nice looking swing

[longshot]

My regular playing partner has now got down to 9 he has a fantastic swing but keeps messing around with it.As he says to me (how will i get my handicap down if i dont make my swing better) my awnser to him is sort your putting out.
He 3 putts quite a lot.He is also far too critical of himself he bangs one down the middle then remarks (i dident strike that well) what the hell i remark the drives gone 270 yea he says but you just put a 3 wood past me.He is going to be a good low single handicaper but he needs to lighten up on himself.
Golf is in your head you know sometimes you stand over that 12 ft birdie putt and think i fancy this putt bang it goes straight in.I play differently to him mainly because i am half his handicap and strike the ball with a different ball flight.Sometimes i might thin a iron slightly but its on the green who cares i dont but he will criticise his own shot if he does it.Every shot cannot be straight out of the middle.Any way he reads a lot of magazines and remarked he read you should only play to your handicap 20% of the time if thats right i should be off 2 but i cannot hold a handicap at that level.So any one else think he is right?

[Loop]

Even though Rotella will tell you golf is not a game of perfect, I understand and agree with your friend.
Perfectionist are hard on themselves. They know some shots will be a bunch of luck, but the idea of a good round is when you strike the ball solid.
Personally, using blades, I pretty much know the kind of mishits I do. And even though thinning the ball may get it luckily on the green, I would like it better if I strucked the ball solid.
You know what? I find it exhilarating when I can draw or fade as I pictured it.
For some, it's not really about the results, but how you do it.

[Sandpiper3]

Yea, between right before i hit the ball and aboot maybe 15-20 sec. after, its all about how i hit that shot. after that, its wheres my next shot, where my sitting, hows my shot look. i have that time on that shot to focus the way i hit it, then thats it.

(in that couple mins of that shot, im a perfectionist to the max)

[papperlapub]

Hi folks,

I used to just as much as a perfectionists as your friend myself. But it does not give you anything but a bad mood- which is devistating for your score.

Nowadays, if i hit the ball bad but the result is still good, i do not care how the swing was. I do though care about it when i am training. On the driving range for example, i 50% of the time do not care about the result, but only on the swing, and the other 50% the other way around.

Why i changed the habbit of beeing a perfectionist, is though (i have mentioned it in another thread) because i got a back injury a couple of years back. My swing got really F***** and at that time I palyed a solid hcp 2. It was quite frustrating to go from 72 scores to OVER 100!!!! in less than 3 months... What happened is, that my patience, ambition and my mind got tested quite hard. Now, after i had a back surgery and my swing is back (and my touch) I am so relaxed on the golf course as never before. I have not been properly upset about bad shots since i started practising after the surgery and not only is my game and score coming back, but I enjoy golf even more.

The thing is: Instead of beeing upset of the bad shots, and just feeling ok about good shots, I feel Ok about the bad shots (as long as the result is ok) and feel just tremendous about the good shots.
There is nothing better then to come home at night after a nice round, and just feel completly and utterly happy

[papperlapub]

Hi folks,

I used to just as much as a perfectionists as your friend myself. But it does not give you anything but a bad mood- which is devistating for your score.

Nowadays, if i hit the ball bad but the result is still good, i do not care how the swing was. I do though care about it when i am training. On the driving range for example, i 50% of the time do not care about the result, but only on the swing, and the other 50% the other way around.

Why i changed the habbit of beeing a perfectionist, is though (i have mentioned it in another thread) because i got a back injury a couple of years back. My swing got really F***** and at that time I palyed a solid hcp 2. It was quite frustrating to go from 72 scores to OVER 100!!!! in less than 3 months... What happened is, that my patience, ambition and my mind got tested quite hard. Now, after i had a back surgery and my swing is back (and my touch) I am so relaxed on the golf course as never before. I have not been properly upset about bad shots since i started practising after the surgery and not only is my game and score coming back, but I enjoy golf even more.

The thing is: Instead of beeing upset of the bad shots, and just feeling ok about good shots, I feel Ok about the bad shots (as long as the result is ok) and feel just tremendous about the good shots.
There is nothing better then to come home at night after a nice round, and just feel completly and utterly happy

[Eracer]

One of the "golf is like life" lessons I've learned is that true improvement is a process. The process has plateaus, and walls, and epiphanies.

Working hard to improve one's swing is no different than working hard to improve one's attitude and approach to the game.

Perfectionists never feel that they are good enough. There's nothing really wrong with that. But there are two kinds of perfectionists, negative and positive. Negative perfectionists berate themselves for their mistakes ("come on, you idiot") and believe that self-criticism will result in self-improvement, while positive perfectionists analyze their mistakes and take positive actions to correct them. A positive attitude is the only way to become more successful at anything. Negative attitudes are, by nature, self-defeating. That is Rotella's main argument. Not that perfectionism is a bad thing, but that self-criticism as a means to self-improvement is a self-lie.

Do you think Tiger Woods feels like his game is perfect? No way. And you can bet he seeks perfection. But - the difference with Tiger (and all successful people, no matter what their pursuit) is that he sees his mistakes not as personal failings, but as battles to be won. He gets angry at his bad shots, but he never, ever beats himself up about it, and he always tries to pick something positive out of the situation. That is the mark of a successful perfectionist.

What can you do to help a friend who seems intent on destroying his own game with negative thinking? Compliment his good shots. Be firm (but nice) with him that you don't want negative talk during the round. Tell him that it's OK to get mad at a shot result, but that you don't want to hear things like "I suck so bad, I'm probably going to put two shots in the water." Make it clear that you're not trying to tell him how to play his game, but that negative talk affects your game in a negative way. If he respects you as a friend, he'll understand.

[cypressperch]

needs to be made over and over again until the whole golfing world realizes it. The type of golfer, perfectionist or otherwise, who is constantly belly-aching about their games--these people are ruining the day for everyone around them. They have no right to do this! And 99% of the time, even if you try to do it nicely, if you mention that their tantrums are ruining your round to, they take it wrong.

Golf is not for every one. Spoiled brats, like John McEnroe, need to play tennis where they can talk back to officials when things are going wrong. In golf, you blow it, it is your fault almost every time. Even if it is not your fault, you have to take it. You can cuss, yell, scream, hold your breath until you are purple in the face, but it isn't going to do you a bit of good. You still get the snow-man on your card or whatever. If you cannot control yourself reasonably well, stay home so you do not ruin the day for people who have at least some self control. Some of us have just enough control, that if everyone else is under control, we can be all right. Get someone yelling and mad at the world, and the urge to let it out may be beyond our control. Now if you start throwing clubs and kicking the greens and such, I might just have to ask you to go on ahead by yourself. There are limits.

Eracer, I might have to disagree a little with the idea of Positive Perfectionists. I am splitting hairs here, I know, but the person who approaches golf improvement with a positive and healthy attitude knows that no one can achieve perfection except rarely. I think Hogan was almost over the line when he would think that he could birdie every hole, but even that is not necessarily perfection. He said somewhere, as did a lot of great ball strikers, that a good ball striking round might have had three or so really well played shots. It is a game of the best missed shots.

The person who is a true perfectionist who cannot accept a mishit that is two hundred yards plus down the middle (strange but perfect might mean different things to different people, but perfect is really perfect), this type of person is doomed to failure. It is automatic. You will not be perfect. You will fail in your attempt. And failure breads lack of confidence. And though golf is not a game of perfect, it most definitely IS a game of confidence. So the bottom line is you get good at grinding it out from the start of the round to the very end, no matter what happens. On every shot, from first to last, you do your best and live with the results. You practice, read, train, whatever, so that your best gets better and better. But you never get to be such an egomaniac or fool, that you think your best will some day be perfect. After all these years, Corey Pavin was first to shoot a 26 on nine holes. His putting was near perfect, but there were no hole-in-ones. Now that shot in the last round for the eagle on that par four, that was perfect, at least in the results. He might have hit it an ultra tad thin or fat, but I could not really tell.

The best of luck to all with their pursuit of their fullest potential. Sincerely, Cypressperch

[Loop]

Cypressperch,

When I play, I like my shots to be played solidly. I strive to perfection my swing, even though I know great shots only come now and then.
When I mishit, I just shake my head or roll my eyes. I don't get into a fit, don't cuss, don't ruin anyone's day. I actually smile and laugh it off.
Others might make a remark that they've mishit and didn't like it, even though the result may be quite satisfying.
So, let's not mix perfectionist as people with bad attitude.

With your reasoning, I could say the same about people who don't show any emotions when they strike the ball poorly. It would mean they don't care about their game, and they're not even playing for fun.
But we all know this isn't true

Bottom line, I think we're saying about the same thing.

[presbtain]

If your partner is driving the golf ball 270 yards he is not coordinating his body movements well.

The variable flight of a golf ball can be attributed to the angle of the knee which must remain constant when you address the golf ball, when you go into the backswing and until the golf club impacts the golf ball.

Golf as I know it is not a head game. Inconsistent play can be attributed to faulty body mechanics.

Jim Clark R.P.T.

[token_hottie]

jim,

what is R.P.T?

th