Do You Think Golf or Play Golf?

The stage setting may be a casual round of golf with family and friends or it could be the final round of The Open with a worldwide audience. Either way, you must stay in a performance state of mind.

What do I mean by that statement? Let’s say that you are a musician. You have countless ends of hours, days, and weeks of rehearsal and practice before your performance. As a musician you may break down a song to one section at a time or even one measure at a time and practice it at different tempos and gradually speed it up until you have it perfected.

Just before your performance, you are standing backstage behind the curtain. You are not thinking about how to perform your music from the technical aspect because the countless hours of preparation will take care of that. You are enjoying being in the moment and staying focused on the one thing you are about to do. No other distractions are allowed.

So what does that say about your golf game? Have you ever found yourself in the middle of the fairway trying out something your friend just told you to help you hit your three wood better? Or are you upset because you just had a golf lesson the day before and don’t understand why you are not better today?

The amount of preparation you have before getting out on the course and the ability to stay focused on the performance of the task at hand will determine your success. You must be realistic with your expectations. Allow yourself to learn to “play” golf on the course and practice the technical aspects of it elsewhere. Just like the musician who practices elsewhere and performs on stage.

The golf course is your stage.

You may also be a teacher or a trial lawyer or an account executive. It makes no difference. When it comes time to execute your skill, you are on stage. All the years of preparation allow you to perform your tasks. You may be better at it some days than others or some days you may win and some days you won’t. That’s life. That’s golf.