My friend Dean told me this story in our group chat:
“My good round last week I really took my time on a 6-7 footer. Felt makeable, something I could control. It wasn’t until after I made it that I came to terms with the fact it was a bogey. I sucked the rest of that hole, but I kept grinding. Ended up going -2 over the next 5 holes off the momentum of that putt.”
Not surprisingly, Dean is a good stick. When I talk about focus and mental fortitude, this is the type of stuff that makes a difference.
We tend to measure success on the golf course in terms of score. One of my biggest goals this season is to have my bad rounds be a little bit better, score wise. My hope is that by turning an 86 into an 83, I can then turn my 82s into 80s. It goes back to the idea of building habits and routines. The care you take over a 10 foot putt should be the same regardless of what it is for. This both helps your scores in the short term, and builds confidence for situations where there is more pressure.
The other side of the equation is simply the momentum you lose when you give up. There is a mental cost to quitting on a shot. Giving up when you have 10 feet left for bogey. It might be just one stroke, but after you’ve disengaged you then have to consciously re-engage. I tend to play mediocre golf after I quit until I force myself to pay attention and try again. How many strokes do I waste between giving up and trying again?
Dean is a better golfer than I am because he quits less than I do. He has stories of bad rounds, where he was hot and it was hungover, but those are rarities. Had he missed that putt, I am guessing he would have used his anger productively on the next hole and refocused on his objectives.
I parred the 18th hole today. It was a long round, and I was nowhere near where I wanted to be score wise. 6 doubles will do that, but I was working on my driver and was committed to finding the right feel. On 18, a long and difficult par 4, I found my driver. I focused on my 2nd shot, and missed right. I committed to making a good chip out of mulch, hit a good chip that rolled out further than expected and made the putt after some deliberation. None of my shots were perfect, but they added up to make a good par on a hard hole. The key was focus. I could have checked out, likely made a sloppy bogey and been done. Instead I committed to each shot, accepted the result and moved forward.
It’s easy to quit on a round of golf, but the second we stop trying we stop learning. Instead of giving up, and limping my way home, I tried on every shot. I committed to most of them, and I like to believe I got a little bit better. When we talk about practicing on the course, we can talk about trying different shots, different swing thoughts, different strategies. I like to think today I practiced on my focus and commitment. I think that might be the most important thing for me to practice right now.