Is there a golfer alive, this writer included, that does not enter a state of self-lamentation after every round? We all know the drill: ‘I shot 79 with four three putts’; ‘I burned the edge of the cup at least a half-dozen times’; ‘One more foot and I carry the water on my tee shot on the 16th hole’.
It goes on and on and we are all, to some degree or other, guilty of this practise.
Now, this may seem like a fairly innocuous habit, but, it can, trust me on this one, become quite annoying if we happen to be on the receiving end of the ‘conversation’. The stories are always the same, just the names change. Oh, we may feign interest for a short time, but, eventually you will reach a state where your eyes glaze over and suicide seems like not such a bad idea.
So why do we persist in doing this? I’m guessing if you were to ask a psychologist, they would probably say we all have a deep-seated, repressed need to get the approval of our mother or father or some other psycho mumbo-jumbo. Me, I think none of us want to appear as failures amongst our peers so we need to explain our short-comings on a round-by-round basis.
While this activity may makes us feel better about our score, the up shoot is that no one really cares about your travails on the course because we all are way too concerned about our own moments of disappointment. We are too busy planning our own pity parties to even respond to the invitation to yours.
So, my fellow golfers, just remember that the next time you try to explain away your inadequacies, just remember that the person you are talking to is lost somewhere in their own world of lipped-out putts and hard-pan lies.
I can relate to this topic. I decided this year that I was going to play in some tournaments.
I played most of the year on the golf channel Am tour.
I couldn’t understand how I could carry a 5 handicap but I could not break 85 playing tournaments.
Finally one day a guy from Canada named Mike who I had played with three or four times previous and carried a two handicap says too me.
I want to give you some advice if you want to hear it. I agreed after starting another tournament 7 over after 5. He says, I am no better than you as a matter of fact I think you might be a better than me in many areas. I see that you have some talent for the game.
I replied then how come I can’t play my game out here? He says because you are too worried about what I think. He then says, don’t take this the wrong way but I could careless how you are playing. He went on to explain to me that a long time ago a pro who had shot 58 in competition in some canadian event and who he had played with a bunch of times told him the same thing. He said he had the same problem in the past.
He said once he finally figured out that none of the people he played with really cared how he was doing he was able to relax and just play his game. He became a different player. I went 4 over the rest of the way. That helped me quite a bit.
Your right, nobody does care how you are doing. They are too busy playing there own game.
That little piece of advice was more valuable to me than any swing lesson I could get.
I am still not totally past it but it is alot better.