Golf is Not a Game of Perfect

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You will have plenty of detractors throughout your golf career. Don’t join them by negatively judging your play. Mistakes are a part of being human. No human is perfect. In fact, you would never hold another golfer to the standard of perfection or yell at them after missing a 3-foot putt. A book I try to read every spring. This time, I took notes. I've long held the belief that my limitations on the course are 90% mental as I can hit every shot - I simply don't do it consistently enough to score well. I would guess that almost anyone would shave a few shots off their handicap by reading this book. This year, the proof is in the pudding. To be happy, wake up, and think about the wonderful things you will do that day. Go to sleep thinking about the wonderful events of the day and about the wonderful things tomorrow. This book uses countless stories from Dr. Rotella’s career of not only helping golfers of varying degrees of skill including to professionals like Tom Kite but other athletes like college basketball players. I really enjoyed his style of working on mental focus versus swing mechanics. This will alter the players approach to the game and results. Dr. Rotella advises: Always aim to hole the ball. Believe the putt in going in but don’t care if it doesn’t. Be decisive. Visualise the line but make a straight putt to a target you judge the ball will turn from. Take practice putts with your eyes on the hole. (This has been a very helpful tip for me).

It doesn’t matter what you are trying to achieve — half of the world will love you, the other half will hate you, but at least they will all be talking about you. Most people wouldn’t even dare to try something that you’ve failed at. As sad as it is, a majority of their world is OK with mediocrity. When you go for greatness, it’s going to make those around you uncomfortable because if you could do it, why can’t they? This book was somewhat out of character for me, being a golf book. But I needed a new challenging hobby, something to add a social element to my summer and also see progression/struggle in - so I chose golf. What attracted me to it was the professional social aspect (work outings/networking) and the mental aspect. Golf is a game of you versus nature and yourself. Once you have the mechanics right, you need to get your mind right. Another quote I really liked was “A golfer can and must decide how he will think.”- Dr. Bob Rotella pg 36. The reason I read this book was to try to get valuable information out of it on how to control my emotions on the golf course. This quote helps me realize that my emotions and the way I act is a choice made by me. It also made me think about how golf isn't that big of a dead, it's not a life or death situation. For me to get so upset about me not playing to my expectations isn't right because at the end of the day, it's just a game.On the first tee, a golfer must expect only two things of himself: to have fun, and to focus his mind properly on every shot the quality of your practice is more important than the quantity. training and trusting mentalities. Ch 11 is the title chapter about a human game, thus filled with mistakes and not perfect. How you take the bad shots makes all the difference. Accepting the shot hit must be incorporated into your shot routine. Anger makes one tight, analytical, and judgmental. Stay loose, casually indifferent, and ready to hit the next shot the best that you can. To do so you must remain optimistic and enthusiastic — have fun! Ch 5: occasionally even high handicappers have a hot streak, where for one or two golden hours, pars are abundant. Professionals can go low for several rounds. The hot streak teaches what players are capable of...the floor score. What's common is mechanics are not in mind. Trust is, and getting out of one's own way.

I also found his writing to be very patronizing, as though it assumes the reader is dumb and incompetent. His philosophy for improving the mental aspect of the game is very interesting, but the manner in which he writes about it feels as though he talks down to the reader. No doubt everyone has room for improvement, but Rotella believes the reader has no conception of how to "properly" play. I believe people learn more when they feel respected. A few years ago I was down at the Austin Country Club working with Tom the week before the Tournament of Champions. He had to go inside to take a phone call, and while I waited for him to return, a tall, athletic-looking man walked up to me and introduced myself. Pat is still trying to figure out what comes next. For a while, she thought that the 1996 Olympics would include golf and be played at Augusta National. She had always dreamed of playing at Augusta, and she had always dreamed of being an Olympian. The prospect of doing both fired her up, until the International Olympic Committee dropped the idea.flag hunting depends on distance. wedge or less? yes. 120-170? depends on your confidence. 170+? go for middle of green. If a golfer chooses to go after greatness, whether he defines greatness as winning the U.S. Open or winning the championship at his club, he must understand that he will encounter frustration and disappointment along the way. Tom Kite played in and lost more than a dozen U.S. Opens before he finally won one. Big improvements require working and chipping away for years. A golfer has to learn to enjoy the process of striving to improve.

As ball-striking skills improve, it becomes a greater challenge to love putting and the short game and to maintain a positive attitude toward them.

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Carrying your mistakes with you from hole to hole is like replaying a golf horror show in your mind. You may not be able to erase the bad memory but you can certainly push the stop button on those mental tapes… Projecting what might be your final score vaults you into the future and adds extra pressure on every shot you take. If you can accept that there will be some bad breaks during a round of golf, you will be better prepared to manage your emotions and prepare for your next shot. While bad shots will affect your score, how you react to these shots will have a greater bearing on what you shoot. Make a case for yourself – You need to stop beating yourself up after every bad shot.

After three weeks, note your progress. If you can master this strategy, you will soon notice better scores and regain that enthusiasm for playing golf. Dreams are the spice of life. They compel and propel golfers forward through the eventual tough times they will encounter along the way. Even if you fall short of an audacious goal like wanting to receive a full ride to play golf at USC, you will still accomplish more than you probably thought possible. Thank you for all your wonderful work. It helped me win one of our PGA section tournaments (a major) last year. Look forward to receiving your e-book on focus and concentration!” There is no such thing as a golfer playing over his head. A hot streak is simply a glimpse of a golfer's true potential. Aim for a small, elevated, specific target (a twig on a distant tree for example) and keep it in mind as you swing. (This has been particularly effective for me).Decide before the round starts how you are going to think and think this way on every shot. Choose to think well.