Mental Toughness

Played my ugliest round of golf in the last 3 months today.  Bear Creek, East Course owned my face.  I kept wondering what was up with my swing.  The past month I made great progress with every club in my bag.  I got my lie angles adjusted on my irons and my driver's been treating me well.  So what happened?  I crushed every ball at TopGolf last night with my driver; why was I duffing the ball and grounding it 30 yards off the tee?  I felt like everything was off today.  My footwork was bad, my sequencing was out of sync, my timing, hand position, head position, balance, finish, all of it felt out of tune today.

Spent the whole afternoon and evening thinking about it after having a nice dinner with the family and some friends.  I think the biggest thing holding me back right now is my mental toughness.  I feel comfortable with my swing when I'm not on a golf course.  I'm confident hitting a ball sitting above or below my feet; until I'm addressing it.  I can hit draws and fades on command at the driving range but on the course I hit nothing but slices and snap hooks.  And after paying a green fee & cart fee, like magic, I hit every club at least 20 yards shorter than usual.  

I tried to remember my best rounds so far and what they all had in common was that I was having fun regardless of a few missed shots.  Overall, my positive attitude led to more consistent play.  Today, I was frustrated and focusing too hard on shooting a good score that I forgot to have fun with the game.  I lost a ton of balls, and the one thought I had every time I stood over a ball was "don't mess this one up like the last one."  Before I knew it we were on the 18th hole and my scorecard was an absolute mess.

Next course my #1 priority is to have a good time and enjoy the fact that I get to spend a few hours in the outdoors with my best friends and appreciate how much my game has developed since I started playing golf.  No more negativity or whining about missed shots.  I know I'm a good ball striker, and poor play is the result of me not trusting my abilities.