Watching golf is getting very discouraging

[Golfs-for-Fun]

Originally Posted by B-Con

Yeah, I know what you mean. But think of it this way: The goal isn't to be perfect (at least, if we're setting realistic goals), it's to:

a) Make as few mistakes as possible, and

b) Recover from the ones we do make as well as possible

Like jamo said, this is evidence that you can completely miss the fairway and still have a great swing. All it means is that you just screwed up once. Given how many swings you have over a game, your human need to slip-up will eventually shine through, especially since the bar for screwing up is so low. Golf is a game where a few millimeters and a few degrees is the difference between a pure shot and a crappy pull hook. If you have a good swing you can go to your second shot still thinking about par, or bogey at the worst.

Try telling this to my stepfather.

I was telling him that for the first time I can actually tell what i did wrong if a shot goes south and know exactly what I have to do to make sure I dont do it again (newbie sloppiness and inconsistencies).

His very unhelpful response was.....'You cant get that shot back'.

Well DUH.

That doesnt mean I have to get depressed and then blow the next 3 shots too.

I realize what I did wrong and NOT do it again.

From my stepfathers POV it would seem that one bad shot and we should just call the game or something.

its why I dont ask him questions about golf.

What you said there about just a few millimeters and the degrees off on your shot is something I watched on Youtube that was very helpful too.

Knowing that the margin of error is so slim for a perfect shot is actually very encouraging because you know that if you are off a slight amount its not like you did everything wrong. Its more just that you need to work to get more consistent in what you are doing.

I mean before I watched that every shot I made that went a little right or left in my mind was a complete failure.

Whats ironic is that once I understood the margin for error I actually started to relax a little about it and ended up hitting better because I think I stopped being consumed by it so much.

The mental aspect of this game is really the hardest, in my opinion.

[B-Con]

What you said there about just a few millimeters and the degrees off on your shot is something I watched on Youtube that was very helpful too. Knowing that the margin of error is so slim for a perfect shot is actually very encouraging because you know that if you are off a slight amount its not like you did everything wrong. Its more just that you need to work to get more consistent in what you are doing.

Yep. Some of my best swings have had crappy results. You only need one thing to go wrong. On the range I try not to get too worked up over the exact results of a particular swing, and don't make drastic changes unless needed. Ball flight doesn't tell the story for the 4 things that worked well, sometimes just the story of the one thing that went wrong. Obviously, that's not much consolation on the course, though, when you're keeping score. :-P If the video was interesting and findable, a link to it would be interesting. :-)

[newtogolf]

I think it shows how tough this sport is when even the best in the world can't hit every shot properly and end up hitting their ball into the water, a backyard or wrong fairway.  My ex-golf instructor would constantly rant on Mondays about how inconsistent some of the pro's are or go back to the days when Jack would talk about how he went to the range to see which shot he was going to play that day.

It makes sense when you think about the physics involved and the relatively small margin for error but I'm not sure if it's comforting or depressing when I see so many pro's mess up a shot.

[LongballGer]

I actually feel the opposite when I watch them on TV. It seems like they never make any mistakes.

It seems like every bunker shot is an inch from the cup, every 150 yard approach shot is within 5 feet and every wedge shot either in or also a couple inches from the cup.

[B-Con]

I actually feel the opposite when I watch them on TV. It seems like they never make any mistakes. It seems like every bunker shot is an inch from the cup, every 150 yard approach shot is within 5 feet and every wedge shot either in or also a couple inches from the cup.

Well, we weren't talking about their [i]average[/i] shot. Their average shot is our dream shot. The point was that they still screw up majorly, in ways that we can relate to. It's rare, but when you watch someone hit the wrong fairway, well, it's a crappy shot. Like when a basketball player shoots an airball. Makes you think, "Wow, I've done that. You can be that good and still make that mistake?"

[RPMPIRE]

I wouldn't be discouraged about Tiger or any other professional making a bad shot. What makes them great is how they recover from those bad shots. If you look at Tiger, he's had countless phenomenal recovery shots amongst most of today's and yesterday's generation of golfers.

If you recall an interview with Jack Nicklaus, if you ask him about the times he's hit bad shots or even coming in as a runner-up or less in a golf tournament, he can't even remember a lick of it. But if you ask him about the shots he's hit such as 16th at Augusta in '86, the 1-iron at Pebble, etc, he remembers those. This is what makes great golfers great is that even those bad shots, they can put behind them.

Everything is mental. Tiger within the last year leading up to this year's Australian Open kept thinking about his mechanics and whatnot and look where that's got him. During the Australian Open, he's started to trust his swing and started thinking about "the shot" rather than "the swing" and he placed 3rd. Point is, if you want to get better, you're not going to if you think negatively or have discouraging thoughts. In golf, that's the kiss of death. Also, no one should measure themselves up to a professional tour golfer. Not many people get to be as good as them overnight.