Groundhog Day is tomorrow. On 2 February, all golfers in the northern hemisphere wait in anticipation for the weather prediction of rodents: Wiarton Willie and Punxsutawney Phil. The pressure on these special creatures to predict an early spring is overwhelming. Each year, these loveable creatures climb out of their hole; if they see their shadow and scurry back home to safety, it means that golfers will have to wait an additional 6 weeks for winter to slowly become a distant memory.

Is it GroundHog Day Again!!!

Groundhog Day is also a famous saying that stems from the movie “Groundhog Day” with Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell. This romantic comedy is set in a small northeastern town in the United States where “a weather man is reluctantly sent to cover a story about a weather forecasting “rat” (as he calls it). This is his fourth year on the story, and he makes no effort to hide his frustration. On awaking the ‘following’ day he discovers that it’s Groundhog Day again, and again, and again. First he uses this to his advantage, then comes the realisation that he is doomed to spend the rest of eternity in the same place, seeing the same people do the same thing EVERY day.” (IMDB)

The storyline in the movie should be familiar to most amateur golfers. We hit the links time after time with no substantive change in our golf score. We try quick fixes in the hopes of permanently lowering our score. Unfortunately, the only real result is frustration and confusion on why the changes are not having their desired effect. It reminds me of the Albert Einstein definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results!

Real change in golf, as Phil in the movie discovered, comes from within. The realization that to successfully and permanently change our golf game takes real effort, focus and desire. To effect change in your game, I recommend developing a plan, taking the time to execute it, and accepting the results. After a reasonable time (reasonable is relative to every person) repeat the process by making small changes to your learned behaviour. By following your successful game plan, like in the movie, your golf game will have miraculously changed and frustrations of Groundhog Day will be gone forever!

I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!