managing expectations

2014 USGA Women’s Open Championship

/ The Grateful Golfer / 2 Comments

Do you play golf for fun or do you play to compete? This is a very important question to ask yourself as you set/manage your expectations about your golf game. Do you want to be a weekend player who spends quality time with friends in the great outdoors? Or do you want to invest the time to become the best golfer you can be? These are all great questions and will go a long way to determine what kind of golf game you want to develop.

Tomorrow is the start of the US Open Ladies Championship at Pinehurst, North Carolina. This is the first time in history that the Men’s and Women’s US Open Golf Championship is played at the same course on back to back weeks. All reasons that made it tough for the men; make it tough for the women! The only real difference lies in the set up of Pinehurst 2 – it is 1100 yards shorter – a mere 6500 yards. But, that is not the real story of the 2014 US Women’s Open.

The real story of the 2014 US Women’s Open is 11-year old amateur Lucy Li.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGbqOZs3IVg

Can you remember what you were doing at 11 years old? I am sure it was not playing golf on the world stage! Not to diminish the skills of the great players trying to win this Major; the story of this young phenom will likely overshadow everything  during the early stages of the event. If she makes the cut, well, it likely will be the story of the 2014 US Women’s Open.

I do not know much about the LPGA, so if you are curious check out the following links:

The US Women’s Open Championship will be an exciting tournament. As with all Majors, we will all be watching with interest to see who separates themselves from the field.

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

Golf Attitude Factor – GAF

/ The Grateful Golfer / 10 Comments

GAF is a new golfing term I developed today on the golf course! My Golf Attitude Factor was on a sliding scale today! I started out as a 10 – dropped to a 3 – and finished as a 6! For those who are staring at the screen with a puzzled look, please let me explain!

Unfortunately, I have not swung a club in a week because of work! I hate it when life gets in the way – especially work! However, all amateurs must bare that cross! So, this morning as I approached the first tee box I was a 10 on the GAF and was looking forward to an excellent time on the links. I was playing with my usual group and their light-hearted approach to golf always make me smile!

As my game progressed, my GAF dropped to a 3! I actually chipped over the a green today….twice! I drove the ball fairly well, but my short game was reminiscent of 20 years ago, but that is life when I do not play for a week or so. My scoring was the worst to date and I was frustrated on every shot….and I mean every shot! Until….

Fixing a SwingOn the 13 hole, I stopped; yes just stopped; I changed my thoughts and changed my game. (Norman Vincent Peale) How this happened was actually very easy and as I look at it after the fact, obvious. My first step was to putt everything out! I know, most of you are saying that I should be doing that anyway, but when frustration kicks in, I have a tendency to stop following my proven successful routine!

Routine is my saviour on the golf course. I score my best when I follow my routine without exception. To help make sure my success, I have to do the following things:

After realizing that my game was not what was expected, I focused on what makes my game better – and hopefully great. After focusing on success, but GAF raised from 3 to 6!

6 is a good GAF considering how I played today. I was happy with my game, thoroughly enjoyed the company, and finished strong. In the future, I am going use the GAF to keep me focused and understand that my steady state should be at least a seven!

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

 

 

Playing Golf with Friends

/ The Grateful Golfer / 2 Comments

How often do you golf with friends? When you do, are they golfers or friends who just wanted to golf? One of the great things about golf is that it can be shared with anyone. Through the years, golf has been the conduit to meeting some great people.

My job has me moving every few years and last fall, before I left, my co-workers wanted to go golfing.  For years we talked about golf and I guess they wanted to see if I was all talk. So, one faithful afternoon we all decided to hit the links and turn our talk into action.

Golfing for FunAs we discussed the details of when and where, one of the guys was talking about his clubs.  Well, clubs might be a stretch.  He had three clubs plus a putter.  His golf bag was, well, a bag.  Yup, a green bag. His golf shoes were sandals and his attitude towards golf was awesome! He did not worry about anything, I mean anything.  If he it the ball into the woods, he smiled.  If he lost a ball, he smiled. If he…..he smiled. His was the perfect attitude for playing golf with friends!

DSCF7278Our other playing partner was a bit more serious.  He loves golf and likes to play often.  He works on his swing by going to the range, practices his chipping and putting, and is getting better all the time. He also has the perfect attitude for golfing with friends. His expectations are higher, but his temperament is great. He also smiled throughout the entire round. He did not worry about anything except having a great time.

As the day progressed, we talked about a great many things – some golf related, most not.  It was a great opportunity for us to get to know each other better and enjoy golf. It was a fantastic send off and hopefully, we will be able to get another round in this year.

Golfing provides many opportunities to meet great people.  Through the years, I have met many interesting people on the links. I have been fortunate to have always heard ‘yes’ when I asked to join a group. I have never refused anyone to join our group. Meeting friends, new and old, is the aspect I like the most about golf.

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

Managing Expectations

/ The Grateful Golfer / 6 Comments

Managing expectations has a tremendous impact on everyone’s life.  We may not know it, but it can elicit various responses that will shape our mood, outlook, and attitude of day-to-day events.

Recently, I played in a curling fun-spiel.  It consisted of 30 teams of various skill levels.  On our team, I was the most experienced as I had curled a couple of times before.  So we set out our expectations early; contribute as much as possible and don’t get hurt!  As we played through each game, we laughed, poked fun, and made some great shots.  Our light-hearted approach landed as runner-ups to the fun-spiel champions.  We managed our expectations early and thus had a fantastic day!  Others who expected to do better have a different view of that days events.

Image from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_EinsteinManaging expectations also applies in golf.  How we feel about our latest round is directly related to how we expected to play that day.  How many of us have shot 100 or 90 or 80 or 70 and felt we had a fantastic round.  We exceeded our expectations of that day and felt awesome about our golf game.  After playing well last time, we shoot the same score and walked off disappointed, frustrated and wondering what went wrong.  Most of the time, nothing went wrong, we just expected to do better!

So how can managing expectations improve our score?  I think it is important to always expect more out of our game, but as Albert Einstein defined Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.  To properly manage expectations, it is important to understand your strengths and weaknesses and what we can actually achieve.  Additionally, it is important to do something by working on our putting, chipping, pitching, etc.  Then and only then can we really manage our expectations properly.  

To expect something different from your game is a good thing, but working at your game is equally important.  How do you manage your expectations?

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

Are You Ready?

/ The Grateful Golfer / 6 Comments

Are you ready for golf season?  Are you ready physically?  Are you ready mentally? Are you ready with the right equipment?  Are you ready?  Are you ready?  Are you ready?

As the last of the snow leaves northern Canada, many golfers are frantically running around asking the these questions over and over.  The anticipation of playing soon is raising their anxiety level because after 5 months putting on their carpet, it will soon be time to hit the links.

Preparing for a golf season is something unique to each player.  Everyone has different ideas on how their season will unfold; they have dreams of the elusive hole-in-one; breaking 100 or 90 or 80 or even 70; or winning their local club championship (or flight).  So how does someone prepare for success in the upcoming season?

Some focus on fitness.  At Golfsmith.com, Brian Hill from Demand Media suggests that working on your upper body, core, lower body and flexibility is the way ahead. Callaway Director of Fitting and Instruction, Randy Peterson, talks about looking after your equipment, starting early and working on your short game in the early stages of the season.  At mindbodygolf.com, Rick Williams, a PGA member, tells how he uses various tools to keep fit and flexible during the off-season.  All of these suggestions and hundreds more can help prepare you physically for the upcoming season.  Personally, I believe staying fit for golf is a year-round process, but everyone has to decide for him or herself what level of commitment they are willing to put forth.

However, is fitness the only area that needs preparation?  How about being mentally ready for the up coming season?  Mental preparation is as important as physical preparation to succeed in golf.  Napoeon Hill‘s famous quote:   What ever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve is so true for golf!”  So what exactly does all this mean?

Dreaming of success on the links gets everyone excited.  At golf-mental-game-coach.com  suggests that preparing for a round of golf (which can be applied to the season) each player should establish their rhythm, preview their round, and have a game plan.  These three points can be very important to lowering your score.  At the Heart of Golf, Rick Semple lays out an off-season process to use mental imagery that will prepare anyone for swinging the clubs successfully at the start of the season.

If you are like most golfers, all of this can be overwhelming.  There appears to be no right or wrong answer.  However, preparation can be boiled down to one simple concept: managing expectations.  That is it.

Managing one’s expectations is the basis to an awesome golf season.  Before the season starts it is helpful to establish a couple of goals.  Make them reasonable, but something you have to work at to achieve.  Think big and do not worry about the details; they will take care of themselves.

For example, this year’s goal is to break 80.  Start to focus on this idea.  Just quietly think about breaking 80.  Do not dwell on the details, but just mull it around for a little while.  Next ask what part of your game you should work on to achieve this goal; your swing, short game, off the tee, etc.  Once you have selected the focus area, break it down further.  For example, if you have a tendency to three putt, work on your lag putting.  Finally, write down what you have been thinking.

Go through this process a couple of times.  After a short while, a realistic game plan for the season will unfold.  You will have managed your golf expectations, written it down (thus making it real) and reduced the mental anguish not changing anything, but expecting different results.

Golf is fun.  Each player has different goals, expectations, and aspirations. Regardless, golf is meant to be enjoyed.  How are you managing your expectations this year?

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