Green Card
Pure frustration
It is amazing how much fun golf is; when you consider how much time you spend being frustrated.
As I write this text I have the feeling that I am in a low that it is difficult to get out of. And I know the reason: At the tournament some weeks ago my pitching was wonderful. The 3rd shot on a par 4 or the 4th shot on par 5 were pitches that placed the ball very, very close to the hole and saved the par. I played the round with a feeling that I had not experienced before and never again afterwards.
Of course my handicap was reduced tremendously.
This new level is difficult to play, since my shots are not usually that steady and accurate. I have to change my tactic. Instead of a safe play - 3 easy shots and two puts on a par 4, I have to try for distance. And that is difficult to combine with accuracy.
Somehow it is difficult to repeat what happened when I played so well at the tournament.
This explains the frustration. As a high handicapper you and I may have thought that this is a fate that only strikes the fellow high handicapper. Not so. The low handicapper is fighting even more, and MUST have a good day every day he is competing. Where the low handicapper can strike out a hole or two - or three - the low handicapper has to play one or two par or birdies to even out the loss. He gets frustrated and it is easy to give up.
Which you should not. Golf is a game you play to have fun, and the score is a result coming by itself. At best you should forget the score and not care about the result until you are sitting in the club-house after the game.
And when you are practicing, you should remember that this is a game that you now and then master. You should focus on the good shots, remember them and play them in your mind. The bad shots have never happened. As you are about to tee off on the narrow fairway, over the water, pitch over the sand or putt from the edge of the green, you should have in mind the wonderful shots that you are able to make. And if you do not make them, then find an excuse. You were disturbed, you thought about something else, you are hungry or tired. There is always a reason. But don't tell anyone about your excuses.
Smile and take the third putt. You are sure to sink the ball this time.
