You Gotta Forget the Good Shots Too.

Legends-Custom CLubs and Golf > 703

I love when I have a student who has never really hit a good shot before.  The look of aw on there face when they can’t quite believe they were the one responsible for hitting a shot that looked like that.  Why did they hit that shot to begin with?  Well, it was because they were absolutely listening to directions I gave them, and forgot for a moment they really wanted the ball to go far, or straight, or just go.  The swing all came together in that moment, and worked the way its suppose to.

Now, here’s the trouble with a good shot, you will want another one.  The average golfer will go from a mind set of “I need to perform a good swing” and go right into a mind set of “I want to make another good shot.”  To hit the original “good shot” they never thought about making a good shot, they simply were trying to swing well.  You never need to think about a good or bad shot, you simply need to do your job and perform a great swing.

I’ll describe a couple of scenarios to illustrate this point.

Scenarior 1:  Imagine if you will you are playing a long par 4 with a water hazzard along the entire right side of the hole.   You set up to hit the drive right down the center, when all of a sudden something goes wrong and the ball drifts to close to the water, and falls in.  Upset you take a drop and take aim at the green.  The club goes back. You have a second thought and oops the ball travel pretty far but falls into the same hazzard.  You go to were the ball went in to take your next drop and take dead aim at the green, with a solid swing you send the ball clear over the green. (don’t feel too bad, it never left the pin).  You chip up and four put.  Ouch, that would be a 10 on a par 4.  How do you think you should handle such a melt down.  The best way is to put it out of your mind and get back to work.

Scenario 2:  Imagine you are playing a long par 3.  You take dead aim at the stick and execute a perfect feeling swing.  The ball soars majestically through the air, lands a smidgen short, bumps the stick with a sharp click then falls in.  There you have it a hole-in-one.  Are you happy now?  Can you think of anything else now?  How can you finish your round?   The best way is to put it out of your mind and get back to work.