One Bad Golf Hole

Do you have one golf hole that always gets you?Jim is a 12 handicap golfer. He absolutely loves the game and can't seem to get enough. He buys a new set of equipment about every 2 years or so and watches golf on TV whenever he can. He really enjoys following the pro tours and trying to guess who will win on any given Sunday.

Jim's club tournament is coming up soon. He can't wait. His game has been steadily improving over the season and he feels he's ready for this. A couple weeks ago he shot his best score ever on his home course, a 3 over 75! He knows he's got it in him and maybe even lower since he had a double bogey on one in that round of 75.

As tournament weekend approaches, Jim begins to psyche himself up. He's very excited and even antsy. He has kept himself in great shape and followed a prescribed practice routine by his teaching pro for the last 2 weeks without missing a single day.

This tournament is his! He can feel it.

He walks up to the first tee of the tournament and he stripes it right down the middle. He finishes the first hole with a par and a great relief comes over him as he prepares to settle down and get serious. He plays well over the next 10 holes until he comes to hole number 12.

Hole number 12 is a very narrow long par 4. On one side of the fairway is a lake and the other is out of bounds. It's a tough hole and Jim has this thing about hole 12. It always seems to get the best of him. He hates it! This is the hole that he double-bogeyed on when he had his career round. He thinks it has his number.

Sure enough, Jim plays hole 12 like he always does and chokes on it this day as well.

He finishes the tournament in second place by 2 strokes. He looks back on it and wonders why, why he just can't get past that hole 12...

Does this story sound familiar to you? Do you have a golf hole or maybe two golf holes on your favorite course that always seems to get the best of you? Do you walk up to that tee and immediately feel a shudder run through your body? A tenseness or tightness?Well, I want to tell you that this is good news! What, are you kidding me? How the heck can this be good news?Because it says that you have the automatic mechanism! That is, your body responds automatically to certain situations. You can use this in your favor instead of being a victim to it like Jim.

Is consistency important in golf? Duh, of course! It's the holy grail of scoring! Well, if you automatically have a reaction to a certain hole and seem to play it bad every time, well then, guess what - you are showing consistency. This is a resource that you have and you've used it before and it's served you well and sometimes it hasn't.

You see, the mechanics of what is happening inside your mind and body are exactly the same when you go up to a hole that you hate and when you perform your preshot routine to a perfect consistency resulting in the shots you know how to do.

The only difference is in how you have chosen to think about each of the situations.

Begin to think right now how many times you've been automatically consistent in your golf game, good, bad, or otherwise. You see, your body and unconscious mind don't make judgements as to whether something is good or bad. It just does it. Your awake, conscious mind has that job. It also has the job of deciding whether or not this resource you possess called "consistency" is something you have to wait around for luck to happen...or you can choose it .

I think you know the answer to that one...don't you?Greens and fairways,Craig