A GOLFING ATTITUDE

This is my first post in an ongoing series that applies coaching attitudes, tools, and techniques to golf.  Which, I believe, can be a great metaphor for life.

Have you ever been on the first tee and really hopeful to have a great round, shoot a great score, and win your match—only to pull your tee shot out of play, or push your approach shot into real trouble, chunk a chip or end up three-putting the first green?  Right out of the gate, you’ve got bogey, double-bogey or worse.

Or, you almost get up-and-down on One, then get a little sloppy on Two, and make a real mess of Three.  Right away, you’re 3 or 4 over after just three holes.  Where do you go from there?  Ever feel like just giving up, right then and there?  I mean, what’s the point, anyway?  Things aren’t going your way, and you’re just going to shoot a big score.

On tournament Sunday at The Travelers’ Championship, Kevin Streelman started the day 4 shots out of the lead, and played the first seven holes in 2 over.  So, at that point, he was seven strokes down with just 10 holes to play.

Instead of giving up, Streelman stayed in the moment, playing just one shot at a time.  So, when he holed a 10-footer on the ninth green for his first birdie of the day, it sparked him to walk off the green and tell his caddie, “We’re going to shoot 29 on the back.”

Streelman ended up posting a 6-under par 64.  He one-putted each of the final ten greens.  He set a PGA record when he birdied the last seven holes.  The only thing he missed on was that back nine score—he shot a 28 instead.  Oh–and he won the tournament by one stroke!

All too often, things don’t go as expected, and we get bad breaks and are faced with challenges.  The person who is creative, resourceful, and resilient is the one who tends to steady the ship and turn things around.  In golf, the player who can stay in the moment and focus positively on the next shot can bounce back and resuscitate a round.

So, the next time your round gets off to a rocky start, consider what Streelman did.  Will you give up and play like you’ve already lost?  Or, will you practice staying in the moment, exercising your flexibility and resiliency?  Golf’s a funny game, and sometimes things can turn around quickly.

Maybe you’ll wind up with the comeback story of the weekend!