While playing golf yesterday, I bogeyed the par 5, 512 yard hole twice. As a nine hole golf course, I had the opportunity to play the same hole with the same results. Needless to say, I was very disappointed because I expect to shoot a par or better on the par 5s. I believe my game is such were on most par 5s I have an opportunity to gain ground on my score. Well, yesterday was not the case. It was interesting that the same results resulted in the same type of swing errors and I because of my attitude, I was able to push past the disappointing results.

Each time I played this hole, I hit three poor shots and three decent shots to save par. In both cases, my fairway wood and hybrids failed miserably. I toed my driver, topped my three wood and chucked my hybrids. Needless to say I was disappointed considering I had a great opportunity to lower my score as this particular par 5 is not overly difficult. Fortunately, I was able to finish each hole strong with tap ins for bogey. Now, there is where the real topic of today’s article comes to light.

In both cases I was disappointed in the results. Hitting six poor long clubs is atypical, but as you can see it does happen. Walking off with bogeys was not all that bad considering. However, my attitude is what I am happy with as I walked to 6th tee. Both times I chose to focus on the three good shots I made vice the 3 poor shots I executed on each hole. I chose not to dwell on my mishits. The successful shots on each hole is what I carried to the next tee.

I think it is important to my overall game that I keep my focus on the successful shots. By staying positive, I was able to complete the round with a six over 80. This is a reasonable score (although I always want a score that starts with a seven or six) considering I bogeyed this easy hole twice. My positive attitude and focus helped me finish each round with only one bogey in four holes. This is a win for my game.

Being focused on what is positive does help. This does not mean I will be an ostrich, but it does engage the positive part of my brain to be successful moving forward after a mishit. I chose to focus on the three good shots and hit really help keep my mind centered. Where would you have focused your mind after a hole with three good shots and three bad shots?

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