Your mental toughness; how good is it?

[WilsonWedgeMan]

mental toughness?? on a golf course ?? mental toughness is aquired through hard times and serious circumstances. it takes time to develope to the point of having total control over your mind. Handling stress isn't something done by receiving advice, it's having to deal with pressures over and over again, until it is ingrained in a person. some gain it quicker than others.some never develope it. taking the game of golf too seriously adds un-necessary stress. yes, we all wanna do well, but after the games over, what happened really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of your life. have fun.. accept that you're not a Tour Professional..that you're not in a Major event...that your friend who talks too much, or at the wrong time, really is more important than the shot you';re trying to make. Life, including 3 years of Army , helped me obtain the mental toughness I possess, and I still don't have control 100% of the time....noone ever will.

[LuciusWooding]

Personally I usually play pretty fast and seldom take more than a few seconds to prepare for a shot. The swing itself is pretty hard to interrupt with distractions unless someone is really close to me and I don't feel I have room.

Someone could be tapdancing in front of me while I tee off and I wouldn't care that much. On full swings it's no problem.

That said, it would really bother me if I was carefully reading a green (which I usually don't take more than 5 seconds unless I'm unsure) or really focusing on setting up a shot. If I'm interrupted in my backswing I can ignore it, but if I'm trying to think and focus on my line it's a lot easier for bag chatter and jingling to bother me.

What I have to contend with is my own frustration at times, which I feel I do fairly well as it pertains to my score. I might react to a really bad shot, but I get over it by the time I'm hitting my next and regain my focus. The actions of others rarely get to me. I've never played in high pressure situations just yet, but I don't get adversely affected by needing a good shot in match play. I usually play best with a bit of pressure on myself, especially in the short game 100y and in and when playing from trouble. I play decently conservative outside of that range most of the time so I don't really have a whole lot of stress.

The only thing that still gets to me is playing the driver and 3 wood, as well as my hybrid. Just don't feel like I can take more than a half swing without the shaft getting unstable. I'm pretty confident up to 210 yards out but luckily I seldom need to hit that far to hit a GIR, even after an iron off the tee. I don't have many options from long distance so it actually helps me play conservatively, but made me more aggressive in the short game.

[Taylor Johnson]

Mine is getting better. I have some friends that I play with that are always talking trash & intentionally trying to get in my head.

It used to be very uncomfortable and I would get thrown off my game very easily. But the more times you experience it, the better prepared you are to handle distractions in real events.

I've found that playing in tournaments has started to feel easier because everyone seems so polite and respectful in contrast.

[Pablo68]

Originally Posted by WilsonWedgeMan

but after the games over, what happened really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of your life. have fun.. accept that you're not a Tour Professional..that you're not in a Major event...that your friend who talks too much, or at the wrong time, really is more important than the shot you're trying to make.

I went to the range Thursday and got rather frustrated pretty quickly. Nothing was going right and I ended up leaving in disgust. It was at that point that I remembered exactly what you're saying there. Just get back to enjoying this GAME and the company.

I played again Friday with the same group and focused on just having fun and enjoying the blessing of being able to play this game. Despite playing pretty bad over the first 5 holes (+7 I think), I continued joking with my friends and just played through any situation that came up. I shot 46 on the front nine by finishing with a couple pars then settled down on the back to shoot a 37 (3 bogeys and 2 birdies) for a pleasant 83.

[onesome]

Shot 83 last friday

front was 44 then came back with a 39 on the back on a course with a 139 slope, I would think most people would say that's mental toughness that understand golf.

[Pablo68]

Originally Posted by onesome

Shot 83 last friday

front was 44 then came back with a 39 on the back on a course with a 139 slope, I would think most people would say that's mental toughness that understand golf.

139 slope is pretty stout; congrats!

I'd agree that's not giving up on the round as some people have a tendency to do. I'm too cheap to waste my money so I NEVER write off a bad start to a round.