There is a reason I called my golf blog The Grateful Golfer. As I tried to develop a positive mindset due to some medical challenges, I felt that talking about and sharing my ideas about my passion would allow me to focus on being grateful for the wonderful aspects of my life. After 10 years of musings, I can honestly say that my goal succeeded beyond my expectations. As I round the corner to the back nine of my life, I think it is time to double down and continue sending positive vibes of gratefulness into my 3 foot space and beyond.
I am a strong proponent of The Law of Attraction that talks about manifesting an outcome through thoughts. Of course this is a simplification of the whole concept, however it does sum it up quickly. I believe that to make a thought happen, we have to take action to achieve it. Inactivity is not a recipe for success. This is doubly true for our golf game. We have to take positive steps with focused intent to improve lower our golf scores.
An interesting aspect of being mindful and grateful is that it expands to the other players in my group and beyond my golf game. My gratefulness ripples out from my initial thought like a pebble creates ripples in a calm pool of water. The ripples of gratefulness come back tenfold the ripples bounce back off other people and objects. My mindset of being grateful is so ingrained in my thought processes that it my natural steady state.
To be fair, I do not walk around with my head in the sand thinking everything is rosy. There are challenges and hurdles that I face everyday on and off the golf course. I chose to create the day I want and using gratefulness as my foundation helps my navigate my day. I find that this approach empowers me to improve my 3 foot space which keeps the ripples flowing.
Golf is a game that provides opportunities. It also can drive golfers into fits of frustration. My view is that those fits are eliminated or reduced by staying grateful for the ability to play. I often laugh at my foolish shots and relish in the good ones because I am grateful to be on the golf course!
Being grateful is how I live my life. It is how I golf. And it is the foundation of my attitude and how I approach my 3 foot space. Today is a new day and I am grateful for whatever comes my way!
I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!
The Grateful Golfer 
I so much enjoy reading your blogs. I find them informative and entertaining. Golf is wonderful and even more so when we are seeing some progression in our games. Keep up the good work!
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Thanks Mitch!
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Excellent and thanks. I am grateful for every day but you wouldn’t always know it from my demeanor. My golf over the summer improved, apparently peaked, and then receded. I was burned out and bored. I took a week off and reset with the following attitude: I get to play golf today. What a difference.
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Paul,
Great attitude. I bet your game will reach a new plateau this year with the positive outlook. Keep us updated.
Cheers Jim
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Jim, don’t change a thing. Keep the positive vibes coming and we look forward to hearing about all the good news about life and golf. Right now we can use a healthy dose of uplift.
Thanks!
Brian
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Thanks Brian!
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One in our group was in a car accident on the way home from playing tonight. We are very grateful he wasn’t hurt. Traffic was bad going through the worst interchange in Tampa tonight. It was made worse by a torrential downpour from one of our daily tropical storms. We had passed an 11 car accident with one very mangled car and were lamenting that when we passed our friend. Traffic wouldn’t allow us to stop with him, so we checked in on the phone to see if help was needed. He was bumped up but ok and his car was damaged but drivable so he sent us on rather than asking us to come back through that mess of traffic. The poor guy was just leaving the scene when my dinner was coming off the stove. But he’s safe, and home now with this wife and baby boy so we all have a lot to be grateful for tonight.
The golf? Well lets just say there were signs of a player in there on occasion. Something I was certainly grateful for. I tried to add separation all day and of course that meant I blew a few more than normal, but it was actually less than I expected. And the good ones were really good. I was definitely longer today all around. Even with the driver when it was the one club I couldn’t get the feeling that I was adding anything really. But I was hitting a natural draw today. So I let loose and that felt pretty good. I hit a lot of shots closer to the green than the previous couple weeks and the tee’s were farther back today.
One thing really surprised me today. I carried a 3 hybrid in the bag today. A club someone has passed around our skins group that no one has wanted. And I found it very easy to hit and a nice fit between the 4 hybrid and 4 wood. That surprised me for a number or reasons. First this is a cheap brand. Nugent or something like it. Second, it’s marked as 20 degrees. My 4 hybrid is marked 21 degrees. So I didn’t think I’d get much if any real distance gain from it. But I did. And I hit it really really well with the added separation. Hitting 25 feet uphill into the wind it went off the back of the green from 195. I really didn’t expect that at all. And the flight was perfect. I think it may have just found itself a permanent home in my bag. lol
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Kevin,
Thank goodness your friend is alright. Positive healing thoughts heading his way. As far as finding a hybrid that works, that is awesome. It is nice to complete a distance set. How many clubs do you carry now? 😉
Cheers Jim
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I have all 14 slots filled now. Well I did before but the 3 iron I was carrying wasn’t being used except for specialty shots like slicing one around a corner and for off the tee. I would not have tried that over the water uphill 195 yard shot from the fairway with it. I might have pulled it off but not nearly as well or as easily as that hybrid did it.
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Kevin,
Sometimes when when improve our game, it is difficult to choose which clubs to keep and which to remove. All part of the strategy game.
Cheers Jim
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