What is the Golfers Mind?
Golf is intense and seems to attract an intensity does it? If you take an average, normal person (whatever that means) and you teach them to play golf. It’ll bring out seemingly all of the mental & emotional challenges that one has or that one has left to deal with. There is something inherent about golf that attracts a certain personality and challenges them to their deepest core.
Golfers tend to be very extreme. They are either playing really well or not playing well at all. There is a sweet spot (middle ground) and some golfers are able to find it but not many and not many seem to want it. Most golfers want to be great. They don’t want to be OK and they really don’t like to suck.
Most golfers want to be great at golf because they can see themselves being great but that’s the frustratingly elusive part of being a golfer. You can see yourself being Tiger Woods but can’t quite ever get there. At the core of motivation is wanting something but struggling to get it. There are two big problems with that: you live in the outcome = wanting to be Tiger Woods or get a certain score and you may be setting unrealistic goals (thinking you can be Tiger Woods). Both of these are setting you up for failure.
How do you change these two dynamics? You work on the process: technique and developing mental resilience and set goals that are realistic to where you are with your golf game. Easier said than done. You may not be Tiger Woods but you can be a great golfer and you can have fun. The key is, you have to figure out how to deal with making mistakes (they are important so that you get better), being an OK golfer (at least for awhile), falling apart (picking yourself back up again), searching for that ‘sweet spot’ (I don’t mean the one on your club) in your game.
Even when you get great, are having fun and are able to find your sweet spot you are not ALWAYS going to play GREAT. You also need to learn to deal with that.
Do you want to know how you can improve your golf game? Email me to set up a FREE Strategy Session by phone: drmichelle@drmichellecleere.com
Dr. Michelle
Photo credit: kcnickerson on Flickr
