When I think back to playing golf as a kid, I can’t recall any bad memories. The first things that come to mind are holing clutch putts, being on winning teams, and truly loving when I found myself in a tough spot near the green so I could show off my touch.

Of course, this wasn’t always the case. There were plenty of bad shots, plenty of defeats, and I didn’t get it up-and-down from that tough spot every time. The cool thing about the mind of a kid is that those things aren’t filed away carefully for future consideration like they are once we’re adults. We didn’t care much about the future, or what happened in the past — we were much better at living in the moment we were in.

I got to thinking about this after I re-read Dr. Bob Rotella’s book, Putting Out of Your Mind…