 I have been fortunate enough to work with
some of the best players in the world of
golf. When the team with whom I work wins a
National Championship, or the player with
whom I work wins a tournament, I regularly
get phone calls from people “congratulating”
me on these successes. My response to these
well-intended callers is that I accept no
credit for these achievements, and will
assume no blame if things go poorly for that
player in the future!
Who or what is to blame when things go poorly
in your round of golf? Who is responsible
when things go well? The obvious answer is
for you as a player to look in the mirror.
Ultimately, whether you hit the ball well,
putt well, score well or don’t do any of
these things- it is your
responsibility.
It can be challenging when playing this game,
as players regularly want to blame some
condition or circumstance as the reason for
their poor performance- “my parents were
annoying me before the round”, “the greens
were terrible”, “the wind was constantly
shifting”, “my playing partner was taking
forever”. The truth is that as an athlete
you have a choice to make about what you are
going to choose to pay attention to when you
are on the course. You also have the option
to disregard those things over which you
don’t have control and put your attention
instead on factors over which you do maintain
control.
It can be a sometimes frightening prospect to
assume full responsibility for our actions.
When things don’t go as we’d like, to have
excuses to turn to can feel like a good
outlet and, in the short run, help us feel
better. In the long term, however, most
junior players will learn that accepting
responsibility for their actions frees them
up to honestly assess the elements of their
game upon which they can work. “My lag
putting was really poor this week, I’m going
to spend some time working on that on the
putting green tomorrow”, “I didn’t get up and
down out of a bunker in two days, I’m going
to wear out my bunker practice this week”.
If you continue to use excuses and to choose
not to accept your part in your poor play,
you will be constantly challenged to feel
secure in yourself as a player, as you will
believe that the many forces outside of your
control are ultimately more important than
those over which you do have some
control.
Taking responsibility also permits you to
assume credit when things are going well.
It’s not just because “I got lucky”, or
because “other people gave strokes away”,
it’s because you did what it took to get the
job done. This is an essential element to
building real, solid, and permanent
confidence.
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