Keep Positive To Play Golf Your Best

“Golf is not, and never has been, a fair game.”  – Jack Nicklaus

There is an excitement about golf when we play the round that everything seems to go our way.  We’re hitting the ball where we want, the putts are falling, and if we do hit an errant shot, it somehow always seems to bounce back into play.  Unfortunately, for most of us, those days are few and far between.  Everyone who plays golf is going to experience the rounds where nothing goes right.

Remember Rory McIlroy at the Masters in 2011?  He looked like a sure winner standing on the 10th tee in the final round, and then “it” happened.  Everything about his game started going in the wrong direction.  Finishing with a final round 80 and falling into a tie for 15th place.  What Rory did two months later is what was so impressive.  At the U.S. Open, with one of the most difficult course setups on tour, he went out and put all of his negative memories from the last major behind him, dominated the field, and went on to win his first major championship.

We can all learn a valuable lesson from Rory.  What is in the past is over and we need to focus on the present.  Staying in a positive state of mind when you are out on the golf course is one of the single most important things you can do to shoot lower scores.  When you start having negative thoughts taking over, you start making poor decisions, make aggressive swings that are hitting the ball with no control, and before you know it your score has gone from bad to worse.

Everyone is going to hit bad shots from time to time.  But staying positive in a negative situation is a signature characteristic of great athletes that allows them to maintain their performance.  The next time you are finding yourself struggling on the course, just remember that the shots you already hit are in the past and have no more relevance on your current shot.  Stay focused on the task at hand and keep a positive mental attitude, so at the end of the day you can post a respectable score and feel good about yourself in the process.

Now get out there and…..Stay In Your Game!