Yeah, I'd agree that the mental side of things is primarily about tension (either from anger/frustration, or fear) interfering with a smooth, effective, repeatable swing or stroke. It's also about using your desire to perform well to create deep, calm focus on the task at hand vs. trying to 'make it happen'.

I don't believe the mental side of golf is completely irrelevant, but I do agree with what you posted here:

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The bottom line is that a bad swing full of compensations will produce inconsistent results, and no level of confidence will improve your swing.

For mid to high handicappers, blaming a bad round on a mental lapse is a bit different than Bobby Jones or Ben Crenshaw doing it.

Still, the mind does tell the body what to do. If we take our jobs or even chores we do on a regular basis, there are days when everything is just easy. Then there are others when I'm all thumbs - like there's a breakdown in communication between my brain and my body.

As far as my thought process causing a worse than normal round of golf, the only time I might blame anything but a bad swing would be if there was some really important or serious event happening in my life.

32 minutes ago, JonMA1 said:

I don't believe the mental side of golf is completely irrelevant, but I do agree with what you posted here:

As far as my thought process causing a worse than normal round of golf, the only time I might blame anything but a bad swing would be if there was some really important or serious event happening in my life.

I'd largely agree, but within the small variance of a good swing and the large variances of a bad swing, the potential for tension to interfere and increase that variation lies in wait.

I have definitely had range sessions where I was frustrated with either strike quality and distance and responded with stiffer and more aggressive swings for a couple of balls, trying to 'force it' or 'kill it'. Typically results were poorer than usual and improved when I mentally re-set and tried to back off on the tension and focus on being smooth.

I think there's a Seal saying that slow is smooth, smooth is fast. There might be a little bit of overlap (at least as far as swing intentions go) where a Klesha interrupts smooth muscle action leading to 'powerless effort'.

21 hours ago, natureboy said:

I'd largely agree, but within the small variance of a good swing and the large variances of a bad swing, the potential for tension to interfere and increase that variation lies in wait.

I have definitely had range sessions where I was frustrated with either strike quality and distance and responded with stiffer and more aggressive swings for a couple of balls, trying to 'force it' or 'kill it'. Typically results were poorer than usual and improved when I mentally re-set and tried to back off on the tension and focus on being smooth.

I think there's a Seal saying that slow is smooth, smooth is fast. There might be a little bit of overlap (at least as far as swing intentions go) where a Klesha interrupts smooth muscle action leading to 'powerless effort'.

If the results are the cause of the tension, it's hard to blame the mental game.

There have been times when I've gone to the course with a positive attitude and even started my round off well. When the inevitable bad shots start to occur, I take the attitude of "riding them out". Meaning, I expect them to happen and make a conscientious effort to stay relaxed. Sometimes the good swings come back, sometimes they don't. If they don't, I'll eventually become frustrated and at the point, you're right, it's hard to recover.

But that's kind of my point. We look back at our rounds and think, I was really relaxed during that good round, and angry during my last bad round. We then conclude our emotions are what drive our success or failure when, in fact, our success or failure is what drives our emotions. And the success or failure is caused by how well we are controlling our unpredictable swing that day.

I will agree with you that keeping emotions in check will help. This is true even when things are going very well. If I keep my focus and concentrate on each shot - as opposed to thinking ahead of how good of a score I'm can get - I've a much better chance at a successful round.

25 minutes ago, JonMA1 said:

If the results are the cause of the tension, it's hard to blame the mental game.

Have you heard of virtuous / vicious cycles. Bad shots will happen in golf. Being able to put them in perspective (was it part of the random expected misses or maybe it reflected a possible swing flaw for the day) is aided by a tension / anxiety free attention to detail, potentially keeping you in the virtuous cycle. Hitting the next shot in a rush of anger / trying to kill it after hitting a frustrating bad shot is likely to put you on the vicious cycle path. But some are able to channel that anger / annoyance into focus so it depends on the individual and probably the level of tension (simmer vs. boil).

25 minutes ago, JonMA1 said:

I will agree with you that keeping emotions in check will help.

Every player has variability in their performance. Having the right expectations for your level of game is useful for avoiding elevated blood pressure (with the caveat for individual reactions above). Say a group of golfers was like a bunch of runners with widely different average times over a distance. Adding tension in golf would generally seem like running with a training parachute attached. The individual range of performance is going to be held back by some amount, but it wouldn't close the gap between them if only the fast runners had the chute on.

I have concluded that golfers go through a mechanical phase and a feel phase, just like someone learning to drive. In the mechanical phase, you have to consciously work on the mechanics of the swing, which is uncomfortable. In the feel phase you have already internalized the mechanics of the swing, you just need to execute. This where confidence comes in to play. 

A lot of frustration comes from golfers getting ahead of this process. If you are still trying to internalize the mechanical components of the swing like a "golf engineer" then confidence is basically just wishful thinking. However, if the golf swing has migrated from your brain to your heart, then confidence is the difference between having a good experience and just trying to survive the round. 

I'm currently between crawling and walking. I need to learn to welcome every shot on the golf course as a challenge to do something great.