Article #70
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Dear Jitterbug:
I have 5-6 courses that I play regularly. Certain holes I always play well, others I always mess up on. What's worse is that the nature of the mess up is always the same. I always pull my tee shot on hole a, push it on hole b, chunk the approach shot on hole c, the beat goes on. Does the gang have a zen cure for this self-fulfilling prophecy trap I'm in?
Steve Foster
Jitterbug Gang Fan
Jitterbug:
Let's all agree that bad thinking creates bad swings. You step up to the tee on Hole A and just know you're going to pull it. So, you start thinking of ways to not pull it. The Golf Gods, however, won't let this kind of thinking go unpunished. Instead, the most likely result is that which you fear the most. That's golf, that's life.
Therefore, you must first change the way you think.
How? Use your imagination. After aligning your body and looking down to address your shot, pretend you are on some other hole. Tell yourself that the fairway you're about to hit into is 200 yards wide, and one that you've never missed.
Don't tell me this is too much to ask of your imagination. After all, it's an overactive imagination that's got you freaked out to begin with. If you have it within you to imagine a bad result you have it in there to see a good one. And, since you already admitted there are some holes you invariably play well, there's no reason you can't pretend Hole A is one of them.
You won't believe what this simple little use of imagination will do to relax you.
Mr. Vaughn:
Reminding yourself to be positive won't help. Our minds receive that type of command as a warning. Rather, you have to fill that space in your head with some other image so there's no space to ponder the significance of the result.
I like the image Jitterbug mentioned about being on a different hole. For some, it's helpful to pretend the shot is on the driving range, and there is no bad place to hit it. Others do well to get their minds off what the shot means by reframing it. "I'm on the last hole with a 37 stroke lead," might be a good thought. "Wherever it goes I'll win by a landslide."
Lord Berry:
"Snake-bitten" I believe is the term. It starts when we recognize a trend of botching the same type shot in the same type manner, all the result of the same type thinking. Thus, it's not until we change the way we think that we can change what happens next.