In a previous post about Paula Creamer’s SemGroup Championship win, TOFG admired her tenacity and determination as represented by her bouncing back from bogeys to birdies. Ultimately she had to bounce back from a bogey on the 72nd hole to win in a playoff with Julie Inkster. What made her accomplishment even more dramatic was the fact she had lost in a playoff the previous week - a different kind of “bounce-back”.

Let’s examine the psychology of “bounce-backs” whether it be on the golf course or in any other part of one’s life. We all experience bogeys or worse on the golf course. How do we recover and not let those poor performance moments have lasting effects?

Confidence, belief in one’s self helps, but, for many of us, confidence is a sometimes thing. So what can we do to better deal with these “speed-bumps”?  OK, OK, I’m mixing metaphors again. Bear with me, please. Settle down, gather your thoughts and refocus but in order to do that you have to LET IT GO.  You made a mistake! Do you get angry? If so, LET IT GO! Anger does all kinds of things to your mind and body - almost none of them good. So, LET GO of it! Don’t beat yourself up - mistakes happen - get on with your game.

The key in golf as in the rest of one’s life is how fast can you recover and get your focus back as quickly as possible so as to not let the mistake affect future performance. Regaining focus means focus on the next shot. Analysis of mistakes should be only momentary on the course and extended only after the hole is completed or even after the round. You have to let go in order to refocus on the next shot. The faster you let go the more time you have to focus.

The psychology of “bounce-backs”?  LETTING GO and REFOCUSING! That’s a good lesson for life as well as for golf. Recommendation: practice letting go and refocusing off the course as well as on. The secret: it’s forgiveness! Forgiveness  beats anger . Far better to forgive yourself (and others) than to harm a relationship or worsen your golf score. Don’t even call yourself “stupid” - that doesn’t work either. Right Phil?

- - Val Spangler, TOFG

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!