Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
IN the past few weeks I have looked at ways of improving your techniques to help reduce your scores.
Technique is obviously very important and you can't play good golf without sound technique. However, golf is much more than that.
The old saying "golf is played 90 per cent between the ears" has a lot of relevance. Your mind set and attitude can have a huge effect on the way you play, your enjoyment of the game and ultimately your scores.
In golf, as in life, you can file pretty much every aspect under a "can control" heading (column one below) or a "can't control" heading (column two below).
Control the controllables
As an example, you can't control whether your ball winds up in an old divot after a perfect drive; but you can control your reaction to this situation, and resolve not to let your misfortune ruin your round.
If you spend time fretting about things outside your command when on the golf course it will only have a negative effect on your game. We've all been guilty of it in the past - how many times have we heard: "How can I be expected to hole anything on these greens?," "I can't believe I have to play with her again!"; "Why is it always blowing a gale when I play?"; or "How unlucky was that!"
These are all examples of things that we can't control, being in column two, and each one, if we let it, sets up a frustrated state of mind, one that appears destined for failure - not your most effective golfing mindset.
Unfortunately, it is almost standard on a golf course to hear people inadvertently destroying another round of golf by being in the wrong column.
If we focus our mental energy on things that we cannot do much about, we reduce our effectiveness by training our focus on things that, in the long run, only make us feel bad.
That's why great athletes and effective business people fully understand and spend most of their time in column one.
Controlling the controllables is a deceptively simple system to life, but to make it work you need to take a step back and observe yourself and objectively assess which column you are in the most.
Don't expect to be in column one all of the time (that is called sainthood!) but do, after a period of observation, make a sincere and honest commitment to spend most of your time in the column that will allow you not only to play your best golf, but probably to enjoy your life with just a little less stress.
I heard a superb example of a great mindset in a story told by a respected Golf psychologist during a coaching conference that I attended earlier this year. It centered around Tiger Woods and his victory at the 2005 US Masters.
Tiger is renowned for his mental toughness and his ability to play under pressure.
The ability to remain in control of your mind and emotions when you play is vital; but to do it on the back nine of one of the world's greatest tournaments takes extreme control that not everyone has managed to achieve.
Coming down the final few holes, Woods bogeyed holes 17 and 18 to surrender his lead and find himself in a playoff with the battling Chris DiMarco.
For most players, their reaction would be one of frustration, bad feeling and negativity after "blowing the lead."
Instead of berating himself, Woods merely thought: "Here I am playing a course and a tournament that most golfers will never get the chance to play and I have the opportunity to win it twice in one day."
A refreshing approach I'm sure you'll agree! It paid off; the Green Jacket and title of Masters Champion were his after the first play-off hole.
Once you understand how the columns work, golf will become a lot simpler and far less emotionally draining.
Next week: The pre-shot routine - a valuable step in the development of a golfer.
