Who Says Mental Game is Overrated???: Broke My Personal Best by TWO SHOTS!!

[Obee]

2 minutes ago, OrangeGravy said:

I think that line depends on the person. For some that kind of self talk may steer them toward making a double. That person might need the "I can hit this shot" kind of self talk. If I know I can hit the shot, but am too worried about "what I don't and double", Accepting that double could happen even if you hit a good shot frees you up execute the shot more often than not. 

EXACTLY!!!

[OrangeGravy]

8 hours ago, naval2006 said:

Apparently there’s a big deal of grinding in Obee. If you’re a grinder you don’t give in that easily. I’ve also been through reminiscing the good old times until I realised they were gone. Acceptance of your present game and improving and grinding it out are part of the search for scoring. 

 

A specific source of motivation is of great help to set a goal and focus. Especially as one grows older and a bit weary and finds in golf a shelter from the daily routine. 

 

 

This part is where I find the strokes gained stuff to be useful. You can often times find that in certain areas of your game, you're not as bad as you think and you don't have to be so hard on yourself about it. 

[OrangeGravy]

6 minutes ago, Obee said:

EXACTLY!!!

That's where golf for us muni and club golfers is tough. Other sports, there's someone there that can see you might be about to spin out and say "take a deep breath, you can have this shot. Even if you hit a great shot, you're still gonna have to make a putt". For me on tough short game shots it's all about making the acceptable circle much bigger, like 12ft instead of 3. Often when I do that, I put it inside of 3ft anyway because I'm not worried about leaving 8-12ft 

[OrangeGravy]

7 hours ago, b_f_c_99 said:

Wow!  I think you just explained to me why when I feel like I'm not trying it works out pretty well.  PRE-ACCEPTANCE.  Played a quick 9 today,  they had just aerated the greens.  My mind-set said "well no reason to expect much today because of holes and sand".  

Hit 6 greens.   Birdied both par 5's  (4 footer,  and 2 footer)  Saved par once from just off the green.  The other time from 100 yards after making a 15 footer or so.   The entire time I had already Pre-Accepted that it was going to be what it was going to be.  I had this easy calm about pretty much everything.  Hit a few trees on drives,  laid the sod over one and saved par from 100 out.  Just did my thing and didn't let it bother me.  Ended up 1 under.  Easy Peasy.

This is the place I try to get to before I play. It's easy to get there in a casual round for the most part. It's tougher when playing for a little scratch and tougher yet if you're playing real competition golf ( I wouldn't know ). I can go out in a practice type round and make all kinds of different moves with driver on the tee and hit it down the middle, some shorter-some longer than usual. When trying to post a decent number in comes the concern about results and everything is that much harder to execute. 

[Divot License]

Absolutely love @Obee original post. Such an inspiring story. 

 

Awesome golf man and shows that like fine wine, everyone can get better with age. 

[cardoustie]

18 hours ago, isaacbm said:

So where is the line between acceptance and giving in? 

For example, you could have Accepted that you’re 53, injured, fat, a short hitter, etc and just “ Accepted  the fact that you’ll  never shoot under a certain number again in a tournament.

There’s a fine line between accepting that you’re going to make some terrible swings and making terrible swings because you’re expecting them! 
I personally have found that I can’t force low scores. Sometimes they just happen. Generally though I have to accept  that they arent going to happen every time. That’s one of my big issues: High expectations. If you were expecting greatness all of the time instead of Accepting that it only comes when you let it, you can get very frustrated.  Also, having shot multiple rounds of 60 and 61  in tournament competition when I was younger and a better player, I basically have to accept  that those days are likely incredibly few and far between going forward. Maybe never! 
One of the things that saddens me a little is that I will likely never shoot my lowest score again... unless I start playing executive par threes! 

This resonates with me

 

for any golfer that has had a solid playing stretch / career earlier in life. ...

 

it’s hard to accept that:

- good scoring will be rarer

- it will be harder

- we’re older

 

Sometimes I think these factors make the great playing, whether on a streak or in an event or a single incredible round, even more satisfying & rewarding

[b_f_c_99]

11 hours ago, OrangeGravy said:

This is the place I try to get to before I play. It's easy to get there in a casual round for the most part. It's tougher when playing for a little scratch and tougher yet if you're playing real competition golf ( I wouldn't know ). I can go out in a practice type round and make all kinds of different moves with driver on the tee and hit it down the middle, some shorter-some longer than usual. When trying to post a decent number in comes the concern about results and everything is that much harder to execute. 

I find it's easier for me to get there when I distract myself with things like experimenting with different swing thoughts or strategies.  Basically anything to make the normal different.  Than I can separate the trying to hard and outcome.  If that makes sense?

[andrue]

Yeah, just mental. Played my club today and despite getting a bit tired on the back (missed lunch, basically) went round in 86. Got Captain's Charity day tomorrow so we shall see ?

[OrangeGravy]

On 9/17/2020 at 10:55 AM, b_f_c_99 said:

I find it's easier for me to get there when I distract myself with things like experimenting with different swing thoughts or strategies.  Basically anything to make the normal different.  Than I can separate the trying to hard and outcome.  If that makes sense?

It's a lot easier for me to do it now at 47 then when I was in my 20s/30s. I've had a bad back quite a few years, so some days I just don't have it, specifically off the tee. I know it's a 50/50 thing no matter what. If I'm stiff and can't really get through a tee shot, I'll throw up an 87 finding several penalty areas or 83/84 if I'm just in the junk all day. If I feel good and can really control it off the tee, I'll be 77-79. It's like shaking the magic 8 ball on the first tee every round!

[J295]

David.  Just saw thread this tonight.  Thanks for sharing, and congratulations on a fabulous experience.   Rick
 

 

[kobe123]

Props man! What course was this at?

[Obee]

On 9/25/2020 at 6:08 AM, kobe123 said:

Props man! What course was this at?

Victoria Club in Riverside

[Forged4ever]

On 9/16/2020 at 12:08 AM, b.helts said:

Commitment is more important than execution

First off, Congratz Brotha, Superbly Played?

 

Regarding advice/pearls that would apply to anyone, regardless of swing, cap, shot, situation, etc., Brian's six words are CRITICAL under the gun!!!

 

That commitment results from being able to clearly see that shot/outcome in your mind's eye?.

 

if one cannot clearly see that outcome, then the next shot is nothing more than a coin flip, and under the gun, forget about it.....

 

For those of you not familiar, Brian is one of the top Ams in Cali. Pay heed to his words & thoughts?

 

Continued Success My Friend?

Richard  

[Forged4ever]

On 9/16/2020 at 1:53 PM, isaacbm said:

So where is the line between acceptance and giving in? 

For example, you could have Accepted that you’re 53, injured, fat, a short hitter, etc and just “ Accepted  the fact that you’ll  never shoot under a certain number again in a tournament.

There’s a fine line between accepting that you’re going to make some terrible swings and making terrible swings because you’re expecting them! 
I personally have found that I can’t force low scores. Sometimes they just happen. Generally though I have to accept  that they arent going to happen every time. That’s one of my big issues: High expectations. If you were expecting greatness all of the time instead of Accepting that it only comes when you let it, you can get very frustrated.  Also, having shot multiple rounds of 60 and 61  in tournament competition when I was younger and a better player, I basically have to accept  that those days are likely incredibly few and far between going forward. Maybe never! 
One of the things that saddens me a little is that I will likely never shoot my lowest score again... unless I start playing executive par threes! 

Bro, you are your own worst enemy(though in reality, WhoTF isn't this not true of😂😂)!!!

 

There is absolutely NO REASON that you cannot achieve the outcomes that you achieved as a "kid" in your 20's & 30's if you'd just get out of your own friggin way MENTALLY!!

 

You know exactly of what I am speaking!!

 

You HAVE the shots inside of you STILL, TODAY, at your PRESENT AGE!!!

 

You've hit the shots thousands of times over the decades and can still hit them, as you have dozens of times over the past year of two.

 

For those not familiar, and most of ya aren't, I am not speaking of "good" shots, nor am I even speaking of "great" shots.

 

I am speaking to what my Teacher called "magic" shots, shots that were not even you swinging a club, however as if you waved a wand and the swing was perfect, the impact sound was perfect, divot was perfect, the traj was perfect, the flight was perfect and the outcome was just as you'd visualized~ perfect!! MAGIC!!

 

Hogan said that he hit 2-3 of these a round however he did not refer to them as "excellent" shots, much less "Magic," lol. He referred to them simply as "good." Oh, and that 213yd 1i at Marion?? That wasn't one of em that day, lol.

 

Anyhoo, you still hit these and have these inside of you!!

 

Sure, what you once Played for a living you now Play for sh*ts & giggles, and you're not getting nearly the reps in today as ya did then, however as you've told me, you've still hit incredible shots and put amazing rounds together and that should tell you that you still "have it."

 

It's not your age that is limiting you as much as it is that you do not get the reps today that you got in your 20's, and those reps gave you the CONFIDENCE that as often as you reached into your bag for a club, you reached in for a magic shot. Did you always hit it?? Of course not. However when ya didn't, if it wasn't at least a good playable shot, then it was a f*ckin fluke and you forgot it by the next shot!!

 

You had the world's shortest memory, as EVERY Great performer, regardless of sport, activity or professions HAS to have.

 

Today, that memory isn't nearly as short~

 

The memory of less than optimum swings and shots linger!! THIS is much more detrimental to your current game than your age and it has absolutely nothing to do with age, lol.

 

Most Guys, and I'm talkin Plus Players here, have NEVER hit some of the shots that you've hit, just over the last 2-3 years, and THAT tells me, and this is why I keep repeating the same sh*t to you when we talk, that you can STILL put those kind of scores on the board under the gun!!!

 

You can't really control the numbers, however you can control the swing/stroke!!!

 

If your mind is right for each swing and each stroke, then ya make that swing and stroke and let the chips fall where they may.

 

Some day those numbers are gonna be "meh," , some days they're gonna be solid,  some days lights out, and some days it'll seem like the lights never came on??‍♂️

 

F*CK THAT!!!

 

FORGET IT!!!

 

You'll have those days!!

 

Ya had em in your 20's, ya had em in your 30's, ya havin em in your 40's and you'll sure as f*ck have em your 50's and beyond.

 

You are a "Special Player," you know this however you just have to believe that 

 

For those of you that are reading this and wondering WTF I'm talkin about, let me ask you this~

 

How many Players do any of you know personally that have shot 60, 61 and 62 in a Professional golf Tournament???

 

Personally!!

 

THAT'S what I mean by "special."

 

All of the Great Players that I've spoken to, and I'm not droppin names here, however they're "Great" by anyone's standard, never "accepted" that age prevented them from Playing their best golf.

 

You know who I Played with and he was Playin the "BoB's(Back of Box)" at the club with us well into his mid 70's routinely shooting -3 and -4 and he was one off our course record(63, Fred Couples, Curtis Strange) twice at age 76yo.

 

Nah, you using your age and "accepting" it as a limiting factor in your game is bullsh*t and an excuse to allow you to fall short of your abilities and talent level.

 

Your issues got nothin to do with age Brotha, and everything to do with your mental game.

 

You've still "got it," in spades ♠️!!

 

And screw those executive tracks and par-3 courses, lol

 

Ya know what saddens me????

 

That you don't see this, accept it and act on it!!

 

You just gotta start believin it?

 

Stay Well Brotha?

RP

Edited September 28, 2020 by Forged4ever

[cardoustie]

Obee

 

reading this again on a beauty of a Fall morning at my cottage

 

I’m getting to scratch next year, you’ve inspired me.  I got down to 0.8 last year and have been down to 1.6 this year.  My all time low was +0.4 when I was a uni player 30 years ago FWIW

 

Will lose another 25 pounds and work on BOTH strength AND flexibility this winter as well

 

Just decided to move my mindset about MY best golf, scoring wise, FORWARDS and NOT in the past

 

I WILL CONTINUE to chase unicorn equipment ... that fun can’t die 

[Moonlightgrm]

On 9/15/2020 at 11:16 PM, cardoustie said:

What are the red numbers on the right where you won with 209?

Net score. Notice the PLUS handicap increases the net score. ?

[Obee]

11 hours ago, cardoustie said:

Obee

 

reading this again on a beauty of a Fall morning at my cottage

 

I’m getting to scratch next year, you’ve inspired me.  I got down to 0.8 last year and have been down to 1.6 this year.  My all time low was +0.4 when I was a uni player 30 years ago FWIW

 

Will lose another 25 pounds and work on BOTH strength AND flexibility this winter as well

 

Just decided to move my mindset about MY best golf, scoring wise, FORWARDS and NOT in the past

 

I WILL CONTINUE to chase unicorn equipment ... that fun can’t die 

 

Dude. So happy to hear this. That's why I post, bud. That's why I post. ?

[Obee]

On 9/27/2020 at 1:15 AM, Forged4ever said:

Bro, you are your own worst enemy(though in reality, WhoTF isn't this not true of??)!!!

 

There is absolutely NO REASON that you cannot achieve the outcomes that you achieved as a "kid" in your 20's & 30's if you'd just get out of your own friggin way MENTALLY!!

 

 

Yeah, I wanted to circle back to this because I think Dan may have misunderstood my "acceptance" thing. What I mean by that is that us older guys have to accept that the WAY we shoot low scores is likely going to change.

 

I carry 3-wood 210 yards, 215 if I absolutely dead nuts flush it. That means any low scores for me are going to have to come from great iron play on "gettable" par 4's and stellar wedge play on par 5's and knocking a few close on par 3's. I'm (likely) not going to be able to attack a single par 5 in two. I'm not going to be able to go for any "heroic" carries and huge bending recovery shots (like I used to LOVE to hit when I was a younger man, boy could I make the ball curve, back in my 20's and 30's).

 

Also, we have to accept that we will likely be playing hurt -- in some way, shape, or form -- in many of our rounds. That's just going to be a reality, and we might as well get used to it. With that in mind, we need to show up every day and learn to play with our aches and pains and realize it may sometimes take us 3 - 5 holes to warm up -- especially if we had limited (or zero!) range time before teeing it up.

 

Another thing I've learned to accept (which allows me to PREPARE for it): I will likely go back up to a 0 or even a 1 in the winter/early spring when there's not as much grass on the ground and my body feels like it's gong to crack in two when I arrive at the course at 7:15 for an 8:00 a.m. tee time and it's 49 degrees outside.

 

ACCEPTING that reality allows me to do the best I can to work with it. If I acknowledge it, it allows me to make better decisions. For instance: On our first hole (365 with a significantly downhill tee shot) early in the morning in the cold, when I bunt a 3-wood off the tee and then have 141 in to a front pin that is slightly uphill, I might have to hit as much as a 6-hybrid to get there. From 141! The old, "pre-acceptance" David would have been so phocking stupid that I would have insisted on swinging too hard at an 8 or 9-iron and hitting a horrible first shot, blaming it on ... God knows what ... and starting my round off with bogey, instead of an easy par or birdie. Then it's easy to start blaming the body or the cold or the ... <fill in the blank>.

 

ACCEPTANCE also means fewer excuses. If you accept that you will play injured quite often, internally, that's no longer an "excuse." It just ... is. When you tell someone "My back was just awful today." You are not looking for anything from that person in return. You are just stating a fact. The old me couldn't wait to make an excuse for a bad round. Now, I just play golf. If I mention anything about my body, there's nothing attached to it. That's a big change for me (others may be very different here).

 

ACCEPTANCE allowed me to understand that the old way I played golf (mostly trap-draws and trap shove-cuts) was not going to serve me well into my older age as my swing speed slowed down -- especially on firm greens! Hitting a trap-draw to a tucked-left pin from 161 with a 7h on firm greens means I need to land the ball at about 140 to give it enough room to check and slow the phock down! That's no way to play golf -- especially tournament golf. So I went about adding an entirely new shot to my arsenal. Without "acceptance," I would have never done that. I would have played my old way and just watched my scores gradually increase....

 

As always ... much more to say, of course. 🙂

Edited September 28, 2020 by Obee

[Barfolomew]

Congrats Obee!  You're one hell of a putter.... keep it droppin!!

[Forged4ever]

On 9/27/2020 at 9:47 AM, cardoustie said:

Obee

 

reading this again on a beauty of a Fall morning at my cottage

 

I’m getting to scratch next year, you’ve inspired me.  I got down to 0.8 last year and have been down to 1.6 this year.  My all time low was +0.4 when I was a uni player 30 years ago FWIW

 

Will lose another 25 pounds and work on BOTH strength AND flexibility this winter as well

 

Just decided to move my mindset about MY best golf, scoring wise, FORWARDS and NOT in the past

 

I WILL CONTINUE to chase unicorn equipment ... that fun can’t die 

Bro, you have a GOLD MINE full of incredible swings, shots and rounds from your younger glory days!!!

 

Start visualizing those swings and shots & rounds while you're sitting around, workin out and when ya go through your PSR!

 

Plus, losin the weight and workin on your flexibility will be a God send off of the course too!!

 

All the Best to ya Brotha👊

RP

[isaacbm]

Thanks Richard and David.  I’ve definitely been TOLD!  needed to hear it. 

[Petethreeput]

Years ago a buddy of mine taught a college course on sport psychology.  Since it is psychology, it is different for everyone, and this is a very remedial interpretation of the class (it was over a decade ago), but here goes:

The question was, how do you get in the zone?  There are four main moods; anger, happiness, sadness, and nervousness.  Jack talks about reigning in the butterflies, Hogan was angry (stern), and Trevino was happy.  I can't think of anyone who was sad.  The first exercise was to reflect on those times you were in the zone, and what was the situation?  What was the lead up, what were you feeling, what was the mood, what was in your head?  There is a lot of talk about nothing in our heads when someone shoots their best score in this thread, but truthfully, I suspect I am the only person that can claim to know nothing about anything.  There has to be something there, so the key is to figure out what it is.

Taking all of this, we did a visualization of that time, and then came up with the formula at that time.

The goal of the class was to be able to come as close as possible to reclaim that previous time through pregame preparation and then, in the case of golf, the use of the PSR to see the shot clearly (it doesn't have to take a long time), and then take the shot.  Just as Forged notes, the PostSR is just as important as the true result of the shot.  If a person dwells on it, then not only was the individual shot bad, but there is a very good probability the mood/ aura is affected which affects future shots.

Anyway, it was an interesting class, my handicap did drop about 4 strokes that season just based on the teachings of the class.

I wish i was smarter and remembered more of it, but this is the gist of it.

 

 

Edited September 29, 2020 by Petethreeput

[bilbry57]

I  have been playing awful for 4 years with all kinds of swing thoughts and going down all of the technical rabbit holes trying to get better. David O is showing us that u do not need to chase technical stuff.  Plus Richard 

is adding his past experience with his coach and I for one am thankful for their posts.  I went from a 3-4 HC to 11-12 in the past 2-3 years.   Today I shot 37 for 9 holes with no technical thoughts hit shots I have struggled with for the past 3 years 

I am posting to thank OBEE and  Richard  For helping this struggling 63 year old player.  
 

muck appreciated