Every once and a while you catch yourself. You catch yourself saying the same damn thing over and over on every one of your golf shots. ‘Oh fooey’, ‘You don’t do that’, or something a little more vulgar like ‘goddamnit’. If you're playing with someone else, it’s probably getting really annoying to play a round of golf with this type of habitual talk after each shot. Of course, the reverse could be true where you’re playing with someone who is doing this kind of thing. A few years ago, I got paired with this kid who kept swearing and saying the same damn line on every one of his tee shots. You just want to chime in at one point and explain to him that he should expect a shitty shot and stop whining after all these drives. Needless to say it ruined the round.
More importantly, I learned a valuable lesson. I needed to make sure I stopped doing things of that nature as they can be extremely irritating. I have a good friend and professional caddie who told me once that my game was just fine, however, I needed to work on my demeanor. This was many years ago and I shook him off because I liked the way I carried myself on a golf course. After spending the last summer playing a ton of golf, I grew a new found respect for the advice this friend of mine departed on me many years ago.
One habit that every golfer forms is screaming their own name in vain among many things. Jordan Speith is probably most famous for this out of your present day golfers. That isn’t such a big faux pas but is an example of the things I sought to stop and correct as I learned to play golf with myself. One big thing I like to do now is to force a smile on a bad shot or if I catch an unlucky break. So instead of unnecessary histrionics, I now force a smile. Smiling is contagious and makes everybody happier. The best smiler in the pros has got to be Rory McIlroy. He is really fun to watch play because it seems everything is humorous. He finds a way to break out a smile as if bad things were meant to happen. It aligns quite well with karma and is by far a better way to play golf. Of course, Viktor Hovland is an easy runner-up to Rory in this department.
Smiling and not complaining to myself changed the way I marched around the course. Every shot becomes more attainable, and I truly believe anybody taking this new approach will lose strokes on their game. More importantly, people will appreciate playing with you as a positive attitude transforms everybody’s game, round, and day!!
The Honda Classic: Palm Beach Gardens, FL --
Winner Picks with great odds --
Chris Kirk (+4000)
Dylan Frittelli (+5000)
Keegan Bradley (+5000)
Rickie Fowler (+5000) - This guy is a round a way from having to take a year off from golf and think about things.. His stock is low but has great potential.. Lotta upside for a guy being dogged.
Phil Mickelson (+9000)
Every guy in the top ten in odds to win this week has got better odds to be the leader in the clubhouse after the first round so I would throw money that way and save your cash to pick a guy with less odds to win this week and hope for a big payout from guys who really do have a lot of potential especially in a watered down field.