Mind games

[GreiginFife]

I’ve got a Ted Lasso sticker on my work laptop of his quote “Be a Goldfish” to remind me to forget anything that’s gone on and focus what I’m doing there and then.

My middle daughter (14) absolutely terrible at golf, hitting balls yesterday at the range with her brother and sister trying to rib her when she’d have an air shot. Every time they did it she laughed with them and just said well the next one’s bound to be better now though isn’t it. It wasn’t always better but she just let go and wasn’t bothered by the crap and just got on with having fun on the next shot.

That perfectly sums up the “Be a Goldfish” mantra, she couldn’t change what happened on the previous shot only look forward to trying her best on the next one. When we left the range despite all the bad shots, she just said that she’d had fun. We can learn a lot from kids in just letting things go, if we can change it and it’s not going to affect our lives then there really is no point beating ourselves up about it. Enjoy the the good, let go of the bad and just be a goldfish, good words to take on life as well I think

 

[Billysboots]

Daft as this sounds, my brush with prostate cancer completely changed the way I behave on the golf course.

Prior to my diagnosis bad shots really used to get to me, and had the potential to ruin my round and, as a consequence, the enjoyment of my playing partners.

Post treatment I no longer care. If I hit a bad one, whilst I may grumble, it’s forgotten about before the club is even back in the bag.

Whilst I’m not for one moment advocating everyone rushes to get a life threatening medical condition, the lesson in all this is simple. There really are far more important things in life than crap golf shots. If you keep things is some sort of perspective your golf, and your enjoyment of it, will improve beyond measure.

 

[Orikoru]

Daft as this sounds, my brush with prostate cancer completely changed the way I behave on the golf course.

Prior to my diagnosis bad shots really used to get to me, and had the potential to ruin my round and, as a consequence, the enjoyment of my playing partners.

Post treatment I no longer care. If I hit a bad one, whilst I may grumble, it’s forgotten about before the club is even back in the bag.

Whilst I’m not for one moment advocating everyone rushes to get a life threatening medical condition, the lesson in all this is simple. There really are far more important things in life than crap golf shots. If you keep things is some sort of perspective your golf, and your enjoyment of it, will improve beyond measure.

Not daft at all. I wish I could be more zen at times. A bit like @sunshine said - I'm not expecting to play tour level shots, but when I don't play to the standard I know I'm more than capable of, it grates on me. Golf is the hardest game to gain consistency in though. I used to play football and tennis, but it's not like you'd ever turn up and have forgotten how to kick the ball straight or how to serve the ball into the court. Golf can make you look silly in ways that no other sport can.

 

[Oops!]

Not daft at all. I wish I could be more zen at times. A bit like @sunshine said - I'm not expecting to play tour level shots, but when I don't play to the standard I know I'm more than capable of, it grates on me. Golf is the hardest game to gain consistency in though. I used to play football and tennis, but it's not like you'd ever turn up and have forgotten how to kick the ball straight or how to serve the ball into the court. Golf can make you look silly in ways that no other sport can.

“Golf is the only socially acceptable form of constant failure. That’s why it has become so popular. In an age when falling short of last year’s results by just 0.25% is enough to get you fired from the company, golf has become a last refuge of innocence for us high achievers. Here, you can fail in complete relaxation. Jack Nicklaus still put it best. When a reporter asked him after a tournament victory about the reasons for his success, he said: ‚I just failed a little less than the others today.‘ (…)

Real golfers don’t cry.

They don’t cry even when they line up for their fourth putt. They never cry. They know: you can fail with complete ease on the course, you can fail constantly, and you fail alone. Golf is also addictive because it knows no mercy. There are no external excuses for one’s own weakness. There are no unfair judges like in pairs figure skating and no poorly groomed skis like in downhill racing. I alone am responsible for everything that happens.

You only play against yourself. All wounds are self-inflicted.”

(Reference: “Real Golfers Don’t Cry” by Kurt W. Zimmermann,
ISBN 978-3-7679-1127-7)

 

[PhilTheFragger]

Real Golfers only cry after the 4th putt