Is golf truly as difficult as we seem to find it?
For many outsiders looking in, golf seems a relatively simple game, but for those that have endured struggles over the years we know how difficult the game can be.
But is it really as difficult as we golfers perceive it to be?
That is debatable, many would consider it one of the hardest sports of all, others may find it relatively straightforward.
There is one thing that I think is true and that is;
Striking a golf ball with a club is in itself simple.
I mean if you give a child a club and ask them to hit the ball, they will eventually find a way to do just that.
It may not be “technically” correct or go very far, but they hit the ball.
So the act of striking a ball with a club is relatively straightforward.
Let´s take this a step further and the example of learning to walk, something we take for granted as an easy task, but was it easy to learn to become proficient at?
You probably can´t remember but from videos, parent´s memories we can say with some certainty that YES it was difficult to do yet we consider it a simple task now.
How is it that a task that was decidedly harder to achieve than striking a ball with a club has become so easy that you hardly even have to think about it?
Practice, confidence and belief.
We practice every day (for hours).
We are confident in our ability to put one foot in front of the other and we believe that we can do it.
And herein lies the reason for golf being a seemingly difficult thing to play.
We don’t practice long enough, or the right way, which affects confidence in our abilities.
And we all know that confidence plays a huge part in golf.
If you were walking down the road and tripped on a raised tile, you would curse and complain about the tile, but at no time would you judge or blame your inability to walk.
You would carry on as if nothing had happened.
In golf however you would be beating yourself up for a few minutes or even longer if you had a particularly bad day at the office.
And it is this attitude towards the results that makes golf difficult.
We are not happy to accept a mistake; confidence is dented at the first sign of a less than perfect shot or swing.
I challenge my clients to try and change the reaction.
We want to enjoy the game, and to that we need to accept that we are all going to hit bad shots, we are all going to fail at some point.
But if you can accept that you gave everything to the shot and have the outlook of “what will be will be” then you are going to remove a heap of pressure from your shoulders.
Golf will become more enjoyable and more simple.
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