The first time I encountered someone’s anger with golf was when I was first learning the golf swing. I had a friend who was taking lessons with me. She phoned me one night after a lesson and said she had just broken her 5 iron over her knee and was going to break the rest of her clubs and then quit. Her anger was the result of her husband insisting she take golf lessons.
The second time was when I was watching the finals of our club championship. One of the guys in the final pairing was so upset at missing a shot he threw his club overhead. When it came down it almost hit his opponent. His anger resulted from hitting the ball OB.
Yesterday I experienced it again. My cart partner was so upset at not getting out of a greenside bunker that she yelled and slammed everything she could get her hands on.
I have never written about anger on the golf course because I thought it was obvious that it was detrimental to having fun and playing well. Anger changes a person’s body chemistry. Negative thinking, loss of the ability to focus and tightening of muscles will cause the golfer to make more shots. It is the opposite of a good mental game where the golfer is calm, focused and enjoying the game.
On the ranking of emotions, anger is high on the list of emotional intensity. All golfers experience frustration, but when the anger is so intense that it becomes a violent act, the golfer will carry it for several holes, or maybe throughout the entire round. This kind of anger will probably cause the golfer to lose people to play with.
A lot has been written about anger management which I won’t go into here. It is important to know that all emotions are produced from thoughts in your conscious mind.
So while there are temporary methods for stopping bouts of anger such as deep breathing, seeing a STOP sign in front of your face, or snapping a rubber band on your wrist to distract you, it is the beliefs you have about yourself and your game that need to be permanently changed. If the original belief isn’t changed, the golfer will react over and over with anger, and a habit will be created. Anger will then become an uncontrollable instinctive behavior.
Golfers who understand the game of golf know they will not always play their best and a round of golf will be full of ups and downs. It is the golfer’s task to minimize errors to the best of their ability, control their arousal level, be diligent in pre-shot preparation, and play one shot at a time. When golfers make this kind of positive thinking a habit, the subconscious mind will operate more efficiently, the game will be more fun and the result will be lower scores.
Play “In the Zone” with Joan
Entrain Your Heart & Mind for Peak Performances
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