The self talk of an amateur golfer

"ah for fuck sake"

"@ablaze your a clown"

"God almighty, how on earth did you miss that putt"

"Ah, not there @ablaze, anywhere but there, you big feckin eegit!"

"Jesus, i can't believe i topped that, useless"

"A bloody 3 putt, what a disaster @ablaze you absolute spanner"

When someone talks to themselves, two things come to mind for me. Firstly Jack Nickelson's supporting actors in One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest and secondly the sight of a crazy eyed person walking down the street muttering away partially inaudible statements to themselves. In either case, mental illness or disorder of some kind is at play. However, for some reason this sort of self talk on the golf course is completely acceptable and very commonplace. The thing that I notice though, is that it is almost always negative and accusatory.

The impact of negativity

This negativity often manifests itself as anger and guys and girls (but mainly guys) slam their clubs into their bag, hit their club off the turf, throw their club away in frustration or shout and curse. More times than not, what follows is a poor shot or a poor series of shots born out of frustration and heightened blood pressure. It can follow the golfer around for 2 or 3 holes and as soon the wheels come off again, the cycle repeats.

What amateurs have to remember is that they are allowed to hit bad shots, in fact they are expected to hit bad shots, that's why they are amateurs! One has to just accept these bad shots and misjudgements and dust oneself down and give 100% concentration to the next shot. I believe if one does this and has a little bit of ability, one could easily shave 2, 3, 4, even 5 shots of a score and thats a lot in golf!

If you are a golfer yourself and you identify with what I describe, then try playing a few rounds where you are barred from getting thick with yourself or cursing and let me know how you get on in the comments below.

My best ever round

I shot 85 recently and narrowly missed out on first prize in my club competition. I was beaten on a countback on the back 6. I didn't care though, I was just delighted to have beaten my personal best and set a new personal best of +13

The round was made up of 1 birdie, 5 pars, 10 bogeys and two double bogeys. The back 9 especially was very consistent with 2 pars and 7 bogeys and not a double in sight!

The round comprised of some excellent consistent driving and decent all around play, but also included lip outs, poor putts and errant approach shots with wedges and longer irons. What typified this round though was that I did not get annoyed with myself after any of the poor shots or misses. Instead i regathered myself and focused entirely on the nrxt golf shot. This positivity and upbeat attitude definitely contributed to my low score and has given me the confidence to think that i can go a few shots lower this year.

Onwards and upwards

Targets are always good in every walk of life. Its difficult to get someplace if we don't define where we are trying to get to. Golf is no different, so I always set some targets for myself. My new target is to go around my home course or any other course for that matter in 82 strokes or +10. I think that this is doable if I refrain from any negative self talk and play well on the day.

Even if I don't get there though, I'm still happy with the season. I beat my personal best, got my sixth ever eagle and have really enjoyed competing at my new club.

The three images above are free to use and were sourced on Pixabay.com

Thanks as always for reading.

Peace Out.