As I navigated the holiday season, I found my attention being drawn in multiple directions simultaneously. This is not surprising because of the significant increase in sensory data that constantly bombarded my 3-foot space. It was overwhelming sometimes, but I was able to keep my sanity by shutting off all the white noise and focus my thoughts in only a few areas at once. What I found is that I was filling my mind with nonsense and realized that to function properly I needed to focus. Boy that sounds very familiar to when I am hitting a golf shot!
In the past I have talked about mindfulness and remaining in the moment. All of these, and more, mental aspects of golf are very important to playing well. And so is embracing distractions. Ideally, the conditions for playing would be perfect and our focus would 100% of the time be on hitting that little white ball. However, we all know that this is never the case and focusing on the distractions is where our golf game goes off the rails.
I all being focused on the distractions filling our minds with nonsense. We start to worry about the possibilities instead of the realities of playing. We start to wonder when the next disrupting noise will happen, we are focusing on someone who might move, or we start looking for excuses for a poor shot before we even make it. All this nonsensical, imaginary distractions have caused me more challenges in the past because I was not focused on what I was doing. Unfortunately, I never thought to practice on fixing my mental woes and I probably should have…..right!
I the future, I am not sure I will take the time to practice in an area full of distractions. But, now that I am aware that I embracing them instead of fighting them might work to keep me more at ease when playing, it might help. I guess we shall see next season when I am playing on a new track with new playing partners.
I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!
The Grateful Golfer 
Jim, you are right. There are ample distractions to pick from. Football coaches pipe in crowd noise all the time. I suppose you could start by blasting tunes from a bluetooth speaker? Nothing like a group of yahoos you can hear two holes away! Let us know how the experiment goes.
Thanks,
Brian
LikeLiked by 1 person
Brian,
I sure will. I know in my DYI area there are plenty of distractions, so that might help. We shall see.
Cheers Jim
LikeLiked by 1 person
An area that many might find surprising that I feel I need to work on. I’m great at the bigger things. You can talk, blast music, shout, wave shadows over my ball. I’m good at staying in my focus where things like that are concerned. (Not sure I can handle a golf ball thrown at me though 🤔) I brought my kids along when they were little so nothing like that phases me anymore. But I do still tend to play better alone. Of my best games only a few were played with others and then, it was just one other, not a foursome. It’s been that way for a long time. I’m happy the very best round had a witness, but more of the best ones didn’t than did and I feel that’s a problem with me and not just the luck of the draw somehow.
On the opposite side of the scale though I would guess that most of my very best shots had witnesses. Not all, but most did. So I’m a little confused as to why my game doesn’t seem to peak as often when playing in a group. It’s something I’d like to resolve once and for all. Something I’m working on simply by trying to play more games with others than alone. Things like these skins game aren’t really what I enjoy the most, but I figure that’s the kind of thing I need to do to get over it whether it’s real or just in my head.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Kevin,
After many rounds of competitive golf, I found there is a narrow point of when interaction with my opponents becomes a distraction. I am generally less talkative and stay to myself more. It might seem that I am rudely ignoring them, but in actuality I am focused on my game. It is a tough balancing act to say the least.
Cheers Jim
LikeLike