The Mental Golf Game
One of my golf clients is also a CEO for a large company. Being a manager he works at the macro level. He doesn’t deal with a lot of minutia, he’s very good at what he’s done so he’s been successful and he is not emotionally attached to his work at all.
During our conversation this past week we realized that he’s been attacking his golf like he does his work. Do you and if so what challenges do you see in that?
What are some of the differences
There are distinct differences between how one operates at work and how one operates on the golf course: micro versus macro, emotions versus intellectual, minutia versus non minutia, etc. My client had never noticed it, but unconsciously expected that he could deal with everything in the same way he dealt with work because he was so successful at work.
It makes perfect sense. Why shouldn’t he feel that his success at work would carry over into his golf?
What’s the problem
Golf is personal. Golf is emotional. Golf has minutia. Golf is micro versus work which is not really all of those things. This lead to a lot of defeat and unsuccessful. Think about this: most of your work skills are not transferable to your golf game but I’ll bet you’ve dealt with them in similar ways.
This is the roadbloack: you do the same thing, expecting (the same results) success and if you don’t get it, what do you do? You practice longer and harder and get more and more frustrated.
Take a step back
Realize that golf means more than work. It’s personal and when something is personal it’s also emotional. Rather than trying to attack golf from the perspective that it’s not is denial and denial doesn’t allow you to deal with the personal and emotional aspects of your game that are getting in the way of getting better.
What do I do now
Come up with a more realistic perspective about what IS going on and develop the tools that are necessary to support the emotions that show up in your game.
I understand that (for a lot of people) the realization that you have emotions is a big deal. 🙂 The realization that you have emotions around golf is an even bigger deal. If you want to improve your golf game and enjoy it, the trade-off is to develop a mental game plan. Period. It’s not really that big of a deal and doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you. What doesn’t help is to hire another coach, buy the most expensive clubs and practice, practice, practice! Learn to work smarter, not harder.
For a FREE strategy session that will get you started thinking how abou how you can really love the game of golf (again) contact me: drmichelle@drmichellecleere.com
Thanks Dr. Michelle
Photo credit: Jeff the Trojan
