Every golfer hits a poor golf shot. I know that I have hit my fair share that may or may not be considered my fault. Interestingly, this view of my performance has changed over the years such that I own my poor shots and focus less on the conditions or other factors. Yup, if I attempted to hit the ball, the results have to accepted as my best attempt at that time. This mental acceptance is difficult sometimes, but it does allow for lower golf scores over the course of any round.

The reason for my mental change from blaming outside factors like wind, lie, course conditions, or outside stressors is I found my score being punished twice because I could not let go of my previous results. I know every golfer understands what I am talking about because you have been there. Hit two or three poor shots in a row because mentally, we are replaying the poor shot in our head. This negative mental imaging does lead to hitting more poor shots.

It took many years for me to understand this connection of poor thinking leading to poor golf shots. Now that understand the direct correlation, I now avoid (for the most part) hitting two poor shots in a row. I have made the conscious choice to accept my poor golf shot and this ownership empowers me mentally to refocus my efforts on making a better next shot.

Here is good video that offers a couple of tips to improve your mental approach after a poor shot:

Personally, I like the 10 yard approach. My mental approach is in three stages: accept the poor shot, dismiss the poor shot, and follow my proven routines on the next shot. This process for my game is a game changer. The first and most difficult step for me was acceptance. I now own my poor shots and this makes move on to my next shot infinitely easier. After adopting my mental approach after hitting poor shots, I believe I saved anywhere from 3 to 5 shots around. I helped propel me from a consistent low 80s player to consistent high 70s.

Owning my poor golf shots was a game changer. I wish I was able to accept these mishaps earlier in my career, but that was and still is my golf journey. If you do not own your poor golf shots, I recommend that you take a look at your processes and open your mind to owning all your golf shots. It will improve your score, at least it did for my game.

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