard and sometimes poor scores are part of the deal.
This hasn’t always been my attitude. I used to fight the bad days. I’d get upset, angry and frustrated (sometimes all at the same time). But this doesn’t work so well. It’s tiring and usually makes things worse.
A “golfer” will get on with it. They’ll realise that today wasn’t their day and a better day might happen next time. This attitude limits Pesky’s influence and keeps him at bay when the tide turns.
You know when you stand behind the ball and you know you’re going to hit a bad shot? This is a small version of a bad day.
You can fight this or go with the flow. It’s OK to make a half-hearted swing (to get the ball in play and avoid the serious trouble). Please don’t beat yourself up if you take this approach every now and then. It’s perfectly fine and normal. It’s not possible to be confident on each shot you play – remember, it’s not a perfect world.
The lesson here is not to be too tough on yourself. Play the game and realise that all golfers go through the same awful feelings every now and then. Only the real players accept it and don’t destroy their entire game in the process (hint: they don’t rebuild their swing and hit the panic button).
Have fun, swing freely and play the game.